Vegas Legends Broken: The Official Limits of the Las Vegas Strip

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Published on: December 18, 2023 at 08:13 pm.

Last updated on: 22 December 2023 at 05:52 h.

Most people know where the Las Vegas Strip officially begins and ends. It extends from just south of Russell Road, where Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas (WTFLV) stands, north to STRAT.

las vegas strip
Las Vegas Strip above. (Photo: striphotels.com)

Except it doesn’t.

There is no official definition of where or even what the Las Vegas Strip is. There are only theories. This is because it is not an officially designated place, but just a nickname for a personal part of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Is this where the Las Vegas Strip ends? The arches and 1,149-foot casino tower would like you to think so. (Photo: adventuringdads.com)

Depending on who you ask, the Las Vegas Strip does or does not include the 0.2 mile of Las Vegas that Las Vegas Boulevard runs from Sahara Boulevard to STRAT Boulevard.

Border disputes

STRAT will tell you it does 100% of the time, as do most travel guides, newspapers and websites that want to sell advertising to STRAT.

The city of Las Vegas also agrees. And in 2020, it installed the Gateway Arches over Las Vegas Boulevard right next to STRAT to announce where the city begins, even though cstartedegan is on Sahara Avenue, its southernmost border.

However, history buffs will tell you that the Las Vegas Strip ends at Sahara Boulevard because it could never overlap the city because of the way the Strip came to be.

Tape search

In 1950, a group of casino resort owners founded the unincorporated town of Enterprise in Clark County. Their motive was to avoid paying taxes and fees to the city while still cashing in on its name by claiming Las Vegas as their address – a scam that continues to this day.

The Strip, where most of the balloon signs are clustered, is located in the cities of Paradise and Winchester, Nevada. The city of Las Vegas is located to the north of it. (Image: Google)

A year later, the smaller town of Winchester, Nevada, through which Las Vegas Boulevard runs from Wayne to the desert, followed suit for the same reason.

The first known reference to Interstate 91 as “The Strip” appeared in a March 1947 newspaper advertisement for a new casino hotel called the Big Hat. “Straight from Ciro’s and Lindy’s,” described the Alperi Trio’s musical act, “Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip to Las Vegas’ Strip.” (Lindy’s Steakhouse has long since been demolished, and Ciro’s became the Comedy Store in 1972.)

According to the widow of former Los Angeles cop Jay McAfee, her late husband had been using the nickname “The Strip” since shortly after he purchased the small Pair-O-Dice Casino on the abandoned road in 1939. It was a purely sarcastic comparison to the bustling Sunset Strip he left behind.

This story may be apocryphal, since no record of it exists until after McAfee’s death in January 1960. Regardless, 20 years later, once Interstate 15 was under construction, Interstate 91 was decommissioned and renamed Las Vegas Boulevard to reflect his career move To a local route, the Las Vegas Strip became a common language.

Sign of the times

Also in 1959, the WTFLV sign debuted on Las Vegas Boulevard. It was designed by commercial artist Betty Willis, and was installed just north of the stone columns of Old McCarran Field by his employer, the Western Neon Sign Company.

Interestingly, according to Las Vegas Journal Review Story published on February 6, 1959 Western Neon won its $4,000 bid by promoting the wording of the sign as “Welcome to the Great Las Vegas Strip.” This would make the signal more accurate since Las Vegas was 4.2 miles north.

However, the story noted, “After some thought, the commissioners decided they would prefer to write the sign, ‘Welcome to Las Vegas.’”

No reason was given, and the result confuses visitors to this day.

South of the current border

The location of the WTFLV sign and the unofficial start of the strip was chosen because it was the southernmost limit of casino resort development at the time. Almost everything after that was still untouched desert.

In theory, however, the sign could, and remains possible, be moved south at any time to expand the strip to include its future development. In a decade or two, the brand may find itself four years old more Miles south of town, and maybe three miles south at some point after that.

By 2026, Oak View Group plans to open a $3 billion NBA-ready arena, a 2,000-room casino resort, and an entertainment district on 25 acres in the existing sticks, where I-15 intersects with Blue Diamond Road.

Last year, Alan Feldman, former CEO of MGM Resorts International, told… Las Vegas Journal Review That sector is conceivable Triple The size of a day, it extends south to the M Resort at Las Vegas Boulevard South and St.

The Strip had already begun its southward migration when Allegiant Stadium was constructed in 2017. When the Raiders’ $1.9 billion, 65,000-seat home opened behind Mandalay Bay three years later, it instantly transformed what had been the southern tip of the Strip into its Brand new. Sports axis.

The interviewer does not like to be on the sidelines of anything.

Look for “Vegas Legends Busted” every Monday Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read pre-busted Vegas legends. Do you have a suggestion for a Vegas legend that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.

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