RIP SAHARA Hotel

[tabs]

Today was the last day for one of the original and longest lasting Hotel Casinos in LV. It opened in 1952 and hosted just about everybody at one time or another. Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, Sonny & Cher and Buddy Hackett are performers who I remember performing there, along with the Rat Pack. I saw Rickles there in the early 70's, my Great Uncles best friend was the Food & Beverage Director when it was owned by Del Webb, so we got the dinner show comped, Uncle got one of 7 full course Turkey dinners given out one year for Thanks Giving, one of the others went to the FBI Chief in LV. It was a GREAT dinner as I recall. Uncle used to also play golf with Rickles when he was performing. Thing was they didn't want to play with him as he wasn't very good and these guys were betting on each hole..they didn't want to take his money. Uncle and his friends were shooting very low 70's.

I also remember visiting the Sahara at an earlier time in the late 50's early 60's when it was one of the POSH places..along with the Sands, Desert Inn. Flamingo, Rivera, Dunes and Tropicana. Others of that era were the Hacienda, Thunderbird, Stardust, New& Old Frontier, El Rancho, the Silver Slipper Casino and later the Aladdin. That was a time when there was more open space between casinos than casinos..

Around 65 things began to change with Circus Circus, the Landmark (torn down) and then the first of the theme resorts Caesars Palace in the late 60's followed by the first MGM Grand (now Ballys) and the International (now Hilton) where Elvis performed.

However by the time I had moved here in 03 the Sahara had fallen on hard times, the place looked dilapidated and was catering to the low budget visitor. Nobody put any money into the place to keep it looking fresh and new. If you think of how much foot traffic a hotel casino has it doesn't take long for it to look run down. (The last time through the MGM and Mirage seemed to be showing their age.)

Of the originals only the Riv, Trop and Flamingo remain. The Trop and Flamingo have had the dinero put in over the years to be transformed to the new LV. The Rivera is now the last of the originals where one can still get a feel of the bad ole days, and its losing money as well.

[patssle]

the place looked dilapidated and was catering to the low budget visitor.

It seems much of the Strip is doing this. I was in Vegas a couple weeks ago for a weekend, my 4th time there, and wow - the quality has gone down a lot. Lots of undesirable people everywhere, more porn handouts, and strippers in every casino dancing (of course some of y'all might enjoy that).

I have no interest in going back for a while, until they clean up. Definitely DO NOT take your children there. You know Vegas has a problem when you see people straight outta Compton walking the Strip.

[scottmandue]

I managed to stay at the Dunes old tower before they knocked it down... wanted to do a room at the Sands but they nuked it before I could get there.

Have stayed at the Falmingo many times... can't go wrong there... also the Golden Gate (oldest casino still operating?)

They tore down the Stardust too right? Hated the new sign anyway... they had a pretty good buffet back in the day.

This is why it is hard for me to get excited about visiting "new vegas"... I so much perfered old vegas... back when they treated everyone like a king and you didn't have to register and get a little card and build up points... blah!

[onlycafe]

i have averaged about ten years between visits over the last forty years, it always seems different to me.
then again, i recall times square in the seventies as a cab driver, it's changed a bit over the years too.

[strupgolf]

As a old geezer, its sad to see another place go down. I remember it as a place that hosted so many fine acts that it will always be in my memory.

[Hugh R]

I was involved in the implosion of the Landmark Hotel when Warner Bros. filmed it for the Tim Burton movie "Mars Attack"

[Zeke]

I lived over there for a year in '94 and even then the Strip was a nasty place people wise. I always found the casinos over on Boulder HWY to be more free of rift raft. Sam's Town and Boulder Station. Then you could also look for new casinos out towards Summerlin.

I don't even want to see what they've done to The Tropicana. That place was so cool in the 70's and 80's. Oh, the women out at the pools. It really was a paradise.

I stayed at the Hacienda when most of it was only 2 or 3 stories high. Not much there, but the Trop was nearby!

[R K T]

Just noticed TCM channel is playing the original Oceans Eleven tonight at 7 PM.

[Cdnone1]

Shot this Saturday from our room at the Bellagio. My wife and I went to a wedding almost 20 years ago at Bally's (directly across the street) when it was "the place". Now you can barely see it.
15 years ago my younger brother got married by an Elvis impersonator and we all stayed in the villa's by the pool at the DI (Desert Inn). That place was cool. It had the only golf course on the strip.
I stayed at the Luxor the week it opened and everyone was in awe of it.
Spent our first night in town at the Vdara and would have stayed all weekend there if we where not guests of someone at the Bellagio.
The Cosmopolitan is "the place" now. We went for a few hours of the freak show, but the Cosmo is a result of a bankruptcy. They had planned on selling condos and opened as a hotel as a result of lack of sales. It's the only hotel in Vegas that I know of with balconies.

Vegas is always going to be reinventing itself. Lots of people say they want the old school stuff, but it ends up being just that, old.
After walking through Bally's you couldn't pay me to stay there and it was the schnizzle in it's day complete with mirrored ceilings, now it's just $5 blackjack tables and the people that play them

Steve

[Rick Lee]

I was a low-budget visitor and stayed at the Sahara on my first visit to Vegas around 2004. Now I'm in Vegas about 4-5x per year. I HATE the place. I never stay on the Strip anymore and I can think of few worse things than driving around the Strip. HATE IT. But I go there for work or a Rush concert or our recent UPM, always a reason. I cannot believe what they charge for mediocrity there. While checking in at the otherwise very reasonably-priced Hilton Grand Vacations last weekend, they had a cupcake for sale there for $9.80. When my company had our annual conference at Mandalay Bay in January, drinks were around $13 at every bar there. It's like they don't think anyone is paying with their own money, so they can charge stupid prices. And my company racked up thousands in bar tabs each night.

[LakeCleElum]

Thanks Tabs.......Gonna watch my favorite movie again: CASINO

In Vegas once or twice a year......Never gamble a quarter, sometimes, never even hit the strip.......My only draw there is friends, family, Nascar.......

[mattdavis11]

Stayed at the Red Rock a couple of weeks ago for 3 days, the food was better at the Westward Ho ten years prior.

[Joe Bob]

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I was a low-budget visitor and stayed at the Sahara on my first visit to Vegas around 2004. Now I'm in Vegas about 4-5x per year. I HATE the place. I never stay on the Strip anymore and I can think of few worse things than driving around the Strip. HATE IT. But I go there for work or a Rush concert or our recent UPM, always a reason. I cannot believe what they charge for mediocrity there. While checking in at the otherwise very reasonably-priced Hilton Grand Vacations last weekend, they had a cupcake for sale there for $9.80. When my company had our annual conference at Mandalay Bay in January, drinks were around $13 at every bar there. It's like they don't think anyone is paying with their own money, so they can charge stupid prices. And my company racked up thousands in bar tabs each night.

You know, when beers got to a dollar, I said something was really wrong. We used to sit at the Imperial Palace and drink Coronas for 50 cents all day and all night. In '94.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Stayed at the Red Rock a couple of weeks ago for 3 days, the food was better at the Westward Ho ten years prior.

I agree the food at the Red Rock su(ks...I went to their Grnd Cafe a coupla times after playing Poker...I complained to the Manager both times..will never ever go back/

The Buffet at the RR was a B grade Buffet..but the last time I went I was disapointed..the recession has taken its toll.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Cdnone1

Shot this Saturday from our room at the Bellagio.
Steve

I U squint real hard you can see my house way up by the mountains..

[12own911]

So sad about the hotel. I will be staying at the RIO this July for my birthday... should be fun.

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by 12own911

So sad about the hotel. I will be staying at the RIO this July for my birthday... should be fun.

Is that a pelican birthday party invite?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

Is that a pelican birthday party invite?

I'm in. At the Rio is where I first saw a sandy beach go right down to the pool and beyond the water's edge. They used some sort of water jets to blow the sand back towards the "beach."

[12own911]

Originally Posted by 9dreizig

Is that a pelican birthday party invite?

Absolutely! I would not mind spending a little time with my Pelican brethren. I will be at the RIO on July 15 - 18.