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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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. 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 (1962),
Cary Grant and
Dyan Cannon (1965), and
Jane Fonda and
Roger Vadim (1965).
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. 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, 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. 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. 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, 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, M&R had negotiated a $40 million loan from the Teamsters Union pension fund in 1974. 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.
Later years Wyman died of cancer in June 1978, and gaming at the Dunes was halted for two minutes in his honor. amid plans for
a second Dunes resort in Atlantic City. Riddle died in 1980, and Shenker suffered a heart attack that year, prompting him to seriously consider selling the Dunes. In 1982, the resort added a second casino building, known as the Oasis Casino. which would include the assumption of $105 million in debt. The Perlmans provided a $10 million loan to prevent the Dunes from being seized by the
Internal Revenue Service, but later backed out of the purchase after learning that the debt would be $20 million more than initially expected.
Circus Circus Enterprises subsequently considered a purchase, as did
Golden Nugget chairman
Steve Wynn, who made a $115 million offer. Shenker maintained a 26-percent stake. M&R filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1985. Later that month, Wynn made another $115 million offer, which was rejected by Anderson and Shenker, deeming it too low and valuing the Dunes at $143.5 million. but ultimately did not purchase the resort. Burton Cohen was named as the resort's president in January 1986, following the departure of its previous president. Financial firm
EF Hutton eventually formed a partnership that was interested in purchasing the Dunes, while a separate group led by Kerkorian was also in discussions. Talks with the two prospective buyers ended in February 1987, without a deal. the Dunes' two major creditors. Later in 1987,
Hilton Hotels and Japanese investor Masao Nangaku both considered buying the Dunes. Foreclosure was delayed to allow more time for a possible purchase. Hilton offered $122.5 million, and planned to refurbish the existing rooms while adding a third tower, at an additional cost of $110 million. Cohen believed that the resort needed 2,000 hotel rooms to adequately compete with other resorts. Kerkorian re-emerged as a prospective buyer, and
Sheldon Adelson also considered purchasing the 163-acre resort. Nangaku ultimately prevailed, offering a $157.7 million bid in August 1987. His purchase was finalized four months later. While Nangaku waited to receive a gaming license, he hired Dennis Gomes to operate the Dunes, replacing Cohen as president. Nangaku underwent an unusually long gaming control board probe. Investigators suspected that unlicensed people from Nangaku's company, Minami Group, were involved in the resort. The control board encountered difficulty when looking into Nangaku's business associates because of differences in how Japan handles documents, which are generally kept confidential. Investigators also suspected that the associates were making attempts to hinder their efforts. Nangaku planned up to $280 million in renovations, although little work had been done by mid-1989. He blamed the limited gaming license, stating that financiers were hesitant to lend money because of uncertainty about whether he would remain licensed in the near future. The following year, Nangaku announced a planned $200 million remodeling project. He also hired the architectural firm
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum to design the new high-rise tower. Nangaku eventually received a permanent gaming license in May 1991, at which point he was seeking a partner to help renovate and operate the Dunes. The resort had laid off hundreds of workers that year, due to financial troubles brought on by the
early 1990s recession. Despite Nangaku's expansion plans for the resort, he ultimately invested only $12 million in basic repairs. The
Las Vegas Review-Journal had written in 1988 that the Dunes had lost its "mystical luster" over the past 20 years, with its high rollers migrating to "more attractive" resorts. The newspaper's John L. Smith wrote that the Dunes had lost its "classy resort" reputation and had become "a dump by Strip standards" despite its name recognition and prime location on the central Strip. The Dunes failed to stay competitive against new megaresorts opening on the Strip, including
The Mirage in 1989, and the
Excalibur a year later. During 1990, the resort was losing $500,000 monthly. Wynn's company, since renamed as
Mirage Resorts, agreed to purchase the Dunes in October 1992. It was sold the following month for $75 million. Wynn planned to demolish the Dunes and redevelop the site. Gaming executive Richard Goeglein led a team which helped operate the Dunes in the months leading up to its closure.
Closure and demolition The Dunes closed on January 26, 1993. Wynn said: "It's becoming in death a much better place than it was in life. This thing about melancholy in its passing is sorta strange. No one felt that while it [the Dunes] was laying there, terminally ill. It's been laying there on life support systems for many years". At the time of its closing, the Dunes employed more than 1,200 people. Employees held reunions each year following the closure. An on-site sale of the Dunes inventory, including light fixtures and carpeting, began in March 1993. Demolition started on September 16, 1993. A
four-alarm fire began on-site that afternoon, after workers accidentally ran over an electrical outlet in a bulldozer. The fire affected a two-story hotel building and eventually spread across the property. More than 200 firefighters responded, and six blocks of the Strip were closed off for more than four hours until the fire was contained. The original North Tower was demolished on the night of October 27, 1993, one day after the opening of Wynn's new Strip resort
Treasure Island, located about a mile north. The tower was imploded with great fanfare in an event emceed by Wynn that incorporated his new resort; on his command, a faux pirate ship at Treasure Island shot its cannon several times, simulating the Dunes' destruction by cannonballs as the implosion began. The tower was brought down around 10:10 p.m., following a six-minute fireworks show. The $1.5 million demolition event attracted 200,000 spectators. The tower's implosion was handled by
Controlled Demolition, Inc. The Oasis Casino and the Dunes' two-story casino building were not part of the implosion. Fireworks sparked two small fires on the roof of the Oasis, and numerous small fires began in the Dunes' casino area, all put out by on-site firefighters. Both facilities were bulldozed following the implosion. A three-month clean-up project began to remove the debris left from the imploded tower. During the clean-up, workers discovered hundreds of $100 Dunes casino chips in the resort's foundation; some casinos executives would dispose of outdated chips by burying them in the foundation of their buildings. The South Tower was briefly used as a job center for Treasure Island. It was eventually imploded on the morning of July 20, 1994, without the fanfare of the first implosion. which attracted approximately 3,000 spectators. Commenting on the end of the Dunes, Wynn said, "This is not an execution; this is a phoenix rising". His new resort,
Bellagio, eventually opened on the former Dunes site in 1998.
The resort's lake covers much of the land once occupied by the Dunes' casino and hotel structures. ==Fire safety and 1986 arson spree==