Join us for our first podcast of 2025 as we delve into the illustrious history of Elvis Presley in Las Vegas, timed just before what would have been his 90th birthday. This episode explores how Elvis’s presence transformed Las Vegas from a mafia-influenced gambling hub into the spectacular entertainment capital it is today.

Jenn recounts her visit to significant locations that shaped Elvis’s career and legacy in Vegas, from his initial lukewarm performances to his groundbreaking seven-year residency that drew massive crowds and set new standards in showmanship. Learn about the intertwined history of the Rat Pack, Liberace, and how Elvis bridged the gap between the old and modern Vegas. Tune in for an illuminating journey through the neon lights and historic venues that still echo with the King’s legendary performances.

00:00 134 History of Elvis in Vegas
00:13 Elvis in Las Vegas: A Historical Overview
02:10 Elvis’s Early Vegas Performances
06:37 Viva Las Vegas: The Movie
10:55 Elvis’s Residency and Marriage in Vegas
16:22 Elvis’s Legacy in Las Vegas

Transcript

134 History of Elvis in Vegas

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[00:00:13] Introduction to Talk With History

[00:00:13] Scott: Welcome to Talk With History. I’m your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jen. Hello. On this podcast, we give you insights to our history inspired world travels, YouTube channel journey and examine history through deeper conversations with the curious, the explorers and the history lovers out there.

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[00:00:34] Holiday Break and New Podcast Studio

[00:00:34] Scott: Now, Jen, we are back. We are back after our break. And we did have a good, nice kind of holiday break just necessary for me to recharge for us to typically be able to do a lot of end of year stuff, fix up new things. And one of the things, if you are listening, you can now watch the video version of this podcast over on our main channel on Walk With History.

[00:00:57] Because we finished up our podcast studio. 

[00:01:00] Jenn: Yes. And we moved and we have three kids. And so, yes, we took a break for the holidays because we always talk about how having three kids, we make the holiday magic happen. It’s our first Christmas in this house. So we did a lot of decorating. We went all out this year and just we just, Wanted to have a good time experiencing the holidays with the family.

[00:01:23] So we took a break from the channel But that doesn’t mean we took a break from history. 

[00:01:27] Scott: That’s right. We’ve we’ve been pretty busy You actually had a little trip and if people are following you on Instagram They may have seen some of that of what you’re doing and that’s bringing us to what we’re talking about today But before I get into that again, for our listeners, if you want to see what our new podcast studio looks like, this is our permanent in home studio.

[00:01:47] We still have some things we want to do, but you can go over to Wildcat History on YouTube and you can watch the video version of this, or you can listen to the, to the audio version, wherever you, wherever you’re listening. And, but last, but certainly not, not least where you can get some more five star reviews on Apple podcasts, as well as on Spotify.

[00:02:04] So, thank you to those who were leaving us reviews. It really does help us grow and it shows us that we’re out there and people are enjoying kind of what we’re putting out into the world. 

[00:02:17] Elvis in Las Vegas: A Historical Overview

[00:02:17] Scott: So we’ve, we have some fun stuff coming up for the year and this being our first one of the, of 2025, we are publishing this podcast on the history of Elvis in Las Vegas, just a couple of days before his birthday, 

[00:02:31] Jenn: his 90th birthday.

[00:02:33] Scott: So Jen, you went out to Las Vegas. This is a. Thank you. I’ll call it a work trip, a walk with history work trip, but really it was you and some friends went out there, but you did take a day to go to some historic Elvis Las Vegas locations and talk about what he did there and how he changed just the entire city and how it was perceived.

[00:02:56] So tell me a little bit about your trip and kind of the history of Elvis in Las Vegas. 

[00:03:01] Jenn: Sure. So you can see my shirt fly like the King. This will be Elvis’s 90th birthday on January. He was born in 1935. So we were out there for celebrating my birthday, a friend’s birthday in December. The only reasonable time to go to Vegas because it gets very hot.

[00:03:18] And I always say, if you have one day in a specific location, what is the thing you want to see? What is the thing you want to do? So I had one day in Vegas. And I thought I would love to tell Elvis Presley’s story from Vegas, Elvis Presley in Vegas. So I went to some locations to tell his story and it just really was remarkable.

[00:03:40] Even, Scott and I have been to Vegas a couple of times. We have renewed our vows in Vegas. Elvis Presley is very synonymous with the town. 

[00:03:49] Scott: Yeah, and, and one of the things that a lot of people, and I’ll, I’ll say the younger generation, probably like my age and a little bit younger, right? Because you and I are right on the, on the border of that Gen X, millennial, we’re right there.

[00:04:01] Jenn: Millennials. 

[00:04:02] Scott: And people who are typically my age and younger don’t realize that Vegas didn’t always used to have this aura that Elvis gave it, I mean, pre Elvis, what was it like? 

[00:04:14] Elvis’s Early Vegas Performances

[00:04:14] Jenn: So pre, so you have to realize Vegas is not that old. It was, I mean, as far as being commercialized in America, it was founded in 1905 and Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish.

[00:04:28] And it really was founded because it was a link along the railroad between LA and Salt Lake City. And so that’s why Vegas. Got founded, but what brought in all the people is the Hoover Dam. So they brought in all these men to build the Hoover Dam and they needed to entertain these men at night.

[00:04:45] Think about, Gold Rush, right? All these things that happened that bring in all these men and what do men do in the off hours? Think of Rapid City and things like that. They gamble, they go to theaters, they go to casinos. 

[00:04:58] Scott: So it was really a little bit more of like a, like a Wild West.

[00:05:01] type town when it was initially founded. That’s interesting. I don’t think I even realized that. 

[00:05:04] Jenn: Yeah. So, in the 1930s is when all these men came in for the Hoover Dam. Well, who is funding all of this is the mafia. So it’s very close to LA. You’re bringing in these men who are basically building the infrastructure to keep LA viable.

[00:05:18] So the mafia is founding, is funding the casinos and the theaters and the entertainment that is happening in Vegas. 

[00:05:25] Scott: Good way to, to wash, wash, wash their money. 

[00:05:28] Jenn: Yes. Yeah. So it became this gambling Mecca and it was a, a big entertainers location. So you could. So you could film in L. A. and do your TV shows or your radio shows in L.

[00:05:41] A. and then you could perform for the big audiences in Las Vegas. 

[00:05:47] Scott: Was that kind of really like the whole Sinatra Rat Pack era? 

[00:05:50] Jenn: Yes, you got the Rat Pack and you get Liberace. So Liberace is really the first showman to do a residency. He basically. He births it. I think he’s like the first person to do it, but it’s more like a show.

[00:06:02] It’s a circus, right? Liberace is a decent singer, but he’s more known for the flamboyant. 

[00:06:08] Scott: So he, so he, he came in after the rat pack and was the, the, really the first, like you said, in resident musician artists that people would come out to see specifically for him. 

[00:06:19] Jenn: Yeah. But again, at older, more mature audience who has the money, who can stay there for a week at a time, go out to dinners, be entertained until the wee hours, gamble all night.

[00:06:32] It really was this older generation’s playground. So Elvis changes all that. 

[00:06:40] Scott: Yeah. And it’s, and it’s interesting too, because Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, still pretty synonymous with Las Vegas, but it’s considered old Vegas, right? That old uber classic, that mob era, just like you were talking about.

[00:06:55] And so it sounds like Liberace was the kind of front end of this transition from the mafia, mob, Rat Pack, old, Vegas into what sounds like Elvis really bridge that gap into the modern Vegas that we know today. 

[00:07:12] Jenn: Sure. So he did. He married the two together. You get really credible performers in Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

[00:07:19] I mean, people who are very talented, then you get Liberace who is very flamboyant and performance ask, will you marry the two together with Elvis Presley? You get a. Talented performer who can put on a show. I mean the fat pack wore their suits, smoked cigarettes, but they’re not dancing around. They’re not putting on a show.

[00:07:41] They’re just singing and drinking some scotch and telling stories. Liberace is dancing around with the rhinestones and the big hair and the glasses. So when you think of Elvis Presley in Vegas, he’s marrying those two together, but it doesn’t start. He doesn’t start there. That’s where he ends. So he performs for the very first time in Vegas in 1956 at the new frontier hotel.

[00:08:01] And it’s just, he’s young, he’s new, and he’s not, he’s accepted, but not really because he’s a young guy in this senior town. That’s, and 

[00:08:12] Scott: that’s still early ish in his career. 

[00:08:13] Jenn: Still early ish in his career. He’s still swinging the hips. And so you have the parents who are, Either approving or disapproving of rock and roll and he’s performing and so he he likes being in Vegas But he’s it’s a lukewarm kind of introduction for him 

[00:08:32] Scott: I remember right Elvis One of the things he always wanted to do was break into movies.

[00:08:37] He wanted to be a movie star 

[00:08:38] Jenn: He wanted to be a legit movie star. 

[00:08:41] Viva Las Vegas: The Movie

[00:08:41] Jenn: So this is the very first time you have Elvis in Vegas You for a long period of time is in 1963 when he films Viva Las Vegas. And so in the video, I take you to two locations synonymous with that movie. There’s a couple more locations. If you’re going to do an Elvis Presley in Vegas history tour, you really want to go to the two places I went, but there’s another place that I’ll remind you of as well.

[00:09:07] Scott: And who is his, his co star? Who’s the actress? 

[00:09:09] Jenn: Ann Margret. 

[00:09:10] Scott: Ann Margret. Good. grief. She was beautiful. 

[00:09:14] Jenn: She was beautiful. I mean, they actually had an affair and they actually were lovers for a very long time. So it’s 1963 Viva Las Vegas. You get Elvis is playing a race car driver who’s competing with another race car driver for a big race, but also the girl, his name is lucky.

[00:09:34] Her name is rusty. I don’t know. Sure. Whatever. She’s supposed to work on cars, too. But she is a lifeguard at the Flamingo Pool. So I take you to the Flamingo Pool. The Flamingo is a casino on the Strip. That’s the main road, Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas. And the Flamingo was Bugsy, Bugsy, Bugsy Seagulls.

[00:09:54] Casino. 

[00:09:55] Scott: Yeah, and it was neat too because when we were making the video, and you can go watch the video if, if you’re if you’re listening to this pretty soon on the Walk With History YouTube channel, but the one of the shots that you got, cause I didn’t get to, I didn’t get to tag along on this trip, but you got, it was like the restaurant and I think the, the restaurant was named after, after Bugsy.

[00:10:10] Jenn: Yeah. So they, they. It was Bugsy. Bugsy. embrace their history at the Flamingo, and it’s a great place to stay. All the rooms have been updated, but if you want to stay in a classic casino on the strip, I recommend the Flamingo. So Bugsy Siegel named it for his girlfriend who had long legs like a Flamingo.

[00:10:30] And so, Anne Margaret’s character, Rusty, is a lifeguard at the flamingo pool. And so, Elvis Presley’s character will go visit her at that pool. So that pool has since moved because they, they’ve expanded and built out the flamingo even more. And I think they’ve downsized the pool. But I take you to the general area, tell you a little bit about their interaction.

[00:10:51] At one point, I think Anne Margaret pushes Elvis off the high dive. Yeah. 

[00:10:54] Scott: I found a clip of that. 

[00:10:55] Jenn: Which I’m sure there’s no high dive now. But but. But that pool is synonymous with Viva Las Vegas. So it’s part of that movie. If you want to visit a location where Elvis was in the 1960s filming this movie, the Flamingo is the place to go.

[00:11:10] Scott: It was, it was pretty neat because even though you didn’t get to go in there because it was like they were doing something to it. 

[00:11:16] Jenn: It’s winter time. 

[00:11:17] Scott: Yeah. 

[00:11:17] Jenn: So they were, 

[00:11:18] Scott: they were doing all the maintenance and it was drained and there was a lot of work going on, but you did get a couple of shots of like some of the waterfalls that they have there.

[00:11:25] And so. And I, and if I remember correctly where that is, that’s still considered old Vegas in, in that area, because the strip as, as we know it, like where more people go, it’s shifted over the years. It 

[00:11:38] Jenn: has shifted, but it’s still, it’s right across from Caesar’s palace. So it’s still in.

[00:11:42] I would say downtown Vegas. Now, Fremont street is old Vegas. Fremont street is where you get the big neon signs and the cowboy. Now in Viva Las Vegas, the end of his car race. It’s at Fremont Street. So if you want to go to old Vegas, I love old Vegas. I love Fremont Street. It’s covered now by like neon lights.

[00:12:07] So if you’re looking for a place to get out of the sun, it’s a great place to go walk. And I’m going to tell you right now, any gift shop you go into in Vegas, it’s free. We’ll have Elvis stuff. Yeah, it doesn’t matter. He’s so synonymous with the town now that even Fremont Street downtown Vegas any gift shop is going to have Elvis Presley memorabilia.

[00:12:27] So, 

[00:12:28] Scott: and then from there you were able to go to I guess like it was the wedding chapel that was at the Towards the end of that movie, but that that had moved or something like that. 

[00:12:37] Jenn: Yeah. So the wedding chapel of the West is in the very end of the movie. This is where Elvis will marry Rusty and Margaret.

[00:12:44] Lucky and Rusty will get married. They say it’s the only time Elvis traditionally walked down an aisle. Oh gosh. Because when he gets married to Priscilla, he doesn’t walk down an aisle. Oh, I didn’t know that. So they say this is the only time that he technically walked down a traditional aisle getting married.

[00:12:59] Because 

[00:12:59] Elvis’s Residency and Marriage in Vegas

[00:12:59] Scott: didn’t you say that Elvis came back out to Vegas to? Get married to Priscilla. 

[00:13:03] Jenn: He did, but let’s, let’s finish talking about Viva Las Vegas because that was later. Yes. This is later. So they get married at the wedding chapel of the west. It’s a brown wedding chapel. I have been there actually for an actual wedding.

[00:13:15] It is close to the sign the The welcome to Las Vegas sign, 

[00:13:20] Scott: the classic sign. 

[00:13:21] Jenn: So if you want to visit the classic sign, it’s in our video. It never used to be so crowded. I went out there. There was so many people. I remember you used to just drive by it and be like, there’s a sign, but it’s right by the wedding chapel of the West.

[00:13:34] You can always stop there and take a picture. It was located further down the strip by where that new frontier hotel was where Elvis had first performed. It has moved a couple times because they didn’t own the land. where the chapel was. Now they specifically have bought that land. That chapel should not move.

[00:13:53] But if you want to get married in a location where Elvis Presley walked down the aisle that that’s a great place to go get married. 

[00:14:00] Scott: Yeah. And I think you even showed a shot. I don’t think it made it into the video that it’s like a national historic site. So 

[00:14:06] Jenn: yeah, it’s very cool. And then the last place that we the the other places that you could visit if you want to go to see some of the stuff from Viva Las Vegas is I would recommend going to the UBLN campus, so the University of Las Vegas campus.

[00:14:22] Did they 

[00:14:22] Scott: do some film in there? 

[00:14:23] Jenn: So she’s like a, a teaching at the school, like, dance. And so their whole Viva Las Vegas dance number is in the auditorium. 

[00:14:33] Scott: That’s at the school. 

[00:14:34] Jenn: At the school. So if you’re able to get onto campus, you can go into that auditorium, you can go onto that. stage and see where Ann Margret and Elvis Presley actually dance together.

[00:14:44] That’s 

[00:14:44] Scott: the one where they’re dancing on stage and she’s just shaking her hair all over the place and doing the classic 60s dancing. Elvis 

[00:14:51] Jenn: too. 

[00:14:51] Scott: Yeah. You 

[00:14:51] Jenn: know, I’m always so amazed when I watch Elvis Presley, like this guy never had formal dance instruction, but he’s a tremendous dancer. 

[00:14:58] Scott: Oh yeah.

[00:14:59] Yeah. He knew how to shake those hips. 

[00:15:01] Jenn: It’s amazing. So those are the places I recommend you go. Now, there is a neon museum. In Vegas, I did not get to visit, but if you want to see the signs for the original sign for the Flamingo, it’s there. And the original sign for the New Frontier Hotel, where Elvis had his first performance, that’s there as well.

[00:15:19] Yeah, 

[00:15:20] Scott: we had one of our, our our members Larry, he had commented on the video because he got to see it early. So if, if you’re a YouTube channel member, you can watch our videos early. And he had said, Hey, next time you’re out, go, go check out that video. That museum because it has all the old old signs.

[00:15:34] I think they even have some like mobster history there and stuff like that Oh, 

[00:15:37] Jenn: yeah, absolutely. It’s I mean Vegas was this neon lit up area Yeah, it still is today, but this is when the birth of the neon So they’ve saved all of those historic signs and if you want to go see them, they’re in the museum for you 

[00:15:51] Scott: Yeah.

[00:15:52] Now what was the the other big location that you were checking out. There’s 

[00:15:55] Jenn: three locations. I really centered this video around Elvis in the 60s. 

[00:16:00] Scott: Yeah. While he was in residency in Vegas or that kind of starting from his filming through his residency. Through 

[00:16:06] Jenn: his residency. But in the middle, he gets married.

[00:16:09] He legitimately gets married. His only marriage to Priscilla and they marry in 1967 at the Aladdin Hotel. As not there anymore. It is a Planet Hollywood, but at 3667 South Las Vegas Boulevard is where Elvis Presley will actually get married. So, the, everyone’s seen the photographs like he’s in the tuxedo.

[00:16:32] She’s in the beautiful wedding dress. She says it was spur of the moment. She bought the dress here in Memphis. They flew out to Vegas and they got married. They honeymooned in Palm Springs. I think Sinatra gave him their plane. His plane to fly. Okay. It’s before he owned his Lisa Marie.

[00:16:46] Scott: Yeah. Cause that was one of the things I remember from Graceland was that once he started owning his own plane, he would just like up and fly off somewhere at, in like a moment’s notice. That was something he did pretty often. Oh 

[00:16:56] Jenn: yeah. He liked to go like to dinner or to go to a show or go to places. 

[00:17:00] Scott: Yeah.

[00:17:00] That’s cool. That’s Sinatra lent him his plane. That’s a neat little tie there. 

[00:17:03] Jenn: Yeah. So, but if you want to visit the Aladdin again, I think they’re redoing it the hotel that it is now, and they’re going to. do some homage to Elvis there. So, but right now it’s just another hotel, but that’s where Elvis Presley was married in 1967.

[00:17:19] Scott: Yeah. And then his, where he did his residency was, if I remember right, the international. 

[00:17:26] Jenn: Yes. So then 1969, In July of 1969, he does his residency, a seven year residency at the International Hotel. 

[00:17:36] Scott: Now, was, and this just popped into my head because Priscilla had come out, they had gotten married in Vegas.

[00:17:41] Was she with him or was she staying here in Memphis at Graceland? 

[00:17:44] Jenn: She would come out for long periods of time because he would do like two weeks stints at a time. And he would do, like we talked about before, we were amazed, he did two shows a day. 7 days a week. Yep. 75 minute shows. Yep. So she would stay with him.

[00:17:59] And he had the Elvis suite, which is on the 30th floor of the International, which is now the Westgate, would be his entire floor. And so, yeah, she would come and stay, but again, they have Lisa Marie at the time. Yeah. So it’s 

[00:18:10] Scott: not really conducive to staying out long term. She didn’t live in Vegas with him.

[00:18:15] No. Okay. 

[00:18:16] Jenn: They kept their residency here. Lisa Marie stayed in school here. But he does 636 shows. He sells out every one of them. 

[00:18:26] Elvis’s Legacy in Las Vegas

[00:18:26] Jenn: And this is what’s going to give this change to Vegas. Now I always say Viva Las Vegas, the song has become like the unofficial anthem of Vegas and you see Elvis memorabilia everywhere, but it’s because of this residency in Vegas that he changes everything.

[00:18:45] The landscape of Vegas. Now it’s a younger crowd. Now it’s people coming just for entertainment, not for gambling. 

[00:18:54] Scott: Yeah. And we had talked about before we started recording, Elvis had such a broad appeal and not just global, but age range wise, he appealed to everybody because he had had this. Early, fifties careers and then did the comeback, and then did the comeback. So that brought that next generation back around to him and Vegas is synonymous. With Elvis like you go to a wedding. You do want the Elvis package, right? Like that’s the that’s the questions that they ask now. 

[00:19:26] Jenn: It’s one of the most defining moments in the history of Las Vegas Like you said, I think when Elvis comes back from the army and Frank Sinatra welcomes him back and they sing together Remember, they croon together, they sing each other’s songs.

[00:19:41] I think Elvis becomes synonymous with the older generation. They’re like, he really is a talented singer. And then the younger generation still loves him for what he’s doing with rock and roll and this new genre of music. And so they’re married together with his residency. He is performing, he’s doing the, the karate kicks.

[00:20:02] He’s, he’s flamboyant. He’s really interacting with this crowd yet. He’s singing his famous songs. He’s given them a real show. He has an amazing voice. So you could probably go with your parents. You could probably go with your, like it, it was something. I know people who went to this show just for this show.

[00:20:22] People would go to Vegas just to see Elvis Presley. It wasn’t for the gambling. It wasn’t for the casinos. Now people were coming to see a performer perform. 

[00:20:32] Scott: And if you think about it, Nowhere else in the world did anybody have a show like what Elvis had, right? With the, he took, I’m sure his costume designer took some cues from Liberace like we were talking about earlier, but that was so embedded into just being in Vegas.

[00:20:51] They didn’t have anything like that in New York. There was nothing like that in Los Angeles, probably, nowhere else in the world. And here’s Elvis, this global superstar, global superstar, and, and creates this, this, This culture that that becomes synonymous with the glitz and the glamour of Las Vegas, it fits so perfectly it almost.

[00:21:11] Like, you almost couldn’t avoid it becoming, part of the history there. 

[00:21:15] Jenn: Well, it still felt today. We talk about people who have these huge shows. Think about Taylor Swift and all the people that came. Elvis, triple quadruple what Taylor Swift did in the 60s. Yeah. And his, his Aloha show from Hawaii.

[00:21:35] Billions of people tuned in, not millions from around the world, from around the world, billions of people tuned in. So those people, if they wanted to see him, this was a very smart career move for him. I’m going to be in a residency in Las Vegas. If you want to see me. You don’t have to worry about me coming to your location and you trying to get off and it fits with your schedule.

[00:21:56] This will work with your schedule because I’m here for seven years and you come see me and you make a vacation of it. You stay at a hotel, you see my show, you, you eat, you have a good time. And that is still done by mega stars today. There’s so much famous historic things that happened with the Vegas residency Colonel Parker will write the contract and On a tablecloth and it’s an unheard of number.

[00:22:26] He makes a ton of money. That tablecloth today is a Graceland. Oh, really? We just saw it over there. We took a picture of it. I’ll have Scott put it in. If you want to watch this video you can see it there. You can see the handwriting, you can see the coffee stains on it. And so that was something that just.

[00:22:41] it just wasn’t done. It was something that was very new. I know today we don’t really think about this because it’s, it’s so much a part of what we know, when I was there at Vegas, the Eagles had, we’re performing their residency there. Shania Twain was there, Celine Dion was there, Britney Spears, like these huge performers are performing their residency there.

[00:23:01] So at the now Westgate hotel, it was the international. Then Hilton bought it, so it was the Las Vegas Hilton, still while Elvis was there. Now it’s the Westgate. And if you go visit, they have a bronze statue of Elvis Presley right in the lobby, which is super cool to see. They have a whole exhibit to Elvis in Vegas.

[00:23:18] And then you can go to the stage and look at the stage where Elvis performed. 

[00:23:22] And who has his residency there now? Barry Manilow. 

[00:23:26] Scott: Yeah. 

[00:23:27] Jenn: So it’s very, it’s people still do this today. And if you walk in, they have three photographs on the wall of Liberace, Elvis Presley. And I think it’s the Yeah.

[00:23:40] That’s right. I think they had, they did a residency there as well, but I wanted to read a critic. So like I said, this was so groundbreaking for Elvis to do this. And this was a in the Las Vegas sun after his first performance. Elvis got a constant roaring approval from his fans who all but threw themselves into the aisle and out of the balcony as the pelvis saying his many rock and roll hits while fiercely and almost savagely turning himself outside in like he was just a performer.

[00:24:14] He drew over 100, 000 patrons over four weeks. And that’s when Colonel Parker was able to negotiate the bigger. contract on the tablecloth because of what his initial performances were like. He will do his last performance there at the international on December 12th, 1976. And then he’ll, we’ll pass away about nine months later. So, it is. One of the last places Elvis will perform it is a place that is synonymous with his life up until his death 

[00:24:48] Scott: Yeah, it was it was fun for you to be able to get out there and make that video and Elvis seems to be a very popular topic on our YouTube channel.

[00:24:56]

[00:25:00] Scott: Well, that wraps up our journey through Elvis’s Vegas from the bright lights of the International Hotel, now the Westgate, where the King performed over 600 sold out shows, to the movie star pool and wedding chapel. We’ve walked in the footsteps of music royalty today. Jen’s recent visit to these historic locations really brought home just how much Elvis transformed Las Vegas entertainment.

[00:25:22] Before Elvis, Vegas was mainly known for its Rat Pack shows and gambling, but after his 1969 comeback and those legendary performances at the International, Elvis helped make Vegas the entertainment capital we know today. Many people feel that Elvis spirit still lives on in Vegas, from the wedding chapels to the endless tribute artists walking the strip.

[00:25:44] His influence on the city wasn’t just about music, it was about creating an entirely new kind of spectacle that Vegas is now famous for. We hope this episode has given you a deeper appreciation for Elvis Vegas years, beyond just the jumpsuit and Viva Las Vegas, there’s so much history there, and we’re grateful we could share these stories with all of you.

[00:26:05] And remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Although in Elvis’s case, what happened in Vegas became music history. 

[00:26:13] Jenn: Yeah.

[00:26:13] Happy birthday, Elvis. 

[00:26:15] Scott: This has been a Walk With History production. Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie. Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie. Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode. Talk With History is supported by our fans at thehistoryroadtrip. com. Our eternal thanks to those providing funding to help keep us going.

[00:26:35] to Doug McLiverty, Larry Myers, and Patrick Bennie. Make sure you hit that follow button in your podcast player, and we’ll talk to you next time.