Showgirl Exhibit at Las Vegas City Hall Highlights Extinct Sin City Icon

Posted on: August 5, 2024, 02:15h. 

Last updated on: August 6, 2024, 09:27h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas.

A new exhibition at Las Vegas City Hall highlights the history of an extinct but once vital icon of Las Vegas. “The Spectacle of the Showgirl” runs through October 10.

Some of the outfits on display on the first floor of Las Vegas’ City Hall. (Image: Kira Siqueiros/City of Las Vegas)

The free exhibition on loan from Grant Philipo’s Las Vegas Showgirl Museum features iconic showgirl dresses and headdresses from shows across time and the region, including Grand Philipo’s 1992 Dunes production “90 Degrees & Rising,” and 1989’s “Allez Lido” at the Stardust.

Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman arrives at a recent event with his ever-present martini glass and replica showgirls. Outgoing mayor Carolyn Goodman can be seen in the background, at right. (Image: X/Twitter/City of Las Vegas)

Fitting Time

The exhibition is being staged at an appropriate time and place, as a curtain falls on the mayoral administrations of Oscar and Carolyn Goodman, the married couple who both termed out of their jobs.

It was Oscar, during his tenure from 1999 to 2011, who revived the showgirl as an icon of Las Vegas. Every major celebration for the past 25 years has seen the arrival of the former mob attorney escorted by models dressed as showgirls on each arm.

During Carolyn Goodman’s administration, a more permanent connection was forged. In 2018, the city erected two 26-foot showgirl signs to greet northbound visitors on Las Vegas Boulevard to downtown (the city of Las Vegas).

Because nothing is permanent in Las Vegas, however, four years later, the city replaced them with two new showgirl signs standing twice as tall.

More costumes from the exhibit. (Image: Kira Siqueiros/City of Las Vegas)

That’s Showgirl Business

Despite the Goodmans’ best efforts, the showgirl — much like the cowboy, the Rat Pack, and the obsolete neon sign itself — exists only as a relic of Vegas’ past.

All of the showgirls you currently see along the sidewalks of the Las Vegas Strip are either paid models or street performers posing for photos in exchange for tips.

The notion that there’s still full-time employment for women who high-hoof in glamourous outfits and heavy headdresses is a myth. Showgirls haven’t existed since 2016, which is when the last Vegas showgirl show, “Jubilee!” at Bally’s, closed after 35 years.

“The Spectacle of the Showgirl” can be found on the first-floor Grand Gallery at Las Vegas City Hall, 495 S. Main St. It’s open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through October 10.