The History Of The City Of Las Vegas

May 21, 2024 12:07 PM

Las Vegas City Hall's television channel KCLV has been putting out documentaries on the history of Las Vegas. The first one was five years ago, "The City Of Las Vegas: The Early Years" which covers 1905 to 1920 [1h15m]. The most recent from a few days ago is The City of Las Vegas: The Sixties [1h15m]. They aren't releasing these quickly, but there are seven total in the playlist as of now.
posted by hippybear (10 comments total)

LOVE THIS
posted by Melismata at 12:35 PM on May 21

Las Vegas, Nevada or New Mexico?
(I lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico.)
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:55 PM on May 21 [1 favorite]

Also see Tim Powers' novel, Last Call, for the real history of Las Vegas.
posted by SPrintF at 1:59 PM on May 21 [4 favorites]

Given that you lived in Las Vegas, NM, I'm sure you'd know that a documentary about the history of that city would have to begin in the early 1800s. So, context clues can lead you to the answer.
posted by hippybear at 3:06 PM on May 21

@dances: I was born/raised in LV/NV, but I went to college in Roswell (at a military school), and more of my classmates were from the NM instance (at least 4) than from my own (me and one other).
posted by mystyk at 4:01 PM on May 21

> Las Vegas, Nevada or New Mexico?
> (I lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico.)

Ah yes, the untold stories and legend of Las Vegas, New Mexico! The Las Vegas Cowboys' Reunions! The sprawling 7.5 square miles of land. Sight of the largest blaze in New Mexico's recorded history. Home of the City of Las Vegas Museum & Rough Rider Memorial.

I'm sure that Netflix probably owns the rights to this one.
posted by milnak at 5:26 PM on May 21 [1 favorite]

This reminds me of the time I asked a distinguished visiting scholar if he was referring to his time at Oxford Ohio, or the other one in the UK. (I was joking and thought it was hilarious but I don't think he got it. In my defense, his Irish colleague had been talking about their work in Dublin, OH)
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:52 PM on May 21 [2 favorites]

One interesting thing about Las Vegas NM is that it was founded in the 1830s, still part of Mexico, by land granted by Cabesa de Vaca's estate. So it was founded on land claimed by one of the earliest Spaniards to come through that part of the US at all.
posted by hippybear at 5:52 PM on May 21 [1 favorite]

How odd. I just went to YouTube looking to see if there were any new versions of Miss Saigon. And before you enter a search term, there are always some offerings shown on the page. Various ones, not Miss Saigon. Lo and behold the first three shown were the History of Las ,Vegas. It's a sign. Now I have to watch them.
posted by Czjewel at 5:54 PM on May 21

Las Vegas, New Mexico! The Las Vegas Cowboys' Reunions! The sprawling 7.5 square miles of land. Sight of the largest blaze in New Mexico's recorded history. Home of the City of Las Vegas Museum & Rough Rider Memorial.

I have a lot of stories about Las Vegas NM, because my college roommate's family had a 50,000 acre ranch near there (it was the closest 'city'), with native American pictographs, a stage coach stop, cliffs, and caves. Man that place was cool.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:16 AM on May 22 [1 favorite]