mobsters

The Golden Age of Las Vegas—roughly 1930-1960—was a time when the city sluffed off its Wild West origins and burgeoned into the glitz and glam era it’s still known for today. The transformation began amid the Great Depression, when the construction of the Hoover Dam brought a surge of workers. The population of Vegas was around 5,000 in 1931, but after the dam was announced, it grew to about 25,000 with people coming in droves for the promise of work.  Coincidentally, Nevada passed two laws in 1931 that would forever change the way the state would attract visitors: legalized gambling and six-week divorces. In 1932—the first full year of dam construction—more than 200,000 people visited Las Vegas. Two years later, that number was a quarter of a million people. It was a sign of things to come.