It’s not going to be the Hacienda much longer. Nevada Restaurant Services – parent company of Dotty’s slot parlors – is redesigning the property and rechristening it as the Hoover Dam Lodge. A northwest-lodge look is intended for the exterior of the hotel-casino, a stone fireplace will be added to the lobby and all trappings of Tex-Mex décor will be banished. "Rustic desert-lodge motif" is the catchphrase for the new aesthetic.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Additional phases include a hotel-room expansion and pool area that overlooks Lake Mead and the development of 17 acres across Highway 93 into a truck stop/travel center with several food outlets, a convenience store and a fueling station for automobiles and trucks."
The Hacienda is a relatively youthful sprite of a casino, having been built on the embers of the Gold Strike Casino, which burnt down on June 16, 1998, after 40 years in business. However, it’s not within casino-free Boulder City, which is two-and-a-half miles distant. (It was Boulder City’s ban on gambling that opened a business opportunity for the Gold Strike.) Wedged spectacularly within the precipitous terrain leading to Hoover Dam, the hotel commands impressive views of Lake Mead. (The National Park Service has futilely been trying to buy the land since 1936.)
The site was originally known as "Sullivan’s Gulch" after the local developer who was mining for turquoise and gold there. "That little bit of private land was still there, but the government didn't realize it," historian Dennis McBride told the Las Vegas Sun. Three local businessmen saw a market going unserviced, so they bought Sullivan’s acreage, got a gaming license, six slot machines – and the Gold Strike Inn was in business. Boulder City tried to squelch the Gold Strike by refusing to pipe it water, but eventually gave way. Ironically, the founding of the Gold Strike is credited with relieving pressure to bring gambling to Boulder City.
During the 1960s, the Gold Strike underwent a bizarre stint as Wild West theme park Fort Lucinda, offering attractions as diverse as llama rides and "ghost town" buildings brought from elsewhere in Nevada. The experiment failed and the Gold Strike reverted to previous ownership. Fort Lucinda’s 36" narrow-gauge railway now reposes in Hayward, California, where it is reported to be still operational.
Meanwhile, the Gold Strike was growing, adding 80 hotel rooms in 1982, 80 more in 1986, and a 16-story tower eight years later. The latter was largely spared in the 1998 fire that obliterated the casino. During the reconstruction, the Gold Strike swapped names with Circus Circus, selling it the Gold Strike name and leasing the moniker of Circus Circus’ torn-down Hacienda on the Las Vegas Strip. Then-owners David Belding, Michael Ensign, and William Richardson made desultory attempts to sell the casino in 2003, but found no takers.
The Hacienda was going through some bad karma at that time. Hacienda maid Ladonna Milam vanished on June 22, leaving only a blood-soaked towel in her wake. Milam’s dismembered corpse was later discovered in a Veteran’s Memorial Park fishing pond. (Reported the Sun, "A woman walking her dog early Monday morning found body parts floating in the fishing pond and called police. Divers found two pieces of a woman's torso with its head and limbs severed and a human ear with an earring. A blood-soaked, multi-colored blouse and bra were found in a nearby trash can, the police report says.")
Police tracked the crime to one Perry C. Monroe. A hacksaw was found in his hotel room and surveillance cameras captured him removing a large duffel bag from the property. "It appeared those objects were heavy, as demonstrated by his apparent difficulty in carrying them," read the police report.
Milam was described as someone with "a zest for life and a passion to meet new people. That's why she enjoyed her job as a porter at the Hacienda Hotel."
Unfortunately, she met one new person too many. Although deemed schizophrenic, Monroe was also decreed competent to stand trial on one count each of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. He pled guilty on both counts last December – having spent years in and out of the Lakes Crossing mental-health facility -- and will finally be sentenced on April 3.
Gore factor aside, we hope you’ve enjoyed this stroll down the memory lane of the Hacienda.
