Dining

• The Strip has more five-star restaurants per mile than any city in the United States. Resorts such as The Bellagio, MGM Grand and Wynn Las Vegas are home to celebrity chefs and the top names in dining. But, some of the areas best dining lies outside of town. Readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal selected Rosemary's on West Sahara as the area's top gourmet restaurant. While the most lavish buffets are on The Strip, locals flock to the off-strip Orleans Hotel and Casino on West Tropicana Avenue. While chains Del Taco and Chipotle dot the landscape, restaurants such as La Hacienda on West Lake Mead Boulevard or Casa Don Juan on Main near East Charleston Boulevard provide an authentic taste.
  
  

Arts scene

• The arts in Las Vegas are alive and extend past the Bellagio Fine Art Gallery. The Charleston Heights Arts Center, City Hall Bridge Gallery and Reed Whipple Cultural Center showcase local and regional artists and host national touring exhibits in their spaces.
  
  

History

• Las Vegas history began long before Bugsy Siegel built The Flamingo in 1946. The city was first incorporated in the early 1900s. Spanish explorers, traders and Paiute Indians used the marshy area around the city as a stopping point between the outposts of Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Railroads brought the first boom to the area as a flat surface between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.
  The Clark County Museum on South Boulder Highway in Henderson--about 10 miles South of the Las Vegas city limits--is a living museum, with replicas and restored structures dating to the early days of the area.