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| Picture by Kolohe |
When constructed the Desert Inn was one of the luxury hotels in Las Vegas and many celebrities often stayed at the property, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Winston Churchill, Adlai Stevenson, Senator John Kennedy, and former President Harry Truman. In the 1950s visitors staying at the Desert Inn often attended "bomb parties" on top of the building where they could have Atomic Cocktails while watching nuclear test explosions at the Test Site north of Las Vegas.
Frank Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut in 1951 at the Desert Inn Showroom; and then in 1992 Sinatra celebrated his 77th birthday at the hotel, which was attended by numerous Hollywood entertainers. The event was described as being similar to a Hollywood movie premiere.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1966 Howard Hughes arrived in Las Vegas and rented the top two floors of the Desert Inn Hotel. After staying past his 10-day reservation, he was asked to leave, so the hotel could prepare the suites he was occupying for the expected Christmas/New Year high-rollers. Not wanting to leave, Hughes is reported to have said "How much do you want for this joint? I'll buy it!" He then gave the owners $6.2 million in cash, $7 million in notes, and stayed for four years. Hughes went on to purchase several other hotels/casinos in Las Vegas, including the Sands and Frontier. Then, on Thanksgiving Day in 1970, Hughes suddenly secretly left the Desert Inn Hotel and was flown to the Bahamas. Howard Hughes died in 1976.
In 2000 Steve Wynn purchased the Desert Inn property for $270 million with the intent of redeveloping the site. At 2:00 AM on August 28, 2000, the Desert Inn closed for the final time. The buildings were demolished and the site prepared for the new Wynn Resort complex, which included the Wynn and Encore Hotels/Casinos. Since completion, the Wynn Resort complex has received more Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star awards than any other resort in the world.
On the last night the property was open, we had been out for dinner and before going home we decided to stop by the DI (that is what it was called by the locals) and walk through the property one last time. Several legendary people were milling around the lobby and the showroom announced that there were still a few show tickets available to see "The Golden Boys" (Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, and Fabian Forte).
"The Golden Boys" were regulars in Las Vegas for a number of years, performing individually or as a group. They had grown up together in Philadelphia before becoming "teen-idols" in the late 1950s. Although they each had numerous hit songs and movie parts, Frankie made the most movies. During the height of his career he teamed with Annette Funicello to make a series of "Beach" movies that appealed to his teen-idol fans.
The DI show room was a major attraction at the hotel and many celebrity entertainers performed there over the years. A series of tables were arranged in rows fanning out like rays from the stage. Behind the tables, arranged in semicircles, there were several rows of private booths at different levels. When we purchased tickets for the show, we were seated in a private booth at the end of one row of tables.
During the show The Golden Boys showed slides of their early careers on a large screen at the back of the stage and sang many of their hit songs. Then toward the end of the show, they invited people to come onstage and do "The Twist" while they sang Chubby Checker's signature song by the same name. A large number of women immediately jumped onto their table and were helped onstage, but no men got up. Fabian walked out to the front of the stage and said they needed some men, but no men would get up. Normally, I am a very shy, quiet, reserve person; but for some reason I jumped up on the table in front of us and walked down the center of the tables to the stage. When I reached the stage, Fabian reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me onto the stage. Bobby came over and asked if I wanted to help him sing, but I declined the invitation.
While Bobby sang the song, everyone started doing The Twist. Part way through the song, I decided to jump up in the air and come down and do the splits like I did in my younger days. Unfortunately, my 50+ year old body was not as limber as my teen-body and I ended up sitting on the floor. Frankie came over and asked if I was okay and I assured him that I was in good condition, He then helped me up so I that could continue doing The Twist. Bobby must have been a little concerned that I might hurt myself because he came over and put his arm around me while he sang the rest of the song. At the end of the song everyone had a few minutes to stay on the stage and visit with Frankie, Bobby, and Fabian. It was a fun evening and a great way to remember the DI. "The Golden Boys" still tour various locations around the United States.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Mirage was constructed in 1989 and was the first new Las Vegas hotel/casino built in 16 years. The resort was constructed with a South Pacific Polynesian theme and financing was provided by Michael Milken selling $525 million in mortgage bonds, making it the first resort to be financed in Las Vegas with money from Wall Street using junk bonds. At the time of opening, the Mirage was the largest hotel in the world with 3,044 rooms. The hotel gets its distinctive gold color from actual gold dust used in tinting the windows.
Siegfried & Roy, using a magic act with wild animals, had a residency in the 1,500 seat theater from the property's opening until 2003, when Roy was injured by a 650 pound white tiger. Roy passed away in 2020, but the Siegfried & Roy Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat are still operated at the property and Siegfried is sometimes available to visit with guest.
The main theater production currently at the Mirage is Love, a Cirque du Soleil production using remixed Beatles songs.
Located in front of the property is the largest free-standing marquee in the world and an artificial volcano that "erupts" in the evenings. To avoid the smell of natural gas when the volcano "erupts," "the mercaptan is stripped from the natural gas and a pina colada fragrance is added to the natural gas stream."
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Treasure Island Hotel/Casino (aka "TI") is located just north of the Mirage and was built by Steve Wynn in 1993. The property has a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme that includes two replica sailing ships moored in a man-made lagoon in front of the property. When the property first opened, the ships were used as part of a pirate battle with live performers, but now the ships are just part of the property's decorations.
When Treasure Island opened, the Pirate theme was not well received in the market; so almost immediately a long-term renovation was started to improve business. $65 million was spent to change the 2,900 themed rooms and the original 25,000 square foot pirate arcade was reduced to 1,200 square feet. The large 8,000 pound 27-foot tall pirate skull at the front of the property was removed and the property became known as "TI" to downplay the pirate theme.
Originally, the hotel was painted a coral-pink color, but as part of the transformation 6,200 gallons of Terra Cotta/"Salmon Stream" paint was used to darken the building's exterior color. After the changes, business improved, so the changes were considered to be successful.
Cirque du Soleil's Mystere started at the property in 1993 and has nine times been voted the best production show in Las Vegas
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The Fashion Show Mall originally opened in 1981 at the northwest corner of "the Strip" and Spring Mountain Road, directly across the Road from what is now the TI. Over the years it became apparent that there was a demand for retail shopping on "The Strip," but for the average visitor there was a lack of affordable supply.
Therefore, the mall's property owner decided to make a $1 billion renovation and expansion to the property by rebranding some of the existing anchor stores and adding over 200,000 square feet of new retail space.
The size of the construction loan in an untested retail market was troublesome to everyone involved in the financing, so it was decided that to spread the loan risk, financing would be syndicated between a number of different financial institutions. Setting a value of the property for collateral purposes turned out to be a real challenge and took a lot longer than anticipated. This was probably the hardest project I ever worked on.
After working through a number of problems, construction was completed and the new west wing opened in 2002. A highlight of the new west wing was a retractable runway in the mall's central atrium that could be raised and used for hosting fashion shows. The 412-ton steel disk ("The Cloud") installed along the front of the property was intended to be an overhead screen for running advertisements, but in the end it turned out to be more of a large sunshade.
While we were walking around the mall's exterior taking pictures, we noticed a showgirl that had been overcome by COVID-19 viruses, even though she was wearing protective gear. I was going to give her first aid by doing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but Kolohe said that at my age it was too dangerous.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
There is no casino attached to the hotel, even though Donald Trump held a Nevada Gaming license at the time the property was built. Eric Trump explained that "We wanted a true luxury resort experience. It's hard to have a high-quality product when you walk into 'ding, 'ding, 'ding and there are people walking around in Hawaiian shits with big plastic drink mugs."
The $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas is under construction along "The Strip" north of the Trump International Hotel. It is being built on the site of the historic Stardust Hotel/Casino. Over the years this property has been involved in numerous delays and lawsuits, but in 2020 Resorts World partnered with Hilton Hotels to get the project completed. Opening date is now projected to be sometime in 2021.
Circus-Circus Hotel/Casino is located on "The Strip" north of Resorts World. The property has a Circus theme and features circus acts and carnival games along a midway. It also has the largest permanent big top in the world.
The property opened in 1968 as a casino only. Without a hotel, the property was not able to attract gamblers; so the property owner convinced the Teamsters Pension Fund to finance a hotel.
Teamster's enforcer Anthony Spilotro was granted a gift shop in the project to watch over operations; but even after completion of the hotel financial problems continued at the property. The property was then sold and went through numerous expansions, eventually reaching the current hotel room count of 3,773 rooms. Along with the room additions, a large Adventuredome Amusement Park was added at the back of the property.
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| Panoramic Picture by Kolohe |
The Sahara Hotel/Casino was constructed in 1952 and originally had an African Safari theme. Over the years the property has been sold and rebranded several times, but in 2019 the property was returned to its original Sahara Hotel/Casino name.
The Sahara is usually considered to be the north end of "The Strip," even though Las Vegas Boulevard continues up to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
In 2000 a roller coaster ride was added to the property, so one weekend night we decided to go down and ride the new roller coaster. Unfortunately, several hundred other people had the same idea.
When we arrived, the line wrapped all the way down a long hall and back, such that the end of the line was adjacent to the start of the line; but separated by a fence. We had just started standing in line when a young black youth ran up behind us and said to the gatekeeper "I'm with them," pointing to a group of black youths on the other side of the fence at the head of the line. The gatekeeper opened a gate in the fence that separated the line and let him join his friends. Since it worked for him, I said to the gatekeeper "I'm with them," pointing to the group of black youths. The black youths turned around and looked at me somewhat bewildered, then one young man said "Ya! He's our dad." The entire youth group then started telling the gatekeeper that they wanted their Dad to join them. Acting a little surprised, the gatekeeper opened the gate and let us join them at the front of the line. We all hugged each other and had a good laugh as we entered the ride.
The Stratosphere (now called "The Strat"), was constructed in 1991. The property contains a hotel, casino, and a 1,149-foot-tall observation tower, which is the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States and the tallest structure in all of Nevada.
Some people consider The Strat to be part of "The Strip" because it is located along Las Vegas Boulevard. However, all of the other "Strip" properties are located in Clark County outside of the Las Vegas City limits. The Strat is located within the Las Vegas City limits, along with all of the Fremont Street properties.
The top of "The Strat" has a revolving restaurant and several "wow" rides that dangle over the side of the tower to give riders a special thrill.
A few more flowers that were visible from the sidewalks!
BONUS PICTURES OF "THE STRIP" - By Kolohe
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