Common Myths About Sin City

 

Last Frontier, 1945

   Everyone thinks they know Las Vegas. But over the years, the city has been the subject of many myths—some created by the city’s own publicists. The following are just a few of the more common misconceptions or downright falsehoods that have been spread over the years about the city:

   • Las Vegas was founded by the Mob—Anyone who has watched any gangster movie or TV crime show about Las Vegas, might get the impression this is a fact. The reality, however, is that Las Vegas was founded by Mormon missionaries.

   Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established Sin City. In 1855, Mormon leader Brigham Young sent 30 men to establish a small fort and settlement in the Las Vegas Valley. Due to its isolated location and hot, dry climate, the colony struggled for two years before it was finally abandoned.

   A few years later, the fort became a ranch and trading post, which eventually grew into the city of Las Vegas. The fort, now a state park, is located just north of downtown on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and East Washington Avenue.

   • Bugsy Siegel created the Las Vegas Strip—If you watch the 1992 film Bugsy, starring Warren Beatty, you saw Las Vegas portrayed as a backwater town that owed its existence to gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.

   In the movie Siegel, in Vegas to check on mob interests, pulls off the highway, walks into a desolate patch of sagebrush and sand, and announces that he will build a hotel there. 

   The reality is that the first resort built on the Las Vegas Strip was El Rancho Vegas, which opened in 1941, followed by the Last Frontier a year later. Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel did not open until New Year’s Eve 1946. Siegel wasn’t even the father of the Flamingo—Los Angeles publisher and restaurateur Billy Wilkerson was the original owner. Wilkerson, however, ran out of money and partnered with Siegel and his mob pals to complete the hotel (although he was quickly squeezed out of the picture).

   Siegel also is not responsible for naming the Las Vegas Strip. That honor goes to Guy McAfee, a Las Vegas casino owner and former corrupt vice-squad captain with the Los Angeles police. In the 1940s, McAfee named Las Vegas Boulevard “the Strip” because it reminded him of Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Strip.

   • Elvis was always a big star in Las Vegas—It turns out that Elvis Presley was a flop in his first Las Vegas appearance, at the New Frontier showroom, in April 1956. His fans, largely teen girls, were too young to get into the casino to see the show, and the gambling crowd didn’t much care for rock-n-roll and thought he was too loud.

   However, when Elvis returned 13 years later, he began a long string of sold-out shows.

   • Big-name hotel entertainment was invented in Las Vegas—While Las Vegas resorts no doubt made popular the casino showroom and lounge, the first big-name entertainer to play a Nevada hotel was bandleader Ted Lewis, who performed with his orchestra at the Commercial Hotel in Elko on April 26, 1941.

   The first big-name entertainer to appear in Las Vegas is believed to have been singer Sophie Tucker, who performed at the Last Frontier in January 1944. The first star-studded entertainment event in Las Vegas history was the grand opening of the Flamingo in 1946, which featured George Jessel, Jimmy Durante, Baby Rose Marie, Eddie Jackson, and Xavier Cugat’s orchestra. Their appearance sparked competition between the city’s resorts, which continues to this day.

   • Las Vegas is the hottest spot in Nevada—It may seem that way sometimes, but the place with the hottest recorded temperature in the state is Laughlin, which reached a scorching 125 degrees on June 29, 1994. The hottest recorded temperature in Las Vegas was 117 degrees, which has happened several times including on July 10, 2023, July 10, 2021, and July 24, 1942.