Desert Inn schliesst seine Türen

28.08.2000, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Desert Inn schliesst seine Türen».

Desert Inn Ends Chapter in Las Vegas

The 50-year-old Desert Inn, a historic Las Vegas resort once owned by billionaire recluse Howard Hughes who used one of its floors as his own private reserve, shut its doors forever on August 28, 2000 with its new owners planning to rip it down to make way for a mega-complex.

Casino Mogul Steve Wynn bought the Desert Inn for $270 million last June shortly after stepping down as chief executive officer of Mirage Resorts Inc., which was purchased by MGM Grand Inc. in May to form MGM Mirage.

Desert Inn is one of the oldest properties on the Las Vegas Strip. The resort was the fifth Las Vegas Strip property - and one of the largest - when Wilbur Clark completed it in 1950 at a cost of $3.5 million. The fabled resort had 300 hotel rooms, a casino, a spa and two restaurants.

The resort's casino closed at 2:00 am on August 25, and the doors closed to the public for good 12 hours later, said spokeswoman Caroline Coyne. "It's a time of nostalgia and melancholy because it's hard to say goodbye under any circumstances," she said, speaking for the employees and some of the guests who came to pay their last respects.

Wynn plans to demolish the present complex within seven months and build a new 59-story resort on the site. He said the new complex would not be called the Desert Inn, but he has no disclosed a new name.