Dunes (hotel and casino)
The Dunes was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It opened on May 23, 1955, as the tenth resort on the Strip. It was initially owned by a group of businessmen from out of state, but failed to prosper under their management. It also opened during a period of declining tourism, coinciding with an overabundance of hotel rooms on the Strip. A few months after the opening, management was taken over by the operators of the Sands resort, also on the Strip. This group failed to improve business and relinquished control less than six months later.
Businessman Major Riddle turned business around after taking over operations in 1956. He was involved with the resort until his death in 1980. He had several partners, including Sid Wyman, who worked for the Dunes from 1961 until his death in 1978. Mafia attorney Morris Shenker joined in 1975, following one of the most extensive routine investigations ever conducted by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Dunes had frequent connections with Mafia figures, some of whom were alleged to have hidden ownership in the resort, and state officials were concerned about Shenker's association with such figures.
In 1957, the Dunes debuted Las Vegas' first topless show, Minsky Goes to Paris, prompting other resorts to follow suit. Two other successful shows, by Frederic Apcar, would later debut at the Dunes. The resort also offered amenities such as the Emerald Green golf course, which opened in 1964. The Dunes was one of two Strip resorts to include a golf course, the other one being the Desert Inn. The Emerald Green was the longest course in Nevada, at 7,240 yards.
The Dunes opened with 194 rooms, while a 21-story tower brought the total to 960. The tower was among the tallest buildings in Nevada, and was opened in 1965. By this time, the resort also had the tallest free-standing sign in the world, rising. Several popular restaurants were also added in the 1960s, including the underwater-themed Dome of the Sea, and the Top O' the Strip, located at the top of the hotel tower. Another tower, 17 stories in height, was opened in 1979, giving the resort a total of 1,282 rooms. The Dunes added a second gaming facility, the Oasis Casino, in 1982.
The Dunes experienced financial problems in the 1980s, and had many prospective buyers during this time, including businessman Steve Wynn. Japanese investor Masao Nangaku eventually bought the resort in 1987, at a cost of $157 million. Nangaku intended to renovate and expand the Dunes, although his plans were derailed by an unusually lengthy control board investigation, which dissuaded financiers. Wynn's company, Mirage Resorts, bought the Dunes in November 1992, paying $75 million. Plans were announced to replace it with a lake resort.
The Dunes closed on January 26, 1993. The original North Tower was imploded on October 27, 1993, during a highly publicized ceremony which helped promote Wynn's new Treasure Island resort, located about a mile north. The demolition event garnered 200,000 spectators. The newer South Tower was imploded on July 20, 1994, without the fanfare of the first implosion; it attracted 3,000 spectators. Wynn's new resort, Bellagio, eventually opened on the former Dunes site in 1998.
History
The Dunes was initially owned by a group of businessmen that included Robert Rice of Beverly Hills, James A. Sullivan of Rhode Island, Milton Gettinger of New York, and Alfred Gottesman, a wealthy theater operator in Florida. Rice and Gottesman were new to the gaming industry. The group proposed the project, originally called the Araby, in July 1953. It was later renamed the Vegas Plaza, and then Hotel Deauville. Groundbreaking took place on June 22, 1954, with the resort now known as the Dunes. It was built by the Los Angeles-based McNeil Construction Company, which spent 11 months working on the resort.The Dunes opened on May 23, 1955, as the tenth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The opening attracted many celebrities, including Cesar Romero, Spike Jones, and Rita Moreno. Gottesman and Sullivan were majority stockholders, and also served as 50-50 partners in the operation of the casino. Businessman Kirk Kerkorian bought a three-percent interest a couple months after the opening, marking his first Las Vegas investment.
The Dunes was one of four new Las Vegas resorts to open within a six-week period, resulting in financial trouble for each of them. The Las Vegas Valley had been overbuilt with hotel rooms during a time of lessened demand, and the Dunes was also the southernmost resort on the Strip, located a considerable distance from other properties. A Dunes attorney blamed the resort's financial trouble on a persistent losing streak in its casino. Rice believed that the financial problems were the result of it competing with other resorts for expensive live entertainment. In addition, the Dunes had numerous creditors. Among these was McNeil Construction, which filed a $166,000 lien against the ownership group, representing unpaid salary. The group said it would not pay the balance, stating that the construction contract had been violated.
In August 1955, an agreement was reached for Sands Hotel Corporation, owner of the Sands Hotel and Casino, to lease and operate the struggling Dunes. To mark the management change, a three-day celebration was held starting on September 9, 1955. Singer Frank Sinatra headlined the ceremony and entered on a camel. Sands closed the casino portion in January 1956, due to falling profits. It was the third Las Vegas casino to close in recent months, following the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Royal Nevada. Live entertainment also ceased, although the hotel remained open. Rice blamed disagreements within Sands for the casino's failure. The group lost $1.2 million operating the Dunes, and relinquished control of the resort on February 1, 1956.
Businessman Major Riddle subsequently partnered with local hotel operator William Miller to reopen the casino. They would be equal partners with 44-percent ownership, while Rice would own the remainder. The Dunes casino reopened in June 1956. Seven months later, plans were announced for Sullivan and Gottesman to sell the property to Jacob Gottlieb, owner of a Chicago trucking firm. Gottlieb became the resort's landlord through Western Realty Company, and Miller departed the property as president and general manager. The resort was managed through Riddle's operating company, M&R Investment. The Dunes was sold in a Clark County sheriff's auction at the end of 1957, to satisfy the debt owed to McNeil Construction. It sold for $115,000, but was valued at $3.5 million. Gottesman, Sullivan, and Gettinger bought it back in November 1958.
The resort thrived under Riddle, who added several new shows and facilities. On April 15, 1959, the Dunes hosted the first double groundbreaking ceremony in Las Vegas history: one for a convention center, built south of the existing resort facilities, and another for a 500-space parking lot directly north of the resort. In 1961, St. Louis businessmen Sid Wyman, Charlie Rich, and George Duckworth invested in the Dunes and became the new operators through a lease agreement. Wyman was put in charge of casino operations, and Riddle remained as the majority owner. The following year, he sold 15 percent of the operating corporation to the three men, reducing his interest to 37 percent.
Several notable individuals were married at the Dunes, including Mary Tyler Moore and Grant Tinker, Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon, and Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim. Mike Goodman, author of the best-selling 1963 book How to Win: At Cards, Dice, Races, Roulette, was a pit boss at the Dunes during the 1960s. Gambling author Barney Vinson also worked there.
During the 1960s, the resort's western edge was condemned for construction of Interstate 15. The resort added a golf course in 1964. A 21-story hotel tower, initially known as the Diamond of the Dunes, was opened in May 1965, to mark the resort's 10th anniversary. It was part of a $20 million expansion project, and later became the North Tower, following the addition of another hotel building to the south.
In 1969, M&R merged with Continental Connector Corporation, a New York-based electronics firm. M&R became a subsidiary of Continental Connector, which owned the Dunes and the land beneath it. Later in 1969, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against Continental Connector, accusing it of making inaccurate financial statements regarding earnings at the Dunes. The company subsequently sought a buyer for the resort. In 1970, businessman Howard Hughes was in discussions to purchase the Dunes, although negotiations ended without a deal. Rapid-American Corporation began discussions to acquire the resort, but eventually dropped out.
Rice, Wyman, Duckworth and three other top resort officials were indicted in 1971 by a federal grand jury, alleging that they filed false corporate income tax returns and that they conspired to skim money from the gaming tables. The officials pleaded innocent, and Wyman later divested his ownership, but remained with the Dunes as a consultant.
Mafia connections
The Dunes had numerous Mafia connections for much of its history. Sullivan's early ownership in the resort was actually held by Raymond Patriarca, and Gottlieb was affiliated with Jimmy Hoffa, president of the Teamsters Union. During the 1950s and 1960s, the union financed many casino expansions in Las Vegas through its pension fund. This included a $5 million loan for the Dunes' original hotel tower. Allen Dorfman, who handled negotiations on behalf of the pension fund, was alleged to have hidden ownership in the Dunes. The Dunes occasionally provided first-class treatment to Mafia figures such as Anthony Giordano, who was arrested at the resort in 1969, while visiting Wyman. The FBI planted surveillance bugs at the Dunes during the 1960s, and certain resort employees worked as informants for the agency during the 1970s.In 1972, a new group emerged as a prospective buyer for the resort, still under the ownership of Continental Connector. The group included San Diego developer Irvin Kahn and partner Morris Shenker, a St. Louis attorney who was representing Wyman and other resort officials in their case. The Nevada Gaming Control Board launched a routine investigation into Shenker and Kahn's financing, but halted its probe in 1973, following Kahn's death. In 1974, Shenker owned 37 percent of the Dunes through stock holdings in Continental Connector, and he sought to buy out the remainder, prompting the control board to reopen and expand its investigation into his financial background. It was one of the most extensive investigations in Nevada gaming history, as state officials had concerns about Mafia figures with whom Shenker was associated. Shenker later denied allegations that his ownership in the resort was a front for Nick Civella, whom Shenker had represented previously as attorney. Civella had a comped visit at the resort in 1974, but Shenker noted that he had not yet taken control of the Dunes at that time, and said he would not have allowed Civella to stay there if he had been in charge.
In 1975, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro began spending extensive time in the Dunes casino, where he would take phone calls routed to the poker room. The gaming control board accused him of treating the Dunes as his personal office, and questioned Shenker and Riddle as to why he was allowed on the premises, given his Black Book status. The men denied knowing Spilotro or his background, and said they only had an outdated photograph of him from 20 years earlier, making it difficult to identify him. The control board alleged that management was, in fact, aware of Spilotro and had already been warned about his presence at the resort.
M&R had negotiated a $40 million loan from the Teamsters Union pension fund in 1974. A $75 million expansion was planned to begin in 1976, and would include two additional hotel towers. The project would be financed in part by the Teamsters loan. However, the union withheld the funds, citing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Specifically, the union stated that the loan could not be granted because Continental Connector owned a trucking company which employed teamsters who had contributed to the pension fund. Shenker criticized the pension fund's reasoning, saying that Continental Connector had already divested itself of ownership in the trucking company. A second tower, rising 17 stories, eventually opened in 1979.
In 1980, members of the Colombo crime family received comped stays at the resort.