Howard Hughes: The Las Vegas Years

Many people know about Howard Hughes, America’s first billionaire. He was an aviation engineer, an Oscar-winning motion picture producer and director, and a hotel and casino owner in Las Vegas and Reno, with seven establishments. He built the biggest airplane in the world at the time—known as the Spruce Goose—and the Glormar Explorer supership for the CIA. He owned RKO Motion Picture Studios in Hollywood, as well as tens of thousands of acres in California, Nevada, and Texas.

Fewer people, however, know the Howard Hughes of the neon world of Las Vegas in the 1970s. Reclusive and eccentric, Hughes spent his later years surrounded by Mormon aides who insulated him from outsiders. This collection of biographical anecdotes includes stories of the power players of the time—celebrities, famous actresses, and the Las Vegas Mafia—as well as tales of Hughes’s bevy of less-well-known ladies.

Told by an insider who knew Hughes in that era, these stories reveal new aspects of an American icon, set against the background of Sin City, the town he loved so much.

“John has captured a fascinating era here; I know … I was there.”
—Alvin Zuckert, Emmy-award winning television director

“John’s book caused me to relive an exciting and wonderful time in my life. There were sides of Hughes you never knew existed … until now!”
—Ted West, engineer for Hughes Television, KLAS-TV and FOX-TV, Las Vegas, Nevada

“No crapshoot here; John’s got an absolute winner.”
—Gary Marlow, technical director for Hughes Television, KLAS-TV, Las Vegas, Nevada