KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasDesert Inn's South Tower Imploded
The Desert Inn has been a fixture on the Las Vegas Strip for decades.
The resort-casino was opened on April 24, 1950. On April 27, 2000, casino mogul Steve Wynn purchases the hotel as a birthday gift for his wife. On Sept. 30, 2000, he closed its doors. And Tuesday morning, the South Tower came down to make way for a new hotel-casino owned and operated by Wynn.
The Desert Inn was one of the first four hotels to line Las Vegas Boulevard. It was the first attempt at a really classy hotel, and it was Wilbur Clark's dream.
During the '50s and '60s, some the most famous entertainers performed in the 350-seat Desert Inn showroom.
Las Vegas historian and columnist Joe Delaney was there when the Desert Inn opened. He says other casinos soon surpassed the Desert Inn's entertainment status on the Strip.
"The Desert Inn remained classy but slightly diminished as far as power," Delaney said.
Thanksgiving Day 1966, Howard Hughes moved in to the top floor of the Desert Inn. And when managers decided to evict him, he bought it.
"He was a big absent fixture. He was there, but nobody saw him," Delaney said.
The Desert Inn was the first of many Las Vegas properties that Hughes bought. He moved out of the Desert Inn Thanksgiving Day, 1970. Kirk Kerkorian bought the property from the Hughes Corp.
After about five years, the Desert Inn changed hands for the last time, when Starwood Entertainment bought it.
Nearly three years later, Wynn announced his purchase of the Desert Inn property and his intentions to close down the hotel-casino to make way for his new mega resort.
The Desert Inn closed its doors permanently in late August 2000.
And in December that same year, 13 homes on the Desert Inn Estates property were demolished. The demolition project began July 30 of this year.
On Tuesday morning, Oct. 23, 2001, the South Tower came down at 2 a.m. to make way for a new hotel-casino owned and operated by Steve Wynn.
Gaming analysts say they hope Wynn's new resort, Le Reve, will breathe new life to that section of the Strip.
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