'Sin' City

By Tony Illia

During the 1960s, Nevada metamorphosed into a national entertainment Mecca with glittery super resorts and Hollywood performers attracting throngs of middle-class Americans. By 1960, Las Vegas encompassed 25 square miles and had a population of 64,405. It held more than 22-percent of Nevada's total population on less than .02 percent of the state's land. At the same time, Clark County had a population of 127,016.

Slot machines were first used in Las Vegas in the 60s, beginning with penny and nickel slots and eventually evolving into the multiple token slot machines used today. The machines made it easy and exciting for anyone to gamble without risking large sums of money. Their popularity quickly spread with Strip resorts, making slots a regular feature of their casino floors.

Several Las Vegas resorts surfaced during this era, including the 100-room San Souci (1960), the 777-room Westward Ho (1963), the $19 million, 335-room Aladdin (1966) and the $15 million Circus Circus casino (1968). On Aug. 5, 1966, Jay Sarno opened the 14-story, $25 million Caesars Palace on 34 acres along Las Vegas Boulevard. The 700-room resort was financed using a $10.6 million loan from Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. It was rumored that Raymond Patriarca, Tony Accardo (a.k.a. Big Tuna), Sam Giancana (a.k.a. Mooney), Jerry Catena (one of Genovese's chief lieutenants), and Jimmy Vincent (a.k.a. Jimmy Blue Eyes, a Myer Lansky associate) were involved in the project.

Sarno had hired Miami architect Melvin Grossman to design Caesars, using a 135-ft. setback from the Strip, allowing for a frontage parking lot with a long axis of fountains marking an entry drive. Taylor International Corp., of Las Vegas, who also built the Riviera and Tropicana, was the general contractor. Caesars had a vast, low casino set under an oval-shaped windowless dome.
The exterior and interior were modeled after the Roman Empire with fountains, columns and statues, making it one of the city's first resorts to use themed construction.

Hughes Comes to Town

Las Vegas' biggest break, however, occurred when eccentric aviator and entrepreneur Howard R. Hughes Jr. began accumulating 25,000 acres worth of Southern Nevada property in the 60s. He would eventually take-up residence in Las Vegas in 1966 by renting-out top two floors of the Desert Inn. When it came time to check-out, Hughes didn't budge. Instead, he purchased the Desert Inn from co-owners Moe Dalitz and Ruby Kolod for $13.25 million. Hughes' national stature and investment in Las Vegas, attracted the notice of corporate America. Major companies saw gambling and its high-profit returns as a lucrative business. As such, corporate investment helped to give the city its legitimacy, something it had long desired. Additionally, corporations had the capital needed to construct more elaborate casino resorts, each grander in scale and size than the last.

This was most evident when Kirk Kerkorian's International hotel received permission from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February 1969 to offer 17 percent of the company to the public. Designed by Martin Stern, Jr., and Associates of Beverly Hills, the 30-story, 1,512-room International was the largest hotel in the world when it opened on July 1, 1969. Taylor International Corp. was the general contractor. Situated on 64.5 acres along Paradise Road, just south of the Strip, the 365-ft.-tall International tower was built at a rate of one floor per week. The massive resort featured a 2,000-seat showroom, a 30,000-sq.-ft. gaming area and a second-story recreation area that included a swimming pool, lagoon, and tennis and handball courts. The interior consisted of white marble and Czechoslovakian chandeliers. The $60 million International was the first true mega-resort in Las Vegas with opening acts that included Barbara Streisand and Peggy Lee.

Reno Diversifies

Reno also grew and diversified during the 60s, with local government spending millions in capital improvements for convention facilities, auditoriums and a new city hall. Bolstered by the 1960 Winter Olympics held at Squaw Valley, Calif., just 50 miles west of Reno, the city attracted worldwide attention, sparking new construction such as the Fleischmann Planetarium at the University of Nevada (1963), Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento (1964), and the Washoe County Public Library, designed by architect Hewitt C. Wells (1966). City officials additionally sought to replace its trademark arch that was erected in 1927 to promote the Transcontinental Highway Exposition. Six downtown casinos (Harolds Club, the Nevada Club, Horseshoe Club, Colony Club, Primadonna and Poor Pete's) donated $100,000 to install a new arch in 1969.

In 1966, the closure of the Stead Air Force Base north of Reno caused an economic shock, causing thousands to leave and a $34 million drop in retail sales during the first year. However, investor and industrialist William Lear bought the abandoned base from the city in 1968, establishing a 3,500-acre industrial park with Lear Industries as its anchor tenant.

Reno's gaming industry continued to thrive during this time with casino magnate William F. Harrah starting construction of the new Harrah's casino-restaurant on the corner of Second and Center streets in 1962. Two years later, he would break ground on an 8,500-sq.-ft. addition to Harrah's Tahoe casino and cocktail bar. In 1966, Harrah's leased the Golden Hotel property on Center Street and Harrah's Reno was expanded to include the 400-seat Headliner Room theatre-restaurant. In 1968, Harrah's began building a new 24-story, 325-room hotel tower in Reno, which would open one-year later.