It Happened in Las Vegas: Remarkable Events that Shaped History

It Happened In...

by Paul W. Papa

A fascinating collection of thirty compelling stories about events that shaped Sin City, It Happened in Las Vegas describes everything from a nineteenth-century land deal that almost created two competing cities to the torrential rainstorm that flooded downtown Vegas with three inches of water.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Paul W. Papa is an award-winning, full-time writer and ghost writer who has lived in Las Vegas for more than thirty years. He developed a fascination with the area, and all its wonders, while working for nearly fifteen years at several Las Vegas casinos. In his role as a security officer, Paul was the person who actually shut and locked the doors of the Sands Hotel and Casino for the final time. He eventually became a hotel investigator for a major Strip casino, during which time he developed a love for writing stories about uncommon events. When not at his keyboard, Paul can be found talking to tourists on Fremont Street, investigating some old building, or sitting in a local diner hunting down his next story.

Reviews

[Michelle]

It happened in Las Vegas is part of a series of books that talk about the historical making of the city from when the Mormons arrived in 1855 to the early 2000's where the city is now a casino and resort playground for tourists. In between the area has seen plenty of changes. I've never been attracted to the casino part of this city, but how it came to be is what intrigued me. Some facts that I read that fascinated me:

* Ground Sloth bones were discovered in the 1930's in a cave about 15 miles east of the city.
* When the dam was being built, workers were hired and were made to live on what the company called a reservation (which is now Bolder City) and prohibited any kind of alcohol or gambling on the grounds. This in turn led the workers and their families to make trips into Las Vegas to have some fun. Once the dam was built, most of the population left, which did not help the now struggling town. This was during the great depression.
* In 1931, gambling was legalized in the state of Nevada. It took another 10 years for casino's to start being built.
*Rumors about the mob running Las Vegas seems to have some truth in it according to the book.
*There was a string of robberies that occurred and 5 casino's were hit in the early 1990's. The robberies were made easy because the bars that were once around the money cages had been removed to make the atmosphere look more friendly. I'm not sure what idiot thought that was a good idea. But as someone who works in a room full of money I can tell you the idea to remove protection was a really dumb idea.

This was a really fun book to read and learn about the history of the area. One of these days I may have to make a trip out there to see some things myself.

[Lisa]

Anyone who loves Las Vegas will enjoy this book. It’s a collection of short stories about events that have happened in Las Vegas that have shaped the history of Las Vegas. Most of them I had heard about but not with the details in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jay]

25 cheap little tidbits about Fabulous Las Vegas. Real quick and easy read with a good bit of variety.

[Russell Sanders]

I purchased Paul W. Papa’s It Happened in Las Vegas at the Neon Museum there in Las Vegas. I’m so glad I did. After spending a week seeing the town, this book clued me in to what made the town. Papa offers twenty-five tales, about five to six pages long, that tell of various incidents in Las Vegas history. The stories are easy to consume, lively, well-written, and a lot of fun. He begins his chronicles in frontier days and ends the tales with one from 2003. Then Papa appends the book with three pages of “Las Vegas Facts and Trivia.” This is the perfect vacation souvenir, and it would be a great book to read before heading out to Sin City. Beware of a few glitches that deter from the enjoyment: the phrase “won the first sheriff’s election” is used twice for two different individuals who became early sheriffs, and centuries get confused—as school kids often do—when the nineteenth century is called the eighteenth and the twentieth is called the nineteenth century (that error would put the formation of Las Vegas in the seventeen hundreds when the first American colonies were barely established!) But those two little glitches don’t make us believe that anything else is askew. The history is well-researched and accurate in other cases, I’m sure.

[Graham Bates]

Written in more of a story format instead of a blow-by-blow, researched history, It Happened in Las Vegas tells 28 stories from the arrival of Mormons in 1855 until the destruction of the Dunes in 2003. The style is a nice, easy read and the chapters are rather short, six-page entries. A good intro to Las Vegas history, though it is by no means a comprehensive history of the area.

[Kelly]

Picked up the book in Las Vegas as wanted to learn a bit of the history and this was a great book to learn a little of everything. Short stories from its early beginnings, to mob era, Howard Hughes to present day Wynn. Recommend.

[Roxanne]

This is tidbits about Las Vegas. The Mormons came there first, Fremont Street is now closed and has an experience, the old hotels were torn down and new ones put up. The city changes all the time. I saw Siegfried and Roy at The Stardust in 1979 when they were the warm up act for the Follies. Later they charged $100 for their show, so lucky I saw them. Then their terrible accident and they are no more doing that act. This has some interesting facts it reads fast.

[Round Mountain Public Library]

New to the Library, this month and packed with some bits of history, we bet you never heard of before including the PEPCON explosion, this is a must read and available for checkout at the Library.