Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

upr000197 141

Image

File
Download upr000197-141.tif (image/tiff; 27.45 MB)

Information

Digital ID

upr000197-141
    Details

    Rights

    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.

    Digital Provenance

    Digitized materials: physical originals can be viewed in Special Collections and Archives reading room

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    The M O RN IN G T E L E G R A P H NEW YORK, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1956 HOLLYWOOD > by Herb S t e in .IDirOa y LA S VEGAS, Nev. Feb. 2 7 - HOLD T H A T U NDERTAKER: For a patient some goblins of gloom have ticketed as being a heartbeat from oblivion, this amazing c o m ­munity has a vi­tality and zest for livin’ that ain't ready to call it curtains by a longshot . . . There have been some re­verses, s u r e , bpt the town feels it’s a long ,way from the end o f th>> line . . , The First National Bank of Nevada, in a W all Street Journal and Las Vegas Sun ad, has Las Vegas Vic saying: “ The report I that I ’m dead is greatly exag­gerated. In fact,” continues Vic, “ I ain’t even a mite sick. In the past fiv e years my buildin’ permits quadrupled. The num­ber o f my banks and property valuations both tripled. ’Course some other things sort o f petered out. F ’rinstance, my population an* retail sales, bank deposits, school enrollment, an’ electric consumption—T H E Y only dou­bled. Like the feller drove all day a hundred miles an hour and then slowed down to 60. Seemed he was goin’ backwards. Waal, that’s me. I sit in the shade and folks say I ’m daid. Shucks, we’re startin’ two multi-million dollar shoppin’ centers, chuckin’ ten million bucks inta new housin’ projects, plunkin’ 3% million dollars into a convention hall, plus a million more or less inta other things. C’mon down— we got the gol dangdest, rootin’ tot-tin' sure fire excitement you ever seen.” T T H A T ’S B A N K T A L K , and its reflected throughout the Strip where the old-line operators of the major hotels and casinos are still barreling dough into im­provements . . . The ill-fated ex­perience of the Dunes, Royal N e­vada and Moulin Rouge has dampened none of the spirit of the others . . . As a matter o f fact, the old-time operators long ago suggested s p a ci n g the launching o f these three ven­tures further apart— instead of hitting the town almost simul­taneously. But the cry o f “ mo­nopoly” came and the old-timers said no more . . . Today, the state is doing what the wiser boys suggested long ago: con­trolling the openings o f new ven­tures . . . The casino boys still think toe more places the bet­ter, but only if they come in economically sound and in line with the growth o f the commun­ity. “ There’s no reason,” one of the boys told us, “ why this town Las Vegas Far From Dead—It's Still Growing can’t take on one new hotel a year— but i f you toss several at a crack, the town just can’t take it.” T OF COURSE, one o f the great monsters here has been the sky­rocketing cost o f top entertain­ers. W e’re told the tab here a year fo r entertainment outlay by the clubs is $18,000,000. Per­formers think they can ask any figure and get it. The competi­tion is so severe that the asking figure is invariably the shell-out price. Yet, they tell us, this same $18,000,000 o f entertainment would cost Miami only $9,000,- 000, New York $4,000,000 and Los Angeles or Chicago ,about $2,000,000 . . . The strip opera-ors are still seeking a workable formula whereby they can keep the price o f entertainment in line with the ability to pay . . . There's also talk o f knocking off on any entertainment between the Thanksgiving-Christmas lull. This alone would save a fortune. Y LAS VEGAS CAN thrive only on increased traffic. To this end, every effort is being made to make this a big convention town. A bond issue w ill be voted on next month to build the conven­tion hall mentioned above at a cost o f $3,500,000. It’s figured to pass 10 to 1 . . . The Gus Greenbaum-Ben Goffstein group o f the Riviera has already of­fered its 12 acres behind the hotel to the community free as a starting site fo r the building. The Greenbaum outfit that took over the tottering Riviera is an excellent example o f the faith these people have in the future o f Vegas. Greenbaum, Goffstein and associates long ago sold their interest in the successful Flamingo, could have retired for life. But they went into the itiviera, socked better than $2,- 000,000 o f their own coin into it and within six months o f op­eration have the hotel on a real going basis. Smart cookies like these don’t put two million clams on the nose o f a dead horse. V THE CAM PBELL Realty Com­pany here recently put out a book o f statistical information on the Vegas area. It says:. “ Ac­cording to the best information available shortly after the turn o f the year, tourist spending in the Las Vegas area for 1955 was estimated at approximately $160,- 000,000. This figure represents an increase o f more than $10,- 000,000 above the 1954 tourist revenue estimate.” For a patient supposed to be flat on its back, Vegas seems to be taking very plush nourish­ment. M A N Y R ESP O N SIB LE P U B LIC A T IO N S T H R O U G H ­O U T THE C O U N T R Y ARE N O W T A K IN G A C L O S E L O O K A T THE FA C T U A L STATE O F THE LA S V E G A S A REA E C O N O M Y . THIS IS A T Y P IC A L EX A M P LE. *002-0