Ahhh, Las Vegas. What happens there, stays there! From the dazzling marquees to the magnificent performances, endless slot machines, and a whole world more, Sin City has it all. These nostalgic and historical photos bring us back to the earliest days of Vegas. 

In this black and white photo from 1935, we see a crowd gathering around a roulette wheel. This photo was snapped during the four-day Helldorado celebration. Helldorado was a special event in Vegas that was focused on celebrating the city’s historical roots. 

1936 was a massively important year for Las Vegas with the completion of the Hoover Dam. It was a monumental achievement. The Dam generated cheap hydroelectricity that was instrumental in providing power to Fremont’s flashing “Glitter Gulch” signs. It also was built to provide irrigation water and to control the Colorado River’s seasonal flooding. 

In the later part of the 1930s, the city became known for its “quickie weddings.” Easy and fast weddings at A Little White Wedding Chapel have been ingrained in Nevada’s history since the early 1900s. It wasn’t until 1931 that weddings became an integral part of Las Vegas’s flourishing tourism industry, which is worth $58 billion today.

This cool vintage postcard from the late 1930s esteems Las Vegas as the “Scenic Center of the Southwest.” That statement is absolutely true and continues to hold true to this very day. Las Vegas is so much more than just the glitz and glam of the Strip. 

Located some miles from downtown, constructions along the Strip were built with the sole intention of attracting travelers heading to the city before actually arriving. The 91 Club (or, Pair-O-Dice Club as it was more famously known) was the first club ever built on Highway 91, which later became Las Vegas Boulevard. 

Here we see some female contestants lining up for a beauty pageant contest at Vegas’ Treasure Island Casino. Beauty pageant contests such as Miss Nevada began in 1949 and Miss America went even further back to 1921. 

In this photograph, small crowds of people inside a cheap Vegas bar test their luck with slot machines. The history of slot machines dates all the way back to 1891 when the first ever version of the slot machine was noticed. 

As the first “true” full-scale casino resort in Las Vegas, the El Rancho didn’t have the glitz or fame of the other early casinos. Nonetheless, it was a pioneer of the Strip. When it opened in 1941, Southern Nevada was quite a different place. 

Blonde bombshell and actress, Betty Grable, is seen in this photo cutting a piece of cake with her husband, Harry James, a trumpeter and rockstar band leader, following their wedding ceremony at The Little Church of the West. 

The New Western Casino marquee stayed in business from 1942-1944 on Fremont Street, which today is known as “old Vegas.” It’s located north of the Vegas strip and was the city’s first paved street. According to some newspaper reports, the reason it has “new” in front of its sign didn’t necessarily have anything to do with “new” being in the title, it simply was new.

Nicknamed “Bugsy,” Benjamin Siegel was a prominent figure in the Las Vegas scene. Contrary to popular belief, Bugsy didn’t actually invent Vegas. He did, however, influence how it developed and grew. In fact, his sensationalized death helped to put Vegas on the map. 

The Golden Nugget Casino is one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas and has gone through many transformations since its grand debut in 1946. Birthed during the heyday of the mob’s influence on Vegas, its founder, Guy McAfee, was a kingpin in Los Angeles’ illegal gambling ring. He went to Vegas after there was a crackdown on LA crime. 

Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas on December 26, 1946. Unfortunately,  its grand opening was unsuccessful. Hollywood guests wouldn’t come because of the horrible weather. The casino lost $300,000 in the first week of its opening. 

Here’s another photo taking place at the Flamingo Hotel, and this one is of famous crooner Tony Martin who was known for his romantic 1950s ballads, and his 60-year marriage to dancer Cyd Charisse. She was his second wife. 

Also considered the “playground of the elite,” the Flamingo still endures 76 years later. It’s a living example of Las Vegas’ incredibly rich and controversial history, and it was also a time that Vegas tried to leave behind, but has been leaning into. 

To this day, A Little White Chapel remains the best and most popular spot for quick weddings, and that tradition still holds up to this very day. The Chapel is open for 24 hours, it has a drive-thru window and an auto aisle called the Tunnel of Love. It was established in 1951. 

Helldorado Days is a two-day celebration where the city participates in a festive parade, rodeo, and carnival. The celebration happens every year in mid-May and is held by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

On April 24, 1950, the Desert Inn opened its doors to the public and became the Strip’s fifth major resort. The hotel’s completion did take a few years due to money issues, but the final product was a luxurious place and boasted 300 hotel rooms. 

The Nevada Testing Site was positioned 65 miles north of Las Vegas and was one of the most prominent nuclear weapon testing sites in all of the United States. Nuclear testing, as seen lighting up the sky in the background, occurred at that site between 1951 and 1992. 

An American actress and entertainer, Marilyn Maxwell had a career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s. In this photo, she is seen wrangling her tiger (named “Tiger Lil”) before making her entrance at a Vegas nightclub. 

The folks in this photo enjoy some poolside gambling. Among all of the well-known hotels in the annals of Las Vegas, the Dunes and the Sands were only two of the hotels that were most popular back in the 1950s. 

Nowadays, most of us probably couldn’t think of Vegas without showgirls coming to mind. Showgirls are defined as women who typically wear costumes that are elaborately decorated and perform in a musical or theatrical production. 

The story behind this photo is quite incredible. This stewardess hugs a man after a United Airlines plane that was en route from New York to Honolulu crash landed at the Las Vegas Airport. 

Eddie Fisher, an American singer, and actor, was one of the most popular artists of the 1950s. He sold millions of records and even hosted his own TV show called The Eddie Fisher Show. Also, he was best known for his glamorous wives. 

Biff’s was a California-based restaurant chain named after the son of restaurateur W.W. “Tiny” Naylor, who ran a restaurant at The Mint. His son, W.W. “Biff” Naylor, now owns the Du-Pars chain. 

The game that this woman in the photo is playing at a Las Vegas casino is commonly referred to as “craps.” Craps is a dice game where players bet on the outcomes of a dice roll. Players can wager money against each other or against a bank. 

In this photo, the world’s best-selling music artist and pop culture icon, Frank Sinatra, interrupts Joey Bishop on stage during Dean Martin’s birthday celebration. Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor are seen watching from the audience. 

Slot machines at bus stations? That’s not a common thing to hear about or see. Slot machines come in all shapes, colors, and sizes in Las Vegas. In fact, they are everywhere. However, downtown Las Vegas seems to have the best kinds. 

Tony Curtis, an American actor who had an expansive career marking six decades, is pictured here when he was 35 years old. His new bride, Christine Kaufmann, a German-Austrian actress, was only 18 years old when she married Curtis at the Hotel Riviera. Apparently, only five people saw this wedding happen. 

Now let’s turn attention to one street that housed many of the famous casinos. Fremont Street. This street is named after the popular politician and explorer, John C. Frémont. If you want to capture the essence of Las Vegas, you have to visit Fremont Street. 

Sitting pretty at Las Vegas Boulevard, and about 23 minutes walk from Fremont, is the Thunderbird Hotel. Its 3 floors and 100 rooms of hospitality with a giant bird towering above the building. The vehicles parked around give us proof that it’s 1965. But there’s something more interesting about the photo. 

Sahara Hotels and Casino is one of the well-known recreation spots in Las Vegas. The company began its operations in 1952 and this picture shows us how it looked fourteen years later. 

This daytime overview of this busy Las Vegas street will give you a solid idea of the high-volume activity it enjoyed. This is a busy street by 1967 standards. It gets better in the nighttime when the casinos come alive. 

Imagine what a Thanksgiving at one of the luxury Las Vegas casinos and hotels would look like in 1968. The rooms and game halls would be packed full in the evenings. Also, a Thanksgiving turkey will probably taste different when eaten in a casino.