The word first has many meanings. Mister Webster offers dozens of definitions, which range from noting time and the order of things (as in historically) or a given rank (as on a list or finish in a race) to a class or position (first grade and first base) and ultimately to being a “first ever” monumental something or accomplishment… with many sub-variations in between.

With that said, it is interesting to note that – from shrimp cocktails to the atomic bomb –  Las Vegas fits nearly every one of Mister Webster’s broad range of definitions… yesterday, today and tomorrow.  

Time and the Order of Things

In the yesterday department, Vegas has many interesting historical firsts of its very own. It was first put on the map – literally – by explorer John Charles Fremont who was charting the Wild West for the U.S. Government in 1844. He camped one night by a spring the natives called “Las Vegas.” He noted it on his map of the area which later showed Las Vegas as a place to camp for settlers heading West. 

Sixty year later, it was still just a dusty water-stop for passengers heading West aboard William Andrews Clark’s “San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake” railroad line – until 1905, when Clark decided to subdivide the land around his train station into 1,200 lots and auction them off. It was the “first” that officially created the City of Las Vegas and, to this day, the surrounding county bears Clark’s name.

Hotel Nevada (now the Golden Gate) purchased 1 Fremont Street for $1,750 and was the first hotel & casino in Las Vegas. It also had a few firsts of its very own. Room and board for its 10 first-class rooms was  $1 per day offering electric lights, steam heat and soon the city’s very first telephone… a 1907 Kellogg with an easy-to-remember phone number… 1.

The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino continued trendsetter history by also introducing the first Shrimp Cocktail (as we know it today) for 50-cents in 1959. After 117-years, and to this day, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino still operates at 1 Fremont Street. 

Vegas Baby – On a Roll 

It wasn’t long before Las Vegas “firsts” – both big and small – were a regular thing. In 1931, Nevada was the first state to legalize gambling… a big boom for Vegas and Reno… and soon, things that happened in Vegas… didn’t necessarily stay in Vegas. 

Today’s Blackjack is a good example. In the 1930s, local casinos introduced a special promotion for the French card game “vingt-et-un” (or 21). Players were rewarded an extra 10-to-1 odds if their “21” paired a black Jack of Clubs or Spades with an Ace of Spades. Over the years, the “Blackjack” promotion faded away… but our purely Vegas name-of-the-game continues on worldwide to this day.

In 1931, Nevada legislature also established a speedy six-day legal residency… a unique first for anywhere, making Las Vegas the mecca for “quickie” marriages, and conversely, the divorce capital of the world (which also continues to this day).

Other notable Vegas historical firsts (big and small) include the first Hotel/Casino on Hwy 91, now the Strip (El Rancho 1941), first Atomic Bomb tests (1951), and the first topless Showgirls (Minsky’s Follies 1957) forever linking Showgirls as the iconic symbol of Las Vegas tourism. A rich history indeed.

Today We’re Number One

Another of Webster’s definitions for first is “a given rank” (as on a list or finish in a race).

Today, Las Vegas is ranked number one in many categories. While far smaller than other U.S. major cities… New York (18.9 million), Los Angeles (12.5 million) and Chicago (8.9 million) for example… the Las Vegas metro-plex with only 2.2 million local residents is rated as one of the world’s top tourist destinations with over 40 million visitors annually. The city also offers over 156,000 hotel rooms and seventeen of the top twenty biggest hotels in the U.S. of which, fifteen are ranked as the largest in the world.

In addition, for 26 years, Las Vegas has been the undisputed number one first choice destination in the United States for trade shows and meetings of all size. The Las Vegas Convention Center, created in 1959, is today one of the busiest facilities in the world. Over two million attendees pass through its doors annually into 4.6 million square-feet of exhibit space to walk 2.5 million feet of trade show aisles.

For many decades, Las Vegas has also been ranked first as the Entertainment Capital of the World, with a history of superstars and mega-performers appearing in residency – from Liberace, Elvis and Sinatra’s Rat Pack to Celine, Adele and Wayne Newton – to name but a few of the famous entertainers that earned Vegas this recognition.

Vegas is also well on its way to another first. Being crowned the Sports Capital of the World, as well… with a number of major league professional home teams – Vegas Golden Knights (Hockey), Raiders (Football), Las Vegas Aces (WNBA Basketball) – and both major league Baseball and NBA Basketball franchises looming on the horizon. Vegas also offers fans the spectacular Allegiant Stadium (65,000 seats) and T-Mobile Arena (20,000 seats) with even more world-class major sporting events coming to town, such as FORMULA 1 Racing in November and Super Bowl LVIII next February.

And if that’s not enough, list-wise, the millions of lights on the famed Las Vegas Strip are ranked first as the brightest place on Planet Earth as seen from outer space.

Vegas Firsts of Tomorrow

Perhaps the most impressive of Mister Webster’s definitions are those things which are a “first ever” monumental endeavor or accomplishment… and Las Vegas is making its mark here as well.  

The incredible “MSG (Madison Square Garden) Sphere” at the Venetian is a monumental one-of-a-kind world first. A massive black globe – 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide – sits quietly during the day and has an intriguing and mysterious presence on the Vegas skyline… until nightfall, when it bursts into amazing brilliant visuals that rival the lights of nearby famed hotels and casinos.

Statistically, it is the world’s largest spherical structure. The exterior has 1.2 million small circular LEDs covering the entire 360-degree 580,000 square-foot surface and can be programmed to be anything imaginable. The interior seats 18,000 and has a 250-foot screen that surrounds the audience along with 1,600 speakers and hi-tech immersive seats that vibrate, create wind, adjust temperatures and waft scents into the air. It is billed as an entertainment-only venue for live performances and cinematic spectaculars. Small ring sports (boxing and martial arts) are also possible.

The MSG Sphere amazed onlookers when it first sprang to life at 9:00 pm on July 4th with a dazzling light show of captivating images that ranged from fireworks and the Stars & Stripes to Planet Earth, the Moon, a massive Halloween Pumpkin and a giant size Basketball, among many other fascinating visuals. 

The amazing $2.3 billion MSG Sphere is the first of its kind anywhere in the world… with a second planned for the Stratford area of London, England… but only after a spectacular debut here in Vegas.

George Jetson-Style Ride

Another groundbreaking Las Vegas first the is the futuristic “Vegas Loop” underground transportation system being built by The Boring Company – a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corp. Construction of a first-of-its-kind tunnel network began beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center in late-November 2019 to transport conventioneers between exhibit halls on the expansive 200-acre site. A second phase soon connected Resorts World to the convention Center as well. But these two were just a modest beginning.

They were simply firsts in a vast underground grid of 12-foot round tunnels. Initial planning called for two 14.5-mile long parallel tunnels (29 miles total) dug 40-feet beneath Las Vegas Boulevard running from Downtown to the Airport with 51 stops at casinos and the Stadium along the way. However, recent evaluation and planning has dramatically expanded the Vegas Loop network to 65-miles of dual tunnels with stops at 18 new locations (69 total) now also extending to East/West Sahara Avenue, Chinatown and South down to Blue Diamond. 

When completed, thousands of electric Tesla automobiles will whisk passengers, traffic-free, from point-to-point quickly and economically… with the Vegas Loop representing a first-of-its-kind transportation solution for any city anywhere in the world.

But this is just the beginning. Planning is already underway for extensions throughout the Vegas Valley and Musk envisions a 270-mile tunnel to Los Angeles… then on to other cities around the world. All of which, will have begun here first – on November 15, 2019 in a parking lot just off the Strip.

Las Vegas is a visionary city of “firsts” with an eye toward the future… and it will continue to be a premier city in the United States and a leader in Metropolitan technologies worldwide. There are many reasons why. 

First…

Don Logay is an award-winning journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of three national magazines. Today he writes luxury lifestyle articles for numerous publications. He can be reached at (949) 240-4444 or press@donlogay.