Vintage vacations in Vegas

A collection of postcards from the 1940s to the late 1960s show Las Vegas in its glorious Technicolor heyday
  
  


Vintage Vegas: Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada
Looking east on Fremont Street in 1943, Las Vegas still has that frontier feel Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Fremont Street, Las Vegas, Nevada
By 1956, Fremont Street was lit up in a blaze of neon that now defines Sin City Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: El Cortez Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
In 1945, mobster Bugsy Siegel came to Las Vegas, attracted by its legalised gambling and its off-track betting. He started his empire by buying the El Cortez hotel on Fremont Street Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Flamingo Hotel Las, Vegas, Nevada
Siegel opened The Flamingo Hotel & Casino, , billed as the world's most luxurious hotel, at a total cost of $6m on December 26, 1946 Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Sands was the centre of "cool" on the Strip, and hosted shows by the Rat Pack - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford - in the Copa Room in the 1950s and 60 Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: El Rancho Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
El Rancho Vegas on the Strip. Shirley Bassey made her American stage debut here in 1957 Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Blackjack table, Las Vegas
Blackjack table, Las Vegas, 1967 Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Casino Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Mint Hotel and Casino opened in 1957. It was Hunter S Thompson's first night's stay in his 1971 weekend trip to Las Vegas, immortalised in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy Photograph: Universal Images Group (Lake Cou/Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: The Thunderbird Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Thunderbird resort, 1966 Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
Vintage Vegas: Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Caesars Palace was built in 1962 for $35m by Jay Sarno, who is credited as being the father of today's more family-oriented Las Vegas Photograph: Universal Images Group/Alamy
 

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