The Desert Inn: The Lost Vegas Legend Beneath Wynn | 1950 - 2000

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Caesars Rewards: Hotels
RockSinCity
Published
Before Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, this stretch of the Strip was home to one of old Vegas' most elegant resorts: the Desert Inn.

Opened on April 24, 1950, Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn became one of the early luxury landmarks of the Las Vegas Strip. It had the Painted Desert Room, the Sky Room, Dancing Waters fountains, major entertainment, tournament golf, and eventually one of the most famous Howard Hughes chapters in Las Vegas history.

In this video, we look at how the Desert Inn opened, why it mattered, how it became tied to Howard Hughes, and how the land eventually became Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.

If you enjoy lost Las Vegas casino history, old Vegas stories, and the history behind today's Strip, subscribe for more.

Sources and visual references include:
Las Vegas Sun Desert Inn chronology: https://lasvegassun.com/news/2005/apr/28/desert-inn-chronology/
Nevada State Museum Las Vegas: https://www.lasvegasnvmuseum.org/desert-inn-hotel-and-casino/
UNLV Special Collections: https://special.library.unlv.edu/
Neon Museum Sports Vegas: https://neonmuseum.org/news/sports-vegas/
Wynn Resorts investor release: https://investors.wynnresorts.com/news-releases/news-release-details/wynn-resorts-break-ground-encore-wynn-las-vegas-original-site
National Endowment for the Humanities, Howard Hughes in Las Vegas: https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2010/marchapril/statement/vegas%E2%80%99s-revolutionary-recluse

#LasVegas #VegasHistory #CasinoHistory #DesertInn #OldVegas

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Chapters
0:00: Before Wynn, There Was The Desert Inn
0:28: A Property That Touched Every Era Of Vegas
1:06: Wilbur Clark's Desert Escape
1:45: The Money Behind The Dream
2:22: The Desert Inn Opens With Style
3:32: Dancing Waters And Old Vegas Glamour
4:06: The Sky Room And The View Over Las Vegas
4:41: Entertainment At The Painted Desert Room
5:22: The Desert Inn Golf Club
6:02: Atomic-Era Las Vegas
6:36: Howard Hughes Moves Into The Desert Inn
7:18: Hughes Buys The Hotel
8:00: The Resort Keeps Changing
8:35: The Mega-Resort Era Arrives
9:08: Steve Wynn Buys The Desert Inn
9:44: The Desert Inn Closes
10:14: The Old Site Disappears
10:42: Wynn, Encore, And The Legacy Of The Desert Inn
Category
Steve Wynn
Tags
Las Vegas history, Vegas history, casino history
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