The Golden Rain Seal Beach Leisure World News from Seal Beach, California • 42

I I i I I 1 I i '11 Travel WOrld Seal Beach, September 1, 1988 Hotel took root in desert pet name of his longtime sweetheart, Virginia Hill. In the mid-1940s, Siegal got word that the mob would bankroll his venture. The next day, he and his buddies inspected the barren and remote site on Highway 91. Siegal kicked the sand in this own groundbreaking. The hotel began to take shape in the middle of nowhere.

It set an example of luxury and cost overruns that future Las Vegas properties would match and eventually surpass, wrote reporter George Stamos in a Las Vegas Sun story. On Dec. 26, 1946, Siegal The Flamingo Hilton has grown from a 105-room hotel in the mid-40s to become the second largest resort hotel in the world, a company press release states. Located in the heart of the Las Vegas strip on the famous Four Comers the Flamingo Hilton has a colorful history. Benjamin Bugsy Siegal, a young and handsome gangster in the 1940s, dreamed of building a desert resort.

The hotel was to be called the Flamingo, named either after the birds that inhabited the lake at Hialeah race track in Florida or after the THE NEWS Leisure Vegas From page B-l $265,000. Those lucky enough to purchase the land benefiued handsomely about 25 years later when the U.S. Government began to build Hoover Dam. Five thousand men were employed over a five-year period to construct the 70-story-high engineering marvel, which still supplies power to parts of three western states California, Arizona and Nevada. The biggest bonanza to hit Las Vegas came in 1931 when the state legislature voted to establish legalized casino gambling.

Predictably, licensed casinos quickly multiplied in and around Las Vegas, and visitors flocked to test their gambling skills in hopes of winning a satchel of cash. Following World War II, Las Vegas was elevated to a new pinnacle of economic success with the establishment of many big hotels featuring lop entertainers. Within a few years, a mad scramble ensued to sec who could build the biggest, the best and the brightest hotel in town. Both the now-famous Las Vegas Strip and the downtown Casino Center became the permanent sites for some of the worlds most extravagant hotels on THE FLAMINGO HILTON circa 1950, after Bugsy Siegal's short tenure as owner. Today it's 28 stories high.

88 DEPARTURES FROM LEISURE WORLD CORRECTION: In the 82588 News the THANKSGIVING AT YOSEMITE NOV. 23 4 Days, including Thanksgiving Dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel was incorrectly listed as starting NOV. 2 PLEASURE TOURS and theater to the public. In two weeks, the casino closed from extensive losses. Still, the hotel attracted top talent of the day -Jimmy Durante, Tommy Wonder, Rose Marie, Eddie Jackson, the Tunetoppers.

The hotel then had 105 rooms, a health club, gymnasiums, steam rooms, tennis, badminton, squash and handball courts, stables, a swimming pool, a trapshooting range. The hotel changed hands several times after Siegals untimely death shortly after the hotel officially opened in 1946. In 1960, two Miami hotel-men, Morris Lansburgh and Sam Cohen, bought the Flamingo. During their tenure, Wayne Newton made his debut there. Millionaire Kirk Kerkorian purchased the hotel for $13 million in 1967 and almost immediately set about expanding the property in a $2.2 million renovation that transformed the hotel.

Todays Flamingo is 28 stories high standing amid other giant hotels at a once desolate desert crossroads. The Flamingo Hilton has grown spectacularly. The recently completed fourth tower brings the total from 740 rooms in 1976 to its present total of 2,920. The Flamingo Hilton offers hundreds of rooms with views of the Las Vegas Strip and garden area rooms and suites. Six specialty restaurants the Beef Barron, Peking Market, the new Flamingo Room, Lindy's, Food Fantasy and Crown Room Buffet are reasonably priced, according to a hotel publicity release.

In the casino, jackpots of up to $250,000 have been won on the Pot-O-Gold slot machines. The expansive casino offers games for everyone. A casino host program has been instituted to provide personalized service to casino customers. Another feature unique to the Flamingo Hilton is the tour lobby. Located at the north entrance, it allows preregistered guests arriving in groups to be swiftly checked into the hotel.

Adventure Club Meeting set for Sunday The Adventure Club will meet at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept 4, in El Dorado Clubhouse 2. Louise Watson, president, will preside, assisted by Fred Oliver. Following a brief meeting, games will be conducted by Frank McCullough and Maurice Chemoff. Refreshments will be served by Fred and Olive Oliver, Doris Seville and Margaret Schafer.

In other club news, the board meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, in North-wood Clubhouse 3, Room 8. Ramblers The Sept. 14 meeting of the Ramblers Travel Club has been cancelled.

The next meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. on OcL 12 in Northwood Clubhouse 3. whose marquees were featured a veritable whos who in show business. By the late 1950s, Las Vegas had successfully carved a unique niche for itself by combining gaming, superstar entertainment and lavish hotel accommodations into a one-stop vacation. Today, Las Vegas is a thriving metropolis of nearly 600.000 residents.

Las Vegas more than 56,000 hotel and motel rooms easily accommodates the more than 15 million people who visit annually. Many show business stars maintain homes in Las Vegas. Tour companies are always eager to point out the posh residences of such performers as Gladys Knight, Liberace and Wayne Newton. Lenient state laws regulating marriages attract more than 59.000 couples every year to Las Vegas, where 30 wedding chapels operate on a 24-hour basis. The biggest names in professional sports have competed in Las Vegas events.

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