Tag Archives: January

On This Date: January 17, 2008 Palazzo Opens in Las Vegas

January 17, 2018

Palazzo Opened on January 17, 2008

The Palazzo is a luxury hotel and casino located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip at 3325 Las Vegas Blvd South between Wynn and the Venetian hotels. Many tourists believe that the Wynn, Palazzo and the Venetian are the best Las Vegas hotels in Las Vegas. The Palazzo has 3068 rooms and 105,000 sq. ft. of gaming space and cost over $1.8 billion to construct.

The soft opening of the Palazzo opened at 7 pm on Sunday, December 30 and the official grand opening took place on January 17, 2008.

Upon its completion, The Palazzo total floor area covering is 6,948,980 square feet beating the Pentagon as the largest building in the United States in terms of floor space, by about 383,000 square feet. The Palazzo is reported to be the eleventh largest building in the world in terms of available floor space and is also currently the second-largest building in the Western Hemisphere. The Palazzo property is LEED Silver Certified; making it the largest LEED certified building in the nation. For more information on The Palazzo, including restaurants, pictures, maps, and more, head over to The Palazzo at World Casino Directory.

Photo by: wikipedia.org

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On this Date January 11, 2006 the Old Showboat/Castaways Hotel was imploded

January 11, 2018
castaways-implosion

castaways-implosion

The Castaways Hotel and Casino (2000-2004), formerly the Showboat (1954–2000), was a hotel and casino located at the north end of the Boulder Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. The hotel consisted of a 19 story tower containing 445 rooms, a 80,000-square-foot casino and an adjacent RV park. After 50 years the hotel was closed on January 29, 2004 and the hotel town was later imploded on January 11, 2006.

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On this Date: January 10, 1957, The Dunes becomes the first hotel featuring a topless show

January 10, 2018

On January 10, 1957 the Dunes on the Las Vegas Strip becomes the first hotel/casino to offer a topless show called the Minsky’s Follies. Minsky’s inspiration was modeled on Parisian nightclub shows.  The state was not amused but the show was a big success and set a record of 16,000 in just one week.

Minsky's Follies

Minsky’s Follies at Dunes was the first topless show in Nevada

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On This Date: January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley Was Born

January 8, 2018
Viva Las Vegas Love in Las Vegas

“Viva Las Vegas” 1964 Movie Poster

Elvis Presley  was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and was one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as “the King of Rock and Roll”, or simply, “the King”

Here is a list of Elvis engagements in the Vegas heyday  1969 – 1976.

April 23 – May 9, 1956, Elvis made his first appearance in Las Vegas at the New Frontier Hotel in the spring of 1956. Audiences in Las Vegas gave Elvis a cool reception.

July, 1963, Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret are in Las Vegas filming what would be Presley’s 15th film, “Viva Las Vegas.” The movie was released in June of 1964.

July 31 – Aug. 28, 1969, The King is back, Elvis returns to Las Vegas. He is booked for a four-week, 57-show run at the newly built International Hotel (later the hotel name changed to the Hilton Hotel then to the Las Vegas Hotel). The show breaks all existing Las Vegas attendance records. Elvis’ first live album is recorded during the shows.

January – February, 1970, Elvis returns to Las Vegas for a month-long run at the International Hotel. Once again, Elvis breaks attendance records.

Aug. 10 – Sept. 7, 1970: A month-long appearance at the International Hotel. MGM films some of the rehearsals and stage performance for its documentary “Elvis – That’s the Way It Is.”

January – February, 1971, A month-long appearance at the International Hotel.

Aug. 9 – Sept. 6, 1971 Elvis returns to Las Vegas and appears at the International Hotel to record audiences. During his month-long appearance he is given the Lifetime Achievement Award presented each year during the Grammy Awards. Elvis was 36 years old.

1972 – 1975 Elvis performs a few months per year in Vegas for the over the next 3 years at the International.

August 18 – September. 5, 1975 Elvis opens at the Hilton (now called the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino), but ends his appearances on Aug. 20, 1975, when he is flown to Memphis and hospitalized due to illness.

December 2-15, 1975, Elvis returns to the Hilton to make up for shows that were cancelled because of his ill health.

December 2-12, 1976, Elvis appears at the Hilton for a two-week engagement. It turns out to be his final Las Vegas appearances.

August 16,1977, Elvis dies at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. In Las Vegas, fans and friends mourn the passage of an entertainment and Vegas legend.

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On This Date: January 27, 1951 First Nuclear Bomb Detonated at Nevada Test Site

January 27, 2017
Able- First Nuclear Test At the Nevada Test Site January 27, 1951

Able- First Nuclear Test At the Nevada Test Site January 27, 1951

The first nuclear bomb was tested at the Nevada Test Site on January 27, 1951. The Nevada Test Site is located 65 mi northwest of Las Vegas. The series of test was called Operation Ranger it was the fourth American nuclear test. The nuke shot was called  ‘Able’ and it was the first air-dropped nuclear device to be exploded on American soil. The test took place on Frenchman Flat, a dry lakebed in the Nevada Test Site (site 5). The .5-kiloton explosion was the first series to be carried out at the Nevada Test Site. The bomb was dropped by B-50 bombers and exploded in the open air over Frenchman Flat (Area 5).

Photo:  Department of Defense

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On This Date: January 26, 1993, the Dunes Hotel Closed its Doors

January 26, 2017
The Dunes Hotel and Casino

The Dunes Hotel Closed on January 26, 1993

The Dunes Hotel closed it doors on January 26, 1993. It sat where the now famous Bellagio resides on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Flamingo Road. The Dunes was the tenth resort built on the Las Vegas Strip and opened on May 23, 1955. The resort included a 18-hole Championship golf course which ran from Tropicana Ave .to Flamingo Road, it was called the Dunes Miracle Mile.

Photo By: © 1983 Larry D. Moore (CC-BY-SA)

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