The 1950s was a time of considerable change for Las Vegas. By the 1950s, there were 44,600 living in the Las Vegas Valley.[1] Over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas annually in 1954, pumping $200 million into casinos, which consolidated its image as "wild, full of late-night, exotic entertainment".[2] The population grew dramatically from 8,422 during World War II to over 45,000.[2] From 1952 to 1957, through money and institutional lending provided by the Teamsters Union and some Mormon bankers, they built the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier, the Royal Nevada, the Showboat, the Riviera, the Fremont, Binion's Horseshoe, and finally the Tropicana. Gambling was no longer the only attraction by the 1950s; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings and brought a whole new brigade of Hollywood film stars and others in the entertainment business to the city. In 1957, the first topless show "Minsky's Follies" was started here.[3]
- ^ Chase, Linda (2009). Picturing Las Vegas. Gibbs Smith. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-1-4236-0488-4.
- ^ a b Boulard, Garry (2002). Louis Prima. University of Illinois Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-252-07090-7.
- ^ "Las Vegas in the 1950s". Official website of Las Vegas. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2013.