Inside the Homes of the Vintage-Obsessed Modern Showgirls Keeping Las Vegas Kitsch Alive

architectural digest ^

[algore]

If any city was made by men, for men, it’s Las Vegas. In the early 20th century, this man-versus-nature oasis was strong-armed into being when mobsters and casino magnates swept into the Nevada desert.

By the boom years of the 1950s and ’60s, these high rollers were erecting gilded penthouses and sprawling suburban ranch-style houses. Inside, shag-pile carpeting flowed lavishly across floors and walls, chandeliers sparkled like diamonds, and a legion of marble statues idled as if awaiting the reboot of the Roman Empire. It was man-made aesthetics at their most swaggering.

Which makes Sin City’s latest real-estate trend feel gleefully ironic: With relatively affordable housing prices, Vegas is a unicorn of a place where performers can feasibly finance buying a home through their art.

A new wave of financially independent female entertainers—the very women who might have once taken orders from the men in charge—are now snapping up those time-capsule residences and reimagining them with flamboyant decor that keeps the kitschy ethos of the city alive, one velvet wall, mirrored ceiling, and lava-rock lounge at a time.

[sheana]

I just moved out of Vegas after 5 years there. It’s great they are buying and reviving these old houses. Would love to see more of it. But!! I really wouldn’t want to live in either of those neighborhoods. They are not the best areas of town now. There is a reason Vegas has expanded all the way to the mountains on the South, North, and West sides of town and that Henderson has moved almost to Boulder City now.