Old Las Vegas, NV

Found a cheap flight one night where I mostly paid airline taxes. So I decided to check out Las Vegas, Nevada. It was brief, last minute, and turned out to be far more intriguing than time would allow. Could I capture the history of Las Vegas through Howard Hughes, Elvis, and the backstory of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? A first lesson: All Vegas stories become entangled. Not necessarily a gambler, I took a deal where I wouldn't choose my hotel or car. Yet, it worked out better than expected, as they equipped me with a brand-new convertible—Vegas Baby. I was aware of Las Vegas, Sin City. Previously I walked around en route to California. I gawked at the godly, over-the-top, Liberacesque veneers of refinement. "Babylon" may have crept up in my throat. Or, like Holden Caulfield, I may have coughed "Phony" into the dry heat. Everyone will have a passing familiarity with Las Vegas. From Leaving Las Vegas to The Hangover, Swingers, Mob films, Heist movies, or even Stephan King's The Stand-- there are a lot of avenues for feelings about Las Vegas to creep into your brain without ever visiting it. But was it all invention, lights and mirrors, a mere carnival facade? It is not. Imagine Howard Hughes holed up in his 9th-floor hotel room at the Desert Inn on the Las Vegas strip, which he never left. He listens and feels the vibrations of the hotel as a nuclear bomb shakes the building from underground tests a mere 65 miles away. bomb shakes the building from underground tests a  mere 65 miles away no one knows what this looked   No one knows what this looked like because the notoriously reclusive man, one of the richest in the world, kept taping the doors shut and never once opened the curtains. This is not entirely true. While the public and even Hughes's closest friends still pictured him from his glory days, no picture of Hughes had been taken upon arriving in five years. Only a handful of personal assistants who lived with him now had seen what he'd become. Had observed how Hughes laid naked in bed on paper towels, watched TV for days strait, never bathed or brushed his teeth, had hair down past his shoulders and a long thin beard, had long curled-up yellow toenails, shot up codeine, assumed a lengthy regiment of self-medication, required enemas, and obsessed over keeping the germs out while drafting detailed OCD instructions on every subject on yellow legal pads. Or how surrounded by his filth, he'd go through the impeccably neat stacks of his memos. Endlessly reshuffling through his memory, the only oasis in the chaos surrounding him. The founding of Las Vegas, Nevada, was very recent, in 1905. But the notion that it is dumb luck that it survived while other towns faded into the desert feels exaggerated. It has an actual reason for existing. Ignoring this and jumping forward would treat its stories as random and inexplicable when they depend on Las Vegas' for existence. Native Americans across the Great American Desert traded long before Europeans entered the region. We know this because we find trade items such as shells and stones from distant sources, maybe even 1000 miles from their sources, and design patterns on pottery moving across the region, some of the first memes. And the tribes themselves know their history. When the Spanish or other Europeans entered the region, Native Americans acted as their guides. Eventually, through trade and pursuits like trapping, some of these Europeans would live with the tribes and learn these routes across the country. I mention this because Las Vegas was a known oasis or spring on the edge of the Mojave Desert. Native Americans likely used it when traveling to and from what is now California in the same way you might when driving today, only much more consequentially. The Southern Paiute called Las Vegas home before Antonio Armijo, a Santa Fe trader, united these previously explored routes for the first time in 1829. Armjo utilized knowledge from Spanish explorations in the mid-1770s and American trappers such as Jedediah Smith a few years before. Here is Frederic Remington's vision of Jedediah Smith crossing the Mojave to California. Las Vegas, or roughly "the Meadows," was already named by the Spanish before John C. Frémont and Kit Carson passed through in 1844. The Old Spanish Trail Frémont described in his journal extended the Santa Trail from Missouri to California. And because of its northern branches, it allowed the Latter Day Saints or Mormons a route to settle in Utah. And, like many trails, it eventually led to routes for the railroads.  The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad formally founded Las Vegas. The Union Pacific is still using this line today. You can visit the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort at a State Historical Park today and see the structure built in 1855 near downtown, with a still-flowing branch from the Las Vegas Springs. You can also visit the Las Vegas Springs themselves. The Paiute, Morman, Spanish, and pioneer families were in Las Vegas, and many of their descendants still participate today. Along with the descendants of miners, railroad workers, workers on the Hoover Dam, service members from the military projects, and those that came to work in the casinos --many of their descents are still present. Las Vegas benefits from some miraculous engineering today, especially with water management. Still, its roots were not anomalous or detached from the entire region's history. There is an interesting and complicated chapter in the Mexican-American War with Frémont and Kit Carson taking over California that crosses this path through Vegas and explains why California has a bear on its flag. But I'll save the Mexican-American War for a full-length episode because it deals with prominent New Mexico, Colorado, and Texas historical events. Just keep the concept of the Mexican-American War handy. And the idea that these background characters in Las Vegas stories aren't just random set pieces --they're actively shaping its stories. Howard Hughes rolled in this time on Thanksgiving of 1966. Just about here, on a private two-car train, and exited on a covered stretcher to be whisked off to the two top floors of the Desert Inn. Las Vegas had already come a long way, especially if we're counting from 1905, a mere 61 years, the exact age of Howard Hughes, coincidentally also born in 1905. Sammy Davis Jr. had gone from being banned from sleeping in the hotels he played to become a key figure in Vegas's Rat Pack. Elvis had already played in 1956 and been rejected "like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party." It was already Sinatra's town. However, billed as The Atomic Powered Singer, Elvis did pick up 'Hound Dog' from Freddie Bell after meeting him at his lounge show on this visit. show on this visit and Liberace at the time the  highest paid performer in Show Business suggested   And Liberace, at the time, the highest-paid performer in show business, suggested "More glitz" when he met Elvis at his show. The crackdown on Los Angeles gambling and the race wire brought the mafia to Las Vegas, which bailed out and bought into several casinos, such as the Desert Inn. The first was El Cortez in 1945. "Bugsy" Siegel also built the Flamingo Hotel and controlled which casinos could access the race wire. Yes, sports scores and controlling this information likely led to Bugsy's unsolved murder. Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn was the original name. Still, when Clark ran out of money during construction, former bootlegger Moe Dalitz stepped in and purchased roughly 75% of ownership in 1949. Clark remained the public face of the DI. Clark, an affable former bellhop and craps dealer, had worked up to owning other smaller Las Vegas casinos before the DI. Clark remained a tireless Las Vegas booster and fixture in the community with his wife throughout his life. This wasn't Howard Hughes's first visit to Vegas or Nevada either. Hughes visited Las Vegas during World War II, staying at the Desert Inn, El Rancho Vegas, and the Flamingo. Then, in the 50s, he'd bought Nevada and Vegas land. Hughes also produced The Las Vegas Story in 1952 for RKO before ceasing productions the following year to hunt for communists in the studio. The Las Vegas Story was penned by Paul Jarrico, a black-listed writer who Hughes engaged in a legal battle to remove his writing credit. Hughes's Las Vegas purchases included a green-painted house where he briefly lived in 53'-54', which is still there. It's adjacent to KLAS television, which he'd later buy while at the Desert Inn. In a pricier version of on-demand, he purchased it so they could play his favorite films on TV late at night. Mysteriously he ordered the house sealed up, and Hughes never returned during the sixties. Hughes eventually gutted and sold RKO piecemeal, with Desilu acquiring the studio lots in 1957 from General Tire. Lucille Ball asked for the tour of her old stomping grounds to be cut short after purchasing it because she found walking around the now-derelict RKO so depressing. Howard also married Jean Peters at a secret ceremony in Tonopah, Nevada, in 1957. Nevada and Las Vegas have marketed themselves over the years based on their liberal laws surrounding income taxes, marriage, divorce, gambling, and even prostitution. Howard's uncle Rupert, who inspired him to go to Hollywood, even made a Nevada divorce picture in 1923. Please note, if you wake up at twilight and your tiredness is mistaken for drunkness by a prostitute -- prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas due to its size. It is the quirk of the hour where the all-night party people encounter the folks trolling for a Starbucks. In 66', Moe Dalitz indicated to Howard's people they should vacate because they'd overstayed their 10-day reservation. Howard's people had taken over the top two floors. The hotel wanted to accommodate the high-rollers expected for New Year's Eve. Bob Maheu, Howard's public face in Las Vegas, joked Howard should just buy the hotel. Before, the gaming commission only allowed principal people to get gaming licenses to cut down, in theory, on silent parties with criminal records. However, because corporations often have many investors, it was impractical to vet or make in-person appearances, a challenge to their acquiring gaming licenses. And because Howard wouldn't leave his room to appear in person, his business associates and the Nevada government changed the law to allow corporations to own casinos specifically. Hughes had arrived in Las Vegas fresh from selling TWA, in his estimation, now with a net worth of 2 billion dollars. America's first billionaire wanted a tax shelter. He'd almost gone to the Bahamas but fretted about hurricanes. He wrote his wife that he didn't have a plan, but creating a private empire in Las Vegas soon became his obsession. After the Desert Inn, Hughes began a buying streak of the Castaways, New Frontier, and The Sands, only to be cut short by a Justice Department monopoly lawsuit over his attempts to acquire the Stardust. Howard needed to figure out how to skirt this because owning only part of Las Vegas wouldn't do. Howard facilitated his business through handwritten notes on yellow legal pads and telephone calls to Bob Maheu while in Vegas. Hughes was distant from other business associates during his Maheu years. But he retained a small group of Mormons to care for him, acting as nurses and personal assistants. They were dubbed the Mormon Mafia by others. Howard liked that the Mormons didn't gamble or drink. Interestingly, Mormons have been involved in gaming on the business side in Nevada since the beginning. For example, E. Parry Thomas was a Mormon banker who lent money to the casinos for expansion, dealing with borrowers with criminal ties and later supporting the Corporate Gaming Act, which allowed Hughes's purchase of the Desert Inn. On May 1st, 1967, 32-year-old Elvis married 21-year-old Priscilla in a second-floor suite in the Aladdin Hotel. Although Evlis flopped in 56', he enjoyed Las Vegas. And would stay at the Sahara for rest and recreation between films. A favorite for him, Elvis made Viva Las Vegas in 1963. His formulaic 31-movie career almost ended his music, but in 1968, an NBC Comeback Special would revive his music. Howard was alone on the 9th floor, and the shaking room rattled him. He wanted the underground nuclear tests to stop. The invisible contamination worried him more than hurricanes. Howard would not have been one of the tourists who would've watched the previous above-ground atomic tests from the Desert Inn's Sky Room Lounge or danced the boogie-woogie Atomic Bomb Bounce there, or driven out to the special seats they constructed at the Nevada Test Site. In fact, after appealing to the military directly, who tried to move the tests further out to accommodate him. Howard then appealed to the governor in a rare phone call. And then directly took the matter up with the commander and chief. But, unfortunately, LBJ didn't grant Howard's request, carefully penned in a letter. Howard reasoned that LBJ expected a bribe instead of a letter, which led to Hughes attempting to buy influence in politics more earnestly and directly than ever before. He was so shook-up by the explosion he began handing out stacks of hundred-dollar bills from the Silver Slipper to Nevada politicians and influencing politics on a national level in earnest. Bob Maheu hired Bobby Kennedy's campaign manager Larry O'Brien right after Hughes watched Bobby's assassination on TV in his room. Nixon previously lost the 1960 presidential campaign due in part to a payment Hughes made to Nixon's brother to bail out his restaurant, home of the Nixon Burger, which went public. Nixon again accepted Hughes's cash and continued to solicit more. But this time, he'd protect the connection and efforts to help Hughes, fearing the repercussions if it again went public. Hughes used his new influence to stop affordable housing in Las Vegas, in an attempt to take over ABC to turn it into a Fox News-like network to influence politics further, to change federal tax laws to allow personal loopholes written specifically for him, and to avoid anti-trust and criminal prosecution for his shady deals, such as Air West. Sadly his innovations in aerospace and satellite technology, or buxom cleavage shots in his films, aren't his only legacy. Unfortunately, Hughes wasn't able to stop the nuclear tests. The government panel he prompted discovered Hughes was, in fact, correct about the real dangers to Nevada from such tests. They choose instead to bury their report, insecure in the ongoing arms race. Next week or now: Watch the collision of Howard Hughes, Elvis, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. And feel the aftershock as it reverberates through America like another Nevada proving grounds blast.