Last updated 07/16/22
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The Las Vegas Strip is located in the unincorporated township of Paradise, Nevada. The city limits of Las Vegas start just north of Paradise at Sahara Avenue. The Strip is the 4.2 mile part of Las Vegas Boulevard between Sahara Street to the north and Russell Road to the south.
The Strip isn’t the only thing outside the Las Vegas city limits that everyone thinks of as Las Vegas. Harry Reid International Airport (formerly McCarran International Airport), the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, and the University of Las Vegas are all outside the City of Las Vegas. But why isn’t the Strip in Las Vegas? Did it get kicked out? Well, let me tell you a story.
What is the Las Vegas Strip?
Before we can say where the Strip is we have to define what the Strip is. You say, “everyone knows what the Strip is. It’s all the casinos in the middle of Las Vegas.” Sure, but where does officially start and end? Well, it doesn’t have official boundaries. As we said before, almost everyone says the Strip is the part of Las Vegas Boulevard between Sahara Street to the north and Russell Road to the south. This means from Sahara Casino in the north to Mandalay Bay Casino in the south. Many times referred to as the most expensive 4.2 miles in the world.
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A lot of people also say the Strip starts at the Strat casino (formerly the Stratosphere) in the north. The owners and employees of the Strat agree. Lots of visitors to Las Vegas would probably say the Strat is on the Strip. But, the Strat is north of Sahara Avenue and it is absolutely inside the city limits of Las Vegas. Why is that important? Well, in today’s world it isn’t. Almost no visitors could tell you where Las Vegas ends and Paradise begins. But when it was created the area that would become the Strip was specifically placed outside the City of Las Vegas.
How Come the Strip Is In Paradise And Not Las Vegas?
To answer that we have to go back in time to the beginnings of Las Vegas. Buckle up, it’s history time. Las Vegas started as a railroad town. The current downtown Las Vegas was the original city area. Las Vegas was a refueling and watering point between Southern California and Utah. As a rest stop for the railroad it was necessary to have hotels and restaurants for the railroad passengers. Las Vegas became a city in 1905 when the area around the railroad was auctioned off by Union Pacific Railroad.
Now 1931 is when things get interesting. While most states banned gambling, Nevada legalized it in 1931. This was also the year Hoover Dam construction started. The hotels with gambling became a draw for visitors from California by railroad. Construction workers and Californians coming to gamble made Las Vegas grow.
The mob took notice of the money legalized gambling could bring in. In 1946 notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo. The Las Vegas police were not friendly toward the mob and Siegel decided to build the Flamingo just outside Las Vegas city limits. Dealing with the Clark County Sheriff was preferable to the Las Vegas Police. The Flamingo was built on the road to Los Angeles just south of Las Vegas. Many others built new resorts and casinos in the same area over the years and this area became the Strip.
In 1950 the City of Las Vegas wanted to annex the Strip to add to their tax base. The resorts on the Strip were drawing a lot of visitors from the downtown hotels. The mob ran casinos drew the big entertainers and celebrities of the time and this brought in the crowds. When Las Vegas wanted to annex the Strip the casino owners went to the Clark County Commission and asked to become designated as a town. As a town, the City of Las Vegas would have to get the county commission’s permission to annex the Strip. The commission agreed with the casino owners and established an unincorporated township of Paradise.
Will Paradise Or the Strip Ever Be Part of Las Vegas?
Probably not. The City of Las Vegas wants Paradise and the Strip. The City of Las Vegas has tried to annex Paradise a few times, unsuccessfully. The Strip was almost annexed in 1975. The law that would have made the Strip part of Las Vegas was determined to be unconstitutional by the Nevada Supreme Court. The casinos fight becoming part of the City of Las Vegas because it would mean additional taxes and another layer of government overseeing their business. In addition, Clark County is unlikely to give up the cash cow they found in the Strip.
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What’s Different Between the Towns and Cities of Las Vegas?
The Las Vegas metropolitan area is made up of three cities and 6 townships. Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson are the three cities. Paradise, Winchester, Spring Valley, Sunrise Manor, Enterprise, and Whitney are the six townships.
The mob built their casinos outside of Las Vegas to avoid the Las Vegas Police. Are the Las Vegas Police still more strict than the Clark County Sheriff’s Department? No, they are pretty much the same now. The two departments merged in 1973 and became the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro). So, no difference there. The United Postal Service doesn’t deliver mail addressed to Paradise, or Enterprise. All of the mail delivered to the unincorporated towns is addressed to Las Vegas. Again, no difference. The main difference between the towns and cities is where the taxes get paid.
In conclusion, most cities have a mish-mash of cities, suburbs, towns, and political boundaries that only matter to the people drawing the maps. Las Vega is no exception. Visitors just see one big metropolitan area that is seamless to them. The boundaries of the strip are whatever you call them when you talk about Las Vegas. We fall in the “Strip isn’t in Las Vegas” side, because it’s just funnier.