The first Las Vegas hotels compared with some today. 
Las Vegas was noisy with gambling machines everywhere, flashing lights and artificial landscapes mimic places such as Paris, Caesar’s Palace and Venice under huge painted canopies appearing as beautiful skies.  There were some beautiful displays with evidence of little expense spared in many of the hotels.  It was possible to travel on a gondola on a replica of a Venetian canal and the ride cost only about £110  for twelve minutes!   Very scantily clad girls and men vied for trade in the famous Fremont Street along which people could zip wire below an artificial sky canopy. Several bride and grooms stood in the dark street seemingly with little connection to the hundreds of people passing them.
During the day we chose to travel on a local bus and had a very worthwhile visit to the original Las Vegas location at Springs Preserve.  Until 1962 natural springs fed Las vegas (the meadows) aa it was a good place for traders, travellers, gold seekers and pioneers to rest or settle on the main route from Utah to California in the desert.  With the coming of the railroad In 1905 it began to expand and a boomtown developed with reconstructions of some of the original buildings dating from 1905 to 1920 to show the community as it was after the land was bought to serve the train engines and supply workers and their families because of the springs.  Eventually the spring water became depleted and the Hoover Dam (which we had passed with an excellent display of it at the museum)  was built to supply water to the area, This and the relaxation of gambling laws in 1931 prompted the valley three miles away to become built up as the new large city of Las Vegas.  Spring Preserve is a very pleasant place to learn about the local history, culture and landscape with the trails, botanical gardens, galleries and two very good museums.
The extras are some of the flowers seen at the gardens and in the desert.
Visiting Las Vegas is not a place that we had a desire to visit but was included on our tour and I am glad we went for the experience.