It didn't take long before nearly every business and entrepreneur in Las Vegas came up with ways to attract tourists - and their dollars - to see an atomic blast:
- Casinos held rooftop watch parties, where guests could eat and drink as they awaited the bright flash of the latest test.
- Bars across the city served patrons the Atomic Cocktail.
- Hair salons created the Atomic Hairdo, piling the customer's hair atop her head to resemble a mushroom cloud.
- Beauty contests were held at the Sands casino to crown "Miss Atomic Bomb."
- In April 1956, The New Frontier Hotel advertised a two-week booking of "America's only atomic-powered singer," Elvis Presley.
- For just $3.00 a person, visitors could be bussed outside town to "Witness the power of the Atomic Bomb," where they could see "Genuine atoms split to smithereens."
The best thing to happen to Vegas was the Atomic Bomb.- Benny Binion, owner, the Horseshoe Club casino
- Atop a building, downtown Las Vegas residents and visitors could see mushroom clouds resulting from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles away.
Take a bus to the outskirts of Las Vegas Nevada to see American military science at its finest. Viewers shall be placed in a tower safe from harms way as American scientists produce an atomic explosion from a safe distance.
- Location: Nye County, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas
Atomic Tourism in NevadaPBSNuclear Innocence
After the April 22, 1952, televised broadcast of the bomb, atomic culture swept the nation, and Las Vegas became the epicenter of the craze. The mushroom cloud associated with the bomb became an icon for Las Vegas, adorning postcards, candy, toys, showgirls' headdresses and more. Las Vegas establishments like the Flamingo and the Sands hawked the Atomic Cocktail, the Atomic Hairdo and Miss Atomic Bomb beauty contests.Atomic Tourism
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce issued a calendar for tourists, listing the scheduled times of the bomb detonations and the best places to view them. The Sky Room at the Desert Inn, offering a panoramic view of the Nevada horizon, was a favorite watch spot of tourists, as was nearby Mount Charleston. Many tourists packed "atomic box lunches" and had picnics as close to ground zero as the government restrictions would allow. On the eve of detonations, many Las Vegas businesses held "Dawn Bomb Parties." Beginning at midnight, guests would drink and sing until the flash of the bomb lit up the night sky.One Bomb Every Three Weeks for 12 Years
In addition to generating tourism, the Nevada Test Site also brought thousands of military personnel, thousands of jobs and more than $176 million in federal funds to the region, two-thirds of which went back into Las Vegas' economy. For twelve years, an average of one bomb every three weeks was detonated, at a total of 235 bombs. Flashes from the explosions were so powerful that they could reportedly be seen from as far away as Montana. Scientists claimed that the radiation's harmful effects would have dissipated and been harmless once the shock waves reached Las Vegas, and they scheduled tests to coincide with weather patterns that blew fallout away from the city. However, as the tests continued, people in northeastern Nevada and southern Utah began complaining that their pets and livestock were suffering from beta particle burns and other ailments; by 1963 the Limited Test Ban was in effect, banning above ground nuclear testing at the site.
Nuclear Tourism:
When atomic tests were a tourist attraction in Las Vegas, 1950s
- SamuraiSlick
My dad worked at Jackass Flats (Nevada test site). He knew when the test was going to go off, and would take me for breakfast to the Landmark Hotel. There was a restaurant at the top and we would have a little countdown. When the shockwave hit the hotel, the restaurant would sway. I have vivid memories of the glass of orange juice in front of me tilting back-and-forth.- ChChChillian
There is still a bar on Fremont Street in Las Vegas called Atomic Liquors. They used to set up lawn chairs on the roof so they could watch the nuclear tests with a nice cold drink in their hands.
Just 65 miles from the Nevada Testing Site, the mushroom clouds that rose into the sky from a nuclear test could easily be seen in Las Vegas. Nearly every business and entrepreneur in Las Vegas came up with ways to attract tourists - and their dollars - to see an atomic blast. Atmospheric testing at the Nevada Testing Site ended in 1962 so for more than a decade, the famous Vegas strip was lit up, not just by neon, but also by the blinding flash of light from the detonation of nuclear weapons.