Las Vegas Archive

The History of the Las Vegas Strip For eight years, Frank and Angela did quite well with their Pair-O-Dice Club—so well that in 1938, Guy McAfee, a former vice squad officer from Los Angeles, took an interest in the property. He bought them out, renovated the club to make gambling its top...

The first wave of “wise guys” to set up shop in Las Vegas came from California, where strict laws against illegal gambling forced a hasty migration eastward in the 1930s. Among those pioneers was Tony “The Admiral” Cornero. A Prohibition-era bootlegger and convicted felon, he used his brothers Louis and Frank as front men...

Over the next 21 years, gambling existed in Nevada primarily as an underground activity, tacitly recognized as illegal but generally tolerated by local law enforcement. Then, as the entire nation tumbled into the Great Depression, Nevada lawmakers began to see the advantages of legalization as a potential solution for local economic woes. On March...

For those who take gaming seriously, the new Las Vegas party pits and costumed "dealertainers" of the Strip are side shows to be avoided. “Real” gambling still exists for those who know where to look for it and, not surprisingly, many of the best games in town are located along and around Fremont Street...