Las Vegas Then and Now PDF Download

Author: Su Kim Chung
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 1911670107
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
Las Vegas Then and Now pairs vintage shots from 100 years of the city's history with the same view today.

Author: Stefan Al
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026203574X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
The transformations of the Strip—from the fake Wild West to neon signs twenty stories high to “starchitecture”—and how they mirror America itself. The Las Vegas Strip has impersonated the Wild West, with saloon doors and wagon wheels; it has decked itself out in midcentury modern sleekness. It has illuminated itself with twenty-story-high neon signs, then junked them. After that came Disney-like theme parks featuring castles and pirates, followed by replicas of Venetian canals, New York skyscrapers, and the Eiffel Tower. (It might be noted that forty-two million people visited Las Vegas in 2015—ten million more than visited the real Paris.) More recently, the Strip decided to get classy, with casinos designed by famous architects and zillion-dollar collections of art. Las Vegas became the “implosion capital of the world” as developers, driven by competition, got rid of the old to make way for the new—offering a non-metaphorical definition of “creative destruction.” In The Strip, Stefan Al examines the many transformations of the Las Vegas Strip, arguing that they mirror transformations in America itself. The Strip is not, as popularly supposed, a display of architectural freaks but representative of architectural trends and a record of social, cultural, and economic change. Al tells two parallel stories. He describes the feverish competition of Las Vegas developers to build the snazziest, most tourist-grabbing casinos and resorts—with a cast of characters including the mobster Bugsy Siegel, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and the would-be political kingmaker Sheldon Adelson. And he views the Strip in a larger social context, showing that it has not only reflected trends but also magnified them and sometimes even initiated them. Generously illustrated with stunning color images throughout, The Strip traces the many metamorphoses of a city that offers a vivid projection of the American dream.

Author: James Roman
Publisher: Museyon
ISBN: 1938450027
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Discover one of !--?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /--America's most fascinating cities through 30 dramatic true stories spanning Las Vegas's 150-year history. James Roman takes readers on a tour through the glamorous and sometimes sordid history of Las Vegas and explains how a railroad town transformed itself into "the Entertainment Capital of the World." Essays explore the major historic events from the founding of Sin City and the building of the Hoover Dam to the rise of the Rat Pack at the Sands and the establishment of the Mafia-controlled casinos. Also included are intriguing tales of Vegas celebrities from Frank Sinatra and Liberace to Siegfried and Roy, as well as numerous historical photos and full-color maps.

Author: Barbara Land
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Today’s Las Vegas welcomes 35 million visitors a year and reigns as the world’s premier gaming mecca. But it is much more than a gambling paradise. In A Short History of Las Vegas, Barbara and Myrick Land reveal a fascinating history beyond the mobsters, casinos, and showgirls. The authors present a complete story, beginning with southern Nevada’s indigenous peoples and the earliest explorers to the first pioneers to settle in the area; from the importance of the railroad and the construction of Hoover Dam to the arrival of the Mob after World War II; from the first isolated resorts to appear in the dusty desert to the upscale, extravagant theme resorts of today. Las Vegas—and its history—is full of surprises. The second edition of this lively history includes details of the latest developments and describes the growing anticipation surrounding the Las Vegas centennial celebration in 2005. New chapters focus on the recent implosions of famous old structures and the construction of glamorous new developments, headline-making mergers and multibillion-dollar deals involving famous Strip properties, and a concluding look at what life is like for the nearly two million residents who call Las Vegas home.

Author: Mary Herczog
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470438010
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Las Vegas can be classy or tacky, cheesy or a bit sleazy, and it's always entertaining. Get ready to cruise the hot spots, test your luck at the casinos, shop the upscale boutiques, take in the spectacular shows, hit the swinging dance clubs, or escape from the glitz and neon and take in natural wonders on refreshing day trips. This guide gives you insider info on where to go and what to do, with great advice on how to: Find the best casinos and play the most popular games Stroll the strip, where you can watch a volcano explode, see the ancient Pyramids, and explore New York, Paris, Rome, and Venice Dine on delicacies prepared by celebrity chefs such as Joel Robuchon at the Mansion (in the MGM Grand) or Emeril Lagasse at Table 10 (in the Palazzo), load up at buffets like Paris, Le Village Buffet (in the Paris Hotel), or split a sub at Capriotti's Take in spectacular entertainment from Cirque de Soleil, Blue Man Group, Penn & Teller, and many more Enjoy performances by big-name stars like Celine Dion or catch the classic topless Vegas revue, Jubilee! See shows like the magnificent Bellagio Water Fountains, hang out with dolphins at Mirage's Dolphin Habitat, or tour the inimitable Liberace Museum Like every For Dummies travel guide, Las Vegas For Dummies, Fifth Edition includes: Down-to-earth trip-planning advice What you shouldn't miss — and what you can skip The best hotels and restaurants for every budget Lots of detailed maps You'll even find a time-saving "Quick Concierge" section with key phone numbers, addresses, and handy how-to's for getting around so you won’t miss a minute of the Vegas action!

Author: Peter Moruzzi
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
ISBN: 1423651774
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
This book of vintage Vegas ephemera offers a guided tour of Sin City’s rise out of the Mojave Desert to become a major entertainment destination. Greetings from Las Vegas tells the story of Las Vegas during its golden age in the first half of the twentieth-century. The city’s miraculous evolution comes alive through a fun and diverse collection of vintage photos, picture postcards, matchbooks, ads, and other ephemera. This beautifully illustrated volume captures the glamor of Fremont Street and the Las Vegas Strip, landmarks such as the Sands and Riviera hotel casinos, and the cream of Hollywood glitterati, including Frank, Sammy, Dino, and the rest of the Rat Pack. Author Peter Moruzzi’s sharp and irreverent commentary provides essential context for the visual treats as well as a unique historical take on the evolution of this desert playground.

Author: Tom Clavin
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
ISBN: 1569768137
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Both a love story and a tribute to the entertainment mecca, this exploration shines a spotlight on one of the hottest acts in Las Vegas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The illuminating depiction showcases the unlikely duo--a grizzled, veteran trumpeter and vocalist molded by Louis Armstrong and a meek singer in the church choir--who went on to invent "The Wildest." Bringing together broad comedy and finger-snapping, foot-stomping music that included early forays into rock and roll, Prima and Smith's act became wildly popular and attracted all kinds of star-studded attention. In addition to chronicling their relationships with Ed Sullivan, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, and other well-known entertainers of the day--and their performance of "That Old Black Magic" at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration--the narrative also examines the couple's ongoing influence in the entertainment world. Running concurrent with their personal tale is their role in transforming Las Vegas from a small resort town in the desert to a booming city where the biggest stars were paid tons of money to become even bigger stars on stage and television.

Author: Adrienne Sharp
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429962852
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Exiled in Paris, tiny, one-hundred-year-old Mathilde Kschessinska sits down to write her memoirs before all that she believes to be true is forgotten. A lifetime ago, she was the vain, ambitious, impossibly charming prima ballerina assoluta of the tsar's Russian Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg. Now, as she looks back on her tumultuous life, she can still recall every slight she ever suffered, every conquest she ever made. Kschessinka's riveting storytelling soon thrusts us into a world lost to time: that great intersection of the Russian court and the Russian theater. Before the revolution, Kschessinska dominated that world as the greatest dancer of her age. At seventeen, her crisp, scything technique made her a star. So did her romance with the tsarevich Nicholas Romanov, soon to be Nicholas II. It was customary for grand dukes and sons of tsars to draw their mistresses from the ranks of the ballet, but it was not customary for them to fall in love. The affair could not endure: when Nicholas ascended to the throne as tsar, he was forced to give up his mistress, and Kschessinska turned for consolation to his cousins, two grand dukes with whom she formed an infamous ménage à trois. But when Nicholas's marriage to Alexandra wavered after she produced girl after girl, he came once again to visit his Little K. As the tsar's empire—one that once made up a third of the world—began its fatal crumble, Kschessinka's devotion to the imperial family would be tested in ways she could never have foreseen. In Adrienne Sharp's magnificently imagined novel, the last days of the three-hundred-year-old Romanov empire are relived. Through Kschessinska's memories of her own triumphs and defeats, we witness the stories that changed history: the seething beginnings of revolution, the blindness of the doomed court, the end of a grand, decadent way of life that belonged to the nineteenth century. Based on fact, The True Memoirs of Little K is historical fiction as it's meant to be written: passionately eventful, crammed with authentic detail, and alive with emotions that resonate still.

Author: Adrienne Sharp
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307493105
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The world's most famous choreographer becomes infatuated with a coltish young dancer who proves both siren and muse. A rising star plunges into an affair with a principal but finds that ecstasy on the stage can't be surpassed in the bed. A dying legend reflects on the evanescent beauty of a life of gesture, lost to everything but memory. Each bittersweet story plants the reader amid a cast of dancers and choreographers who struggle—valiantly, playfully, fiercely—to find in the rigorous discipline and animating beauty of ballet a counterbalance to the chaos of unscripted life. Many of the tales dare to imagine the inner lives of the century's titans—Balanchine, Fonteyn and Nureyev—which rival in emotional complexity and pathos the classic dramas they enacted onstage: La Bayadere, Don Quixote, Swan Lake. White Swan, Black Swan translates the pure and essential gestures of ballet into starkly elegant prose while showing the sweat and sex beneath the serene surface. Adrienne Sharp's debut is a bravura performance.

Author: Mike Weatherford
Publisher: Huntington Press Inc
ISBN: 0929712714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Mike Weatherford resurrects the mystique of Vegas's Golden Age--the '60s of history and legend--bringing the hipster legacy to new Vegasphiles. Meet '50s and '60s lounge greats the Treniers, the Mary Kaye Trio, and Louis Prima and Keely Smith; comedy legends Joe E. Lewis, Shecky Greene, and Don Rickles; and Vegas babes Vampira, Lili St. Cyr, Ann-Margret, and Tempest Storm. Weatherford also covers nearly every offbeat movie ever made about Las Vegas, as well as Elvis and Frank's impact on the town. This gorgeous entertainment retrospective is packed with showroom esoterica, descriptions of near-forgotten corners of Vegas cult musicology, odd trivia, and unsung heroes of a bygone era. Cult Vegas chronicles the major moments--the camp, the extreme, the awful--in short, the magic of Las Vegas' half-century run as an entertainment mecca.