| | The local bodies represent [[Main Street]] (locally owned businesses) and are boosters for their cities; they do not endorse candidates. | | The local bodies represent [[Main Street]] (locally owned businesses) and are boosters for their cities; they do not endorse candidates. |
| − | A main role of local chambers is to boost the city and promote tourism. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce energetically promoted tourism in the 1930s, following the completion of Hoover Dam. They featured an image of Las Vegas as a 'last frontier.' Advertising brochures, newspaper publicity, and motion pictures celebrated Las Vegas for its hospitality, legal gambling, easy divorce laws, and local naughty attractions. It worked, as shown by the increasing number of tourists and visitors in the late 1930s. Completion of the El Rancho Vegas resort casino in 1941 foreshadowed the postwar boom in resort hotels.<ref> Larry Gragg, "Selling 'Sin City': Successfully Promoting Las Vegas During the Great Depression, 1935-1941," ''Nevada Historical Society Quarterly'' 2006 49(2): 83-106, </ref> | + | A main role of local chambers is to boost the city and promote tourism. Woemn play a major role in tourism and local chambers were one of the first business organizations to find a role for women.<ref> Lee Simpson, "Boosters in Petticoats: California Women and the Chamber of Commerce, 1880-1930," ''Journal of the West'' 2003 42(4): 35-43,</ref> |
| | + | Sin is a big draw for men. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce energetically promoted tourism in the 1930s, following the completion of Hoover Dam. They featured an image of Las Vegas as a 'last frontier.' Advertising brochures, newspaper publicity, and motion pictures celebrated Las Vegas for its hospitality, legal gambling, easy divorce laws, and local naughty attractions. It worked, as shown by the increasing number of tourists and visitors in the late 1930s. Completion of the El Rancho Vegas resort casino in 1941 foreshadowed the postwar boom in resort hotels.<ref> Larry Gragg, "Selling 'Sin City': Successfully Promoting Las Vegas During the Great Depression, 1935-1941," ''Nevada Historical Society Quarterly'' 2006 49(2): 83-106, </ref> |
| | The Chambers work tirelessly to bring in new industries--for example, airports in the 1920s and 1930s. | | The Chambers work tirelessly to bring in new industries--for example, airports in the 1920s and 1930s. |