Interesting facts about Las Vegas

las vegas

Las Vegas is the most populated city in the state of Nevada.

The city is situated within Clark County in a basin on the floor of the Mojave Desert and is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides.

As of August 2018, the population of Las Vegas is about 650,000 people. The city’s urban area has a population of about 2,220,000 people.

Las Vegas covers a total area of 352 square kilometers (136 square miles).

The city has average elevation of 610 meters (2,001 feet) above sea level.

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The name Las Vegas was given to the area in 1821 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico.

Las Vegas is Spanish for “the meadows,” as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as the desert spring waters needed by westward travelers.

The city was founded by ranchers and railroad workers but quickly found that its greatest asset was not its springs but its casinos.

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Today, Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city, known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and nightlife.

The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip is approximately 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles) in length, located immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester. However, the Strip is often referred to as being in Las Vegas.

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Bellagio is a resort, luxury hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, Bellagio is famed for its elegance. One of its most notable features is an 8-acre (3.2 ha) lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music.

bellagio

The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is a luxury hotel and casino resort located. Designed by KlingStubbins, the hotel tower contains 36 stories and rises 145 meters (475 feet). The Venetian is owned and operated by Las Vegas Sands. The Venetian resort complex is the world’s second-largest hotel, with 4,049 rooms, 3,068 suites ranging in price from $169 to $10,000 per night and a 11,000 square-meter (120,000-square-foot) casino. Since its opening, The Venetian Macao is now the largest casino in the world, beating The Venetian, Las Vegas.

the venetian

The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in Downtown Las Vegas. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as “Glitter Gulch,” and portions of some other adjacent streets. The central attraction is a barrel vault canopy, 27 meters (90 feet) high at the peak and four blocks, or approximately 460 meters (1,500 feet), in length. The central attraction is a barrel vault canopy, 90 ft (27 m) high at the peak and four blocks, or approximately 460 meters (1,500 feet), in length.

fremont street experience

High Roller is a 167.5-meter (550-foot) tall, 158.5-meter (520-foot) diameter giant Ferris wheel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise. It opened to the public on March 31, 2014 and is currently the world’s tallest Ferris wheel. It is 2.7 meters (9 feet) taller than its predecessor, the 165 meters (541-foot) Singapore Flyer, which had held the record since 2008.

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The Stratosphere Las Vegas (formerly Vegas World) is a hotel, casino, and tower located on Las Vegas Boulevard just north of the Las Vegas Strip. The property’s signature attraction is the 350.2 meters (1,149 feet) Stratosphere Tower, the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States, and the second-tallest in the Western Hemisphere, surpassed only by the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario.

fremont street experience

Las Vegas is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any other city in the world.

Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the world’s most visited tourist destinations with about 43 million visitors.

Las Vegas has about 150,000 hotel rooms, more than any other city in the world.

There are more than 100 casinos in Las Vegas.

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The city’s tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, and music videos.

Las Vegas has 68 parks. The city owns the land for, but does not operate, four golf courses: Angel Park Golf Club, Desert Pines Golf Club, Durango Hills Golf Club, and the Las Vegas Municipal Golf Course.

The city is among the sunniest, driest, and least humid locations in North America. With an average of 310 sunny days and bright sunshine during 86% of all daylight hours.

Nevada outlawed gambling in 1910 but the practice continued in speakeasies and illicit casinos. By the time gambling was legalized again in 1931, organized crime already had roots in the city.

FedEx CEO Fred Smith saved his company in the 1970s by gambling their last $5000 in Vegas. He turned 5K into $32K by playing Blackjack. Next few days were all Fed Ex needed to turn things around. Soon, Smith raised an additional $11 million, and by 1976 the company’s profits reached $3.6 million.