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The Sahara Hotel and Casino, don the Beachcomber Restaurant, and the marquee: photographic film

Image

File
Download pho026241.tif (image/tiff; 220.29 MB)

Information

Date

1960 (year approximate) to 1986 (year approximate)

Description

An external view of the Sahara Hotel and Casino, don the Beachcomber Restaurant, and the marquee. The marquee advertises "Congo Room" "Stan Irvin Presents Jane Powell Dave Barry Maury Wills and singers" "B. [Buddy] Hackett & B [Buddy] Grecko" "Ceasar Theatre Music made famous by Glenn Miller" "Tex Beneke" "Ray Eberle" "The Modernaires with Paula Kelly" "Freddie Bell" and "Roberta Lynn". Taxi cabs are lined up waiting for fares. The Sahara Hotel and Casino (currently the SLS Hotel & Casino Las Vegas) was in operation for 59 years from 1952 to 2011. The hotel had 1,720 guestrooms and suites with a casino covering more than 85,000 square feet (7,900 m2). The first casino built on the site was Club Bingo, which opened in 1947. Owner Milton Prell replaced the casino with a new casino hotel in 1952 called the Sahara Hotel. Located just outside the City of Las Vegas, it was the sixth resort to open on the Strip. In 1961, the hotel was purchased by Del Webb. In 1962, a Don the Beachcomber restaurant opened in the hotel. The 24-story Alexandria Tower was added in 1963, which made the hotel the tallest building in Las Vegas. By 1978, the 27-story Tangiers Tower was added to the property. In 1999, further renovations added a roller coaster and a restaurant. The roller coaster, named "Speed - The Ride", shot riders from the hotel outside along the Las Vegas Strip, where it looped through the grandiose Sahara sign in front of the hotel, went straight up a tower, stopped and then took a return trip backwards. The Sahara shut down on May 16, 2011. The "Speed - The Ride", which was located in front of the casino, was sold and removed. It will be relocated across the Mandalay Bay in the new Akita Plaza. On February 14, 2013, Nazarian announced the groundbreaking for the $415 million conversion of the hotel into the SLS Las Vegas. The hotel opened on August 23, 2014. It contains 1,600 rooms, a casino, four nightclubs, the clothing store Fred Segal and various restaurants. The name "SLS" was chosen by Nazarian to denote style, luxury and service. The property is located at 2535 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109.

Digital ID

pho026241

Physical Identifier

0220_0007
    Details

    Citation

    pho026241. Ruthe Scott Photographs of Las Vegas, Nevada Hotels and Casinos, 1960-1986. PH-00220. Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d1pc98

    Rights

    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu

    Standardized Rights Statement

    Digital Provenance

    Digitized materials: physical originals can be viewed in Special Collections and Archives reading room

    Geographic Coordinate

    36.17497, -115.13722

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Format

    image/tiff