Chernobyl and Fukushima may be what first comes to mind about this topic today, but is Las Vegas, Nevada the actual birthplace of “Atomic Tourism”?
By: Ringo Bones
I think this now largely forgotten segment of Las Vegas
tourism may have inspired The Killers to write the song Miss Atomic Bomb, but
given the relative popularity of “atomic tourism” during the past few years in
Chernobyl and Fukushima, probably only a handful of people actually know that
atomic tourism actually started in Las Vegas, Nevada. And the 1962 atmospheric
Nuclear Test Band Treaty probably consigned the glamour of such tourism to
history’s dustbin.
Believe it or not, the state of Nevada’s 1950s era Atomic
Bomb Tourism program is largely born out of finding a child-friendly
alternative to the burlesque floor shows and gambling that became everyone’s
perception when it comes to the image of Las Vegas, not to mention Atomic Bomb
Tourism has some potential science education merit behind it. Nevada’s nuclear
bomb testing spawned a spectator culture tinged with both profound fear and Sin
City delight.
During the 1950s, the spectacular light show over Fremont
Street that awed hordes of tourists at the time is most likely to be the
initial flash followed by a mushroom cloud during atmospheric nuclear weapons
testing in Mercury, Nevada – also known as the Nevada Test Site – a desert expanse
just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The 1951 detonation of an atomic warhead
1,060 feet over the desert floor marked the beginning of the above ground
trials whose mushroom clouds were easily visible from the nearby tourist
magnet. Given that most consumer electronic devices at the time were vacuum
tube based and therefore more EMP resistant than today’s solid-state based smartphones
and tablet computers, the mushroom cloud is primarily the visual indication
that an Atomic Bomb test is underway – as opposed to a busted smartphone.
In true Las Vegas style, the city capitalized on the atomic spectacle.
The Chamber of Commerce printed up calendars advertising detonation times and
best spots for watching. Casinos like Binion’s Horseshoe and The Desert Inn
flaunted north facing vistas offering special “atomic cocktails” and “Dawn Bomb
Parties,” where crowds danced and quaffed until a very bright flash several
times brighter than the sun lit the sky. Women decked out as mushroom clouds
vied for the “Miss Atomic Energy” crown at The Sands. “The best thing to happen
to Vegas was the Atomic Bomb”, one gambling magnate declared. Are those the
bygone age of an “Atomic Las Vegas”?