History
The original name was Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn. Wilbur Clark originally began building the resort, but when he ran out of money, the Cleveland mob led by Moe Dalitz took over the construction. Clark became the public frontman of the resort while Dalitz remained quietly in the background as the principal owner. Much of the financing came from the American National Insurance Company (ANICO), which at the time had indirect ties to the Cleveland crime syndicate and the Maceo crime syndicate in Galveston, Texas. The resort would eventually be renamed Desert Inn, and was affectionally called the "DI" by Las Vegas locals and regular guests.
The Desert Inn’s most famous guest, businessman Howard Hughes, arrived on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the hotel's entire top two floors. After staying past his initial ten-day reservation, he was asked to leave in December so that the resort could accommodate the high rollers who had been promised those suites. Instead of leaving, Hughes decided to start negotiations to buy the Desert Inn. On March 1, 1967, Hughes purchased the resort from Dalitz for around $13 million. This purchase was the first of many Las Vegas resort purchases by Hughes.
Almost every major star of the last fifty years played at the Desert Inn. Its famous "crystal showroom" hosted Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Noël Coward, Ted Lewis, Joe E. Lewis, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Dionne Warwick, Louise Mandrell, Wayne Newton, Barry Manilow, Cher, Tina Turner, and more. Comics and variety acts like Myron Cohen, Pat Cooper, Martin and Lewis, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, The Smothers Brothers, Roseanne Barr, Garry Shandling, Buddy Hackett, and Rich Little all worked the Desert Inn along with thousands of others.
Read more about this topic: Desert Inn
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made of millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.”
—Ellen Battelle Dietrick, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)