Lights Dimmed In Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The marquees on the glimmering Las Vegas Strip dimmed their lights for three minutes Monday night as officials slowly read the 58 names of the people killed one year earlier in the country's deadliest mass shooting in modern history. The names of the slain were recited before a silent crowd punctuated by sobs shortly after 10:05 p.m., nearly the exact time 12 months earlier. A year before that, on May 15, 1998, Strip lights were dimmed 'albeit briefly and haphazardly' (according to coverage in the Las Vegas Review-Journal), in honor of Frank Sinatra; it was a day after his death. That ceremony was a bit prompter than the one for Dean Martin, on Dec. 28, 1995, which occurred three days after Dino’s demise.
The tradition of dimming the lights on the Vegas Strip isnot a new one. Before the October 1 memorial of the tragic Las Vegas shooting,the community and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip have historically dimmedthe lights in honor of Las Vegas ‘royalty’ who have passed away.
The Las Vegas Strip boasts one of the most awesomespectacles of lighting in the world. Its flashing casino marquees and neonbeacons beckon gamblers from around the world to visit fabulous Las Vegas. Thedimming of the Strip is the ultimate Las Vegas tribute, usually reserved for majorheadliners in Vegas, thus contributing to the overall image of Las Vegas as theultimate show town.
The Rat Pack
The famous group of swinging, crooning, jesting party catsknown as theRat Pack are legends in Las Vegas lore. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, andSammy Davis Jr. made up the Rat Pack, and their Las Vegas appearances spelledunprecedented casino fortunes whenever they were in town. The Strip lights weredimmed on May 15, 1998 in honor of Frank Sinatra, the day after his death. OnDecember 28, 1995, the Strip went dark three days after the death of DeanMartin. The first member of the Rat Pack to pass away was Sammy Davis Jr. TheStrip went dark on the evening of his death on May 16, 1990.
Dead Presidents
The Strip also dimmed for three minutes on June 11, 2004, inmemory of President Ronald Reagan. Long before Reagan’s term as president, hewas an actor and Vegas headliner in 1954 for a show called The Last Frontier. Theonly other president honored with a Strip dimming was President John F.Kennedy, who was assassinated November 22, 1963. Las Vegas lights dimmed inremembrance.
More LegendaryHeadliners
Don Rickles was a legendary comedian whose sharp tonguelashed out with witty insults to anyone who caught his attention. He was aregular Vegas headliner for years, and Johnny Carson nicknamed him “Mr.Warmth.” When Don Rickles died on April 6, 2017 at age 90, the Strip lightsdimmed in fitting tribute to Rickles. His face flashed all over Las Vegasscreens and marquees. Another legendary comedian honored by a Strip dimming wasGeorge Burns, who died on March 9, 1996 at the ripe old age of 100. And in 1977,Las Vegas dimmed the lights after the death of the most famous Vegas celebrityof them all, the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
Global Memorials
The Strip has also gone dark on December 1 for several yearsin remembrance of World Aids Day.The longest period the lights have been dimmed on the Las Vegas Strip is 60minutes. Since 2009, on the last Saturday in March, the Strip has gone dark forEarth Hour to raise awareness of climate change. Imagine the massive scale of thelights on the Las Vegas Strip; over four miles of dense Strip lighting,suddenly gone dark for one hour.
Three days after 9/11, several Las Vegas casinos dimmedtheir lights all night long in memorial of the tragic event. The Flamingo,Bally’s, Caesar’s Palace, Paris Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Hiltonparticipated in the dimming of lights. Other casinos joined in the memorialevent by suspending all casino play for an entire minute.
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The lights of the famous Las Vegas Strip were dimmed Sunday in commemoration of the 58 lives lost at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
At the same time of night when shots first rang out exactly one week earlier, the normally dazzling signs of Sin City became a dark reminder of the terror that rained down on concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.
'You look at everything different now,' Eric Shultz told KTNV. 'You walk down the Strip and it's just... different.'
Shultz lives a few blocks from the Mandalay Bay. After Stephen Paddock's bloody assault killed dozens and injured more than 500, he and his wife took in eight terrified festivalgoers from the fearful street.
It is one story of both hope and tragedy among hundreds and Sunday's event gave those affected by the tragedy a safe space in which to share them.
With candles lit, flags raised and hands held in prayer, hundreds gathered to grieve together in what promises to be a long and difficult road to recovery.
'To show that we are still 'Vegas Strong' because we're not going to let tragedy and fear win over our city,' Chelsey Morrison, who came to the event with her husband and children, told KTNV.
The crowd included Las Vegans of all stripes and others who've found themselves grappling with how to move forward in the wake of senseless gun violence.
'Unfortunately, sometimes it takes an unfortunate turn of events to bring a diverse group of people together, but it feels good to see all of these people from different backgrounds out here, all wanting to support, you know, the same cause, which is to show our love and support for the city and for the victims,' Las Vegas resident Ashley Moore said.
Another Vegas citizen, Naima Zaheer, agreed.
Lights Dimmed In Las Vegas Nv 89
'Well, today it's very heartwarming to see people from all different walks of life, different religions, different ethnic groups, some are from the town, some are from outside, some are tourists, they are all together and what binds them together is the love and the support for the poor victims of the Las Vegas Strip and their families and this is very heartwarming to see,' Zaheer said.
The officers who led the initial raid of the shooter's hotel room have now publicly shared some of the scariest details of that night.
Lights Dimmed In Las Vegas N
On 60 Minutes Sunday night, the makeshift SWAT team that first approached Paddock's room said he screwed a stairwell door shut to slow them down.
The officers also described how his room was so full of guns and ammo, they were tripping over it all as they entered the madman's lair, where they would soon find a startling outline of his sick plan on a yellow piece of paper.
'He must've gone online or done the calculations or something to figure it out of what his altitude was going to be, on how high up he was, how far out the crowd was going to be, and at that distance what the drop of his bullet was going to be,' Officer Dave Newton, of the Las Vegas Police Department's K-9 unit, told 60 Minutes.
Ten minutes into his reign of terror, as bodies lay strewn across the fairgrounds and those who were able scrambled to safety, Paddock turned the gun on himself.
Sunday's dimming of the lights would also last for 10 minutes.
While the Oct. 1 tragedy hit startlingly close to home, the tradition of dimming the Las Vegas Strip's lights has happened following other grim circumstances.
The Strip was also darkened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and was last dimmed to mark the death of legendary former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian in February 2015.
Lights Dimmed In Las Vegas
The deaths of Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., George Burns and Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were marked similarly.