Showgirls by the pool, Las Vegas, August 1958. Photos by #AllanGrant. ** UPDATE: The location has been identified as the home of burlesque producer Harold Minsky, 5712 Kelley Lane, in a neighborhood that was demolished in the late 80s for the expansion of the airport. Our original caption focused on a different neighborhood ** The legend of “Naked City” – the neighborhood behind the Stratosphere – says the area was nicknamed in the 60s because of its sunbathing showgirls at the various apartments. Is the story true? The earliest I can trace the name being used for Las Vegas was in a different context, a front-page Review-Journal story in 1982: “Crime is soaring in the once-fashionable area that is now called ‘Naked City’ by Metro police ...” The phrase comes from a book, movie, and TV series – it’s shorthand for a lawless inner city. Originally called Meadows Addition and built up with apartments in the 50s-60s, the area was left behind as Las Vegas expanded, and the rise in crime put it on the front page. Metro formed a gang detail to work the area of Tam Drive where 29 murders were linked to gang activity in ’82-83. People I’ve heard from who lived in this area in the 60s & 70s, including a bonafide showgirl, never heard it called Naked City before. Sahara hotel dancer Gail McQuary said, “It wasn’t even called that. We had a beautiful apartment on Boston Ave and I used to walk to work.” Others insist the legend is real. Former city councilman Steve Miller, who did not live there, says, “We called it Naked City when we were in our teens [in the 60s] because we’d see suntanning showgirls. I didn’t come up with the name, it’s just what people said.” There was an effort to rebrand the neighborhood as Meadows Village in the late 80s, and Miller himself was quoted telling the suntanning story to a reporter in 1989, insisting the “Naked City” nickname was not negative. While the name Meadows Village didn’t really stick, the suntanning story did.