Stardust Resort and Casino - History

History

The resort was conceived and built by Tony Cornero, who died in 1955 before construction was completed. The resort was bought out and completed by John Factor (aka Jake the Barber), half-brother of cosmetics seller Max Factor, Sr.. John Factor leased the casino out to a company controlled by Moe Dalitz. When the hotel opened, it had the largest casino in Nevada, the largest swimming pool in Nevada and the largest hotel in the Las Vegas area.

The Stardust opened at noon on July 2, 1958. The attendees of the opening included governors, senators, city and county officials and Hollywood celebrities.

The entertainment registry started with the spectacular French production show Lido de Paris. Lido was conceived by Pierre-Louis Guerin and Rene Fraday, and staged by Donn Arden.

The opening night lounge lineup offered, from dusk to dawn, Billy Daniels, The Happy Jesters, The Vera Cruz Boys and the Jack Martin Quartet. Daniels became the first entertainer to sign a long-term residency contract in Metropolitan Las Vegas when he agreed to appear for 40 weeks per year for three years.

Tony Cornero's dream became a $10 million 1,065 room reality, charging just $6.00 a day. The resort featured the 105-foot (32 m) long Big Dipper swimming pool, a 13,500-square-foot (1,250 m2) lobby, a 16,500-square-foot (1,530 m2) casino, and a decor featuring rich red and deep brown colors and indirect lighting.

The Stardust also conveniently held Las Vegas Strip's only first run drive-in theatre in the rear of the resort.

The Stardust took over the closed Royal Nevada hotel-casino, remodeled the showroom, and converted it into a convention center and high-roller suite. From 1959 to 1964, this wing was occupied by the Stardust's "high roller" guests and The Stardust showgirls.

This Olympic size pool area was opened to the general public with the 1964 addition of the 9 story Stardust Tower that replaced half of the bungalow rooms.

In 1960, the resort added a new 4,800 sq ft (450 m2) screen surface to its drive-in theatre. The same year, the Aku Aku Polynesian Restaurant was opened, complete with a Tiki Bar, and a large stone Tiki head marking the entrance from the outside.

By 1961, Stardust's management included Credit Manager Hyman Goldbaum, a career criminal with seven known aliases, fourteen criminal convictions including an assault conviction, and a three-year prison sentence for income tax evasion. Casino Manager and 5% owner Johnny Drew, was a veteran associate of Al Capone and was once fined for running a crooked dice game at an Elks convention, and general manager Morris Kleinman had served three years for tax evasion.

In 1964, with the addition of the nine-story tower (later called the East Tower), the room count increased to 1,470. For the next 5 years The Stardust was the leader in rooms until 1969 when The International opened. In 1964 the landmark façade was updated, expanding out into the parking lot by the highway. The new façade raised the Stardust's name, still in electra-jag letters, onto a pole above the exploding universe.

From 1965 until 1970, the hotel operated the Stardust International Raceway in Spring Valley. The track drew the Can-Am and USAC Championship Car series, including drivers such as Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Mark Donohue, and Jackie Stewart.

In 1966, Howard Hughes attempted to buy the Stardust for $30.5 million but was thwarted by government officials on the grounds that his acquisition of any more gambling resorts might violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

In November 1969, Parvin-Dohrmann Corporation purchased the Stardust for an undisclosed amount. The resort was bought by Argent Corporation in 1974 using loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. Argent was owned by Allen Glick, but the casino was believed to be controlled by various organized crime families from the Midwest.

In the 1970s Argent Corporation had siphoned off between $7 and $15 million dollars using rigged scales. When exposed by the FBI, this skimming operation was the largest ever exposed. A number of organized crime figures were convicted as a result of the skimming. The story of the skimming was featured in the book Casino by Nicholas Pileggi.

In 1977, the Stardust went through another remodeling. The bombastic galactic theme was abandoned, though the roadside sign remained, and the façade was covered with animated neon tubing and trimmed with mirrored finish facets. The new porte cochere sparkled with 1,000 small incandescent bulbs. The encrustation of bulbs turned solid mass into ethereal form.

In 1980, the Aku Aku Polynesian Restaurant closed. The giant stone Tiki head that marked the entrance was later moved to an island in an artificial lake at Sunset Park in Winchester, Nevada.

After Argent Corporation was forced out of the gaming business in the late 1970s, the casino was sold to Al Sachs and Herb Tobman. However, the gaming authorities found that skimming was still going on. In 1984, the Nevada Gaming Commission levied a $3 million fine against the resort for skimming, the highest fine ever issued by the commission. Suspicions, accusations and controversy about the Stardust's hidden ownership over the years was finally squelched when Sam Boyd's locally-based, squeaky-clean gaming company purchased the Stardust in March 1985.

The Stardust was a gold mine to the Chicago Outfit, the skim being absolutely fabulous. When it was taken over by the reputable Boyd family, they were surprised by its huge profits, with every penny of income recorded. Ex-FBI agent William F. Roemer Jr., longtime senior agent of the FBI's organized-crime squad in Chicago and an expert in Las Vegas doings, said, "The amount of skim had been so heavy that the profit and loss statement did not present a true picture of the gold mine that the Stardust was."

In 1991, a 32-story West Tower was added to the resort, overshadowing the older East Tower and bringing the total room count to 1,500. Two landscaped swimming pools, a golf course, and athletic facilities were also built. The renovation project totaled $300 million. The bungalow rooms had been demolished, leaving the room count at 1,500.

At its peak size, the Stardust contained 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) of gambling casino including 73 gaming tables, and 1,950 slot, keno and video poker machines. The conference center was 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) and could accommodate meetings and banquets for groups of 25 to 2,000.

Lido de Paris was replaced in 1992 with Enter the Night, which closed in 1999.

Siegfried & Roy got their Strip start at the Stardust with the help of mob associate Frank Rosenthal after he gave them Allen Glick's Rolls Royce.

Wayne Newton signed a ten-year deal, negotiated by Jack Wishna, with the Stardust in 1999, for a reported $25 million per year, the largest entertainment contract in the Las Vegas region at the time. After five and half years, Newton ended his run in late April 2005, and George Carlin moved into his theater. Magician Rick Thomas premiered at the hotel on March 25, 2005.

In 2002, comedian Andrew Dice Clay had a regular show at the Stardust.

During the Stardust Theater's last month of operation, legendary stars including George Carlin, Tim Conway and Harvey Korman gave performances; singer Lawrence Leritz performed for the Ex-Playboy Bunny Reunion. The last act to perform in The Stardust Theater was Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme; the theater formally closed on October 28, 2006.

The casino hosted an annual international pool tournament, the Jansco Brothers' Stardust Open, which attracted most of the top professional players of the era. For many years, its one-pocket division was the premier event in that discipline.