The beginning came at the end. The grand porte cochère became one of the last major renovation projects at the new Sahara Las Vegas, the iconic Strip casino resort that reclaimed its original name three years ago. And although the gaming floor, hotel lobby, pool, main lounge and several restaurant spaces had been entirely refreshed, the striking new entrance reframed the entire property upon completion in July.

The odd, cartoonish statue that welcomed guests during the SLS era is gone, replaced by an inviting water feature that has been pushed closer to Las Vegas Boulevard to allow for more drop-off lanes. A gigantic canopy extends over much of the entry space, offering protection from the desert sun and creating a dramatic first impression. It might remind some visitors of the illuminated Taj Mahal-esque dome that once covered the Sahara’s entrance.

“We are a property that has a lot of history, that’s rooted in the ethic of what Las Vegas is and how we envision it,” says Paul Hobson, president of the Sahara. “There is this sense you want to create when people arrive that they have come to somewhere special, somewhere refreshing. For lack of a better word, it’s an oasis, coming in right from the desert. We’re here for hospitality, to take care of you.”

This storied property has evolved its identity through the years, but the current and future face of Sahara—conceptualized by owner Alex Meruelo, who also operates media outlets in California, the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno and the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL—takes a modern approach centered around service, with whispers of a bygone but celebrated era of classic Las Vegas.

And right now is the right time to see what they’ve done with the place; on October 7, the Sahara will celebrate 70 years on the Strip. One of the oldest spots on the Strip is all new and very ready to mark the occasion.

“The Sahara is the oldest hotel building on the Strip. You have the [75-year-old] Flamingo, of course, but it has built over or gotten rid of its original vestiges through the years,” says Michael Green, associate professor of history at UNLV.

“The Sahara is still modern and new and competitive, even if it’s smaller in terms of the megaresorts built down the block. The renovations have brought it up to date, and it’s nice to see for historical purposes because the original place is still there. We’ve blown up a lot of places, but the Sahara has managed to work its way around that, and it’s gratifying to see.”

Creating a classically fancy porte cochère might feel against type for Vegas today, and the same can be said for the Sahara’s strategy of renovating instead of imploding, bringing back its original brand instead of creating something entirely new.

Over the past decade, the Strip has seen the Stratosphere become the Strat, Barbary Coast become the Cromwell, Imperial Palace become the Linq and Monte Carlo become Park MGM. Bally’s will soon be the Horseshoe, the Mirage will be a new Hard Rock Hotel and the Tropicana could morph into Bally’s.

“The Aladdin was torn down and rebuilt and kept the name, but it didn’t really work out,” Green says about the resort now known as Planet Hollywood. “There are efforts elsewhere to link to the history, but the Sahara seems to be pulling this off. It’s incredibly unusual, because the tendency has been to tear down and rebuild as something else.”

Don’t assume today’s Sahara is saturated in throwback Vegas vibes, however. Warm and vibrant, the casino space looks nothing like the LA-flavored, nightlife-heavy vision SBE Entertainment brought to the resort when it transformed it into SLS from 2014 through 2018.

There are subtle callbacks to the African desert theme of the ’50s and ’60s—including brass elements incorporated in mosaics of flowers made out of pieces of that old dome—and other design features that advance the Moroccan paradise vibe of the ’80s and ’90s.

If there’s a definitive theme, it’s comfort, equal parts convenience and sophistication. Designer Nancy Paolino, who worked with the Meruelo Group on the Reno property for a dozen years and also helped refresh the Plaza in Downtown Las Vegas, says the objective was to create a fun flow while embracing the restrictions of an older property.

“Demolishing the building was not in anybody’s sight for a lot of reasons. We worked within those walls to create a boutique yet swanky type of property, and to embrace the size,” she says. “It’s a historic icon, but you have to know who you want to be when you grow up, I think, to know what your endgame is. We want to keep guests intrigued with everything we do.”

The creation of the Casbar Lounge at the heart of the casino in 2019 set the tone for what was to come, a luxurious 24-hour cocktail spot awash in rich jewel tones. The lounge has a hidden entrance to one of Paolino’s favorite Sahara spaces, the Azilo Ultra Lounge, which connects to the Azilo Ultra Pool, an outdoor event and entertainment space with lush decor and massive wrap-around LED screens.

“I spent a lot of time branding that space, and we wanted it to feel like a true desert oasis,” she says. “Every one of those backlit art pieces in the cabanas were developed by my team, sort of a Sahara desert-meets-Burning Man type of thing. We developed the chaise lounges, which have their own zipper pouch underneath to secure personal belongings, and hand-dyed fabrics to follow the color scheme in the casino. And we have that magnificent screen and stage, so that pool is a chameleon. It can be so many things.”

There’s always been a strong undercurrent of buzzy dining and exciting, accessible live entertainment at the Sahara. When it comes to food, the House of Lords and Don the Beachcomber are legendary restaurants of Vegas past, but the Meruelo Group has capitalized on the culinary advancements SBE installed back in 2014, which included the widely acclaimed Bazaar Meat by José Andrés.

“A lot of the people that were executing some of that stuff that did work when it was SLS are the people helping us pave the future of culinary here,” Hobson says.

The new ownership has added Philadelphia favorite Chickie’s & Pete’s, authentic Chinese at Noodle Den, energetic tacos at Uno Más and updated breakfast and lunch favorites with Zeffer’s Café. Now comes another big leap with Balla, a soulful Italian restaurant from James Beard Award winner and Strip favorite Shawn McClain, who has operated Sage and Five50 Pizza at Aria and Libertine Social at Mandalay Bay.

“I could see Mr. Meruelo’s commitment from our early conversations, that this was a passion of his, really getting back and committing resources and ideas to making Sahara a great place to dine,” McClain says. “And I think the timing has been tremendous, the foresight of seeing the north Strip being re-energized. I just think Sahara has this great runway and a great future ahead of it.”

Green notes that the Sahara was the first hotel-casino to put a strong emphasis on entertainment in the lounge, including classic names like Ray Bolger, Tony Bennett, Don Rickles, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and Sam Butera (see sidebar). The SLS era saw dance-club DJs invade that traditional mix before its Life nightclub gave way to the Foundry, a room for live music and comedy. Today that space is the Sahara Theater, home to resident comedian Eddie Griffin and Reckless in Vegas, a rock ’n’ roll take on a lounge act.

“The biggest venue we have is Azilo, which can do 1,800 for a concert, and during Labor Day weekend we had Live Nation promoting a couple events in that space,” Hobson says. “The theater is eventually going to be a great forum for that as well and is definitely a big part of the story going forward.”

And don’t forget about the cornerstone show, Magic Mike Live, an incredible success when it opened at the Hard Rock Hotel (now Virgin Hotels Las Vegas) in 2017 before relocating to a brand-new, custom theater at the Sahara last year. It’s a big draw for bachelorette parties, among other groups, and the resort is building around it; Balla should work as a nice complement before or after the show.

“We’re great at throwing parties,” Hobson says. “If you have a dozen people all coming to celebrate a birthday, we can make that special for you in a way other [casinos] might not be ready to do, because it’s not as big a deal as it is to us.”

Intimacy in service is intentional. It’s not making up for something a boutique destination lacks; it’s the centerpiece. Hobson says the personality passed from Meruelo to the Sahara staff is family-driven: “Treat each other like family, treat guests like family, and everything else will take care of itself.”

In theory, that could help make the Sahara the chosen Strip destination for locals, along with the convenience of a casino just off the freeway at one (still quieter) end of the Boulevard, where you can cruise right into a free parking garage for a refined dinner or evening of entertainment.

And lots of longtime locals have a soft spot for classic Vegas. That’s certainly the case for Green, whose parents spent a lot of time there.

“It was the closest Strip [property] to those of us who lived in the city, because it was the beginning of the Strip as far as locals were concerned,” he says. “The fact that it’s there and viable and attractive [is] a good feeling for me as a Las Vegan and a historian. But it’s also a good feeling that they’re not just acknowledging but embracing their own history.”

Visitors might not make those classic connections when they’re catching a game and feasting on crab fries at Chickie’s & Pete’s or bopping along to Reckless in Vegas’ take on Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin. But the folks who created the experiences at Sahara went out of their way to understand and fall in love with that history—and that care is reflected in the results.

“Doing research into all the celebrities that either performed or stayed there was mind-blowing, and I collected pages and pages every time I found something new,” Paolino says.

“It’s a special place to a lot of people in Vegas and out of Vegas. People know about The Beatles [staying] there, the movies filmed there, the connection with Elvis. I think those people really enjoyed going back to the [original] name, and we put a gallery in the lobby and the walkway of all these black and white photos. And every time I’m on property, I see people looking at those images.”

Merging old and new in an appealing way is a always challenge. Renovating a known Vegas casino and meeting or exceeding expectations is similarly difficult. Ultimately, it’s up to you to determine if the Sahara has pulled it off.

“To get people who have been here a while to understand this is a reinvented Sahara is important, and we can’t shout it loud enough,” Hobson says. “The most valuable messaging we can use is people who have been here and had a great experience and like the way it looks, and tell somebody else. That’s why we’re trying to have more events, to throw more parties, so they can come see it for themselves and tell their friends.”

The Sahara’s unique celebrity history

It might seem like the Rat Pack spent the entirety of the 1960s reveling and reigning over Las Vegas, but it didn’t last that long—and Frank, Dean and the gang didn’t necessarily make the rounds up and down the Strip. But they definitely spent lots of time at the Sahara, and they were usually insulted by Don Rickles when they were there.

“The lounge at the Sahara became incredibly significant for two prominent performers, Don Rickles and Louis Prima,” says UNLV historian Michael Green, who will take part in the upcoming 70th anniversary events at the new Sahara Las Vegas. “Bill Miller was the entertainment guy at the time [in the 1950s], and he saved Prima’s career by bringing him in.”

Prima, along with Keely Smith and Sam Butera, essentially pioneered the lounge show in Las Vegas casinos under Miller, who eventually moved on to the Dunes and the Flamingo and helped develop iconic production shows Lido de Paris and Les Folies Bergère.

Rickles also became a main attraction at the Sahara, before “getting laughs insulting people in the audience was something to behold,” Green says. “In both cases, with Prima and Rickles, they attracted other entertainers, and it gave the Sahara an extra buzz you might not get at other lounges.”

There’s no doubt the Sahara was the hot spot. You might know The Beatles were booked to perform there in 1964 before moving their concerts to the Convention Center to accommodate many more screaming fans. (They still stayed at the nearby desert-themed hotel.) You might not know Johnny Carson performed there throughout the ’60s and ’70s, and plugging his Vegas gigs on The Tonight Show translated into good publicity for the hotel and the city.

“Later in the’70s, the Sahara became the home of the Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis,” Green says. “I confess to having mixed feelings, as a kid, when Jerry came on, because that meant the end of summer vacation, but every year it was 21-plus hours on a network all across the country with all these people hearing constantly about the Sahara hotel.”

Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!