The Time When Vegas Bet Everything on NUCLEAR Tourism

In the 1980s in Romania, every Monday, the first hour of school was devoted to political indoctrination. Imagine the level of indoctrination that the communists exerted on young people when the first lesson of the school week was one where you heard what Ceaușescu had been up to, what doctoral theses Comrade Elena Ceaușescu had "written," how people were starving in the West, and, from time to time, about the nuclear experiments in Nevada.

Hearing week after week that the Americans were doing nuclear tests, I became genuinely worried. It was unthinkable. What would happen if they kept going like this? Would they end up bombing us too? Well, no — the Americans had nothing to do with the UK, but what was actually happening just a few miles from where these experiments were taking place is hard to believe, though completely true.

El Rancho Vegas, opened in 1941 by Thomas Hull, was the first casino in Las Vegas as we know it today.

Hull, a businessman from California, saw the entertainment and gambling potential of the desert. He bought a piece of land on Highway 91, later known as the Las Vegas Strip, and built El Rancho Vegas. The resort included a Western-themed casino, hotel rooms, restaurants, and entertainment areas.

Hull imagined El Rancho Vegas as a destination where guests could enjoy gambling, live shows, and a comfortable stay in the desert. The resort quickly became popular among both tourists and locals, contributing to the rise of Las Vegas as a major gambling and entertainment destination.

Just ten years later, Las Vegas exploded — figuratively and literally. Seventeen new hotels and casinos appeared, including the famous Sands, Tropicana, and The Riviera. But as more people came to play poker or roulette in the already legendary resort, the imagination of casino owners when it came to entertainment really went off the rails.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, the U.S. government conducted numerous nuclear tests in the Nevada desert. Las Vegas embraced these tests as spectacle and tourist attraction. Casinos and hotels promoted “atomic tours,” allowing visitors to watch the tests from designated viewing areas near Las Vegas. Sometimes these events were accompanied by themed parties, outdoor movie screenings, and other forms of entertainment.

The tests usually took place early in the morning, and the resulting mushroom clouds were visible from miles away. Occasionally, hotels hosted “special dawn bomb parties,” where guests could watch the detonations while enjoying breakfast and cocktails. “Atomic Parties,” “Atomic Cocktail Parties,” “Dawn Bomb Parties,” or “Atomic Bomb Viewing Parties” were just some of the names of these gatherings back then.

Even though it sounds shocking or unbelievable today, Las Vegas became known as the “Atomic City”, with atomic cocktails, nuclear hairstyles, atomic slots and bets. There was even a rock and roll singer said to have “atomic energy” — none other than Elvis Presley.

In 1957, there was a publicity campaign called “Miss Atomic Bomb”, which many described as, obviously, apocalyptic. Photographer Don English made it famous through his portrait. She embodied the strange period in Las Vegas history when destruction and carefree joy existed side by side. That same photo was later used by the famous band The Killers for the cover of their 2012 single “Miss Atomic Bomb.”

Sure, the ignorance of people at the time, combined with the indifference of the U.S. government, sounds like science fiction today. And maybe even this text seems unreal — but I assure you it’s 100% true. Plus, all this should make you happy: nowadays, there’s no need to expose yourself to nuclear radiation to walk into a casino. You can go to a gaming hall and have fun placing bets — or better yet, sit comfortably at home and claim a no-deposit bonus on your favorite poker site.