History
Harvey's was originally opened in 1944, and operated by Sacramento meat wholesaler Harvey Gross and his wife Llewellyn. They opened the first high rise tower and a 12-story 197 room hotel in 1961.
The hotel suffered an explosion from a 1,000 pound bomb on August 27, 1980, that left a crater three stories deep when it was detonated by the FBI. (The area around the hotel had been cleared, and no one was injured.) The bomb was placed by John Birges, a heavily in-debt Fresno landscaper who had lost at least $1 million at casinos in Stateline and was hoping to extort another $3 million from the bomb threat. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, where he died from liver cancer in 1996.
In 1983, Harvey Gross died at the age of 78; however, the company continued to operate under family management. In 1985, Harveys sold the Harveys Inn, northeast of Stateline, which reopened as the Lakeside Inn. The 18-story, $74 million dollar, glass "Lake Tower" opened in 1987, the same year the trademark "Wagon Wheel" was replaced on the 12-story tower with the current Harveys brand.
In early 1992, Harveys entered a bidding war with Hilton Hotels Corporation over the right to buy Bally’s Reno, which opened in 1978 as the MGM Grand Reno, now the Grand Sierra Resort. Harveys announced an agreement on a $70 million deal, only to see Hilton up the ante to $73 million and assumption of Bally's debt. Several weeks later, after considering even higher bids, a federal bankruptcy court settled the matter by approving Hilton’s final $83 million offer.
After going public on Feb. 15, 1994, Harveys began new projects including a joint venture with Hard Rock America for an $80 million casino in Las Vegas, which it later sold its interest in 1997, and then a casino resort in Central City, Colorado. A riverboat casino-convention center in Council Bluffs, Iowa followed in early 1996.
In 1999, Colony Capital LLC bought a controlling interest in Harveys Casino Resorts. Harveys announced on April 24, 2001, that it would be acquired by Harrah's Entertainment, for $625 million.
Read more about this topic: Harveys Lake Tahoe
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