Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

I came across a great post By CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS - Los Angeles Times - and could not stop reading it. "Tijuana: The Vegas before Las Vegas" (recommend to read)

Very provoking and interesting to say the least... I know Tijuana, as most of the Californians know it, from the collage years, for having a good times... or do cheap shopping on the flee market. Never knew that there is a history and glorious days of this place, as it looks this days... I never been back there for many years and have only gloomy, poor images and memories associated with that part of Mexico.

Little History:

At midnight, Oct. 1, 1910, a strict anti-gambling law became effective in Nevada. It even forbid the western custom of flipping a coin for the price of a drink... It was the defined time when Tijuana grow into a Las Vegas of Mexico...  "great pleasure palaces were built, including the city's famous Agua Caliente casino. Countless Hollywood celebrities and their entourage kept arriving by car, rail, ship and small plane. That casino was the crown jewel of the era. It opened in 1928, but more significantly, it was the inspiration for Las Vegas."

In early 19th century Tijuana had its glitz and glory: "From 1919 to 1933, alcohol, casinos, prostitution and horse racing were all forbidden or tightly restricted in California, and all were easily available in Tijuana."

Than in 1931 Nevada legalized gambling.The U.S. ended Prohibition in 1933. Santa Anita racetrack opened in Los Angeles County in 1934... and that changed everything. 

Las Vegas birthday's?... The exact date is unknown, but Rafael Rivera became the first known non-Indian to set foot in the oasis-like Las Vegas Valley. The young town of Las Vegas virtually was insulated from economic hardships that wrecked most Americans in the 1930s.

By far the most celebrated of the early resorts was the Flamingo Hotel, built by mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, a member of the Meyer Lansky crime organization.

Once the high-end gamblers left Tijuana, thousands of service- industry jobs were lost and the palaces crumbled, burned or were retooled... It was a new era when Las Vegas emerged from Tijuana's ashes.

Like they say: The rest is History!