Las Vegas: An Unconventional HistoryWell-heeled mobsters, glamorous showgirls, fantastical mega-casinos, dazzling neon displays- it's the world's most famous monument to reckless abandon and unbridled excess. From a dusty railroad town in the middle of nowhere, Las Vegas has grown into one of the world's premier tourist destinations. Once shunned as Sin City and considered beyond the pale of respectable society, it is now the epicenter of mainstream leisure,
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Please enable popups to view media Although glitz and glamour define the Las Vegas that more than 37 million tourists flock to each year, the city sprawls well beyond the Strip and draws new residents at a head-spinning pace. Las Vegas: An Unconventional History explores how this once remote and exotic desert outpost transformed itself into the fastest-growing city in the United States - a place where tens of thousands of jobs are created each year, sixty new streets are named each month, and an average of more than a thousand prospective residents arrive each week. Among its many monikers, Las Vegas can add City of Opportunity for its unmatched job prospects and booming real estate market. While there is life beyond the Strip, Las Vegas will always be best known as a place of escape. From its incarnation as the favorite nightspot for the men who built the Hoover Dam, to its most recent re-invention as a post-modern desert fantasyland, the city has made its living by anticipating the desires of its visitors and then catering to them. Peopled with unlikely heroes and villains, Las Vegas: An Unconventional History looks at the figures who shaped the Las Vegas we know today, from icons like Bugsy Siegel and The Rat Pack to less well-known characters drawn to this desert  fantasyland
in search of the American dream. The film also explores the
forces that have always kept the city a few paces ahead of
mainstream America: Las Vegas was the first city to legalize
gambling; one of the first cities to dissolve the color line;
the first and only city to make atomic testing a tourist attraction;
and perhaps the only city whose dazzling main street can be
seen from outer space. The documentary features interviews with resort entrepreneurs Steve and Elaine Wynn, media mogul Brian Greenspun, local columnist John L. Smith, and writers Marc Cooper and Nick Pileggi. It also includes profiles of ten modern-day Las Vegans, who together provide a complex look at life in the nation's fastest-growing city. Las Vegas: An Unconventional History documents the often surprising, endlessly entertaining history of America's most outrageous playground. |
Aired November 14 & 15, 2005 on the PBS's American Experience
 Home Video (PBS Video) and Companion Book (Bulfinch Press) now available for purchase! Click here. Click here to visit the PBS website. |
