Q:
Your QOD regarding past casinos raised a few memories and a couple of questions in my mind. First, I recall a terrific breakfast at the Silver Slipper which I believe would have sat on the lot between the New Frontier and the Stardust, and one of your pictures included Silver City. How many other strip casinos disappeared that were not on the sites of current casinos? Thanks for another thought-provoking QOD.
A:
You're welcome, and apologies to all those who tuned in expecting this answer yesterday, only to be greeted with a blank space. The Thursday and Friday QoDs accidentally got transposed but we fixed it as soon as we realized.
Back to the query in hand and this time around, we'll start at the north end of the Strip and work our way southward, hoping that we don't miss anything along the way...
- Holy Cow!: Technically just north of the northern limit of the official Las Vegas Strip, lying as it did at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Sahara Ave., this diminutive former casino and brewing company was briefly re-purposed as a sales office for Ivana Trump's soon-abandoned condo-tower concept, and has remained vacant ever since, with plans for a new hi-tech mall failing to materialize.
- El Rancho Vegas: The lot once occupied by the Strip's first casino is now partially occupied by Hilton Grand Vacation Club, while the rest of the parcel remains empty.
- Westward Ho/The Ho: McDonald's
- Riata/Silver City: Silver City Mall
- Thunderbird/Silverbird/El Rancho: Part of this lot is still vacant; the rest is occupied either by Turnberry Place or the unfinished Fountainebleu.
- Silver Slipper: Was purchased in 1988 by then Frontier-owner Margaret Elardi, and was subsequently turned into a parking lot.
South of this area, we can't think of any plot of land that previously housed a casino but no longer does. If anyone else can, please drop us a line! In the meantime, here's the link to a really cool slideshow of aerial shots of the evolving Las Vegas Strip, which we found in the Las Vegas Sun historic galleries.
Update 09 May 2014
Aha! We knew we'd miss one although, in fairness to us, Vacation Village is considerably further outside the official south boundary of "the Strip" than Holy Cow! was beyond the north one. Still, we agree that small hotel-casino that operated from 1990-2002, once offered a 10-cent graveyard special, and offered a free wheel spin for a (slim) chance at winning back your airfare, is worthy of inclusion on this list and can reveal that Vacation Village was situated on a 25-acre lot that is now home to the Town Square retail destination.
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