You're about to enter a city that has no equal. It was built by extraordinary people with imaginative minds. Did they drink? Not sure, but why else would they build it in a Nevada desert?

Some say you can go anywhere in the world and discover the people not only know about Las Vegas—they'd give anything to get there. True. As soon as I graduated from college I took an all-night bus to reach a city I'd heard of, but never seen. I stayed 30 years.

Damn good years, too. And the mystique of the entertainers and the fi lm stars and the elaborate restaurants and 24-hour-a-day casinos never wore off . I spent 20 of my years at the Sahara, on the Strip, got inside the gambling business in the 60s and loved it. Helped it, too, with my writing and my inventions.

The Mob was still around in those days. They were the fi rst venture capitalists and owned a piece of every casino in town. Did that stop anyone from having a good time? Of course not. Gradually the Mob faded away—which is what happens when an FBI offi ce with 15 agents sets up shop in town. But the gaiety didn't stop for a second, even when corporations realized they were the big guys now.

Our Sahara entertainment director stunned us in 1964 when he made a deal with The Beatles to play two shows. I met the boys aft er dark at a small Las Vegas airport, rode with them to the Sahara and helped get them to their suite before teen age girls tore their clothes off . So take a chance, have a seat and enjoy that drink in front of you. It's time to start the show.

—John Romero