As We See It

A few extinct casino brands we’d like to see return to the Strip

Image
With Showgirls and Siegfried & Roy as part of its history, the Stardust deserves a resurrection.
Darrin Bush, Las Vegas News Bureau

We are living in the era of the rebranded casino. Nothing is being built, but old properties are being repurposed as something new. Some new themes make sense, like the Sahara’s planned transformation into established brand SLS. Other changes, like Lady Luck’s shift to the Downtown Grand, seem like a waste of a classic Vegas identity. With that in mind, here are some extinct casino brands we’d like to see return from the dead:

El Rancho and Westward Ho For a town still full of cowboys, we sure are short on Western themed casinos. Let’s create a hybrid of these two classics, both formerly located on the west side of the Strip between Sahara and Convention Center. Call it the El Ho. Oh wait, that brings something else to mind ...

Stardust Immortalized by Moe Dalitz, Lido de Paris, Siegfried & Roy and, of course, Showgirls, this Strip icon deserves a resurrection. As punishment for replacing it with the nonexistent Echelon project, Boyd Gaming should have to turn one of its current casinos into a new Stardust.

Sands The seventh resort to open on the Strip, the Sands was the obvious epicenter of cool in its ’60s heyday. Maybe if the hipness slips from Cosmopolitan, it can steal this great old name for a mid-Strip reboot.

Circus Circus Oops, this one’s still open.

Share
Photo of Brock Radke

Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

Get more Brock Radke

Previous Discussion:

Top of Story