Fremont and Second Street looking east towards the train depot. The post office and the Majestic Theatre can be seen on the left, in this circa 1917 photo, at what would later become the site of the Pioneer club.


The legalization of gambling also facilitated the modern era of Las Vegas. By the early 1940s, downtown Las Vegas had several luxury hotels and a dozen small but successful gambling clubs. In 1941 a businessman by the name of Thomas Hull, who owned a string of motor inns in California, decided to open the El Rancho Las Vegas, just outside the city limits right off the highway from Los Angeles.