When LIFE magazine published its Vegas report card on its 50th birthday, it featured photos that captured the breadth of life in the city -- from the action at the tables to scenes behind the stage curtain. But it didn't publish them all. Now the magazine is sharing a few more.

In 1955, 50 years after Las Vegas was founded, LIFE magazine took a rather skeptical look at the boomtown and its prospects for growth in a cover story titled “Gambling Town Pushes Its Luck.” The Loomis Dean images in this gallery, meanwhile — many of which were never published in LIFE — provide some wonderful visual reminders of just how raw a place Las Vegas was in the mid-’50s, before the Rat Pack made the city its home away from home and decades before it would begin to reinvent itself as a family-friendly mecca.

When LIFE magazine published its Vegas report card on its 50th birthday, it featured photos that captured the breadth of life in the city -- from the action at the tables to scenes behind the stage curtain. But it didn't publish them all. Now the magazine is sharing a few more.

In 1955, 50 years after Las Vegas was founded, LIFE magazine took a rather skeptical look at the boomtown and its prospects for growth in a cover story titled “Gambling Town Pushes Its Luck.” The Loomis Dean images in this gallery, meanwhile — many of which were never published in LIFE — provide some wonderful visual reminders of just how raw a place Las Vegas was in the mid-’50s, before the Rat Pack made the city its home away from home and decades before it would begin to reinvent itself as a family-friendly mecca.

... Desert Companion! At the Western Publishing Association's 2012 Maggie Awards banquet, Desert Companion won a Maggie for Best Editorial Layout for "15 great hikes (practically) in your own backyard."

A hearty congratulations to Art Director Chris Smith. Not only did the intrepid photographer/designer trek to many of the locations in the hikes piece to take jaw-droppingly beautiful snaps, he then crawled back to the office -- caked with dust, grime and, in some cases, blood -- to fire up the Mac and bust out some eye-rocking spreads. Congratulations! 

... Desert Companion! At the Western Publishing Association's 2012 Maggie Awards banquet, Desert Companion won a Maggie for Best Editorial Layout for "15 great hikes (practically) in your own backyard."

A hearty congratulations to Art Director Chris Smith. Not only did the intrepid photographer/designer trek to many of the locations in the hikes piece to take jaw-droppingly beautiful snaps, he then crawled back to the office -- caked with dust, grime and, in some cases, blood -- to fire up the Mac and bust out some eye-rocking spreads. Congratulations! 

Desert Companion has been nominated for a record nine awards from the Western Publishing Association -- better known as The Maggies. The organization celebrates excellence in publishing with an annual awards banquet in Los Angeles, where editors and journalists drink to excess. Imagine that!

Desert Companion was recognized for -- well, all the stuff we're always recognized for: our in-depth journalism, gorgeous photography and great design. Here's what we're up for in the category of consumer magazines with a circulation under 75,000. We'll find out April 27 what we've won.

Best City & Metropolitan magazine, July issue

Best Cover, December issue

Best Editorial Layout: 15 Hikes (practically) in your own backyard, April

Best Interview or Profile: After the curtain, August

Best News Story: Let us in, January

Best Overall Publication Design: September

Best Series of Editorial Photographs:

Desert Companion has been nominated for a record nine awards from the Western Publishing Association -- better known as The Maggies. The organization celebrates excellence in publishing with an annual awards banquet in Los Angeles, where editors and journalists drink to excess. Imagine that!

Desert Companion was recognized for -- well, all the stuff we're always recognized for: our in-depth journalism, gorgeous photography and great design. Here's what we're up for in the category of consumer magazines with a circulation under 75,000. We'll find out April 27 what we've won.

Best City & Metropolitan magazine, July issue

Best Cover, December issue

Best Editorial Layout: 15 Hikes (practically) in your own backyard, April

Best Interview or Profile: After the curtain, August

Best News Story: Let us in, January

Best Overall Publication Design: September

Best Series of Editorial Photographs: When the sun goes down, September

Best Single Editorial Illustration: Everybody eats, November

Best Single Editorial Photograph, How Tough Is Dwight Jones?, June