Parts of the Las Vegas Valley get 3 inches of rain in less than two hours on the morning of July 8. Two people die and traffic comes to a standstill on I-15. With damages over $1.5 million effecting 363 local residences, President Clinton declares Clark County a federal disaster area. Estimate damages to Valley roads and public property is $20 million.
November 13: The undisputed heavyweight champion of the world is Londoner Lennox Lewis with a convincing decision over Evander Holyfield at the Thomas & Mack Center. Lewis was paid $11.75 million and Holyfield pockets $15 million.
Park Place Entertainment agees to buy Caesars World from Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $3 billion in cash. Park Place is an affiliate company of Hilton Hotels Corporation.
Tourists from the East Coast will have a little bit easier time finding a flight into Las Vegas with National Airlines starting its operation in May. To make sure they don't lose their share of the market, other airlines add additional flights into Las Vegas.
Former attorney for the mob, Oscar Goodman, puts his critics to rest with a convincing win over City Councilman Arnie Adamsen and becomes Las Vegas' new mayor. The high-profiling Goodman immediately involves himself in a couple pet issues: improving the downtown area, and getting a professional sports franchise in Las Vegas.
March 3: On this night all roads lead to the newest pleasure palace on the southernmost end of the Strip. At a cost of $1 billion, Mandalay Bay Resort and Canino is "...where the fun in the sun meets up with class and cool," so declares Glen Schaeffer, the president of Circus Circus, the publicly traded company that built the tropically themed resort.
The grandeur of Venice meets the glamor of Vegas on the site of the famous old Sands Hotel, imploded in 1996 to make way for the $1.2 billion 3,000-suite Venetian.
The big hit of the year on the entertainment scene is "Chicago--The Musical." Playing at Mandalay Bay, the full-length play showcases a rotating cast of Broadway players. A dark and funny satire on the American justice system, a few of its stars are: Chita Rivera, Marilu Henner, Charlotte d'Amboise, and Ben Vereen.
Henderson is now the state's second-largest city, overtaking "The Biggest Little City in the World" (Reno) by 120 people.
A record is set for the largest crowd to ever attend a sporting event in Nevada, when over 125,000 watch Jeff Burton edge out brother War in the Las Vegas 400. The NASCAR Winston Cup stock car race was held on March 7 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and was seen live on national television.
Daredevil motorcyclist Evel Knievel marries Crystal Kennedy at Caesars Palace--the site that made him famous in 1967 for jumping their Roman fountains, only to have a crash landing.
Las Vegas native Andre Agassi is once again on top of the tennis world with victories in the French Open and U.S. Open. In winning the French Open, Agassi becomes only the fifth in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. It wasn't all coming up roses for Agassi during the year, on April 10 he divorced actress Brooke Shields.
Three new megaresorts, with a combined cost of $3.1 billion, add 12,300 hotel rooms, for a total of 122,000. The Venetian, Paris, and Mandalay Bay also add 820,000 square feet of convention space to the city's inventory.
April 16: Hockey great Wayne Gretzky announces his retirement. *
|
Copyright 2005 Vegastalgic! KNEPP PRODUCTIONS, Ltd. - All proprietary rights are reserved. - Website Design by Angele Design Studio |