End of an era as Vegas casino closes

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) – Las Vegas marks the end of an era this week as one of the US gambling mecca's last original "Rat Pack" casino-hotels, the Sahara, finally closes its doors.

Opened in 1952, the Sahara hosted everyone from Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis to Frank Sinatra and the Beatles in the 1950s and 60s, and their photos still decorate the walls above the reception.

But in recent decades Vegas saw an explosion of mega-sized casino resorts which left the "small" Sahara struggling to fill its 1,700 rooms at the end of the famous Strip.

The death knell was sounded in March, when its owners since 2007, SBE Entertainment, announced that the casino-hotel complex with its more than 1,050 staff was no longer a viable business. ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110515/lf_afp/useconomytourismgambling

I always liked The Sahara...

Stardust go down. I'm well past Rat Pack age, but I liked the old Vegas much better.

Oh, and hey, you--get off my lawn! :(

Isn't this just another example of how money is concentrated in a few hands? Even people who can put enough money together to run a 1700 room hotel can't compete with the huge conglomerates running Las Vegas.

Very little money has been put into keeping the Sahara up. For years it has been deteriorating with each new owner doing as little as they could to improve it will milking it of any revenue.

You cant expect to stay competitive wile doing next to nothing to ensure your facility is kept clean and up to date.

Ginny and I went to the Desert Inn the weekend we got married. I miss that place, too.

Just got finished watching Casino again a little while ago, too. Based on the true story of Lefty Rosenthal, but they had to change a heckuva lot of names to protect the (not quite) innocent.

Hes a nice old guy now but I wouldn't have wanted to know him in his younger days I dont think.

The death of an icon.

nt

chips.
Lost Wages is probably the fastest growing and the fastest tear it down city in the entire world.
The city has a new skyline every 3 years.
dc

I think they'll have to be happy with the current skyline for a good while now.

elsewhere, so I'll see what construction is going on. Let me say a new skyline every 3 1/2 years, then.
dc

one of the sacred places of the world.
dc

PS I been here since before that. And I don't consider myself either "historical" or sacred, either.

All that's left are those Disney-ish places now.