I guess this was an inevitable vintage snapshot gallery. After all, regardless of how you may feel about the place, Las Vegas just begs to be captured in photos. Something that will be easily appreciated in these images from the late ’50s to the late ’60s; with the city going from gaudy to gaudiest in that period.
So, for those who know the city and enjoyed the Rat Pack era, these images are for you.
Freemont St. 1955.
Dunes Hotel & Casino entrance, 1957.
The Mint Hotel & Casino, Freemont St. 1957.
Freemont St. 1958.
Stardust Resort & Casino, 1962.
1966.
Freemont St. 1968.
1968.
Freemont St. 1968.
I’ll skip over the glitzy and gaudy stuff and focus on the Cushman Truckster outside of the Stardust Resort & Casino.
It’s not often one finds one of these in a random vintage shot!
I’ve never been out there. These are cool pictures, although I’d imagine so much has changed over the years.
Thanks for sharing
Disneyland for adults, with a two drink minimum! In the first picture a Googlie eyed Lincoln is passing the Silver palace. In picture #2 a staid Packard rests in front of the watch shop, while an early ’50’s Cadillac approaches. A ’54 passes by in the opposite direction. I’m not a fan of Vegas. Too many people desperately trying to have fun. I prefer South Lake Tahoe, better scenery, and a lot less heat!
Fremont Street, March 16, 2024. On street level much like the bar in Star Wars so I kept my eyes focused above. Should note stopped by Tropicana which closed a week later after 67 years. It was there when we drove through in June 1966 on the way to the San Fernando Valley. Now to be torn down for a ball park. That was a day visit since I stay in at night time.
If you compare the top left of the 5th photo with the top left of the one immediately above, looks like the original Fremont hotel building (brown checkered pattern) has survived thru the years.
Amazing!!
I have never been to Vegas, but was told the following by a manger at my first professional job back in 1981:
Folks would fly into Vegas and have the front desk place an envelope, with their name on the outside, in the hotel safe. After the folks had blown all their money gambling and other items, they would retrieve the envelope with the return airline ticket and some pocket money for the taxi and a meal.
There was an old joke about Vegas: “It’s where you could arrive in a five thousand dollar car and go home in a fifty thousand dollar bus.” Growing up in Los Angeles, Vegas represented a bizarre lure. I was there in 1964 when my mother married my stepfather. In the 70s there were many college trips, particularly spring break shenanigans. Then later, in the mid-’00s treated to lavish top-floor suites, front-row concert tickets, prize fights, dinners, and private lounges, courtesy of a high-roller friend and client. Other than the shows and fights, it’s not worth the price of admission IMO.
I`m seeing the films ‘Ocean`s 11’-the original and the best one and the James Bond film ‘Diamonds are Forever’ in my mind while I get misty eyes over there great old photos.
In the 1971 Bond movie (Diamonds are Forever), wasn’t there a chase scene with a Mustang Mach 1 on Fremont St . I distinctly remember Jill St John as Tiffany Case.
That moon buggy chase in the desert was pretty cool too. One of my favorite Bond films, great fun because it didn`t take itself too seriously.
I found it. Hotel Fremont in background:
https://pics.imcdb.org/0is229/diamondsmustang1nr8.4524.jpg
Featured on the Stardust Resort & Casino (1962) marquee is Arthur Godfrey, who within my lifetime (I’m 70) went from being an ubiquitous entertainment figure to now – total obscurity… for the life of me I cannot remember one thing about him (except a hazy visage), or *why* he was even so popular in the first place…
Another thought: without now – universal vehicle air – conditioning, driving here during hot weather must have been sheer torture for the many who did not have it… at least the tourist structures had air con or swamp coolers back then…
I noticed Godfrey on the marquee too. The first I had ever heard of him was from his cameo on a Moby Grape album from 1968, which I bought in the late ’80s (and was pressed on vinyl at 78rpm on an otherwise normal 33-1/3rpm LP for maximum effect; you had to flip the speed switch for the last song on side 1, if your turntable even had a 78 speed). I later learned he was once very famous and ubiquitous on radio and TV, but didn’t realize how much so until I read the Wikipedia piece on him this morning.
Remember “A/G” from some commercials, guest spots (TV), in the “60’s/70’s”.
I think he lived in “Loudoun county, VA” for a while.
I also noticed that Arthur was on the marquee. I’m well old enough to remember when he was popular. My mother often had his radio show on, so I heard it from the 1950’s well into 1960’s. Even as a kid, it seemed that his stories came full circle into repetition. I do recall one tale of a happenstance missing of a flight that went down with all lost. Perhaps from Hawaii?
> without now-universal vehicle air-conditioning, driving here during hot weather must have been sheer torture for the many who did not have it
I just noticed the thermometer above The Mint hotel in third from bottom photo (top center) reads 102°F !!
Godfrey was a huge radio star in the forties for CBS, later becoming just a huge a star for CBS in the early years of television. It’s said that he alone was responsible for 10% of CBS’ revenue at the time. He had this on-air folksy charm, which masked his true overbearing, thin-skinned and insufferable personality. By 1960 he was basically finished on television and by 1962 reduced to Vegas appearances. A complicated, interesting man for sure.
I miss most of the store, hotels, and restaurants being independent rather than the same big chains you have in every other city. Why go see someplace that looks just like the place you left?
That was the best Vegas!
The current strip can’t compare.
As the only regular poster on CC who actually lives here, I will absolutely agree that things were (in many ways) better before. OTOH, in my line of work, I can’t make more money anyplace else. So here I am.
Having been to Vegas for the first time last summer (daughter-in-law’s graduation from a 6-month USAF advanced pilot course), I’m glad to hear it was better back then.
My impressions were awful. I didn’t know which side of the main drag was Sodom and which was Gomorrah. Seeing a lot of people who didn’t look like they should be throwing $ away doing exactly that was depressing.
We did have some good meals, but everything was quite expensive. Beyond that, my first visit will hopefully be the last.
Never been to Vegas as I don’t gamble and have strong disdain for all things kitsch. Unless said kitsch is making fun of itself. However I would love to walk the strip at night and check out all the over the top lighting. Maybe after taking in a cirque du soleil show if that’s even still going on. Oh and also a vist the Vegas Neon Museum. Neon is such a treat to the eyes after being in a world of LED lights.
Las Vegas is not my thing either. I only go because my wife gets 2-3 free nights and when she wants to go I go. You know happy wife happy life. She plays blackjack with the casinos money and wins $100-300 80% of the time. So all meals are paid for. If she loses it is because she has lost the money the hotel fronted her. So win win. I like the State Parks and hiking in them when the weather is in the mid 60s. So summer is out. At night, after dinner, she plays and I got a drink to sit down and read Sand and Steel.
Fremont Street, 1958 : “RESTAURAT”?
Good eye! Why on earth the spelling?
I’ve only been through Vegas and Reno once. That was as a 12 year old on an extended family road trip in 1964. We didn’t dally long in Vegas but had a guide in Reno from a family friend we were visiting there. As a kid, my top memory is of the large number of drunks that were seen crawling across city streets. Some on hand and knees, some on their bellies.
Another item that impressed me was the preponderance of silver dollars in general circulation in 1964. Most particularly in Nevada and Arizona.
Interesting the lack of love for LV. Most people I know really like it. As recently as the 90’s you could have an inexpensive vacation there, for cheap, as long as you didn’t gamble much. Decent rooms for cheap at many places. Some great bargains on meals. Lots of shows, some good, some not to my taste at all. My wife and I used to spend a week there every year and had a great time, on a modest budget. A nice car show/collection at the Imperial Palace, you could spend a couple of days just exploring new or remodeled casinos, and some, like myself had no need to gamble much, there really was plenty to do without gambling. Not that it didn’t have it’s gritty underside with plenty of victims, mostly self inflicted, but not all.
But… around the turn of the century, computers struck, they started offering tracking cards with some added benefits, and they only gave deals to real gamblers. Those of us who weren’t all of the sudden had to pay full price or more for everything, no more $5.95 Prime Rib dinner specials, no more $25 rooms. Used to be they just wanted everybody, figuring they would make money on most.
Still a fun town, but no longer a bargain.
One of my happy places! I love Las Vegas. I also don’t drink and give myself a limited gambling budget. For me, it’s more about the experiences shared with my friends, meeting new people, all of that history and Americana, and it’s just a fun place.
I wonder if the owner of the Rambler in the first picture could have had something nicer if he or she hadn’t gambled so much. That’s not judgement but just a question.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a regular 4-door ‘57 Chevy Station Wagon like the one parked in front of The Mint. Although more rare when produced, whenever you see one nowadays, it’s a 2-door Nomad… I think you kids call that style of car a “shooting brake”. ;o)
CC Effect: On the way home from work on Tuesday, I saw what appeared to be an all original example, right down to the wheel-covers, on the back of a small car carrying trailer with two other modern cars. I would’ve loved to have heard the story of that ‘57 Chevy Wagon.
I have many wonderful memories of Vegas. Parents divorced in the late 1950s and Mom moved us to San Francisco. I have never learned the whole story but she went to work for the SFPD, undercover dating mob guys. Regardless, she had a boyfriend, Tony, an exceptionally good looking Italian. I considered him really good dad replacement material. Mom drove a new white 1960 T-Bird conv., Tony had a new white 1960 Chevy Impala conv. with red interior. Best was Tony had a Cessna and flew us many places including monthly visits to Vegas. We mostly stayed at Caesars’ Palace. For a few years my weekly allowance was paid with silver dollars Mom won at Blackjack. While Tony & Mom were doing their thing, my 9-11 year old self roamed the casinos. At that early age I fell in love with the lights and energy of the noise. I was not neglected, we went to shows and dinned at wonderful restaurants.
In the late 1970s, while living in Houston, met a German guy. He wanted to share an apartment, a place to park his Lincoln. He would only be in Houston one week a month. Great roommate material. I only asked once what he did for a living. Commodities. I knew when to not as questions. He was a High-Roller and the MGM Grand Hotel would fly us from Houston to Vegas monthly. I did not question. But then one time, I couldn’t go, and that is when the MGM Grand caught fire. I never heard from my apartment roommate again. Weeks later the FBI contacted me regarding my roommate. I knew nothing.
As the years rolled by, I became an interior designer of casino hotels. I had a wonderful career, in part due to my experience with Las Vegas in the late 1950s-early 1960s.
Loved reading this account. Thanks for sharing it.
I played in a lounge band at the Aladdin back then, Vegas has changed so much I don’t think I’ll ever go back. It was fun, educational to say the least, I got to meet a bunch of famous and infamous folks, but it’s history. Wonderful memories of some incredibly talented people who I miss very much. But time has caught up to us……
Nice article. I’ve never been to Las Vegas. With the recent closing and ultimate demolition of the Tropicana, the Vegas I want to see is vanishing, only to be found in articles like this and in movies. I’ve always been intrigued by Mid-Century Modern culture and architecture, particularly the “Googie” genre (attention grabbing structural devices) which are employed in MCM Vegas designs, and most likely why I am fascinated with old LVNV. I had not seen an image of the early sign (featuring Arthur Godfrey) for the Stardust Casino. The replacement (attached image) – IMO – invokes more of its name through imagery. In the posted image, I noticed opposite the early sign is the tiki bar (another MCM fascination of mine) for the Stardust. Years ago, a close friend (also an old car enthusiast) of mine suggested the similarity of the rear of a 1959 Chevrolet to some tiki faces. Since then, I’ve never been able to un-see it.
Drove quickly thru it in way to Reno… love to have see the sights and glitz and entertainment . Not a gambler…I think I played “go fish “ as a kid in the fifties. I never grew up .. I still have several 50’s cars as hobby and even my everyday all year round car is a 30 yearly old Lincoln Town car .
I can identify each 50’s cars in the pics .. the 60’s and newer cars my pal Brian Odat can do that.
I too work too hard for my $ to want to throw it away yet my Sweet loves Las Vegas so we go a few times each year…..
No A/C really is rough but we/I manage .
I miss the old timey glitter but time marches on as they say .
I can always find things to amuse my self with until she calls me to pick her up for a nice dinner .
I often like to drive around the residential neighborhoods, it’s *very* different from the face image they want you to see & think of .
-Nate
Another way to see vintage Vegas, is the NBC show Crime Story, ran from 1986-88. Probably on some streaming service, was available for a while in a DVD set of each season. Set in early 60s Chicago to begin with, and then late in the first season they move to Vegas. Starred Dennis Farina, Anthony Denison, and Stephen Lang, among others. Great show, check it out!
I have lived in Vegas since 1996. While there certainly have been many changes to the landscape of casinos and resorts, Vegas is a great place to live. I moved here because I worked in construction and it was/still is boomtown for work. I raised my family here. This place can be an adult Disneyland for sure. I guess it’s all in where your priorities lie. In 27 years, I can count on one hand how many times I’ve spent gambling. And that’s when family or friends came to town. I’ve seen some great shows and concerts. I’ve eaten at some first class restaurants. Most importantly, I joined a wonderful church. And I became involved with the community and made this place my home. I guess what I’m getting at is this, Vegas is as good or bad as you make it, just like anywhere else. And to all of the tourists that are ALWAYS coming to town, Thank you. Come back often. The casinos will be glad take your money. And that will benefit my community.