By the mid-1950s, Warren "Doc" Bayley, a former travel writer and one-time farmer from Wisconsin, owned a small but profitable chain of motels under the name Hacienda in California. Bayley used a model unusual for the cut-rate motel room business, providing his patrons—mostly traveling motorists—with things like room service and bellhops. During the resort-building boom in Las Vegas, Bayley decided to try a similar approach on the Strip, this time adding a casino to the mix.

The opening of the Flamingo Hotel in late 1946 signaled the beginning of the modern era of Las Vegas hotel-casinos on Highway 91, later known as the Strip. The Flamingo set a new standard of luxury for hotel guests and became the first of many stylish casino resorts constructed on the Strip after World War II.

One of the venerated original properties associated with the Las Vegas Strip, the Dunes Hotel opened during a mid-1950s casino building boom, and soon became one of its casualties. Over the next four decades, the controversial Dunes would survive a succession of owners, allegations of hidden mob ownership, and marginal profits before it was destroyed to make way for several Las Vegas resorts including the $2 billion Bellagio Hotel.

The birth of downtown Las Vegas took place during a land auction on Monday, May 15, 1905, when 1,200 lots in an area called Clark's Las Vegas Townsite were offered for sale. The townsite was named after U.S. Senator William Clark of Montana, who had purchased the 1,800-acre Stewart Ranch from area pioneer rancher Helen J. Stewart in 1902.