From the Sister Klaryta Antoszewska Photograph Collection (PH-00352). 

 

An image of an exterior view of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino from a distance.

Postcard showing chefs behind buffet tables as people are served at the Chuck Wagon buffet at the Flamingo Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Caption on back: "A fantastic 'Chuck Wagon' midnight buffet. Color courtesy: The Flamingo Hotel." "P29129." Site Name: Flamingo Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas, Nev.) Street Address: 3555 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Index to architectural drawings, addition of a tower, Flamingo Hilton, 1976. Socoloske, Zelner and Associates, structural engineers; Harold L. Epstein and Associates, structural engineers; Bennett/Tepper, mechanical engineers; J. L. Cusick and Associates, electrical engineers.
Site Name: Flamingo Hotel and Casino
Address: 3555 Las Vegas Boulevard South

Latest Drawing Revision: 1976-12-10

A color slide of the crowded pool at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, Nevada on a sunny day.

The Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, as seen through a snow-laden bush. The Marquee is visible in the background, advertising Tony Martin, The Goofers, The interludes, Ron Fletcher, Salmas Brothers, Bobby Page, and others. Benjamin "Busgsy" Siegel, opened The Flamingo Hotel & Casino at a total cost of $6 million on December 26, 1946 to poor reception and soon closed. It reopened in March 1947 with a finished hotel. Three months later, on June 20, 1947, Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill. Billed as "The West's Greatest Resort Hotel," the 105-room property and first luxury hotel on the Strip, was built 4 miles (6.4 km) from Downtown Las Vegas, with a large sign built in front of the construction site announcing it was a William R. Wilkerson project, with Del Webb Construction as the prime contractor and Richard R. Stadelman (who later made renovations to the El Rancho Vegas) the architect. Lore has it that Siegel named the resort after his girlfriend Virginia Hill, who loved to gamble and whose nickname was "Flamingo," a nickname Siegel gave her due to her long, skinny legs. Organized crime king Lucky Luciano wrote in his memoir that Siegel once owned an interest in the Hialeah Park Race Track and viewed the flamingos who populated nearby as a good omen. In fact, the "Flamingo" name was given to the project at its inception by Wilkerson.