[Coco6163]

Awesome site

[von949]

But why I asked myself did they decide to build their hotels/casinos more than
two miles from the downtown area, on a stretch of virtually deserted desert.

Well, the reason was that the boundary between Las Vegas and
Clark County was set at what today is Sahara Avenue.

So the builders/owners of these first resorts, Tommy Hull (El Rancho) R. E. Griffith
(Last Frontier) Bugsy Siegel (Flamingo) and Marion Hicks (Thunderbird) avoided
paying city taxes by building their resorts South of the city line (Sahara Avenue)

Clever boys.

So the actual strip only exists because of people trying to avoid city taxes. Interesting.

[dynimagelv]

Yup.....no City Taxes....no city Controls and lottsa cheap land.....and the strip was born.

[Buzz123]

But nobody could predict that the city wouldn't annex the Strip. Taxes may have been involved in the decision making, but they built there because the land was dirt cheap, and it was along the old LA Highway where they would catch the traffic from LA, plus there was plenty of room for expansion, etc., and in those days, horseback riding and all the western stuff that Las Vegas offered back then. Still, people thought Benjamin Siegel was nuts building that far out of town (Flamingo & LV BL S.) It may have had an influence on the decision to end the relationship with the investors ─ Mafia style.

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

But nobody could predict that the city wouldn't annex the Strip. Taxes may have been involved in the decision making, but they built there because the land was dirt cheap, and it was along the old LA Highway where they would catch the traffic from LA, plus there was plenty of room for expansion, etc., and in those days, horseback riding and all the western stuff that Las Vegas offered back then. Still, people thought Benjamin Siegel was nuts building that far out of town (Flamingo & LV BL S.) It may have had an influence on the decision to end the relationship with the investors ─ Mafia style.

Recommendation from Netflix: 'Bugsy' (starring Warren Beatty). Considered fairly accurate.

[macgeek]

After seeing Boardwalk empire, I think that he had Tourette syndrome

Jonathan

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Recommendation from Netflix: 'Bugsy' (starring Warren Beatty). Considered fairly accurate.

I watched that again recently (after reading this thread and the history page.). The movie is good, a bit slow at times, but good.

Also, last night there was a marathon on Bio channel of Mobsters. ONe was about Tony Spilotro and another was "women of the mob" which featured Virginia Hill.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Recommendation from Netflix: 'Bugsy' (starring Warren Beatty). Considered fairly accurate.

No fun when you already know how it ends.

[Diane Sells Las Vegas]

History - Las Vegas Sun

Here's a fun one on the Las Vegas Sun site!

[C_A_Braun]

Been home sick the past 2 days. I have almost finished this entire site. Just amazes me all the detail.