Casa de Shenandoah denies having any Sahara artifacts (although the employees we spoke with didn’t sound too confident in their own information).
However, we also made the rounds of local historians and didn’t come up with any leads, either.
Scott Roeben of VitalVegas.com says some Riviera slots made their way into the inventory of The D and the Golden Gate.
The most conspicuous Sahara souvenirs are the old "S" door handles. When the casino-hotel was dismantled, then-owner Sam Nazarian had them all preserved, then clustered together into giant sculptures in SLS Las Vegas -- a rare gesture of nostalgia on the Strip for which many, including us, are grateful.
One can find all sorts of oddities at a casino-clearance auction, although most of the inventory is commonplace and the really good stuff is already gone. When the Riviera’s contents were sold, you had to pay $10 just to get in. Despite costing $3,850 each, the crap tables had already sold. The sports book counter was available -- for $1,400. For the bargain hunter, there were $350 door handles. But most of the items sold at these clear-outs are standard-issue stuff: lamps, chairs, cookware. And if you didn’t mind rummaging through the trash, you could pick up Riviera surveillance tapes for free.
It was much the same at the Sahara’s demise. Myriad Sahara memorabilia have filtered through to the second-hand market, though we’re pretty unimpressed with what’s on offer. For instance, eBay is selling Sahara wooden coat hangers for $16.87 apiece. If you need a coat hanger that badly, your money would take you a lot farther at Dollar General Store. More piquant souvenirs were a pair of-blue hurricane glasses bearing the Sahara logo ($29.99 gets you both).
Given Las Vegas’ aversion to looking backward, we don’t think any casinos will outfit themselves in a retro motif. However, some early and enterprising buyer may have snared a bit of House of Lords or the Riveria’s Versailles Theater and used it to spice up a Sin City bistro somewhere. We certainly hope these relics of the past see the light of day again.
