75th Anniversary Gallery Scenic Nevada

75th Anniversary Scenic Nevada

In the 1950s and 1960s the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce's publicity arm, The LVCVA Archive, took photos of the surrounding areas of Las Vegas to market the scenic beauty of Nevada. This gallery includes images that were published in newspapers and utilized in marketing brochures around the nation to draw visitors to Fabulous Las Vegas!

In the 1950s, visitors would come to Las Vegas to enjoy the 'Old West' atmosphere. The Bar Nothing Ranch would offer guests this experience with horse back rides. Today, this is the Spring Mountain Ranch State Park.
Lake Mead was a huge draw for fishing enthusiasts in the 1950s. Here, Ed Dwyer and Leverett G. Richards, editors for an aviation press, pose for a photo fishing on their float plane to share with their readers, circa 1950.
In the 1950s, Las Vegas hotels would arrange for guests to go on tours of ghost towns to participate in the culture of the 'Old West,' which was a huge draw for visitors. Here a pair of tourists are looking in awe at the Bottle House in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada, an entrance to Death Valley.
A group of Last Frontier hotel guests enjoying a stagecoach ride through the desert, circa 1950.
A marketing ploy of the 1950s was to explain to guests that you could snow ski on Mount Charleston and water ski on Lake Mead in the same day. Here visitors are enjoying the slopes at the Mount Charleston Lodge, circa 1950-1955.
Celebrities loved to come to Las Vegas and spend some time fishing on Lake Mead. Here Roy Rodgers and his friend are enjoying the lake, circa 1951.
Guests enjoying Tule Springs on December 1, 1952. The area had a privately-owned working ranch, as well as a dude ranch for guests in the 1950s. The ranch was a huge attraction for those trying to get a quick divorce. They would come live on the ranch for six-weeks, which was the Nevada residency requirement to get a divorce.
Guests of the Flamingo hotel enjoyed the property's boat on Lake Mead on December 10, 1955. Most hotels in Las Vegas had their own boats, which they would bring VIP guests on as part of their Las Vegas experience.
A rare color photo of the Lido de Paris showgirls riding on a stagecoach at Twin Lake on July 15, 1958. As newspapers did not print in color at the time, this publicity photo would have been used in promotional brochures and flyers to market both Las Vegas and the Lido de Paris show.
A child enjoyed a hike at Elephant Rock at the Valley of Fire State Park on July 20, 1958. The desert scenery was a draw for visitors to Las Vegas, and several properties offered trips into the scenic areas.
Models pose in the desert on their way to Mount Charleston, circa 1958. These photos were sent to newspapers around the nation to market the majestic beauty surrounding Las Vegas.
An aerial view of the Davis Dam, circa 1954. The Dam opened in 1951 and is approximately 70 miles downstream from the Hoover Dam.
Guests enjoyed horseback riding from a dude ranch on Mount Charleston, circa 1955.
Tourists enjoyed the Spring Mountains, located just north of Las Vegas, circa 1955. A local dude ranch offered guests the chance to enjoy the 'Old West' culture with horseback rides, guided hikes, and campfires.
The Twenty-Mule Team traveled across the desert on its way to Las Vegas, circa 1952. This team was originally created to haul borax from Furnace Creek to the railhead near Mohave, but the team was retired in 1889. Each year during the Helldorado Days Festival in Las Vegas the wagons would make an appearance in the parades.
The Sahara cruiser at Wishing Well Cove, circa 1953. In the 1950s, Las Vegas had a marketing slogan, "Fun in the Sun" and posed photos like this were utilized in promotional materials to engage tourists in the recreational options that were available in the destination.
The Boulder Dam Park Museum, now the Lost City Museum on May 1, 1954. Guests were often brought to the museum as part of the tour for the Valley of Fire.
The picturesque desert around Las Vegas was often utilized to film movies. Arlene Dahl, Fernando Llamas, Gloria DeHaven, Rosalind Russell, and Eddie Albert filmed "Girl Rush" at the Valley of Fire on December 7, 1954.
People enjoyed boating on Lake Mead, May 29, 1958. Boating on Lake Mead was a popular choice for tourists in the 1950s, and it drew boat enthusiasts from around the United States.
Models posed for a publicity photo at the Hoover Dam on February 9, 1955. This promotional image was sent to newspapers around the nation to market Las Vegas and its nearby recreational options.
An aerial view of the Hoover Dam, circa 1955. The dam opened as a tourist destination in 1937, and today over 1 million people tour the dam each year.
What is now known as Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is pictured here on April 8, 1965. It was not officially designated as a formal conservation area until 1967, but before that, people still enjoyed driving out to the mountains to see the picturesque desert landscape.
Red Rock Canyon on April 8, 1965. Tourists and locals alike flocked to the canyon to hike and enjoy the outdoors. Photos like this were taken by the Las Vegas News Bureau, the publicity arm for the Chamber of Commerce, to draw visitors to Las Vegas for the recreational fun.
A scenic image of Red Rock Canyon on April 8, 1965. This beauty shot was utilized in marketing materials to promote the "Fun in the Sun" atmosphere of Las Vegas.
"The Professionals" was filmed in this ideal region at The Valley of Fire on December 1, 1965. It was directed by Richard Brooks and starred Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, and Claudia Cardinale.
On April 21, 1976, the Chamber of Commerce invited the press to tour ghost towns in and around Las Vegas. This photo of Rhyolite, a ghost town 4 miles west of Beatty, Nevada was part of that tour, and its goal was to increase tourism and raise awareness of the recreational options available during a Las Vegas vacation.
This promotional photo of the Hoover Dam in the evening of July 1950 was sent to newspapers around the nation to market Las Vegas as an ideal tourist destination.
This marketing photo of the ghost town Manhattan taken on October 22, 1964, was sent to newspapers around the nation to draw tourists to Las Vegas.

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