![]() ![]() The original hotel opened as a 700-room, 14-story tower next to the Dunes Hotel and opposite Desert Inn (where Wynn and Encore Las Vegas now sit). The next year, Evel Knievel arrived to attempt a 140-foot motorcycle jump over the Caesars Palace fountains (and spent nearly a month in the hospital in a coma when the jump failed). Imagine a $1 million party (the equivalent of over $8 million in today’s dollars) that included the largest order of Ukrainian caviar ever placed by a private organization, two tons of filet mignon, cocktail waitresses in Greco-Roman wigs greeting guests with, “Welcome to Caesars Palace, I am your slave,” and $42 million in advance bookings. Then cabana motel owners Jay Sarno and Stanley Mallin had a grand vision in the early 1960s: Build a hotel that would make people feel like Roman emperors-with all the opulent Roman-style production values they could throw in for the then-astronomical sum of $10.6 million they’d borrowed from the Teamsters. Drive-up motels still dotted the area and the Strip was still in its relative infancy. A few larger hotels dotted the Strip including the Flamingo, the Desert Inn, the Tropicana, and the Stardust. The earliest hotels in town were located Downtown, like the Golden Gate, El Cortez, and Golden Nugget. Very little can happen at a Las Vegas opening these days that both guests and locals would consider mind-boggling.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |