Flamingo Las Vegas
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| Number of rooms | 3,626 | |
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| Theme | Caribbean | |
| Gaming space | 77,000 ft² (7,153.5 m²) | |
| Permanent show(s) | The Second City George Wallace Toni Braxton Society of Seven Lani Misalucha |
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| Signature attraction(s) | Wildlife Habitat | |
| Notable restaurant(s) | Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville | |
| Owner | Harrah's Entertainment | |
| Date opened | December 26, 1946 | |
| Casino type | Land-Based | |
| Major renovation(s) | 2004 | |
| Previous name(s) | The Flamingo (1950-1952) The Fabulous Flamingo (1952-1974) Flamingo Hilton (1974-1999) |
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| Casino website | Flamingo Las Vegas | |
The Flamingo Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is owned and operated by Harrah's Entertainment. The property offers a 77,000 ft² (7,200 m²) casino along with 3,626 hotel rooms. The hotel is sometimes referred to as the pink hotel due to the structure's neon pink color. The 15 ac (61,000 m²) site is landscaped in a Caribbean theme, with the central area housing an exhibit of flamingos as part of a wildlife habitat. It was the home of penguins, but they have since been moved to a Dallas zoo.
The Flamingo has a Las Vegas Monorail station at the rear of the property.
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[edit] History
The original owner of the 40 acres the Flamingo sits on was on of Las Vegas' first settlers, Charles "Pops" Squires. Mr. Squires paid $8.75 an acre for the land. In 1944, Margaret Folsom bought the tract for $7,500 from Squires, and she then later sold it to Billy Wilkerson. Billy Wilkerson was the owner of the Hollywood Reporter as well as some very popular nightclubs in the Sunset Strip - Cafe Trocadero, Ciro's and La Rue's.
In 1945, Wilkerson purchased 33 acres on the west side of U.S. Route 91, about one mile south of the Last Frontier in preparation for his vision. Wilkerson then hired George Vernon Russell to design a hotel that was more in the European style and something other than the "sawdust joints" on Fremont Street. His hotel would have luxurious rooms, a spa, health club, showroom, golf course, nightclub and an upscale restaurant. Due to the high cost of materials during the war, Mr. Wilkerson almost immediately began to run into financial problems and quickly found himself $400,000 short, it was then that he attempted to find new financing.
In late 1945 Benjamin Siegel and his "partners" came to Las Vegas and purchased The El Cortez on Fremont Street for $600,000 and later sold it for a $166,000 profit. It was at this time that Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and his organized crime associates found out that Mr. Wilkerson had ran out of money on his project and used the profits from The El Cortez sale to "encourage" Mr. Wilkerson to take on partners. Immediately Mr. Siegel and his partners, including mob member Frank Costello, invested $1 million into the property. They allowed Wilkerson to retain one-third ownership and operational control. Mr. Siegel then took over the final phases of construction and convinced some of his underworld associates to invest in his new project.
Unfortunately Mr. Siegel had no experience designing or constructing a building and as a result costs continued to mount from his constant changes and gouging from construction companies and suppliers, including workers who would deliver materials by day, steal them at night and re-sell them the next day. With costs mounting and construction moving slowly Mr. Siegel was losing patience and it was during one of his many outbursts that upon seeing his construction foreman looking quite nervous, Benjamin Siegel said "Don't worry, we only kill each other".
Mr. Siegel finally opened the hotel at a total cost of $6 million on December 26, 1946 and was billed as the world's most luxurious hotel[citation needed]. The 105 room property was built seven miles from Downtown Las Vegas. Originally known as The Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino, a large sign was built in front of the construction site announcing that the "Flamingo" was a William R. Wilkerson project, Del Webb Construction was the prime contractor, and Richard Stadelman was the architect (who later made renovations to the El Rancho Las Vegas.
The resort was named after Siegel's girlfriend Virginia Hill[citation needed], who loved to gamble in the United States and Mexico. Siegel's nickname for Hill was The Flamingo, for her skill at fellatio[citation needed].
When it was discovered that Siegel had been skimming money from the building funds, his death was ordered, and management of the casino changed hands.[citation needed] Casino management changed the hotel name to The Fabulous Flamingo on March 1, 1947.
The Flamingo hotel boasted lavish shows and glorious accommodations for its day[citation needed]. The casino became well known for its comfortable, air conditioned rooms, beautiful gardens and fabulous swimming pools. The Flamingo helped popularize the concept of offering a "complete experience" as opposed to simple gambling[citation needed]. When the property opened, every employee from dealers to custodial staff wore tuxedos.
In 1950 the Champagne Tower opened.
Kirk Kerkorian acquired the property in 1967.[1] It becomes part of Kerkorian's International Leisure Company.
The hotel was acquired by the Hilton Corporation in 1972 and became the Flamingo Hilton in 1974. The last of the original Flamingo Hotel structure was torn down on December 14, 1993 and the hotel's garden was built on the site, complete with a plaque to Bugsy Siegel.
In the 1998 spin off of Hilton's gaming operations ownership was changed to Park Place Entertainment which was renamed to Caesars Entertainment in 2004.
In September 1999 the Flamingo Hilton and its sister property in Laughlin ended their long standing relationship with Hilton Hotels. The Hilton name was removed and the property was renamed Flamingo Las Vegas. Longtime Las Vegans still refer to the casino by its former name, however.
To enhance the hotel's Caribbean theme[citation needed], a Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant was opened in 2004.
In 2005 Harrah's Entertainment purchased Caesars Entertainment and the property became part of Harrah's Entertainment company.
Toni Braxton replaced Wayne Newton as the Flamingo’s new headlining act on August 3, 2006. The show, Toni Braxton: Revealed, will run through March 2007 [1]. In November 2006, the Flamingo announced Braxton’s show will be extended through August 2007 [2].
[edit] Film history
The 1960 version of Ocean's Eleven was filmed here. Also a flashback sequence from the 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven was filmed at Flamingo.
[edit] Fiction references
The original Flamingo hotel and casino figures prominently in the Tim Powers novel Last Call. In the novel, the famed myth of Siegel's creation of the Flamingo was utilized as a basis for the overall supernatural plot of the novel (rather than the true historic account of his acquiring it from the original founder). The Flamingo is supposedly founded on Siegel's mythical/mystical paranoia of being pursued and killed for his Archetypal position as the "King of the West," also known mythologically as Fisher King. Supposedly the Flamingo itself was meant to be a real-life personification of the "Tower" card amongst the Major Arcana of the Tarot deck, literally "the King's Castle in the Wasteland." It is also fabled to be where Siegel kept his copy of a deck of the Lombardy Zeroth Tarot deck, a fictional deck of psychically-empowered Tarot cards also prominent to the plot of Powers' novel. Category 6: Day of Destruction, a shot of the casino can be seen along with Circus Circus, and Stardust. Siegel's penthouse and office floor did, as referenced in the novel, in fact have a secret escape-hatch complete with ladder down to a service floor where supposedly a car was always in ready to effect his getaway in the event of his being attacked in his chambers (the escape preparations of course were ultimately moot; Siegel was killed in Los Angeles at the home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill). All other references to the Flamingo in any supernatural context in the novel are not based on any known or recorded facts/events.
The Flamingo has also been referenced in animated cartoons - an episode of The Jetsons, in 1962, dealt with a trip to Las Venus and the Flamoongo casino.[3] More recently, an episode of Kim Possible (Ron the Man) was set in Las Vegas, and while there was no direct reference to the Flamingo, the casino the characters went to was drawn to resemble the original Flamingo design. [4]
[edit] External links
- Flamingo Las Vegas website
- Caesars Entertainment website
- Harrah's Entertainment website
- Toni Braxton to Headline Vegas Flamingo
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| South end | Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign |  |
| West side | Mandalay Bay · THEhotel at Mandalay Bay · Luxor · Excalibur · New York-New York ·Monte Carlo · Project City Center (2009) · The Cosmopolitan (2009) · Bellagio · Caesars Palace · The Mirage · Treasure Island · New Frontier · Echelon Place (2010) · Slots-A-Fun · Circus Circus · Stratosphere | |
| East side | Tropicana · MGM Grand · Aladdin (Planet Hollywood) · Paris · Bally's · Bill's (formerly Barbary Coast) · Flamingo · O'Sheas · Imperial Palace · Harrah's · Casino Royale · The Venetian · The Palazzo (2007) · Wynn · Riviera · Sahara | |
| Transportation | Las Vegas Monorail · The Deuce | |
| Harrah's Entertainment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Annual Revenue: $7.11 billion USD Employees: 85,000 Stock Symbol: NYSE: HET Website: www.harrahs.com |
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