New York, New York – A Quick Trip to the Strip

Las Vegas, Nevada.

No, we didn’t take a quick trip to the Big Apple! Since we stayed downtown, we didn’t see much of the Las Vegas Strip, the row of casinos and resorts along Las Vegas Boulevard just west and north of McCarren Airport. Back in the day, the first casino built along U.S. Highway 91 was well out of town. In 1931, Al Capone built the Pair-O-Dice nightclub. Gangster families were already reaching out to the mecca of legal gambling. That stretch of highway soon garnered hotels and casinos and would become what is now known as the Las Vegas Strip. We spent most of our  time this trip downtown, but we decided to spend a few hours on the strip just to say we went there. 

Mob Museum – National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement

Las Vegas, Nevada.

A short walk from Fremont Street and a shorter walk from our Main Street Station Hotel is an imposing building that currently houses The Mob Museum. The neoclassical building has a history that began as a U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in 1933. In 1950, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver came to town. He led a Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce. The Las Vegas Courthouse was the site of one of the hearings held in fourteen cities across the country. There were lots of underworld figures who “testified”, though not surprisingly, most had little to say. Even so, much of the country was to learn about the hidden society of mob bosses and organized crime syndicates.

Hoover Dam

Boulder City, Colorado.

A short, 30 mile drive from Las Vegas, the Colorado River is backed up into a huge reservoir known as Lake Meade. The man-made lake was created in the 1930s with the construction of a project originally known as the Boulder Project. Officially, the dam itself was named Hoover Dam after the 31st President, Herbert Clark Hoover in 1947. Bidding for the project opened on March 4, 1931, with first concrete pours on June 6, 1933.

Fremont Experience – Revitalizing Downtown Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada.

Twenty-five years ago, legal procedures were in place for the creation of a street mall and entertainment venue in downtown Las Vegas called the “Fremont Experience.” Closure of part of Fremont Street to vehicular traffic and construction on the venue started in 1994. The attraction helped to revitalize downtown Las Vegas because the Las Vegas Boulevard “Strip” of casinos and resort properties was sucking the tourist business away from downtown.

Cellpic Sunday – 8 April 2018

Las Vegas, Nevada.

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Nevada on a photo excursion spending a couple of days hanging around Las Vegas with our photographer friend, Fred Mast. A few upcoming Travel Tuesday posts will feature images from that trip. On our first evening there, we went to Freemont Street to take in the nightly Freemont Experience. I captured many images along the way, and even grabbed a few cellpics to share here on Cellpic Sunday.