Story Archive

A Gamble in the Sand

How Las Vegas transformed itself from a railroad watering hole to the 'Entertainment Capital of the World'

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Despite the pull of its gaming and glamour, this city is like many other major metropolises — a community that cares about its citizens, relishes its own distinct economic and social roles, and offers individuals the ability to fulfill and flourish within their own desires and dreams. And the small railroad town that was formed a little more than 100 years ago didn’t become “The Entertainment Capital of the World” on pure luck, either.

Show and (a lot to) tell

Number of showgirls may be shrinking, but their iconic stories live on

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Behind the glitz, the glamour and the greasepaint, Las Vegas showgirls created an image of “Sin City” second to none.

Las Vegas weather can be a gamble

Snow, flash floods, and even tornadoes shake up normal heat wave

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Experimental computer models tell scientists that the jet stream, the river of air flowing around the world, could mean drier conditions in the southern tier of the United States, according to Kelly Redmond, regional climatologist with the Desert Research Institute's Western Regional Climate Center in Reno.

Atomic testing burned its mark

Test Site employed thousands, put many more at risk

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Nuclear weapons testing — atomic fireballs in Nevada’s predawn skies — began six years after the first atomic bomb, Trinity, exploded on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico.

Desert highway turned destination

Thursday, May 15, 2008

A small slice of the once humble Highway 91, a two-lane road that offered an arduous trip between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, has become one of the most famous streets in the world: the Las Vegas Strip.

Tying the knot with ease or Elvis

'Wedding Capital' offers variety of ceremonies, themes

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Each couple coming to Las Vegas to wed has a unique reason.

Whether the ceremony is spur of the moment or needs an Elvis, Gothic or Star Trek theme, this 24/7 town offers a round-the-clock wedding schedule, including drive-through services at some chapels — great for those celebrities in hiding.

A revolutionary recluse

Howard Hughes changed Strip landscape with corporately-owned casinos

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Howard Hughes was one of the brightest figures in Las Vegas’ neon history. But he came to Las Vegas under the cover of darkness during Thanksgiving weekend in 1966. Hughes rode in on a fortune. His father had invented an oil well drill bit that could penetrate hard rock, leaving his son one of the richest people in the world.

Elvis has yet to leave the building

Despite his untimely death 30 years ago, The King's legacy in Las Vegas lives on through tribute artists, impersonators and even 'Flying Elvi'

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Elvis Presley’s opening night on July 26, 1969, at the International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton) had Las Vegas Sun columnist Ralph Pearl eating crow.

Las Vegas' magic duo

Siegfried & Roy amazed audiences with help of white tigers

Thursday, May 15, 2008

One of Las Vegas’ most successful acts was born on the high seas when Siegfried Fischbacher met Roy Horn on a cruise ship in 1957.

Siegfried worked as a cabin steward, Roy as a waiter. The pair began doing magic tricks for the ship’s passengers and eventually got their own show.

Showtime: How Sin City evolved into 'The Entertainment Capital of the World'

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Before central air conditioning and eye-catching neon lights, the Las Vegas Strip entertainment scene started in the western-themed El Rancho Vegas, a motor lodge located on Highway 91.

Conscience of the community

Sun founder Hank Greenspun fought for little guy; left lasting legacy

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Where in the world was Hank Greenspun?

Mob Ties

Thursday, May 15, 2008

They were law enforcement’s pests and the casino industry’s parasites, arriving in Las Vegas as the feds cracked down on gambling coast to coast. They were the mob — gangsters, hoodlums, thieves, small men — Las Vegas’ founding fathers. Their influence locally lasted about half a century, although their impact on those formative years will forever be threaded into the tapestry of Las Vegas’ lore and history.

Desert oasis drying up

Valley's water supply dwindles with climate change, population growth

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The Las Vegas Valley is seeking ways to squeeze every drop of water out of all available desert resources.

Rat Pack reveled in Vegas; revered by the world

Thursday, May 15, 2008

As improbable as this elegant quintet’s launch in the desert seems, the Rat Pack attracted an avalanche of followers around the world in the early 1960s.

Las Vegas ambassador extraordinaire

Friday, May 9, 2008

World War II fighter pilot G. Barney Rawlings came to Las Vegas in 1947 to sing — launching a half-century career as a performer, emcee and executive director of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Large-scale hepatitis alert has no precedent

Friday, Feb. 29, 2008

The campaign to notify 40,000 patients of a Las Vegas endoscopy and colonoscopy clinic that they might have been exposed to hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV is believed to be unprecedented in U.S. history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Past tragedies at Las Vegas resorts led to safer visits for today’s guests

Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008

The hotel fire with the second-largest loss of life in United States history took place on Nov. 21, 1980, when the 26-story MGM Grand Hotel and Casino burst into flames, killing 87 people and injuring 700.
At the time the MGM spouted a plume of black smoke seen throughout the Las Vegas Valley, there were no requirements for sprinklers, no smoke detectors in rooms and no way to contact guests in their rooms once the electricity was cut off.

MGM fire changed safety standards

Friday, Jan. 25, 2008

The 1980 MGM Grand fire altered safety standards in both Nevada and across the nation.

More about the Monte Carlo

Friday, Jan. 25, 2008

Here are some facts and historical information about The Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, which was damaged in a three-alarm fire on Friday, Jan. 25, 2008.

Deadly casino fires helped rewrite safety standards

Friday, Jan. 25, 2008

Las Vegas residents and visitors have witnessed plenty of fires damage and destroy various hotels over the years.

Elise Vallee: 1928 - 2007

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007

Elise Vallee, a singer and classically trained ballet dancer, arrived in Las Vegas by way of Paris and Hollywood.

HAROLD 'HAL' OBER, 1926-2007

Friday, Nov. 9, 2007

Harold "Hal" Ober came to Las Vegas in 1977 as a homebuilder, but for decades he devoted his time and energies to the needs of children , their education and their environment.

Craig Walton: 1934 - 2007

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007

Craig Walton, UNLV's emeritus ethics professor and president of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, praised Secretary of State Ross Miller's decision in March to learn more about a legal defense fund set up for Gov. Jim Gibbons.

Suicide prevention will get a vote, Reid promises

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised Wednesday that he would bring to a vote a suicide prevention bill to help veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan that has been stalled since spring.

Marine 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey

Sunday, March 18, 2007

After Caroline Cathey's son told her he was heading to Iraq, she couldn't shake a recurring vision. When she thought of her son, she saw three men dressed in green coming to the door of her Reno home.

Horror and fascination

Friday, Feb. 16, 2007

Who: Michael Light

Not enough evidence to prove charges

Friday, Feb. 2, 2007

Not enough evidence to prove charges

Developer has history of failed projects

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007

Las Vegas city officials hope Rohit Joshi is the savvy developer who can turn Neonopolis into a moneymaker and tourist attraction.

Reid: Bush trying to hurt programs that help people

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006

Pointing to the poor relief effort after Hurricane Katrina to attempts to change Medicare and Social Security, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Bush administration is trying to ruin federal programs that help people.

Trucks with low-level nuke material withing safety levels

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006

Tests of trucks carrying low-level nuclear waste for burial at the Nevada Test Site found no violations of federal radiation exposure levels, state scientists have concluded.

Jazz musician Davey Williams dies at age 80

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006

David "Davey" Williams

Christmas trees can be recycled

Monday, Jan. 9, 2006

As the holiday season ends and Las Vegas residents strip their evergreens of ornaments, the Springs Preserve says that Christmas trees can be recycled.

Flu hits hard in the West

Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006

During the last week of 2005, roughly eight out of every 100 patients seeing doctors or arriving at clinics in the Las Vegas Valley had flulike symptoms.

Outlook is grim for small rabbitlike mammals known as pikas

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006

A tiny rabbit-like animal living in the mountains of Nevada appears on the brink of extinction, a new study shows.

Not so pumped

Monday, Jan. 2, 2006

As a stream of vehicles crept north on Las Vegas Boulevard during the New Year's travel crush, drivers filling up at area gasoline stations found prices that have fallen steadily since September.

Next tour of rock art scheduled for Jan. 14

Saturday, Dec. 31, 2005

Ancient people traveling across Southern Nevada left behind their marks.

Special phones among 'Gadgets' used at NTS

Friday, Dec. 30, 2005

By Mary Manning
Las Vegas Sun

Flu cases increase in LV

Friday, Dec. 30, 2005

Flu has arrived in Southern Nevada.

EPA cases increase in Nevada

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005

Environmental Protection Agency enforcement actions in Nevada in 2005 increased by 10 over last year, federal officials said.

Wash getting a face-lift

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005

Officials used a controlled burn in the Las Vegas Wash this week to remove nuisance weeds as part of a program to restore native wetland plants.

Teams gathering native seeds in Nevada

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005

Native Nevada plant seeds have attracted the attention of royalty under a preservation project between a federal agency and Great Britain.

Hospitals, doctors keep tabs on cases of the flu

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005

Although influenza has invaded Nevada, no cases have been reported yet in Clark County, officials said.

Surprising recovery

Monday, Nov. 14, 2005

INYO COUNTY, Calif. -- George Novak has spent the last 35 years living at a mining camp along the western edge of Death Valley National Park, trying to protect his neighborhood -- a desert oasis called Surprise Canyon.

Microscope opening up new worlds

Friday, Nov. 11, 2005

Gazing through the dual lens of UNLV's electron microscope, research scientist Thomas Hartmann can see into the heart of matter.

Warning issued for kids' flu

Friday, Nov. 11, 2005

Noting that a 1-month-old Nevada child stricken with the flu died last year, health officials are concerned about the spread of the virus in young children.

Depot a desert diamond

Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005

Where: Take Interstate 15 from Las Vegas to the Cima Road exit. Kelso is 35 miles south of Baker, Calif., on Kelbaker Road.

Too noisy for neighbors

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005

* The noise study can be found online: www.mccarrannoisestudy.com.

The alphabet soup of park fees

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005

Although Boulder City resident Richard Assalone has a $50 annual pass to enter any National Park Service area in the country, he has to pay an extra fee if he wants to go to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

There is nothing to fear, not even the chicken itself

Monday, Oct. 24, 2005

State and local officials are reassuring nervous Nevadans that despite all of the publicity about bird flu, they can feed wild birds around their homes, and they can eat cooked chickens and turkeys without fear of catching any avian diseases.

Expect winter to be a little warmer, drier

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005

If you like the weather the valley had Monday, you should enjoy it while you can because the region is expected to have a relatively warm and dry winter.