The Tam O'Shanter was a 100-room motel located at 3317 Las Vegas Blvd. South that opened in 1959 and operated as a family-run business for the next 45 years, before closing in 2004 to be demolished to make way for Palazzo. You can see its location on the Strip, opposite the Castaways, in the black-and-white photograph below.
The 11.4-acre site was purchased by Las Vegas Sands in October, 1998, for an undisclosed amount in the "several millions" range, but remained open as a motel for another six years, although Leah Zeldin, daughter of owner Bernie Zeldin and the final manager of the property, admitted at the time that they had been "mainly operating on borrowed time, and our time ran out." Her father, who apparently named the Tam O'Shanter for a Chicago golf course he'd liked to play, had passed away five years prior. There is another sister, Julie, so we assume that either she or Leah is/was your friend?
Beyond that, there's not much we can tell you about this non-gaming property with the huge neon Scottish hat sign, whose marquee -- viewable now at the Neon Museum downtown -- famously proclaimed, "Friendly Inn; Pool Open; Senior Citizens Welcome; Free Coffee; Checks Cashed." While the motel's original postcard publicity touted "Free TV's [sic.] - Phones in Every Room - Steam Heat - Cooled by Refrigeration - Show Reservations - Heated Swimming Pool,' someone who posted an image on Flickr, taken shortly before the closure, recalled how, "This place had shag carpet and a coin-operated '1,000 fingers' bed-massage machine in the rooms, right up to the end."
We came across a couple of other amusing reviews from nostalgic former guests of this venerable establishment, including one who reported how, "This was a great motel. We stayed here last weekend 6/13/09. Very close to the Sands. It was an easy walk, and the Sands has great food. The mirrors come off the wall very easily, and they are well used with razor marks. We will always stay here, from now on. This place rocks. Friendly girls out front and a really nice pool." Nice to know the hookers were friendly and cokeheads accommodated.
Another, who titled their post, "Location, Value, Zoo-grade Insects," wrote about how "This reasonably priced but so-sleazy-it's-almost-trendy motel is right next to the Venetian, Mirage and Treasure Island. The pool is open 24 hours -- unlike those of most major Strip hotels. There was a 3" cockroach in the room -- bigger than any I've seen in the 10 years I lived in Manhattan, New York -- but he didn't bother me, and I didn't bother him. Pets OK, maybe yours will eat the larger bugs. Unique Quality: I made the mistake of telling the pit boss at the Mirage I was staying here and in an instant he had snatched my comp right back out of my hand."
Aside from that, the only other factoid we came across was when the diminutive property made headlines in 1996 when the reputed head of a multimillion-dollar crime ring made up of Los Angeles street-gang members was arrested by the FBI at the Tam O'Shanter on drug-trafficking charges. Wayne Alfred Day was said to be one of the original leaders of the Grape Street Crips gang that reputedly distributed vast quantities of cocaine and crack from Mexico to cities in the Midwest and South. He was subsequently sentenced to 20 years in prison.
