Las Vegas
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of casino resorts and associated entertainment. A growing retirement and family city, it is the 28th most populous city in the United States with an estimated population by the U.S. Census Bureau of 558,383 as of 2009. The estimated population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area as of 2009, was 1,865,746.
Established in 1905, Las Vegas officially became a city in 1911. With the growth that followed, at the close of the century Las Vegas was the most populous American city founded in the 20th century (a distinction held by Chicago in the 19th century). The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. On the other hand, Las Vegas also has the highest number of churches per capita of any major U.S. city. Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip and are seen elsewhere in the city as well. As seen from space, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the brightest city on Earth.
The name Las Vegas is often applied to unincorporated areas that surround the city, especially the resort areas on and near the Las Vegas Strip. This 4 miles stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard is mainly in the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and continues partly into unincorporated Enterprise.
Las Vegas was named by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (vegas in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.
Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west, and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog, that shipped their goods out to the rest of the country. With the proliferation of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam in 1935 resulted in the growth of residents and tourism. The dam, located 30 miles southeast of the city, also formed Lake Mead, the US's largest man-made lake and reservoir. Today, tours are offered into lesser known parts of the dam. The legalization of gambling in 1931 led to the advent of the casino-hotels, for which Las Vegas is famous. Major development occurred in the 1940s. The success of the city's early casino businesses was owed to American organized crime. Most of the original large casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Meyer Lansky or other mob figures at this time. The rapid growth of this gambling empire is credited with dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other major gaming centers in the 1950s.
With the arrival in the late 1960s of billionaire Howard Hughes, who purchased many casino-hotels and television stations in the city, legitimate corporations began to purchase casino-hotels as well, and the mob was run out by the federal government over the next several years. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was also augmented by a new source of federal money. This money came from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which still goes on today.
Las Vegas is situated on the arid desert floor within Clark County. The surrounding environment is dominated by desert vegetation and some wildlife, and the area is subject to torrential flash floods. Enabling the rapid population expansion was a major addition to the city's sewage treatment capacity. The sewage treatment expansion resulted from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant funding 2008 programs to analyze and forecast growth and environmental impacts through the year 2019.
Las Vegas' climate is an arid, desert climate (Koppen climate classification BWh), typical of the Mojave Desert in which it lies. The city enjoys abundant sunshine year-round and has an average of about 300 sunny days per year, with very little rainfall. The summer months of June through September are very hot and mostly dry with average daytime highs of 94 °F-104 °F and nighttime lows of 69 °F-78 °F; and most days in July and August exceed 100 °F but with very low humidity, frequently under 10%.
The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimates place the population for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area at 1,865,746 people, and the region is one of the fastest growing in the United States. Large numbers of new residents in the state originate from California.
As of the 2005-2007 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, White Americans made up 70.8% of Las Vegas' population; 51.8% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks or African Americans made up 10.6% of Las Vegas' population; 10.4% were non-Hispanic blacks. American Indians made up 0.7% of the city's population; 0.6% were non-Hispanic. Asian Americans made up 5.0% of the city's population; 4.9% were non-Hispanic. Pacific Islander Americans made up 0.4% of the city's population. Individuals from some other race made up 8.9% of the city's population; 0.2% were non-Hispanic.
The median income for a household in the city was $53,000 and the median income for a family was $58,465. Males had a median income of $35,511 versus $27,554 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,060. About 6.6% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.
Las Vegas has one of the highest suicide and divorce rates of the U.S. A research study that found Las Vegas residents are 40% less likely to commit suicide if they leave Las Vegas and visitors are twice as likely to commit suicide there as elsewhere was published in the Las Vegas Sun newspaper in 2008, breaking a long-time taboo on discussion of suicide in Las Vegas. The city's high divorce rate is not wholly due to Las Vegans themselves getting divorced. Since divorce is easier in Nevada than most other states, many people come from across the country for the easier process.
For similar reasons, Las Vegas has also one of the highest marriage rates of U.S. cities as well, with many licenses issued to people from outside the area
The primary drivers of the Las Vegas economy have been the confluence of tourism, gaming, and conventions which in turn feed the retail and dining industries. The city serves as world headquarters for the world's two largest Fortune 500 gaming companies, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage. Several companies involved in the manufacture of electronic gaming machines, such as slot machines, are located in the Las Vegas area. In the 2000s retail and dining have become attractions of their own. Tourism marketing and promotion are handled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a county wide agency. Its annual Visitors Survey provides detailed information on visitor numbers, spending patterns and resulting revenues.
Constant population growth means that the housing construction industry is vitally important. In 2000 more than 21,000 new homes and 26,000 resale homes were purchased. In early 2005 there were 20 residential development projects of more than 300 acres each underway. During the that same period Las Vegas was regarded at the fastest growing community in the U.S. However, the recession of 2007-2009 and the accompanying business downturn has sent business and growth tumbling, with Las Vegas recording one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country. The disappearance of disposable consumer income and the backlash against corporate entertainment spending sent the hospitality industry into a tailspin that it has yet to recover from as of late 2009.
The city of Las Vegas, Nevada and its surrounding unincorporated communities in the Las Vegas metropolitan area are the sites of more than 160 high-rises, 40 of which stand taller than 400 feet. The tallest structure in the city is the Stratosphere Tower, which rises 1,149 feet on the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. The tower is also the tallest observation tower in the United States. Because the Stratosphere Tower is not fully habitable, however, it is not considered a "building". The tallest building in Las Vegas is the under-construction Fontainebleau Resort Las Vegas, which rises 735 feet and was topped out in early 2009. The tallest completed building in the city is the 53-story Palazzo, which rises 642 feet and was completed in 2007.
The history of skyscrapers in Las Vegas began with the 1954 completion of the Castaways Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas; the 216-foot structure stood as the tallest building in the city until 1961, and was demolished in 2006. Beginning with the completion of the Diamond of the Dunes Tower in 1961, high-rise hotels began to become more concentrated on the Las Vegas Strip. The first high-rise hotel and casino resort to rise higher than 500 feet was the 529-foot New York-New York Hotel & Casino, completed in 1997.Las Vegas entered into a skyscraper-building boom in the late 1990s that has continued to the present; of the city's 40 tallest skyscrapers, 39 were completed after 1997. As of 2009, the skyline of Las Vegas is ranked 60th in the world and 20th in the United States with 168 completed high-rises.
In what is being dubbed a "Manhattanization wave", there are over 30 skyscrapers that are proposed, approved or under construction in the city that are planned to rise over 400 feet in height. The tallest building approved for the city is the World Jewelry Center, which has been approved for construction in Downtown Las Vegas. The 815-foot (248 m) tower is part of a proposal to construct a hub for the world's jewelry industry, and was originally expected to be completed in 2011. As of July 2009, however, the building's construction has been delayed by several months as a result of the global economic crisis. The tallest building under construction in Las Vegas is the Fontainebleau Resort Las Vegas, which has also been the tallest building in the city since its topping out in early 2009. That project, however, is facing difficulties resulting from the economic crisis; as of July 2009, construction has been reduced to skeleton crews due to financial problems and lawsuits.
When The Mirage opened in 1989, it started a trend of further development of the southern portion of the Las Vegas Strip. This resulted in a drop in tourism in the downtown area but many recent projects and condominium construction have increased visitors to downtown.
A concerted effort has been made by city officials to diversify the economy from tourism by attracting light manufacturing, banking, and other commercial interests. The lack of state individual and corporate income tax and very simple incorporation requirements have fostered the success of this effort.
Las Vegas has recently enjoyed an enormous boom both in population and tourism. The urban area has grown outward so quickly that it is beginning to run into Bureau of Land Management holdings along its edges, increasing land values enough that medium- and high-density development is beginning to occur closer to the core. As a reflection of the city's rapid growing population, the new Chinatown of Las Vegas was constructed in the early 1990s on Spring Mountain Road. Chinatown initially consisted of only one large shopping center complex, but the area was recently expanded for new shopping centers that contain various Asian businesses.
With the Strip expansion in the 1990s, the downtown area (which has maintained an old Las Vegas feel) began to suffer. The city made a concerted effort to turn around the fortunes of downtown. The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) was built in an effort to draw tourists back to the area and has proven to be popular in that regard. Since the recession begain 2008, many of these efforts have closed. The multi-level Neonopolis, closed their 11 theaters and nearly all retail stores. Many high-rise condo projects have also been underway but one of the highest profile building, The Streamline Towers, has gone into bankruptcy. Other promising signs emerged for the area. The city had successfully lured the Internal Revenue Service operations from the far west of the city to a new downtown building that opened in April 2005. The IRS move is expected to create a greater demand for additional businesses in the area, especially in the daytime hours.
The city purchased 61 acres of property from the Union Pacific Railroad in 1995 with the goal of creating something to draw more people to the downtown area. In 2004 Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced plans for Symphony Park, which will include residential and office high-rises, the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, an academic medical center, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and a new City Hall. After failed negotiations with The Related Co. on the development of Union Park in October 2005, San Diego-based Newland Communities was chosen by the city as the new development firm. The Newland contract calls for Dan Van Epp, Newland's regional vice president and former president of the Howard Hughes Corp., to oversee his company's work on Symphony Park. The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute was completed in 2009.
Along with the Symphony Park, other promising residential and office developments have begun construction around downtown Las Vegas. New condominium and hotel high rise projects have changed the Las Vegas skyline dramatically in recent years. Many large high-rise projects are planned for downtown Las Vegas as well as the Las Vegas Strip.
In 2004, the city partnered with Cheetah Wireless Technologies and MeshNetwork to pilot a wide area mobile broadband system. The pilot system is installed downtown, around the Fremont Street Experience. In 2005, on a lot adjacent to the city's 61 ac, the World Market Center opened. It is intended to be the nation's and possibly the world's preeminent furniture wholesale showroom and marketplace, and is meant to compete with the current furniture market capital of High Point, North Carolina.
Las Vegas does not have major-league sports, although the metropolitan population is as large or larger than many cities that have them. The two major reasons are concern about legal sports betting and competition for the entertainment dollar, both of which Las Vegas has in abundance. The city currently has two minor league sports teams, baseball's Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League (the AAA farm club of the Toronto Blue Jays), and hockey's Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL (an affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes).
In the past, the city had teams in the Canadian Football League, the XFL, the WBL, and the Arena Football League. There is speculation that the completion of a new arena that had been expected to open in 2010 (and now has no projected opening date) would bring teams from the NBA and NHL. The city is reportedly on the short list of Major League Soccer for an expansion franchise in the near future. There have also been contacts between city officials and several Major League Baseball owners regarding relocation. The ownership of the Florida Marlins held a widely-publicized meeting with Mayor Oscar Goodman in the winter of 2004. The city was a strong candidate to be the new home of the Montreal Expos, who eventually became the Washington Nationals. It was reported that the guarantee of a new stadium built entirely with public funds swung the balance in Washington's favor. Major League Baseball held their 2008 winter meetings in Las Vegas.
High profile limited-duration sporting events have been successful. Las Vegas hosted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. The NASCAR Sprint Cup series has drawn up to 165,000 fans. Las Vegas also hosts a significant number of professional fights, primarily boxing fights. Many of these fights (such as those in MMA's UFC) take place near downtown or on the Strip in one of the major resort/hotel/casino event centers. Mandalay Bay is frequently a top contender as a venue for the UFC. Las Vegas is often referred to as "The Mecca of boxing" title which it often shares with New York's Madison Square Garden. Meanwhile, the amateur MMA league Tuff-N-Uff competes at The Orleans. The National Finals Rodeo has drawn thousands of fans to the city since 1985, and a contract extension was signed in 2005 keeping the event in Las Vegas through 2014. The NBA Summer League is currently held in the city, and the USA Olympic basketball team trained in the city in 2008.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas competes in NCAA Division I in men's and women's sports. UNLV is a member of the Mountain West Conference. The College of Southern Nevada also has an athletic program, with significant success in baseball at the community college level.
There are strong athletic programs at many Las Vegas high schools, with a number of players in several sports going on to major colleges and professional careers as athletes, including Andre Agassi, Greg Anthony, Marcus Banks, Steven Jackson, Ryan Ludwick, Greg Maddux, Frank Mir, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Reynolds.
The Las Vegas metropolitan area, also known as the Las Vegas-Paradise-Henderson Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, consisting of Clark County. A central part of the metropolitan area is the Las Vegas Valley, a 600 sq miles basin in which is located the metropolitan area's largest city, Las Vegas. The area contains the largest concentration of people in the state. The history of the Las Vegas metropolitan area largely coincides with the history of the city of Las Vegas, whose name is sometimes used to denominate the entire region. The metropolitan area's population was estimated at 1,836,333 in 2007.
Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the many tourist destination buildings in the area. As seen from space, Las Vegas is the brightest city on earth.
On the first Friday of each month, the "First Friday" celebration is held which exhibits the works of local artists and musicians in a section of the city's Downtown region now called the "Arts District".
The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park, also known as the Las Vegas Zoo, exhibits over 150 species of animals and plants.
The $485 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts (currently under construction) will be located downtown in Symphony Park. The center will be appropriate for Broadway shows and other major touring attractions as well as orchestra, opera, and dance performances.
The City of Las Vegas government operates as a council-manager government. The Mayor sits as a Council member-at-large and presides over all of the City Council meetings. In the event that the Mayor cannot preside over a City Council meeting, the Mayor Pro-Tem is the presiding officer of the meeting until such time as the Mayor returns to his seat. The City Manager is responsible for the administration and the day-to-day operation of all of the municipal services and city departments. The City Manager also maintains intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, county and other local governments.
Much of the Las Vegas metropolitan area is split into neighboring incorporated cities or unincorporated communities. Approximately 700,000 people live in unincorporated areas governed by Clark County, and another 465,000 live in incorporated cities such as North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City. Las Vegas and nearly all of the surrounding metropolitan area share a police department, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which was formed after a 1973 merger of the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff's Department. North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City as well as some colleges have their own police departments.
A Paiute Indian reservation occupies about one acre in the downtown area of Las Vegas.
Las Vegas, as the county seat and home to the Lloyd D. George Federal District Courthouse, draws numerous legal service industries providing bail, marriage, divorce, tax, incorporation and other legal services.
Primary and secondary public education is provided by the Clark County School District (CCSD), which is the fifth most populous school district in the nation (projected enrollment for the 2007–2008 school year is 314,000 students in grades K–12).
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is in Paradise, about three miles south of the city limits and roughly two miles east of the Strip. The University of Nevada Medical School has a campus near downtown Las Vegas. Several national colleges, including the University of Phoenix, have campuses in the Las Vegas area. Nevada State College and Touro University Nevada are both in nearby Henderson. The College of Southern Nevada has campuses in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson. Henderson also is home to DeVry University and the Keller Graduate School of Management, as well as the University of Southern Nevada. Other private entities in the Las Vegas Valley include Apollo College, National University, ITT Technical Institute.
RTC Transit is a public transportation system providing bus service throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and other suburban areas of the valley. Intercity bus service to Las Vegas is provided by traditional intercity bus carriers, including Greyhound; many charter services, including Green Tortoise; and several Chinatown bus lines. Amtrak California also operates Deluxe Express Thruway Motorcoach dedicated service between the City and its nearest passenger rail station in Barstow, California.
With the exceptions of Las Vegas Boulevard, Boulder Highway (SR 582), and Rancho Drive (SR 599), the majority of surface streets in Las Vegas are laid out in a grid along Public Land Survey System section lines. Many are maintained by the Nevada Department of Transportation as state highways. The street numbering system is divided by the following streets: Westcliff Drive, US 95 Expressway, Fremont Street and Charleston Boulevard divide the north-south block numbers from west to east. Las Vegas Boulevard divides the east-west streets from the Las Vegas Strip to near the Stratosphere, then Main Street becomes the dividing line from the Stratosphere to the North Las Vegas border, after which the Goldfield Street alignment officially divides east and west. On the east side of Las Vegas, block numbers between Charleston Boulevard and Washington Avenue are different along Nellis Boulevard, which is the eastern border of the city limits. All city street signs begin with a N, S, W, or E designation.
The Las Vegas Monorail (formerly MGM Grand-Bally's Monorail) is a 3.9-mile monorail mass transit system located on the Las Vegas Strip, in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It connects the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester, and does not actually enter the City of Las Vegas. It is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Monorail Company. For tax purposes, the Monorail is registered as a not-for-profit company, which is allowed under Nevada law since the Monorail provides a public service. The state of Nevada assisted in bond financing, but otherwise no public money was used in construction; taxpayer obligation eventually will be incurred.
McCarran International Airport handles international and domestic flights into the Las Vegas Valley. The airport also serves private aircraft and freight/cargo flights. Some of the general aviation traffic use the smaller North Las Vegas Airport and Henderson Executive Airport.
The Union Pacific Railroad is the only class one railroad to provide rail freight service to the city. Until 1997, the Amtrak Desert Wind train service ran through Las Vegas using the Union Pacific Railroad tracks that run through the city. Amtrak service to Las Vegas goes to Needles, California and continues on Amtrak's Thruway Motorcoach bus service. Plans to restore Los Angeles to Las Vegas Amtrak service using a Talgo train have been discussed but no plan for a replacement has been implemented. The Las Vegas Amtrak station was located in the Plaza Hotel. It held the distinction of being the only train station in the United States that was located in a casino.
The major attractions in Las Vegas are the casinos and the hotels. The most famous hotel casinos are located on Las Vegas Boulevard on the portion of that road known as the Las Vegas Strip. These larger casinos are located outside of the city. Many of these hotels are massive, providing thousands of rooms, with their large adjoining casino areas. There are many hotel casinos in the city's downtown area as well, which was the focal point of the city's gaming industry in its early days. Several large hotels and casinos are also located somewhat off the Strip, as well as in the county around the city. As of 2009, total number of hotel rooms in Las Vegas was over 140,000.
Some of the most notable casinos involved in downtown gaming are on the Fremont Street Experience which was granted variances to allow bars to be closer together, similar to the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego.
By the mid 2000s, there was a major move into high rise condominiums, which had a noticeable impact on the skyline, especially in the area around The Strip.
