From 1951 to 1992 the U.S. ran almost 1,000 atomic bomb tests in a test site in the Nevada Desert
In the 1950s it wasn't uncommon for Los Angeles to have two sunrises. The United States government conducted 928 atomic bomb tests in the Nevada Test Site, approximately 240 miles away from the City of Angels, from 1951 until 1992. Those tests went off just 65 miles from the city of Las Vegas where thousands of people flocked to visit the iconic strip. One hundred of the tests were atmospheric, with enormous mush room clouds. The light given off by atmospheric atomic tests turned night into day for Los Angeles and Las Vegas and reporters and curious locals snapped photographs of the phenomenon. People had picnics at high points to watch the tests. Nuclear fallout was not clearly understood. Cancer rates in this area increased from 1950 to 1980, and many citizens of St. George now believe that the testing has caused deaths, cancer, and a variety of health issues in their families.