From its starts as a dry desert patch outside the Las Vegas city limits to today being one of the world’s capitals of entertainment, The Strip never ceases to amaze us.Ībout The Sign: The iconic Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas Sign was designed by Betty Willis in 1959 and marks the official southern end of the Las Vegas Strip. Since then, a majority of the mega-sized casino resort started popping up, each with its own unique theme. This was also a switch from mob money to Wall Street and corporate money being invested in Las Vegas. Rosenthal’s notorious career ( 1968-1982) in Vegas inspired Martin Scorsese famous 1995 movie Casino starring Robert De Niro.Īfter Steve Wynn opened the Polynesian-themed Mirage as the then World’s biggest hotel in 1989 it led to a building boom on the Las Vegas Strip. With newly opened gambling in Atlantic City stealing customers from the Las Vegas Strip, Rosenthal was sent in to run four casinos ( 3 on The Strip) for the mob from Chicago. Siegel was murdered two years later, but the then 105-room Flamingo had already raised the bar as the first luxury hotel on the Strip.

New York mobster Bugsy Siegel also found his way to The Strip by 1945 where he helped establish Flamingo Casino. In an effort to make it feel more glamorous, McAfee called The Strip after the Sunset Strip in his hometown of Los Angles where he formerly ran the underground Clover Club.

Casinos he managed included the Pioneer Club and Golden Nugget in Downtown and others along Las Vegas Boulevard. When gambling and prostitution became illegal in LA in 1938, McAfee moved to Las Vegas and took over numerous establishments. Guy McAfee had been the head of the LADP’s vice squad but also ran numerous saloons, nightclubs, and brothels which earned him the nickname the Capone of LA. Las Vegas Boulevard (f ormerly Arrowhead Highway & HWY 91) quickly attracted some of the biggest names from mob syndicates around the country looking get in on Vegas’ entertainment business including Guy McAfee and mobster Bugsy Siegel. By the 1930s member of organized crime started to look for properties outside of the city limits where there was fewer taxes, less regulations, and more room to do business regardless of their reputation. Las Vegas was founded in 1905 with most of the early development flowing from the train station Downtown along Fremont Street.

Las vegas casinos on the strip map