>

Tag: Vintage images

Vintage Las Vegas Photos, 1940s-1960s

Welcome to 2023! I hope January has been good to you so far. I’m just back from basically travelling for a month (it was a blast) and now I’m off to Las Vegas again for my annual German Karneval (Mardi Gras) 2 day party at the Tuscany. It’s always a fun party with great people celebrating the traditions originally started in Germany. You can follow along on my Instagram Feed if you are interested.

In honour of my upcoming party weekend, I thought ‘Vintage Photo Tuesday‘ should focus on images from Las Vegas from the 1940s to the 1960s. Then if you enjoyed this post, you can find other vintage Vegas posts I have done at the end of today’s fun.

Let’s begin!

Flamingo Hotel (Las Vegas), 1950s. The Champagne Tower is seen on the right. 

The Flamingo hotel is one of my favourite places to stay on the strip. It no longer looks like the cool Mid Century Architecture below but it’s still awesome.

1950s vintage photo of the front of the Flamingo Hotel (Las Vegas), 1950s - Las Vegas

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Early 1950s photo of a stylish woman hanging out at the Sahara pool. What a super coloured photo!

1950s vintage photo of a stylish woman in 1950s fashions and 1950s hairstyle hanging out At the Sahara hotel pool, early 1950s. (Undated Kodachrome red border slide.)

Source: Facebook-Vintage Las Vegas

Bands are everyhere in the city. Here is a group of entertainers called “Polly Possum, Joe Wolverton and the Dogpatch County Band” performing at the Golden Nugget Saloon in downtown Las Vegas.

1950s Vintage Photo: Group of entertainers called "Polly Possum, Joe Wolverton and the Dogpatch County Band" performing at the Golden Nugget Saloon in downtown Las Vegas. Fun Vintage Las Vegas image.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

1950s photo of four showgirls (another staple in the city) in stylish 1950s dresses outside the Moulin Rouge, preparing for the Helldorado parade, dated May 5, 1955.

About the Moulin Rouge:

On 24 May 1955 the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino opened.  It was located at at 900, Bonanza Road on the west side of Las Vegas; becoming what the promoters called “the nation’s first major interracial hotel”.

Until the hotel’s opening African American entertainers in Las Vegas were denied access to public casino and hotel dining areas unless they were performing and were forced to stay overnight in segregated boarding houses on the Westside.  Within the next few months the hotel attracted performers such as Louis Armstrong, George Burns, Nat King Cole, Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Unfortunately, despite its popularity, the Moulin Rouge closed its doors six months later surrounded by many rumors as to what had happened. Its brief run as a successfully integrated casino, though, prompted political activists to campaign for the integration of the Las Vegas Strip – an agreement that was achieved, ironically, in the now closed Moulin Rouge on March 26, 1960 (Source).

1950s photo of four showgirls in 1950s dresses outside the Moulin Rouge, preparing for the Helldorado parade, dated May 5, 1955.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Photograph of Lionel Hampton with members of the Moulin Rouge show group, 1955.

1950s vintage Photograph of Lionel Hampton with members of the Moulin Rouge show group, 1955

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

1960s vintage photo of a group of men and women in 1960s fashions hanging out at the Sands Hotel pool.

1960s vintage photo ofa group of men and women in 1960s fashions hanging out at the Sands Hotel pool.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

A floating craps game in the Sands Hotel swimming pool (Las Vegas), 1954. Love the 1950s swimsuits.

Photo description: “Floating craps table – Customers at the Sands Hotel escape the heat by gambling in the pool. About 2200 guests tried this in 1954.” (Source).

1950s vintage Photograph of a floating craps game in the Sands Hotel swimming pool (Las Vegas), 1954. Cute 1950s swimsuits on the women.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Las Vegas is known for it’s famous buffets. Here is a image of the Chuck Wagon Buffet at the El Rancho Vegas, late 1940s.

1940s vintage Photograph of the Chuck Wagon Buffet at the El Rancho Vegas (Las Vegas), late 1940s - Vintage Vegas

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

1951 photo of workers installing the now-famous Vegas Vic sign on the front of the Pioneer Club.

Photo Description: “First Highrise Hotel — Center of action downtown throughtout the 1930s was the Apache Hotel which boasted an elevator and a nitery downstairs. The corner is now Binion’s Horseshoe, but the spot has undergone many name changes from Tony Cornero’s ‘S.S. Rex’ to the Eldorado where the mobs were fighting for control of the race wire. Bugsy Siegel’s influence was first felt here in the early 1940s.” (Source).

1950s vintage Photograph of YESCO workers installing Vegas Vic at the Pioneer Club (Las Vegas), 1951

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Desert Inn, 1950 – The Sky Room, at the top of a three story tower, the tallest structure on the Las Vegas Strip at the time. The woman on the right is Toni Clark, wife of DI president Wilbur Clark. Photographed by J.R. Eyerman for LIFE Magazine (Source).

Desert Inn, 1950 – The Sky Room, at the top of a three story tower, the tallest structure on the Las Vegas Strip at the time. The woman on the right is Toni Clark, wife of DI president Wilbur Clark. photographed by J.R. Eyerman for LIFE Magazine. Stylish 1950s evening dresses and 1950s hairstyles.

Source: Facebook – Vintage Las Vegas

Las Vegas-The Wedding Capital.

Las Vegas residents Eddie and Johnie Wright at their wedding reception, April 25, 1957.

In an oral history interview (for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project) with Eddie Wright Jr. and Johnie B. Wright conducted by B. Leon Green. Wright and Wright Jr. discuss coming to Las Vegas, Nevada and their careers as a teacher/nursing aid and a ticket agent at the local Greyhound station, respectively (Source).

1950s vintage Photograph of Eddie and Johnie Wright at their wedding reception, April 25, 1957. Fantastic 1950s Wedding Image.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Another wedding photo but this time for Sammy Davis Jr and Loray White at the Sands in Las Vegas on 01/10/1958.

1950s Vintage Photo: Sammy Davis Jr and Loray White wedding at the Sands in Las Vegas on 01/10/1958

Source: Pinterest

Front exterior of Club Bingo (Las Vegas), between 1947-1952. What a fun sign! BINGO!

Photograph of the front exterior of Club Bingo (Las Vegas), between 1947-1952 - Vintage Vegas

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Playing bingo at Golden Nugget, February 1947 – Photo by Jon Brenneis (Source).

1940s vintage image of a woman in westernwear and a 1940s hairstyle Playing bingo at Golden Nugget, February 1947 - Photo by Jon Brenneis

Source: Facebook-Vintage Las Vegas

Events and conventions are another staple of the Vegas scene.

Congo line at the American Parts System convention – Late 1960s photo.

Events and conventions are another staple of the Vegas scene. 

Congo line at the American Parts System convention - Late 1960s photo.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Fremont & Main, 1946. Our lovely lady (love her braid hairstyle) is standing at Union Park which was in front of the Union Pacific depot. The photo is sometime between May-Nov. 1946 (source).

1940s vintage photo of a woman in a 1940s dress and a braided 1940s hairstyle at Fremont & Main, 1946. She's standing at Union Park which was in front of the Union Pacific depot. The photo is sometime between May-Nov. 1946.

Source: Facebook-Vintage Las Vegas

Famous Las Vegas shows. 1950s vintage photo of the Copa Girls Trans World Airlines show rehearsal at the Sands Hotel.

1950s vintage photo of the Copa Girls Trans World Airlines show rehearsal at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

Source: UNLV Digital Collections

Thank you for dropping by and I hope you enjoyed this collection of vintage Vegas photos. Please share any comments you have about this blog post in the section below. I love hearing from my readers.

This is going to be another year of fun vintage content and I can’t wait to share it all with you!

Further Reading about Vintage Las Vegas:

Liz

Canadian Women on the Home Front During WW2 – Part 2

It is now November and that means Remembrance Day is just around the corner (Nov 11th). So I thought to honour this upcoming day that I would do a part 2 appreciation photo post about ‘Canadian Women’s Role’s on the Home Front during WW2’ (please find part 1 HERE).

Let’s begin!

Canadian Women on the Home Front-WW2

194s Stamp: The Second World War, 1940, Canada Mobilizes Its Resources -Home Front effort.

Source: postagestampguide.com

Some Facts About Women on the Home Front:

During the war, many women took a wide variety of civilian jobs that had once been filled by men. 

  • Out of a total Canadian population of 11 million people, only about 600,000 Canadian women held permanent jobs when the war started. During the war, their numbers doubled to 1,200,000.
  • At the peak of wartime employment in 1943-44, 439,000 women worked in the service sector, 373,000 in manufacturing and 4,000 in construction
  • Women’s smaller physical size and manual dexterity helped them develop a great reputation for fine precision work in electronics, optics, and instrument assembly.
  • With their sons overseas, many farm women had to take on extra work. One Alberta mother of nine sons – all of them either in the army or away working in factories – drove the tractor, plowed the fields, put up hay, and hauled grain to elevators, along with tending her garden, raising chickens, pigs and turkeys, and canning hundreds of jars of fruits and vegetables.
  • Women who worked with lumberjacks and loggers during the war were called “lumberjills.”
  • Canada’s Elsie Gregory MacGill (see a cool very short video about her below) was the first woman in the world to graduate as an aeronautical engineer. She worked for Fairchild Aircraft Limited during the war. In 1940, her team’s design and production methods were turning out more than 100 Hurricane combat aircraft per month (Source)


The Vintage Photos:

Sunshine Waterloo Company Limited – Inspection of adapters for 2″ Smoke Bombs by the Inspection Board of the United Kingdom and Canada. Note the poster on the wall in the background promoting accurate work.

ABOUT: The Sunshine Waterloo Company (later SunarHauserman Limited) was started in 1930 as a joint venture of the H.V. McKay Company of Melbourne, Australia and the Waterloo Manufacturing Company, Limited to make combines for the North American and Argentine markets.

During the Depression the grain harvesters were being phased out as the farmers could not afford to buy them, and the company produced automotive stampings for cars. Waterloo Manufacturing withdrew from the joint venture in 1934. The company expanded to bed warmers, baby carriages, roller skates and industrial steel shelving. In 1939 Sunshine began manufacturing bombs, land mines, army truck doors, gun mounts, airplane parts and complete nose assemblies for the Mosquito fighter-bomber. The company operated around the clock and was Waterloo’s largest employer during the war years (Source).

1940s vintage photo of parts of a smoke bomb being inspected at a factory in Waterloo, ontario canada during WW2.

Source: Waterloo Public Library

1943 photo from the Toronto Star: Final touches are applied to a completed plane fuselage. Put together in three sections; the plywood fuselage is cheaper and said to be more serviceable and stronger than the metal product.

1940s Vintage Photo of Canadian Women during WW2 working on the Final touches to a completed plane fuselage. This was part of the home front effort during the war.

Source: Toronto Public Library Digital Archive – Toronto Star

June 21, 1943. Bernice Coulter soldering airplane parts, DeHavilland factory.

1940s vintage photo, June 21, 1943. Bernice Coulter soldering airplane parts, DeHavilland factory. Women on the WW2 Home Front.

Source: City of Toronto Archives Fonds 1266, Item 83188

Women soldering and assembling cables for airplanes, Canadian Car and Foundry Co., 1945.

1940s vintage photo of Canaidan Women soldering and assembling cables for airplanes, at the 
Canadian Car and Foundry Co., 1945 for the Canadian Home Front Effort.

Source: sfu.ca

1942 photo of a Canadian “Rosie the Riveter”.

Original Toronto Star caption: “She didn’t even look up when the photographer’s bulb flashed. She’s Georgina Ogilvie; and she’s riveting on a bomber. Girls regularly do this now.” (source).

1940s vitnage photo of 1942 photo of a Canadian "Rosie the Riveter" working on an airplane in a factory. 

Original Toronto Star caption: "She didn't even look up when the photographer's bulb flashed. She's Georgina Ogilvie; and she's riveting on a bomber. Girls regularly do this now."

Source: Toronto Public Library Archives

This booklet produced by Boeing Canada gave new female employees tips on how to be safe in an industrial setting, which until the war was unavailable to them.

1940s booklet produced by Boeing Canada gave new female employees tips on how to be safe in an industrial setting, which until the war was unavailable to them.

City of Richmond Archives reference files

Cecilia Butler working in the John Inglis Company munitions plant in Toronto, December 1943.

On the home front, Black Canadians made important contributions by working in factories that produced vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other materials for the war effort, and taking part in other patriotic efforts like war bond drives. Black women worked in vital jobs in various industries, for example, in munitions factories in Central Canada and shipbuilding yards in Nova Scotia (Source).

FURTHER READING: Black Canadians in uniform — a proud tradition

1940s Vintage Photo of Cecilia Butler a Black Women working in the John Inglis Company munitions plant in Toronto during the Second World War, December 1943.

Source: Veterans.gc.ca

1940s photo of two women holding a salmon at a Cannery.

Food production was another industry that was vital to the war effort. “Salmon for Britain” was a slogan used to encourage productivity in local canneries.

One of thos canneries, was the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, one of B.C.’s largest canneries located in Steveston Village, during the 1940s (I have been there and seen the cannery museum. I highly recommend!).

“The Cannery always employed women, it wasn’t new, but it did change during the Second World War, when there was more need for women to work in factory,” said Shannon King, manager of audience engagement of Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society, to the Richmond News.

In 1941, 35 canneries in B.C. packed a record two million cases of salmon, two thirds of which was sent to Great Britain, where war stalked the land. In 1942, Great Britain received all of the salmon canned in B.C.

“Canned fish was extremely important during war time, not only for soldiers, but also for civilians,” said King.

“Because it was high in protein and easily transportable. It was helpful that at the front, people were able to just open the can and eat it; for civilians, it was cheap protein.” (Source & a great article on these women).

1940s vintage photo of women working in salmon canneries in BC, Canada during WW2. Working for the Home Front effort.

City of Richmond Archives, Photograph #1985 4 1759

1940s vintage photo in front of the ‘Ontario Farm Service Force Camp’ sign. Future…Farmerettes.

Who were Farmerettes?

When the farm labour shortage was acute during the war years, these young women planted, hoed, hand-weeded, thinned, staked, picked fruit and harvested vegetables. Helping to increase food production for Ontario (and Great Britain) was so important.

The Ontario Farm Service Force initiated the Farmerette program in 1941 and it continued until 1953. In conjunction with the YWCA, the Department of Agriculture as well as the Department of Education, Farmerette Camps were established and farmers and growers subscribed to the plan (Source).

You can read all about these hard working women in this 2019 book: Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz: Memories of Ontario Farmerettes by Shirleyan English & Bonnie Sitter

1940s vintage photo of two women who worked on farms during the Home Front effort in WW2 they were called Farmerettes

Source: www.harrowsmithmag.com

Dorothy McCabe, Queenie Edward, and Edith Allen knitting in a Red Cross workroom, March 2nd, 1943.

Knitting was a popular way for civilians (including men and children as well as women) to directly and personally help the men and women overseas. Basic articles of clothing such as socks, scarves, and sweaters were always useful. The Red Cross also produced a booklet of patterns for specific uses, including mitts designed for those using rifles or radio equipment, caps to be worn under steel helmets, and amputation covers and bed socks for convalescents (Source).

Source: The Toronto Archives

Violet Carlson, working at the Small Arms Manufacturing plant October 13, 1943.

The Small Arms Inspection Building is located on the 15.7 hectare parcel of land known as the Arsenal Lands on the eastern border of Mississauga’s waterfront. In 1940, the site became a large munitions plant manufacturing rifles and small arms for the Canadian Army through the Second World War until 1974. Small Arms Limited recruited and supported a significant number of women, who made up about two-thirds of the factory’s workforce. This was critical to changing the role of women and recognizing their significance to the workforce in Canada.

Read all about these women in a archived blog post I have written: Canada’s WW2 Home Front Effort: The Small Arms Inspection Building

1940s vintage photo from 1943 of a women working at the Small Arms Inspection Building / Small Arms Manufacturing plant during WW2 in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. She is doing her part for the Home front.

Source: City of Toronto Archives

1941 photo of the Women’s Red Cross, Food Administration Section in a parade in front of Toronto City Hall.

1940s Vintage Photo: 1941 photo of the Women's Red Cross, Food Administration Section in a parade in front of Toronto City Hall.

Source: Toronto Public Library Digital Archive

April 16th, 1942. Women workers stitch service uniforms using sewing machines at the Great Western Garment Co (Edmonton, Alberta).

1940s Photo..April 16th, 1942. Women workers stitch service uniforms using sewing machines at the Great Western Garment Co (Edmonton, Alberta).

Source: Archives of Canada

1940s photo of women and men in the sewing room at Tip Top Tailor making uniforms for Canadian soldiers.

1940s photo of Women and Men in the sewing room at Tip Top Tailor making uniforms for Canadian soldiers.

Source: sfu.ca

Photograph of Madge Macbeth (Canadian writer) raising money for war bonds (late 1930’s photo).

1930s Photograph of Madge Macbeth (Canadian writer) raising money for war bonds (late 1930's photo).

Source: Archives of Canada

Thank you for your service!

FURTHER READING:

Thanks for dropping by and spending some time at the Vintage Inn. I look forward to welcoming you back!

Liz