Dear
Mark,
I recently found your column on an internet site
in Stockholm, Sweden. I enjoy your historic questions
the most. I am doing a research paper at the University
about the introduction of casino gambling in the
state where you live, Nevada. Can you tell me when
it became a legal enterprise? Stefan E.
A buckaroo
politician for Humboldt County named Phil Tobin presented
the assembly bill in 1931 making gambling both legal
and taxable. Governor Fred Balzar, also known as “Friendly
Fred,” signed the open gambling law on March
19, 1931. Coincidentally, on that same day Balzar
signed into law a bill that would drive tourism, he
thought, far more than gambling ever would: the six
weeks divorce statute.
Dear Mark,
How Did the strip get its name? Suzanne S.
One day I was walking
down the strip in Las Vegas recently and overheard
a couple vehemently arguing over how “The Strip”
got it’s name. The husband said; “Bugsy
Siegel named it when he built the Flamingo—and
I should know, I played there the second week it
was open.” The wife believed it was Liberace
who named the Strip.
The dialog was hideous and I would have butted in,
but like I said, they were arguing, actually screaming
at a level that brought security out of Caesar’s
Palace. Now, I’ve seen some skirmishes over
positioning in a $3.49 prime rib buffet line, but
over how the Strip was named? It’s a first.
So, Suzanne, here’s how “The Strip”
got it’s name.
Known also as Las Vegas Boulevard and earlier the
Los Angeles Highway, The Strip’s name came
from a Los Angeles Police Captain named Guy McAfee,
who said it reminded him of Sunset Boulevard (Strip)
in LA. The story doesn’t end there with Captain
McAffe. He was a Las Vegas casino owner as well.
McAfee purchased the Pair-O-Dice on the Los Angeles
Highway in 1938 and reopened it as the 91 Club.
Liberace’s early fame came from being the first
to demand, and get, $50,000 a week to perform in
Vegas.
