Stardust to Close, So Off I Go
12:36 PM PT, Jun 23 2006
Yesterday, the Stardust announced it will no longer be taking reservations after Nov. 1. Everyone knew this moment was coming, of course, since the ground under the Stardust is slated to be a part of Boyd Gaming's massive new Echelon Place development.
In the local lore, the Stardust will always be associated with the mob's days in Vegas, thanks to the movie "Casino" (which was based on characters and events linked to the Stardust). Of course, "Casino" the movie was based on a novel that was also based on events. Therefore Sam "Ace" Rothstein is a Robert DeNiro character and not a portrayal of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal. Lefty is credited with things like being the first to let women deal blackjack and modernizing the Las Vegas race and sports book.
Lefty, by the way, is also still alive, and even has his own website. I would love to interview Lefty one day, but we could not meet in a casino since I think he is still in Nevada's Black Book. It would probably be a very dull interview anyway — Lefty got his nickname for taking the Fifth Amendment dozens of times in testimony including on the question of if he was left-handed. Still, even if I never interview Lefty Rosenthal, most old timers seem to feel that the movie "Casino" got the spirit of the times, if not every detail, just right.
But the Stardust has more than the boys in its history. This is the casino that first made Siegfried & Roy a Vegas institution, as part of the show "Lido de Paris." And, when Wayne Newton became a headliner in 1999, the Stardust became the casino for the last stand of Vegas' old-guard entertainment. The Wayner no longer performs there but Don Rickles still does. It looks like the final performers at the Stardust, before the resort shutters, will fittingly be Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, who are scheduled to appear at the end of October.
Trivia that tells a truth: Dating back to the '50s, the Stardust, when it opened, had the largest swimming pool and casino floor in Nevada. That amazes me. Could this speck of a casino really have once loomed so large? Not that the Stardust shrunk. How can it not cause a mix of sadness and awe to ponder all of the changes that have swirled around the Stardust (and the Strip) since then? The Stardust has been around so long that at one time it boasted about having Las Vegas' only first-run drive-in movie theater. It is hard for me to even imagine that so much Strip real estate could at one time have been devoted to nothing more than letting people sit in cars and watch movies. How cute.
Anyway, reading about the Stardust it occurred to me that I should go spend a night there before this piece of Las Vegas history closes. I've rented a room for Sunday night and am looking forward to exploring the old casino during my brief stay. Anyway, please, please feel free to e-mail me or post your Stardust memories.
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It saddens me greatly to know that The Stardust will go the way of the Sands. I went with my parents to The Stardust, if I remember correctly, in 1958. It was shiny and new and beautiful. Louis Prima and Keely Smith were playing. The showgirls used to lie by the pool during the day wearing matching animal-print bikinis. It was all too cool. If only some enterprising developer could have taken this property on and restored it to it's true retro glory. I really think it would have appealed to many different demographics, not just the baby boomers and beyond.
How much do you want to bet that, somewhere down the road, someone will have the bright idea to try to re-create the classic hangs from the rat pack era? Too bad, they won't be the real deal.
Posted by: DC | June 23, 2006 at 02:40 PM
Well lets see I am 52 years old my wife an I have
been going to the stardust for 30 years. We would
take a week every year an stay there I remember the good times and the bad (more good ) the pool was always great and the food was the best, Inter
the night what a show my son is 28 years old now and that is the only casino he likes to stay in I
took him there when he turned 21 my wife loved the
way the water would jump from hole to hole out front. what ever they put in place of the stardust
better be great or I will go back down town I loved old vegas..thanks for the good times star dust..
Posted by: john wolf | June 23, 2006 at 04:21 PM
In sept, can someoine set my wife and i up for a night stay there oct 5...fro,m fargo...please.
and i will do a inteview with steve and edie and rickels and other diehards....
jerry Hennen
1013 s 9th st s
fargo nd 581o3
hennenradio@msn.com
Posted by: jerry hennen | June 23, 2006 at 10:14 PM
I saw George Carlin perform at the Stardust.
Vegas isn't a city that values history as much as some other cities might... Although I'm seeing more and more tributes to old vegas lately with the 100 year anniversary and all.
Posted by: Stephanie | June 24, 2006 at 12:20 AM
I remember the Stardust as the only destination in Vegas for me and my Girl. I first remember going there back in 1984 and staying in the garden rooms, I also recall they erected a tower and upgraded the place back in the eighties. The food was always great, and I always had fantastic luck on the Roullette Tables.
But like always, Greed and the never ending desire to make things Bigger and Bigger will not stop. Soon, the entire Strip will become a seiers of Mega Resorts, that are as Sterile and indistinguishable from each other, as the Strip Malls, Starbucks, and the like that cover our urban landscape.
So long Stardust.
Posted by: HITHUM | June 24, 2006 at 08:10 AM
What is " Boyd Gaming's massive new Echelon Place development"? A casino? A shopping mall? A bunch of hotels/condos? A waterpark? All of the above?
I for one enjoy the new themed hotel/casinos on the strip. I've only been visiting Vegas for the past 11 years, so have no memories of the Stardust in its glory days. During my few visits to the Stardust I was impressed not only at how small and empty the casino is by today's standards, but that the carpets were filthy. The movie "Swingers" portrayed it accurately.
To the extent that its owners have been determined during these 11 years to allow the Stardust to continuously deteriorate, I say good riddance.
Posted by: James Brown | June 24, 2006 at 10:31 AM
I dressed up, and put on a pretty rhinestone crown a few years back, and posed by a picture Poster of Wayne Newton. His bouffant hair is now immortalized in my scrapbook. I have to say that I LOVE the Stardust signs outside, and the casino lights. I hate to see it go as well. The classy things are best. I am not happy with the corporate yuppie look of many casinos. So, I avoid them. I am trying to talk Johnny Seaton (Elvis mpersonator) into coming back to Vegas, but he says "It's changing". Yes it is, and I think the public should be ASKED what we would like, and for the builders to not just "assume" we will like "what sells".
Posted by: Stargazer | June 24, 2006 at 10:33 AM
Any word on what they will do with the iconic Stardust neon? Please tell me it will preserved...
Posted by: Randy Wilson | June 24, 2006 at 01:18 PM
My Dad was a gambler. In the late 1950's and early 60's we would stay at the Monaco Motel, across the Street from his favorite Casino, The Silver Slipper.
(Next door was The Desert Inn, which as the others is gone). As a kid, 6-15, I'd wander the strip at night, and watch the movie at the Stardust Drive-in across the street. During the day, as I got Older, I'd grab a towell, and attempt to sneak into the larger hotel pools to persue better swimming, and a better "Gene Pool" of women.
Today, I still go to Las Vegas to visit a brother and My mother. I find Red Rock Canyon and the "Silence" of the desert much more gratifying, than the lights and sounds of "The Strip"
Posted by: Gomer Pyles | June 24, 2006 at 05:13 PM
I remember walking thru the Stardust in late 2003 & stopped to watch Actor Joe Viterelli (Jelly) from Analyze That play poker. The Dust is a great part of Vegas history & those Blue & Red exterior lights will be missed.
Posted by: Kenny (New Jersey) | June 24, 2006 at 07:59 PM
it is ashame that the Stardust is going by the wayside along with the Dunes, the Castaways, the original Flamingo buildings, the Sands, the original Thunderbird, the Hacienda, all the smaller hotels of the past and the days gone by of "mob-front man" owned non-corporate hotel/casinos. Sorry to see the Boyds going to the same level as Station casinos, Harrah's and the MGM-Mirage where greed is king in the desert instead of the gambler who always got a good & fair deal along with good customer serivce. Miss good ole Benny Binion as he knew how to treat his customers right, where his customers always got a good fair deal whether on the casino floor or in the restaurants.
Posted by: RONALD KAIM | June 24, 2006 at 10:09 PM
This is very sad for me. As I was growing up we went to Vegas a few times a year to race in the HDRA and SCORE events, the Mint 400 sticks in my mind. Anyway, the Stardust is the only place we ever stayed and between it and the old Circus Circus, formed my early memories of Vegas. I haven't stayed there as an adult, but, might just need to go back and spend a night the next time I'm in town.
S
Posted by: Scott Dunagan | June 24, 2006 at 11:17 PM
It amazes me how the Las Vegas Strip transforms itself every few years into a different place with a different vibe. I first went in the late 1980s and stayed at the Dunes, which is where Bellagio is now. The old motor court was still behind the newer towers, providing a glimpse of mid-century Vegas. I remember having drinks across the street at the old MGM (now Bally's), with the paintings of scenes from MGM movies on the walls. The desert theme was still big then, with the Dunes, the old Aladdin, the Sands, etc. By the early 1990s the mega-resorts were on the way--Treasure Island, Luxor, etc. Vegas was supposedly becoming family-friendly, with attractions becoming as important as gambling. Then Vegas went adult again, with the "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" theme, upscale resorts (Four Seasons, Wynn, etc.), a racier Treasure Island (TI) pirate show, and seemingly an appreciation of retro. I last visited in 2004 and stayed at the Stardust, with its great sign and advertisements for Wayne Newton, but I guess retro didn't win out this time! But at least Hoover Dam will stay Deco!
Posted by: Gregory A. Dobie | June 24, 2006 at 11:52 PM
I am a technical theatre buff. When I went backstage 20 years ago, it was the best equipped in the U.S. if not the world. That week they did an on stage waterfall with a hugh tank and 12" line and pump. Pre-set lighting board--the greatest! Gus
Posted by: gus | June 25, 2006 at 06:12 AM
it saddens me too! its another historic building going away... that's why L.A. & Vegas do not have cool looking cities like San Franscisco.
Posted by: fernando escovar | June 25, 2006 at 10:04 AM
Mymemories go back to the plans to build the Stardust in the very early 1950's. Nobody mentions the man who was the creator of the Stardust, Tony Cornero. My father and Tony came up with the idea to build the Stardust when they realized how much money Wilbur Clarke was making in the Desert Inn casino. Tony said that if the DI could make that much money with a casino the sized of a postage stamp, just think how much money could be made with a hotel that had a casino the size of a football field!! At that moment, modern day Las Vegas started! Unfortunately, Tony Cornero died after shooting crap with my father at the DI all night on Agust 1, 1955, right before the Stardust would have opened. WIth his death, the dream died and the Stardust never opened under his name.
Posted by: Bob Ehrlich | June 25, 2006 at 12:15 PM
The Stardust was always my favorite casino in Vegas, not just because I seemed to have good luck in the casino, but because it was a part of the rich Las Vegas History. I still remember the first time I walked inside her casino. I was filled with thoughts and visions of the "Old Vegas", the elegant nights when people actually dressed to go to to a show and to hang out in the casinos. (Shorts and flip flops were strictly daytime attire then!!) I could almost feel the ghosts of the pasts coming to life within the grand lady. There are fewer and fewer of the "originals" around any more. (The Riviera,The Frontier and The Sahara are all that are left and the Frontier is taking her last breaths). Soon Vegas will have completly reinvented herself and the old days will be nothing but memories. I am sure that Neonopolis and the Boneyard have dibs on the Stardust sign. Thankfully they are preserving memories like those for future generations. I guess we have to get used to Vegas being in constant flux, but we don't have to like it.
Posted by: Carol | June 25, 2006 at 12:23 PM
I remember, back in the 1950s, going to Vegas with my parents and sister, usually on a stop between our home in L.A. and national parks in Utah. Large casinos with lots of space between each one looked imperious. Nothing like today's crowded downtown look. The Stardust had a magnificent breakfast buffet we made use of. Forty years later, my wife and I stayed at the Stardust twice when passing through. It was still quite nice. Vegas used to be something special. Not it has just as much money-making crap as people can crowd in. I'm begining to prefer towns like Laughlin (far less crowded, and more low key) and the classic old Nevada towns like Ely, Tonopah and Searchlight. Even Reno's better than what Vegas has become. Goodbye, Stardust. You'll be missed.
Posted by: Steve | June 25, 2006 at 12:26 PM
Do I remember the Stardust? I worked there during the 1970's, when Mr. Rosenthal was King and everything about the Stardust was hopping. In fact this is where I met my children's father, married for sixteen years. He was working for Mr. Rosenthal but we won't get into all the doing's of the boys. I remember the Palm room and the big fish tanks of lovely large gold fish, the great seafood restaurant, the beautiful show girls, and of course Siegfried & Roy. Allen Glick was really calling the shots along with Rosenthal, and they had my husband working for them. They gave us the little store out back in the camperland to run. Those were the days. I really will miss the Stardust. So sorry to see it close, but life is always about progress. Thanks for bringing back to my Vegas days and the memories.
Posted by: Pamela Fite | June 26, 2006 at 06:07 AM
I remember a night way back in the fifties when I went into the Desert Inn casino very late in the evening to shoot craps and there were three players at the table. At one end were Betty Grable and Harry James and about midway was Tony Cornero dropping money like it was going out of style. This was before the Stardust opened. Ms Grables' language was unusually colorful when she lost. Cornero died while shooting craps there a few nights later. One of the features of the Lido de Paris show at the Stardust after it opened were the topless girls who decended from the ceiling on small round platforms over the heads of the audience. It was impressive at the time.
Posted by: Pete | June 26, 2006 at 08:03 AM
I live in Las Vegas and if police and Hotel Security don't start doing their jobs,There will be a lot more casinos shuting down.People being beaten in the MGM parking lot by Teenage gangs.
People being murdered and shot "IN"a casino.
Let's see how the corporations as opposed to the ORIGINAL owners deal with this!
Posted by: Frank | June 26, 2006 at 09:53 AM
My first experience with the Stardust took place as part of a family vacation in 84. I just turned 21 and the family took a bus tour (national parks) that stopped in Vegas. While I don't remember many specifics, I do recall the old mechanical slot machines and those red seven's. A far cry from the machines of today, but I still remember the exhilaration at hitting a jackpot. I now frequent the Frontier next door. Sadly, as I understand, the Frontier will soon follow in the footsteps of the Stardust.
Posted by: Keoki323 | June 27, 2006 at 07:49 AM
I moved to Las Vegas in 2002 and worked at the STARDUST from May 2003 to Nov 2003. And while working there, I met a lot of wonderful people, people who have worked at the Stardust for so many years. I hope they would be able to keep their jobs.
Posted by: Jaime Lacson | June 27, 2006 at 09:31 PM
Over 20 years of memories of the Stardust. It was my favorite hotel through the years. Not too big to get lost in and not too small. A great slot club that was always generous with their comps. Friendly staff and slot hosts, that cheered me on to many big jackpots. Great food at William B's and a parade of super entertainment. Sure, the rooms weren't the fanciest, and no parking garage, but it always felt like home to me. I will miss you Stardust. Rest in piece.
Posted by: Dennis Cline | July 11, 2006 at 01:31 AM
In sept 2005 I went to Vegas. Visited a lot of the mega resorts. On one after none I realized I had not vistited 'old style vegas' hotels. So I went for a stroll up North. Photographing the outside of the Stardust I started talking to a local oldtimer telling stories about the Stardust and Riviera. We kept talking for about 40 minutes. Amazingly enough I didn't visite the inside of legendary Stardust. When I heard that Boyd is taking the Stardust down I regreat not taking the time actually visiting the hotel. For me Stardust is Vegas.
Posted by: JP vd Weerd | October 08, 2006 at 06:53 AM