The bright lights of Las Vegas are a sight indeed and the neon-drenched Nevada city has always loved the camera – as these nostalgic snaps go to prove. Here we go back in time to reveal charming vintage photographs of one of America's most iconic cities.
Click or scroll through this gallery to see how Las Vegas looked in decades gone by...
It's hard to believe that this is a photograph of Las Vegas. The sparse snap dates back to around 1905, when the city began to emerge with the arrival of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad, spearheaded by magnate William Andrews Clark. Vegas was incorporated as a city a few years later in 1911.
Amidst the bright lights, hotels and casinos, it's sometimes hard to remember that Vegas began as a classic old Western railroad town. This photograph from the city's earliest beginnings, showing a wagon train kicking up dust in the desert, is a reminder of where Sin City started.
Businesses began to spring up across the city – at this point they were mainly utilitarian, like this old-school hardware store stacked with tools and household essentials. Still, in true Vegas style, there was a casino in the city from as early as 1906 – the Golden Gate Casino (then Hotel Nevada), an iteration of which is still in operation today.
Long before the (now-infamous) Strip was a twinkle in Vegas's eye, all the action happened on Fremont Street. This old-school shot shows Fremont Street in the early 1900s. You can spot the classic Western false front architecture, as well as more essential businesses including a grocery store, bakery and furniture shop.
Fast-forward to the 1920s and the automobile was taking over America – motoring giants Chrysler, General Motors and Ford were going strong in the Roaring Twenties and an increasing number of affluent Americans were getting behind the wheel. That's reflected in this photograph dated from around 1928, which shows a vintage motor car cruising down a key artery in Vegas.
The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino is generally accepted as the oldest hotel in Las Vegas, and it began as this humble inn, then named Hotel Nevada, on the corner of Fremont and Main Street. The Vegas veteran opened in 1906, just one year after the city was founded – a room was a steal at just $1 per night.
Vegas's identity as a playground for gamblers began to emerge in the 1930s, when gambling laws were significantly relaxed. This glitzy scene from 1931 is unfolding in the New Meadows Club hotel-casino in the Las Vegas area, where finely dressed men and women try their luck on the roulette table.
Even during wartime America, pleasure seekers still made their way to burgeoning Vegas. This scene is decidedly more sedate than the previous one – here sharply appointed travelers sit down to a game of bingo.
Look once and you might think this palm-tree studded scene is playing out in Florida. But this lush and lavish hotel is Vegas's Flamingo Hotel, which opened in 1946 as one of the earliest full luxury hotels on the Strip. Mobster Bugsy Siegel was among the hotel's early owners. It still operates today.
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Alongside a budding reputation as America's gambling capital, Las Vegas was also emerging as a major destination for weddings. From the 1930s onwards, Vegas's relaxed rules around obtaining marriage licenses (and, perhaps ironically, getting a divorce) meant that lovers from across the nation flocked to Nevada to get hitched. This charming vintage snap shows a wedding chapel from the 1950s.
The landscape of Las Vegas was ever-changing. By the 1950s, Fremont Street exploded with hotels and casinos, which mushroomed in an eye-catching swirl of pastels (the common color palette for mid-century architecture). Featured prominently in this photograph is The Mint hotel: it opened in the late 1950s and recreations of it have been featured in movies including James Bond flick Diamonds Are Forever, and Walk the Line, about the life of country singer Johnny Cash.
An obsession with neon had taken hold of the city too. The first neon signs began to pop up through the 1920s and 1930s – and by the 1950s, when this photograph was taken, Vegas's main streets were thick with winking lights. Here, signs hawk everything from hotel vacancies to casinos and bingo halls.
This twinkling cityscape offers a great view of the oldest hotel in Las Vegas: Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. The hotel also had one of Vegas's earliest neon signs, installed in 1927.
Fremont Street continued to thrive in the early 1960s – but there were also buds of activity along Las Vegas Boulevard, which is now the city's notorious Strip. One of the earliest resorts to emerge was Stardust, which opened in the late 1950s. Lovers of mid-century Americana will appreciate its kitsch and spacey branding and the old-school motors lined up in the parking lot.
By the mid-century, Vegas was attracting the attention of the biggest celebrities in the world. They included, of course, Elvis Presley, whose intimate connection with Las Vegas is well documented. He's photographed here with his Viva Las Vegas co-star Ann-Margret Olsson – the 1964 movie follows a race-car driver who winds up in Vegas and begins a love affair with a local woman.
Inspired by the movements of the rich and famous – and drawn in by the promise of lavish hotels and easy gambling – affluent vacation-goers continued to pour into Sin City through the Sixties. This 1960s photograph shows visitors playing craps, a classic casino dice game.
Back on Fremont Street, the hotel scene was still booming. Highlights included the Fremont Hotel (included in shot), which was the tallest building in the entire state of Nevada when it opened in 1956. Today, the Fremont Hotel and Casino forms part of the pedestrianized Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Vegas.
Another long-serving Vegas legend is Vegas Vic. This giant neon cowboy (pictured) dates back to the early Fifties and originally formed part of the now shuttered Pioneer Club hotel and casino. Vic fell into disrepair in the Nineties, but was spruced up again and can now also be seen as part of the Fremont Street Experience.
Fast-forward through the Sixties and Vegas weddings were still booming – and even megastars such as Elvis Presley were in on the trend. The King of Rock ’n’ Roll married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 at Vegas's Aladdin Hotel – and there was a lavish Champagne breakfast and a five-foot-high cake fit for a king. It's now pretty common for modern lovers to be wed in Vegas by a crooning Elvis impersonator.
There's more movement along The Strip through the 1960s too. This retro snap shows high-rise hotels and lavish neon signs. Featured prominently is The Dunes hotel, which opened in 1955. Tourism was continuing to swell at this time, and you can notice adverts for Champagne breakfasts and guided tours too.
One of the most fabled Sin City stories is of Elvis's long-time residency, beginning in 1969 at the Las Vegas International Hotel (now the Westgate). This mammoth sign shouts about the King's upcoming performances – other big names due to take to the stage included Ike and Tina Turner, Wayne Cochran and Sammy Shore.
It wasn't just Elvis who was captured by the bright lights of Vegas – the Rat Pack became synonymous with the city throughout the 1960s too. Here, musicians including Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford and Dean Martin can be seen performing on stage.
Elvis's Vegas legacy was immortalized in the recent Baz Luhrmann film Elvis, released in 2022. The film details the musician's struggles during this extended Sin City residency and the heavy influence of Colonel Tom Parker throughout. Presley is pictured here during a concert in 1975. He died in 1977.
It wasn't just musical heavyweights that Vegas attracted. The city was (and still is) host to some of the USA's most important sporting events and moments. The iconic fight between Kentucky-born Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes went down in history. It was known as 'the Last Hurrah', as it was one of the last fights in Ali's glittering career. Ali was defeated by Holmes.
Early in the 20th century, table games dominated – but by the 1970s, it was all about the slot machine. These addictive gambling machines were heavily regulated in many states at this time, but – in common Vegas style – laws were relaxed here. These glittering rows of machines were snapped in Circus Circus, a casino hotel that opened on The Strip in 1968 (casino only) and is still going strong.
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