1950s A cherry-red Ford Thunderbird convertible with its top down idles at a stoplight on the nascent Las Vegas Strip at night. The desert air is warm, and the road is lined with the glowing facades of new casinos and motels. The Thunderbird's driver, in a dinner jacket, waits as a group of showgirls in elaborate headdresses crosses in front of him. The Sands hotel sign towers overhead, while Liberace's name is emblazoned on the marquee of the Riviera. A doorman in a white uniform directs Cadillacs and Lincolns under the porte-cochère of the Flamingo, where well-dressed gamblers emerge into the neon-lit night.