Moved to Vegas in 1975 after graduating High school. Started working construction and watched firsthand all the changes that have taken place. Worked in some capacity on almost all the hotel casinos. What an amazing trip it has been! Love this city for all it is!
Love it!..I was there, then...Saw all those places...including Elvis..when that sign was there...Was in all those hotels...and ONLY regret I, being so young...didn't realize how I was in a place that would never be again...
Ah yes, the good old days. Las Vegas at such an innocent time back in the 70's. Those were the best times for me to be in Las Vegas. Those Summers I spent in Las Vegas in the Mid to Late 70's were unforgettable!
i had forgotten what my hometown of las vegas looked like in 1976 i was 8yrs old and i met Elvis Presley 5 times in person in september of 76 was such a happy time for me .then 45 years later i found out i'm related to elvis makes me feel proud to be related to him
Having lived in Vegas since 1965, I was little surprised that kids my age used to complain that there was nothing to do in Vegas during the 1970s. There were plenty and we could go to Red Rock, Lake Mead, Mt. Charleston and Craig Road Speedway without bumping into anyone in traffic or paying a fee. I do miss the old days before the over population. You felt safer. Seeing Elvis then eat at Benihana or at Landmark, that was a great combination.
Back in the day we used to go to lake Dolores in California if you remember that they used to advertise TV commercials for it on channel 5 on channel 5 during the movie segment with Gus Guiffre.
FANTASTIC FOOTAGE! especially for this local since 1964, and a big elvis fan. :) love the footage of the hilton. this was dec 76, and elvis' last shows here. i was at the last one: 12/12/76. and the shows was $25 back then: 2 drinks. yowza! (and elvis was GREAT!)
What great stuff. I remember the old Travel Lodge on the strip. Stayed there when I was a little kid on my first trip in vegas in 1965. Also remember from later trips "Dirty Sally's". That was a bar/disco with alot people playing bacgammon in the front half of the club. Also remember the Dennys in front of the Sands,
Who remembers the Alpine Village Inn the Rathskellar I worked there in 1977 wore the knickerbockers served the bread Those were the days made good tips when I was 14 light about my age saying I was 16.
My feelings about Vegas exactly. It's too bad someone like Wynn or Stupak doesn't take the hint and create a place called "Old Vegas" based on all the old casinos. Broke my heart when the Landmark came down.
Absolutely terrific footage! Brought back lots of memories. Wish Vegas still looked like this. All-time classic architecture: Dunes and Landmark. All-time classic signs: Dunes and Stardust.
My parents started going to LV in the early 50's and then in 59' when I was 5 they took me and every year (sometimes twice) I'd go w/my family and I have to say those very early years were just wonderful. The 60's, 70' and even the 80's were great. Now it's been destroyed by "big business"; they ruined this place forever. Tommyboo21 I agree 100% w/your post. Vegas back then was the "safest" place to be. No one would EVER think of holding up any casino. You'd be sleeping w/the fishies .
The good Vegas,back when you could play full pay blackjack and get some 1.99 steak and eggs at 4 in the morning. Now all u get is $30 buffets,overpriced rooms with resort fees, no customer service, no good comps and people bringing their frikin kids. No thanks.
Wow I love Vegas history..and I was only 1 year old when you filmed this! The casinos and hotels were so much more subdued than today..and the strip was so deserted back then!....What I would do to time travel back to see this in person to appreciate it
@Bartels92 ... It was the International back then. ;-) Great video! Our town has changed so much (I've lived here since 1969), but there's still no place like it anywhere in the world! Viva LasVegas!
If you notice, most of the amature footage shot of Vegas back in the 70's is from hotel room windows or discretely down on the street of the strip. Carrying cameras around most parts of Vegas and specifically in the casinos was a big "NO NO" back in the day.
I went in 1983, It was the old Vegas, I stayed in The Golden Nugget, what an experience.Coming from England,I had never seen anything like it in my Life, I was 23,Myself and a girlfriend went together, we had a tough time constantly ID'd, Our film taken from our camera by security, Women Barstaff, nasty to us, but we had the experience of a lifetime. so glad i saw it then, I have been back twice as it is now, and it's fantastic, but it's lost that which once was there, It had a kind of respect that had to be adhered to...strict but CLASS!
Its nice watching a video of Vegas and not seeing a bunch of mindless idiots walking around looking down at their phones. Back when people talked to each other and actually had manners and social skills.
oh there were mindless idiots walking around when there were no phones to bury your head in.there were rude and mean people as well but not as bad as today
I was a kid in the 70's when my parents and grandparents stopped in Las Vegas in our way to Utah. I have been to Las Vegas twice as an adult in 2013 and 2014. It is still a great place but the high end shopping areas are a joke most folks are middle class or lower wanting to try and win some money, eat, drink, party and have a good time checking out all there is to do in Vegas. It sucks that Vegas is being geared to the mega rich instead of the average vacationer.
Nice! And great choice of music too! Am taking a few of my fellow Bombay Taxi Drivers Association on a 'jolly boys outing' to Vegas in May - can't wait!
I will forever love my hometown, Las Vegas. My father came here with a wife and four children...soon to be five... and obtained two jobs within 24 hours. Compare this to the very racist atmosphere of El Paso, TX, where he struggled non stop. I will forever love Las Vegas.
@darrylhaynes No, it's still there on Fremont and Main Street next to the Las Vegas Greyhound Bus Station. It is now called "Jackie Gaughan's Plaza". It is plenty different now than when it was back in 1974 and 1975.
Wow, I used to LOVE Slots-A-Fun and Circus Circus(both of which were close to Westward Ho) from about 1984 to 1994. I was in Las Vegas 2 months ago and went into slots-a-fun on a saturday night after not being in their for about 10 years and the whole fun slots-a-fun vibe of years past is dead....VERY SAD as I have spent many a day and night at slots-a-fun and circus circus and have some special memories there of my younger years. Mrs.Vil, I am just curious do you still live in Las Vegas?
David Lucas like any thing else there were pluses and minuses. The town was much smaller and in the casino business it felt like you knew everyone. We didn't have a lot of the options we enjoy now with shopping, dining and many other amenities. I have fond memories of the past but I don't want to go back.
our family hangout The Lady Luck! U could get ur pictures taken on thick cardboard paper and mail it home from the casino! When we got one of our grandparents we would cry all day for them to come home! tey had a second home there. Man oh man! that was Vegas. And the Damm locus!
I was in Vegas in "76 too. I stayed at Caesars Palace, it was one of the best Hotel/Casinos in that era, & I went to a double performance-Don Rickles/Ann Margret( of Viva Las Vegas fame). Vegas was in a transition period then. This was a few years after Howard Hughes bought the Desert Inn(The Mob wanted him to leave, because conventioneers were coming, so instead he bought the place. realized how much the Mob made, brought in retired military types, and you know the rest of the story).
Back when Las Vegas had the RAT PACK , the Kings of COOL Frank Sinatra Dean Martin Sammy Davis Junior Today we got the Big Ass Kardashian sisters & Transgender weirdo Caitlyn Jenner. 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
@tommyboo21 The owners kept everything private and confidential back in those days. No cameras. A lot of guys took "business trips" out there without their wives, if you know what I mean. I recall walking around there with my dad back in the early 70's when I was a kid and not even being allowed to walk through the Imperial Palace or Flamingo casinos to get to the restaurant. Even up through the 80's you could not have a camera in a casino.
I wonder if people in the year 2047 will look at the Wynn, Encore, , City Center Casino’s min Vegas and say, “Wow what a dump.” Must have been a nice place in 2012.
@tommyboo21 No problem. I recall back through the 80's, if someone walked in the casinos with a camera they were told to leave and come back without it. Some hotels would tell guests were told to go around and use the door to the front desk instead of going through the casino with a camera. The front doors were always guarded and the guards wore guns just like cops. There was little loitering allowed out front and casinos mainly policed the strip rather than the cops.
From 7:08 to about 7:25 is interesting to me. It's a shot of the old MGM Grand (now Bally's) taken from the Strip. What's notable is that the land closest to the Strip is being used as a simple outdoor parking lot. I think Bally's current owners would have preferred the parking lot put in the rear so that the casino floor was a bit closer to the Strip. :)
@ccipollini1984 I have to agree with you. I moved there in 81 and left for good in 99. But it was the early years that I loved best. Downtown had 2 way traffic when I first moved there and on friday nights it was like american graffiti. I got in towards the end of an era and remember when the things that were in the movie "Casino" actually happened. I worked with guys who started in the 60's and had stories from their era. My name ends in "ini" too. Those were the days. My brother is at Mirage.
@baarbear I work at the MGM Grand. The fact that they took the Lion Exhibit out shows that there is no respect for the past here. MGM used to have a yellowbrick road, a theme park, an arcade and lions. Now they are building a night club that's going to have a view of the strip in place of the lions, a comedy club for adults in place of the arcade, where the theme park was is a pool and "Wet Republic" where celebrities go. Yeah, once Vegas went corporate, shit hit the fan.
I live in Las Vegas and it's difficult to recognize anything on there. Most of those buildings are completely gone, except the Flamingo but I still can't recognize it.
Great time capsule you've got here, you can see how "adult" Vegas turned into "family" Vegas which pissed off all kinds of people....judging by the comment section.
they did that cause of the noise the slot machines made when it dropped its coins into the pan. people were complaining about that it was to loud .go figure huh
It wasn't the noise. They could reduce the pain the ass personnel. ATMs and change machines don't call in sick. Don't have babysitter conflicts. Don't have SS or workman's comp. Or file bad back claims from lugging all those rolls of coins.
Luis, be proud of your Mexican heritage, and don't ever feel the need to apologize to racists like 'koolbossjock"................I'm Italian American and could care less about any one who wants to disparage Italian Americans. ....People who spew ethnic and racist hate are just very unhappy with themselves....When they say negative things about other ethnic groups they are really talking about themselves---- Be Cool and Proud of your Heritage!!!
Thank goodness Vegas does not look like this today. Made about 2 dollars a hour and poker rooms were notoriously crooked. Glad to see the glitz of today and making a lot more money too boot.
WOW they got rid of the loins? I haven't been there in about 4 years.... I had a feeling that was going to happen. Last time I was there the girl told me she didn't think the loin cubs were coming back.
