Las Vegas Sights and Landmarks
There isn’t a lot of history in the conventional sense to be found in Las Vegas. Though the area has been populated by various people since prehistory, Las Vegas as we know it only began Downtown around the turn of the 20th century and the Strip wasn’t born until the 1940s.
Rather, when people think of Las Vegas history, they tend to think of the Rat Pack or the gangsters who made their marks here in the city’s early days. While there isn’t actually anything left of the original Sands, where the infamous Rat Pack concerts/comedy/lounge shows were put on by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop, or of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s original Flamingo—the first “carpet joint” that kicked off resort Vegas, echoes, reproductions, and homages abound. There are plans for a gangster museum to open in Las Vegas in 2010, but in the meantime, the city is home to several unusual attractions that can round out your Vegas experience with a little history, color and action.
The Neon Museum is dedicated to preserving and restoring the history and popular culture of Las Vegas’s inimitable neon signs and lights. Dedicated to preservation, restoration and education of and about the glitzy signs that gave Las Vegas so much of its character, the museum has installed some classic signs (such as the Hacienda Horse & Rider at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Fremont St.) restored others for display at its soon-to-open La Concha Motel lobby, and the dark and hulking shells of signs awaiting restoration at its infamous “Boneyard.” At the moment, tours are by appointment only, but coming in mid-2009, the museum will have regular hours to explore the wonders of Las Vegas lights past.
History touched Las Vegas in ways beyond entertainment and amusement, as well. Much of America’s early above-ground atomic testing took place in the desert outside of the city, and the Atomic Testing Museum provides an absorbing and engaging look at what happened there. With exhibits that display videos of the cultural times swirling around the atomic age, the museum provides a complete, interactive and fascinating story of America’s expansion into military might. The gift shop even offers Albert Einstein action figures, that’s something you don’t see every day. Costing $12 a head and located nearby the Strip, the Atomic Testing Museum offers a vital and refreshing look into a little-explored but vastly important slice of 20th century American History.
If you’ve always wanted to live your NASCAR dreams and aren’t against spending quite a lot for the chance, the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is just what you’ve been looking for. The price varies between $150 for a ridealong with a professional instructor all the way up to the full-day, 80-lap, $2500 Racing Experience. Buses will take you from the Luxor or Harrah’s to the track where you can harness the horses and fulfill your need for speed in truly exhilarating fashion.
No mention of Las Vegas area attractions would be complete without Hoover Dam. When it was completed in 1935, the concrete arch-gravity dam was both the largest electric power-generating station and the largest concrete structure in the world. Though it was soon surpassed on both counts by the Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam is an impressive sight and the story of the people who constructed it is fascinating. The dam supplies power to Nevada, Arizona, and most of Southern California. Located thirty miles southeast of Las Vegas on the Nevada/Arizona border, dam tours cost $11 for adults and take place year all year long.