Quietly and almost under the radar, three major Las Vegas Strip properties are marking 30-year anniversaries this year.
The three major properties, Luxor, Treasure Island, and the MGM Grand, propelled the Strip to another level, respectively, with a sky-piercing pyramid design, a free pirate show, and upward of 5,000 more hotel rooms at Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. The Luxor opened Oct. 15, 1993, Treasure Island opened days later on Oct. 26, and the MGM Grand opened Dec. 18 in an eventful 1993. Kudos to @HistoryNevada for pointing out the opening date of Luxor.
Professor Joe Gormley, chair of hospitality management at the College of Southern Nevada, agreed that the opening of the three properties was notable. “I believe that was the beginning of changing Las Vegas from just a gambler’s paradise to a full tourist destination,” he said.
The Luxor, developed by Circus Circus Enterprises, drew looks and generated headlines with its faux Sphinx (the porte cochere was directly underneath), arresting pyramid design and sky beam, powered by 39 xenon lamps, at the top of the pyramid. It opened with an Egyptian theme and exploited the theme at every turn.
Many of its 2,500 slots were Egyptian-themed. Beverage servers wore head-turning black uniforms and black wigs. A fake Nile “river” flowed through the casino and offered watercraft passengers a chance to wave at gamblers in the poker room and other vantage points. The theme even carried through to the casino chips. Oddly, however, the buffet was branded as the Manhattan buffet. From Cairo to New York City?
Treasure Island opened next in 1993. Developed by Steve Wynn of Mirage Resorts, Treasure Island was best-known for its free pirate show, “Battle of Buccaneer Bay,” along the Strip with two ships exchanging simulated cannon fire before one capsized. A day after its opening, another Wynn property, the Dunes, was imploded with a Treasure Island pirate ship firing several cannon shots that symbolized the collapse of the Dunes.
Ten years after opening, Treasure Island’s pirate theme was pruned back. New signage abbreviated the name to “TI”, and after more than 16,000 performances, the “Battle of Buccaneer Bay” was replaced by the “Sirens of TI.” Months later, that show closed and never resurfaced.
The year concluded with the opening of the new MGM Grand, replacing the same-named property destroyed by fire in 1980. Grand indeed. It was billed as the largest hotel complex in the world at the time, and its gaudy green “Emerald City” exterior included a hotel, convention center and pools that sprawled over more than six acres. The casino floor alone covered more than 170,000 square feet. The requisite “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia could be found inside. Barbra Streisand greeted guests with a concert at the Grand Garden Arena over the New Year’s holiday with some tickets priced at $1,000.
Thirty years later, much has changed along Las Vegas Boulevard. Themes are fading. The Luxor has gone mainstream. “We want to be less themed but still a middle-market property,” Luxor President and COO Felix Rappaport reportedly said in 2007. Only the now-docked pirate ships from shows decades ago are visible at Treasure Island. Almost all traces of the “Oz” theme were removed at the MGM Grand in 2000, and the hotel is sometimes marketed as “The City of Entertainment.”
Gormley agreed that themes are fading — at least for now. “I think now with the different generation, they’re not looking for the themed sort of thing, they’re looking for the grandeur and the spectacle,” he said.
Undoubtedly, 1993 was a transformative year for hotels along the Strip. Yet the growth engine that is Las Vegas continues to thrive. In fact, a locals casino, Durango Station owned and operated by Station Casinos LLC, will open Nov. 20 this year in southwest Las Vegas. The Fontainebleau, where a byzantine construction odyssey first began 14 years after the three major hotels opened, will formally swing open its doors on the Strip in the fourth quarter of this year.
So what lies ahead?
Said Gormley: “I think there are going to be several remodels. I don’t think Rio has that much time left. Some will get torn down, some will get remade. As long as we keep growing, more locals casinos will come online. As far as the Strip, there will be more renovations.”
