[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.