History
Work on the Lady Luck Hotel had begun by 1953. Before construction reached the halfway mark, the projects' financing fell apart, and management was denied a gaming license by state regulators. One of the investors, Warren "Doc" Bayley, a travel columnist and owner of the Hacienda Motel in Fresno, stepped in to take over, agreeing to lease the property for $55,000 per month for 15 years. He changed the name from Lady Luck to Hacienda.
The Hacienda opened on October 17, 1956 at a cost of $6 million, with 266 rooms and the largest swimming pool on the Strip. Bayley formed Hacienda Airlines in 1957. Offering packages that included transportation from Los Angeles to the Hacienda as well as a room and some casino chips. The airline included DC-3s, DC-4s and Lockheed Constellations numbering as many as 30 aircraft.
After Bayley's death in 1965, his widow, Judith Bayley, took over management. After her death, the property was sold in 1972 for $5 million to a group led by Allen R. Glick, who was later revealed as a frontman for organized crime interests.
In 1977, Paul Lowden, the Hacienda's entertainment director and owner of a 15 percent stake, bought out Glick and the other owners for $21 million. The Gaming Control Board voted to deny Lowden a license due to his association with Glick, but was overruled by the Gaming Commission.
In 1995, the Hacienda was purchased by Circus Circus Enterprises from Lowden's Archon Corporation. By this time, it was dwarfed by the many new megaresorts that were being built, in particular the Luxor which had just been recently completed. On December 10,1996, the Hacienda was closed to the public, and imploded later that month. This implosion was broadcast on the Fox Network as a part of their New Year's Eve 1996 telecast. Despite the implosion, parts of the old resort still stood, due to the building not falling into its footprint, but toppling into its parking lot. The next day a wrecking crew was brought in to bring down the remaining parts.
Lance Burton, magician, produced, directed and wrote his own show at the Hacienda beginning in 1991. The show ran for five years before Lance moved to the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.
In March 1999, it was replaced by the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
The Hacienda name is now licensed to the Hacienda Hotel and Casino in Boulder City.
Read more about this topic: Hacienda (resort)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Psychology keeps trying to vindicate human nature. History keeps undermining the effort.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“There is no history of how bad became better.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)