Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, at the corner of Sahara Avenue. It is the site of the northernmost station of the Las Vegas Monorail.
The resort initially operated under the Sahara name from 1952 to 2011. Originally, Milton Prell opened the Club Bingo casino on the site in 1947. In 1951, he gathered former business partners to begin work on the Sahara, which was built on the land partially occupied by Club Bingo. Del E. Webb Construction Company built the Sahara, which opened on October 7, 1952, as the sixth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. It featured an African theme. Martin Stern Jr. designed several hotel additions for the Sahara, including a 14-story tower that opened in 1960. The Sahara was sold to Del Webb in 1961, and a 24-story hotel tower, also designed by Stern, was opened in 1963.
The Sahara began to decline in the 1960s with the opening of several large resorts nearby. Paul Lowden purchased the Sahara in 1982, and a third hotel tower was added in 1988. Lowden sold the Sahara to Bill Bennett in 1995, and Bennett launched a $100 million renovation of the resort that included a Moroccan theme. Bennett's renovation also added a NASCAR-themed attraction that included a restaurant and a roller coaster known as Speed – The Ride.
Sam Nazarian's SBE Entertainment Group, along with Stockbridge Real Estate Group, purchased the Sahara in 2007. The Sahara was closed on May 16, 2011, as it was no longer considered economically viable. In 2013, Nazarian began a complete renovation of the resort before reopening it as the SLS Las Vegas on August 23, 2014, as part of SBE's chain of SLS hotels. SLS Las Vegas featured a chic and modern design, and was targeted at southern California residents.
The SLS experienced financial hardships after its opening, and Nazarian sold his stake to Stockbridge in 2015. One of the hotel towers was rebranded the following year as W Las Vegas, managed by Starwood as part of its W Hotels chain. The SLS was sold to Meruelo Group in 2018, and the W Las Vegas became part of the SLS again after the resort ended its relationship with Starwood. The SLS was renamed Sahara Las Vegas on August 29, 2019, as part of an ongoing renovation by Meruelo.
History Before the Sahara was built, an earlier casino had operated on the site as Club Bingo. Around 1942, Melvin D. Close (1900–1974) purchased a 19-acre property on what would become the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip. Club Bingo owner Milton Prell had previously opened the 30 Club in Butte, Montana. Prell and his family then moved to Las Vegas in 1945, with the intention of opening a small hotel. Remembering how successful his earlier casino club had been, Prell opened the similar Club Bingo in Las Vegas before building a full hotel-casino. Prell opened Club Bingo with Frank Schivo, who previously worked at the 30 Club. Schivo managed Club Bingo's casino.
Club Bingo opened on July 24, 1947, on 4 acres of the 19-acre property, and it quickly became a success. Club Bingo included a 300-seat bingo parlor as well as the Bonanza Room, which provided food and entertainment. Entertainers included singer Dorothy Dandridge and comedian Stan Irwin. Irwin eventually became the entertainment director for Club Bingo. The Club Bingo building was considered basic, with the exception of an electric bingo board sign on top.
Prell briefly considered adding a small hotel and a village of adobe buildings to the Club Bingo property, but he decided against the idea because it did not fit in with his ultimate vision of a luxury hotel. In early 1951, Prell gathered several former business partners to begin work on a hotel-casino project that would become the Sahara. In July 1951, Close announced he had sold the remaining land for $225,000 to the Club Bingo owners. Plans were simultaneously announced for a 200-room hotel project that would be built on the land. The site was considered ideal for the new resort because it was located just outside of city limits, allowing Prell and business partner Al Winter to avoid paying taxes on slot machines and property. At the time, the project was expected to cost $2 million.
Winter, a co-owner of Club Bingo, recruited Sam Boyd to be a partner in the new Sahara project. Boyd had previously operated a bingo game for Winter in Oregon. Boyd invested in the Sahara to become an owner and partner. Real estate developer Del Webb and his top executive, L. C. Jacobson, helped arrange financing for construction, which was handled by Del E. Webb Construction Company. Jacobson was also a partner in the project, holding a 20-percent interest. The Sahara was originally set to open in summer 1952, but construction delays pushed back the opening date.
Early years The $5 million Hotel Sahara opened on October 7, 1952, with an African Sahara theme. Attendees to the grand opening included Ray Bolger and Gus Greenbaum. It was the sixth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip. Max Maltzman was the architect, and Ragnar Qvale was the interior designer. The Sahara utilized a modern and simple design. The North African desert theme was conveyed only minimally in the Sahara's architecture. Outside, the only depiction of the theme consisted of fake camels and Arabian people. The interior included statues of Arab guards.
The Sahara was located on , employed 500 people, and contained 240 hotel rooms. The hotel consisted of two-story motel wings that formed a quadrangle around the pool. Each room included a patio or balcony. Other amenities included a casino, an 85-foot bar, and two restaurants: The Congo Room, which was the primary dining choice; and The Caravan, a coffee shop featuring hand-painted murals. These areas of the resort, as well as the Casbar Theatre, featured African images. Like at Club Bingo, Schivo managed the casino at the Sahara. Schivo's wife, Shirlee, would later help to decorate the hotel's interior during a refurbishment. Irwin also retained his position as entertainment director, responsible for arranging celebrity performances at the Sahara.
The Sahara included the first Olympic-size swimming pool in Las Vegas, and would become the first hotel to host hydroplane races on Lake Mead. The Sahara Cup hydroplane races were first held in 1956, and continued for several years. In 1958, the hotel began sponsoring the Sahara Pro-Am golf tournament, played at an off-site golf course. It later became known as the Sahara Invitational. The hotel ended its sponsorship of the hydroplane races in 1959, stating that they had become too big of an event for a single organization to sponsor.
Expansions Upon realizing that the resort needed more rooms, Prell hired Del Webb in 1954 to build additional units. The project took five months to construct, and was completed by 1955. Originally known as the Sahara Oasis Motel, the addition contained 192 rooms. It consisted of seven interconnected buildings, one of which connected to the main resort through an air-conditioned walkway. The addition was designed by Martin Stern Jr. as a two-story motel wing, built out in an "E"-like shape just south of the quadrangle structures. The addition marked Stern's first project in Las Vegas.
In 1959, a $3.5 million construction and remodeling project began at Hotel Sahara, including the start of construction on a 14-story hotel tower. The tower was designed by Stern, and construction was handled by Del E. Webb Construction Company. It was built southeast of the hotel pool. Construction on the tower had reached the eighth floor in November 1959, and the project was topped out in early 1960. Aside from the tower, other new features included a coffee shop with seating for 300 people, and a 700-person convention hall, located on the resort's north side. The 14-story Sahara Tower (later the Tunis Tower) opened in June 1960, adding 204 additional rooms for a total of 604. It was the tallest building in Nevada at the time. A flashing electric clock was located atop the tower. The clock included the time as well as the temperature, and was topped by a letter "S" sign. Also added was a 127-foot vertical roadside sign, designed by YESCO and installed in front of the resort.
By July 1961, there were plans for a $2.5 million renovation of the Hotel Sahara. Also planned was a 24-story hotel tower, designed by Stern, that would cost $4.5 million. The project would also include a parking garage along the Las Vegas Strip. Del E. Webb Corporation completed a purchase of the Sahara later in 1961, by acquiring shares in its corporate owner, the Sahara-Nevada Corporation. At the time, state law for gaming licenses meant that every shareholder in a company would have to undergo the mandated investigations of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Because large corporations have many shareholders, this essentially prevented such companies from operating casinos in Nevada. Del Webb devised a plan to work around this issue by operating as a landlord, meaning its shareholders would not need to undergo investigations. A separate organization, Consolidated Casino Corporation, was set up by Del Webb to operate the casino. Jacobson, Prell and Winter owned Consolidated Casino Corporation, and Prell and Winter were also retained to serve, respectively, as chairman of the board and president of Sahara-Nevada Corporation. An expansion of the restaurant and lounge facilities was underway in late 1961, and an enlargement of the Casbar Theater was completed in early 1962.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 9, 1962, for the $6 million, 24-story Sahara Skyscraper hotel tower, located next to the Sahara Tower. The new tower, built by Del Webb, was expected to measure 260 feet in height. It would add 400 rooms, for a total of 1,000. Three swimming pools, including the original Olympic pool, opened in April 1962, after construction and remodeling. A keno facility opened later that year, making the Sahara the second hotel on the Strip to offer the game. The House of Lords steakhouse opened in August 1962. It became a popular hangout among celebrities who performed at the Sahara, including the Rat Pack. The restaurant was modeled after the real House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
By October 1962, construction on the new tower had reached its 17th floor. A Don the Beachcomber restaurant opened the following month. At the time, Prell and other Sahara executives sought to rename the adjacent San Francisco Avenue as Sahara Avenue. Beldon Katleman, owner of the former El Rancho Vegas across the street, objected to the proposal, stating that the road should be renamed after his hotel-casino property. Despite the opposition, the street was renamed after the Sahara.
In early 1963, several new facilities were opened in a new three-story building as part of a $12 million expansion. These facilities included the Caravan Room coffee shop and a 1,000-seat convention hall. Don the Beachcomber and the House of Lords were also part of the three-story addition. Temporary walls had been put up to shield casino customers from construction of the new facilities.
The 24-story hotel addition, eventually known as the Alexandria Tower, was opened in May 1963, with Nevada governor Grant Sawyer attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The clock and "S" sign were relocated from the original tower to the new tower. During 1963, to attract visitors, the casino introduced its Shower of Money, in which a selected participant would get into a plexiglass booth and be showered with $100,000 in money bills. The participant had one minute to push as much money as possible out through an opening in the booth, and that person would get to keep the ejected money.