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I run past 20- or 30-somethings talking about “old-school” this and that. Really? I’ll now ask you to help me discuss real old school. I recall Circus Circus, then new, when they really had live circus animals! Any more description of that hotel back then?
When it comes to "old-school Las Vegas," we see three distinct eras: the present day back to 1990 (the Mirage opened in November 1989); 1989 back to 1941, when El Rancho Vegas opened out on the incipient Strip and El Cortez opened downtown; and 1940 back to 1931, when gambling was legalized in Nevada. Before that, you could call it original Las Vegas, or railroad Las Vegas, or pre-gambling Las Vegas.
Of course, these distinctions are arbitrary; for 20-somethings, "old school" probably means pre-pandemic. But for the purposes of this answer, Circus Circus, which opened in 1968, winds up in the middle of the "old-school" pack, mostly post-Mob, but certainly before what we'd call the modern Las Vegas ushered in by the Mirage.
Anyway, one thing that puts Circus Circus in a league of its own, old school or not, was an actual admission charge to get into the casino. According to UNLV's David Schwartz, author of the definitive biography of Circus Circus creator Jay Sarno, the (short-lived) admission charge was $2, although a Circus Circus fan site offers a differing account, stating that the fee was 50¢ from 2 to 7 p.m. and $1 from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. (Perhaps Sarno hoped the levy would recoup the money he was losing by not building any hotel rooms.)
Just as the Mirage was the first truly luxe hotel-casino in Vegas, Circus Circus foreshadowed the era of theming. It was Las Vegas' second fully themed casino, following Caesars Palace by a couple of years. With its novel carnival midway, trapeze acts, and live circus animals, including a wandering elephant, it was designed to be kid-friendly, presaging another mini-era, but it straddled an interesting line, with juxtapositions including a full bar built into a merry-go-round, plus peepshows and a "knock-the-girl-out-of-bed" game, both of which featured topless women.
And if that's not enough, the ground-floor casino could be entered from the second-floor midway by any of three means. The sedate could walk down the stairs. Spunkier patrons could take a slide. And the really daring could shimmy down a fireman's pole. Schwartz believes the slide and pole continued no longer than 1974, when Bill Bennett and William Pennington bought Circus Circus. In one year, they turned the property from a money loser to a profitable casino and by then, the admission charge, topless women, slide, and pole were all things of the past.
Its family-friendliness remained, as it does to this day, 50 or so years later. Though that particular mini-era came and went, Circus Circus continues to maintain the tradition that it established. Also, along with the Flamingo, Sahara, Tropicana, and Caesars, it's among the only Strip hotel-casinos that predate the Mirage. So it could be said that Circus is old school in some ways, but new school in others.