Hello, For the last couple of years, I have had a new Classic Las Vegas site but have maintained this one as well. As of today-January 20th, 2018, this site will remain but I won't be doing any active posting to it. As the technology of blogging has improved, the new site offers better ways to post photo galleries and images as well as video clips. All is not lost, just bookmark this site: Classic Las Vegas There you will find the same great subject matter, the history of Las Vegas from someone who grew up there and still loves the Las Vegas that was once there (and still is if you know where ..read more

From our house to yours, hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends and lots of memories!   Remember, if you are starting your holiday shopping this weekend, we recommend our two books on the history of the Classic Las Vegas Strip, including detailed histories from conception to implosion (with a few survival stories) built during those years for that Las Vegas lover in your life: Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1956-1973   Happy Thanksgiving ..read more

This Friday evening, Nov. 10th,  at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, I will be giving a presentation on my new book, Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1956-1973. I'll be talking about hotels built in those years as well as the architecture, the neon, and the efforts to get the mob out of the hotels in the late 1970s. So if you love Classic Las Vegas and Las Vegas History, you should enjoy this presentation. The reception begins at 6:30 pm with the talk at 7:00 pm. Hope to see you there! Go the Book Section of the website for information and links to buy the book. ht ..read more

I truly love the Classic Las Vegas era. Perhaps it has something to do with growing up there during its heyday as the Entertainment Capital of the World. But some of my fondest memories are of the giant neon signs that used to dot the landscape. From the fabulous Strip to the canyon on neon that was Fremont Street to the various neighborhoods, neon seemed to be everywhere. My family used to go to Lake Mead on weekends to swim and soak up the sun. Driving home, Boulder Highway was ablaze in neon signs. Turning onto Fremont Street, the neon continued as we passed the Sky Ranch motel and all the ..read more

Dear Classic Las Vegas fans! Volume 2 of my Las Vegas history book has just been released  - and is available in all e-reader formats! This multimedia-rich book is a follow up to my previously released Volume 1 book (1930-1955). It continues the historical journey by telling the fascinating story of the Las Vegas Strip hotels built during the turbulent years of cultural and societal change, 1956-1973. Offering the perspective of those who were there, you will read detailed histories of those hotels from conception to implosion (with a few survival stories) and learn about the visionaries ..read more

Writer John L. Smith wrote a dynamite review for my book, Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955: It was just before Christmas in 1955 when New Orleans sax man Sam Butera received a phone call at home. It was his old pal and occasional running mate Louis Prima on the line. Prima’s high-energy performances with Keely Smith had made them a must-see act on the Las Vegas Strip. But the act needed to kick it up a notch. Prima was calling that Christmas Eve with a request for Butera to hop on a flight to Vegas and let that tenor sax rip. Vegas would have to wait, but only until t ..read more

We are thrilled to share this news: Just wanted to give everyone a heads up-tomorrow evening-Monday, January 30th- is Classic Las Vegas night on Turner Classic Movies (TCM)! The films they will be showing are a great visual time capsule of what the Las Vegas Strip looked like in its glory days as the Entertainment Capital of the World. Beginning at 8:00 pm EST/5:00 pm PST, they are showing: 8:00/5:00: Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956) starring Cyd Charisse and Dan Dailey. A ballerina becomes a gambler's lucky charm. Co-stars Agnes Moorehead and Jim Backus. 10:00/7:00 The Las Vegas ..read more

If you are still making New Year's resolutions, don't forget to add Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 to your reading list! This entertaining e-book covers the formative years of the Las Vegas Strip with detailed histories of the first ten hotels built on the famed boulevard. From conception to destruction (with the exception of the Flamingo hotel which is still going strong), the book highlights the architecture, the entertainers, the people who worked in the hotels and the men who dreams made it all possible. Without them, the Las Vegas Strip of t ..read more

May everyone have a wonderful holiday season filled with hope, love, family and warmth! Thanks to all for the continued support!      Thanks to Joel Rosales for permission to use the images!   And if you have not read Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 what better time than now! Classiclasvegas.com Happy Holidays ..read more

As you begin your holiday shopping, please don't forget-Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955. If you love or know someone who also loves Las Vegas history, the Las Vegas Strip and/or the hotels that used to be there, this book makes a perfect gift.  Everyone thinks they know the history of the Las Vegas Strip but the real story is one that many people will be surprised to learn that they know only parts of the story. Want to know what was there before the Bellagio, the Wynn and the Encore, the SLS, the Venetian, or those empty plots of land that look out of place? Wh ..read more