What a great time. I'm glad I was part of it. Smaller community. So much fun. Now it's just another large city with big city problems. Sadly it will never be the same.
It took me over one hour to view this video. I had to keep pausing to look at the details. That picture of Caesars being built with nothing but desert all the way to Red Rock was amazing. The Landmark. The Strip, full of vacant lots and gas stations between the hotels. Amazing. Thanks.
Wow thanks for the memories this was great. I was 22 yrs. old and came to Vegas in 1969 and there wasn't a lot to do for a young man so I didn't stay. I came here to check it out and ended up in L.A.. Came back in 88 and have been here since. I must say, I liked the old Vegas much better, I can't stand to go to the strip now days.
We lived in Vegas while I was in first, second, and third grade, so that was 1957 till 1960. I remember my mom worked as a cashier at the Nevada Club. I also remember when the Stardust was right on the Strip, and it had a drive-in movie. The Flamingo had a obelisk with bubble lights. I learned to spell bubble when I was six! I also remember the huge open spaces between casinos on the Strip. I've been there as an adult and visited my grammar school, Tom Williams. When I went there (the year it opened 1957) it was in the middle of desert! Now it's in a neighborhood with huge trees around it! Vegas is too "showy" for me now. I like remembering how it was.
I find the music and photos just go so well together. I've never been to Vegas, but it's still on my bucket list. Been to Reno a few times, but not since the 70s. Hopefully I'll get there sooner or later 😉
I landed in Las Vegas Dec 1979 upon serving in the US AIR Force...such great memories then, was there at the MGM fire in 1980, recently moved from there...The town had its heyday in the 50s and 60s. It's been all downhill the last 10 years...
Do you remember whether it was quite an affordable place to live then or was it expensive like these days? I mean eating out, going to shows, going to a bar, etc…
According to my grandparents (they moved here in the 50's) you had to get dressed up if you were going to the strip. Casinos had dress codes and casino bosses (the mafia) would throw you out if you didn't agree with their rules. The mob liked having a "clean town", so they were strict in many ways.
People did dress up more in those days, but those are staged advertising pictures. They did the same thing with their swimming pool photos, by have several showgirls in bikinis around the pool instead of the normal middle aged tourists.
no people really did dress up. I've talked to my parents (both born and raised here) and my grandpa(moved here n 53. and it was A lot classier back n the day. and yes the mob did fuck people up if they got out of line. the mob did not want me-thing to stop the flow of money. and they knew how 2 take care of people(good and bad people, good and bad ways.
@@ziggy2shus624 Just look at any random street scene from the 50s and 60s and here's what you won't see; 1) Douchebag tourists walking around in shorts and tank tops, year round. 2) Strung out wannabe clubbers clogging up the casinos and sidewalks. 3) Dumbass whores running around carrying a pair of high heels in one hand with a drink in the other. 4) Idiots with selfie sticks "vlogging" about every minute detail of their lame trip. 5) No talent losers beating on 5 gallon pails busking for a dollar on every other street corner. 6) People paying exorbitant prices for drinks and food and chalking it up to having a good time in Vegas.
I've lived in Las Vegas since 1965. My mom worked as a hairdresser on several of the Las Vegas Strip's biggest and most famous production shows ... P'zzazz '68 at the Desert Inn, the Lido at the Stardust, just to name two. The sixties and seventies were grand decades to be part of this magnificent city ... if we could only go back to those semi-innocent-seeming days ... oh my!
I'm a hair and makeup artist in MA and I've been to Las Vegas for a few hair shows. I've always thought that would be one of the coolest jobs in the whole place!
Yes. I miss The Frontier. Sands and especially The Riviera where I stayed in room 1506 for over 15yrs. All gone and now I live here and oddly I havnt been on strip in years. Boulder casinos. Jerry's Nugget. And Fiesta Henderson I love. Used to go to Mahoney's in North Vegas but after 2 shootings I stopped going to that joint. Miss all the old haunts.
@@bobbuff5421 Remember the Penguin Club in North Town? I walked in there one nite in the 80s after bouncing around and the very hefty barmaid came over and said," Baby, I thinks you might be at the wrong place...". "Yes, ma'am. I Believe you might be right. Thank you." With a lot less customers at this regular neighborhood type bar, it still had that Animal House feel when the kids walk in the club that Otis Day & The Nights were playing. You could hear a mouse fart when I walked in.
When I first moved to Vegas it was small and cozy. It was compromised of 3 types 1. Locals who were compulsive gamblers. 2. The local weekend light player 3. Those that used the big money they made at work to build a good life for themselves and didn't gamble. When I lived there once you got past Decatur it became pretty barren.
Absolutely fabulous photos...I though I knew a lot about Vegas of the 40s-50s-60s, including downtown and the strip...but I never realized how many beautiful motels were out there on the Strip between and amongst the famous big name Hotels/Casinos...Thanks so much for posting!!
Thank You for sharing the sights You have I miss the old and still love the new , no matter what VEGAS has my Heart for a place to LIVE day or night , been here since 1958
Marchant2 I'm a millenial, and there is nothing that I would love more than to go back to Las Vegas in the 1960s. The Las Vegs of today is a giant corporate hellhole with no character and class. In the 1960s, people actually dressed up to go out to the casinos and the Mafia kept a certain standard up. It all went down hill starting in the 80s with the mega resorts.
Luv that blast from the past. That was how it was. My dear friends Bev and Chuck Shields moved from my hometown of Buffalo in 1980 to Vegas. They showed photos of Beverly and friends in evening gowns from the sixties. Ladies and gentlemen always dressed 4 dinner and a show. What a riot. Now girls in daisy dukes and guys in flip flops standing in line 4 a buffet. Years later I moved into Kings Row where they owned a unit and shown here it is still in business. I've been retired now 4 seven yrs in Vegas from Buffalo. Sadly they are both gone now but oh what memories I have of them both.
0:24 The Kings Row Mobile park is still there. Seems the Sunset park became the Showboat and now both are long gone. My uncle lived across Charleston from the Showboat. He and his place are gone as well. Ah, memories. Land Mark Hotel's grand opening, finally, after sitting dormant for 6 plus years after construction was completed; mom telling how there were miles of Flamingo adverts along the highway leading in to town from LA.... Thanks for making this video even if I'm almost 8 years late in seeing it.
It*s nice to remember those iconic places like Dessert Inn, Sands, Dunes, Caesars among others, now a lot of the iconic places have dissapeared to make way for bigger.& family oriented hotels, like Circus Circus, Mirage, Bellagio, among others, some of the still original places are Caesars Palace, Flamimg Hilton, among others.
Back in 1954, I remember looking south from the Sands Hotel and see nothing but small motels with the Hacienda looming high over the desert. The Tropicana must not have been built as I don't remember seeing it. I miss the old Las Vegas.
Back in the early 2000's I used to live next door to the daughter of Thomas Hull the man who built the El Rancho in 41 the first hotel on the strip. This womans name was Brooks Morgan hull who cared for her elderly mother who was in her early 90s and every once in awhile shed look out at the strip from their apartment and say "Just look at what we started!!!"
My first trip to Las Vegas was in 1957 as a driver for National Car Rental, transporting a new 1957 chevy to Indian Springs, about 35 miles North of Vegas, a military base. I was a 17 yr old senior at North Phoenix HS. They fed us lunch, gave us a few bucks and via bus back to Phoenix, stopped on Fremont street for a couple of hours to rubberneck. Even though I was only 5'9" tall and looked like I was 12, my fellow drivers encouraged me to step inside a downtown casino and play the slots. My 25cent bet returned about $7. I was a hero all the way back to Phoenix.
This is a fine video! Very nicely done! Enjoyable,relaxing and speaks to you! Great professional quality. A great time capsule of photos worthy of it's own place!
I would have loved to see it back than..the only downside for me would have been the cigarette smoke. My mom who visited Vegas starting in the late 60's till just a couple years ago said the smoke was brutal and she was a smoker. She said non smoking was unheard of back than. Still would have been cool to see it back than though.
Sigh. Memories. The Glass Pool Inn closed in 2003 and was demolished the following year. It was out of town compared to the larger hotels on the strip and was my signpost that we had arrived.
My family moved to vegas from Italy in 1946. Been here ever since. Back then you could walk the streets go to the corner store without fearing for your life.
That was a different Vegas. Now everything was either gone or have a different look. There were several pictures of motel. Many visitors might stay in motel at that era. Those bikini girl still look hot in today's standard. Thank you for sharing.
I LOVED old Las Vegas. I moved here in March 1991. In this slideshow, at the 5:57 mark, there is a photo of the Marina Hotel. That hotel was either still operational or had just closed it's doors in 1991, BUT, little known fact. the tower still stands! It is now the West Wing tower/rooms of the MGM Grand. Facade has changed, but the interior had not changed (except for remodel, but the structure is still the same)!
1991? That's not old Las Vegas? lol You sound like a typical transplant who moved here after the big boom in the 90's. "Old Las Vegas" started to change drastically after the mob left in the 80's. Old Vegas was a friendly cowboy town where everyone knew everybody and it was actually safe to walk around. Transplants (mostly California & New York rejects) are the reason Las Vegas has become so violent, hostile & overcrowded.
I wish photos of "regular" LV stuff - not just the hotels and motels - had been included in this video. I grew up there and while these places were important to the economy of LV, they weren't important in my world.
Miami had the look and feel and "service with a smile" exactly like Vegas in the 1960s. Not its a decayed wasteland of drug addicts and angry people in general
Miami in the 70's still had that feeling but by the 1980's drug money laundering hit Dade county and fueled a real estate bubble that led to every place of character being demolished or remodeled into oblivion. At night I remember so many businesses with Vegas style neon like bowling alleys, Publix,. Farm Stores and every shopping center built in the 50's had neon everywhere. By the 2000's it was all gone. Only Frankie's Pizza still looks the same.
I'm 36(2019) and I barley remember being Abel 2 drive on Fremont(the part where the "experience" is now. I'm 2nd gen born n vegas and my grandpa moved here n 1953 from a tiny ass town n north Dakota. man I wish I could have hung out with him back then. well I wish I could have hung out more with him n general.
Awesome video plus music. I love that good mood happy jazz, swing, blues. Back then even in 1995 when I visited LV first, one could still stroll along the strip. But now HUGE buildings are lined up right along the street with long closed facades. Highly unattractive. They should convert the entire strip to a pedestrian area with a free quiet electric hop on hop off tram circulating. Cars should drive in the back only.
they did a good job of doing that, but..... the END OF AN ERA came when the corporations took over all of the hotels.. when the mob owned them there was no bullshit, illegals were NOT, Las Vegas was a terrific place to grow up and live... corporations took over and porn filthed the streets, no more comp rooms/meals/shows... illegals by the truck load moved in...
I WAS IN VEGAS BACK THEN, BEEN IN EVERYONE OF THE CASINOS AND HOTELS. I LIVED AT THE GLASS POOL RIGHT ACROSS LV BLVD FROM THE HICENDIA. WHAT A GREAT TIME TO BE IN VEGAS, NOW IT SUCKS.
Song that starts at 1:58 , sounds like Glenn Miller's Pennsylvania 6-5000 , not sure who's version of its playing here , pretty sure the song at 4:30 is called " Take the A Train " , another big band song redone here
