During the 1970’s, Las Vegas went through a period of decline. Though the city did not fade out of the public’s eye completely, the decade was not marked with giant growth that it had become used to in the previous decades.

Merv Griffin began hosting his television show from Caesars palace. This gave him an opportunity to interview and host the stars of the day that were already in the city, perform on Las Vegas’ stages. This helped to keep Vegas in the public eye.

Another famous addition to the lineup of all time historical acts in Las Vegas was Siegfried & Roy. In 1973, they began performing their two man animal act at the Tropicana, much to tourists delight. This is an act that would continue to be a Las Vegas tradition for decades.

In the midst of these two hallmarks in Vegas history, the city took a few hits. First, a flash flood caused over $1 million in damage to hotels and casinos on the strip. These facilities weren’t prepared and didn’t expect such a catastrophe, and not only did it cause monetary damage, but tourism suffered during repair as well. In addition to this natural disaster, Las Vegas saw a decline in incoming tourists due to legalization of gambling in Atlantic City. Many people were opting to spend their money in this east coast mecca of gambling as it provided new attractions & locations they were not familiar with.

Despite these setbacks, Vegas continued to do well during the 70’s and also began to get new traffic due to the opening of an international terminal at McCarran International Airport.

The 80’s saw the return of Las Vegas as America’s premier gambling destination. With the renovations and additions to the McCarran Airport, there was a new wave of tourists making their way to the desert city. Acts that were born in the 70’s Siegfried & Roy, were now the main attraction of their own show “Beyond Belief”. This was a six year tradition in Las Vegas & their fame became international because of this show, the most successful show in the history of Las Vegas.

In addition to the continued success of their act, Siegfried & Roy would be given an upgrade in 1989 when Steve Wynn built the Mirage. This ode to elegance and excess featured waterfalls, lagoons & tropical foliage that dazzled tourists for years. The duo was given freedom to do as they pleased, with an expense budget of over $30 million.

By the end of the 80’s Las Vegas had seen one of it’s worst slumps and returned to the top of the stack of tourist destinations in the United States. This is a tradition that continues to this day, but was solidified in the 1980’s.

Ted Okuda is an author that writes about gambling, vacationing, personal fitness, self esteem, and just about everything under the sun. He’s recently co-published a series of websites about fitness equipment, the Schwinn 20 Exercise Bike and an article about Recumbent Exercise Bicycle.

Ted believes that all information on the internet should be free & the only thing you should pay for are things that have to be shipped to you (non-digital products).