The End of Las Vegas' Frontier

I was very sad to see the end of the Las Vegas, Nv., New Frontier last week. This is the second famous Vegas casino to come down this year, the Stardust having been imploded back in March.

It started as the Pair-O-Dice in 1930, then the Ambassador in 1936. The name was changed again in 1939 to the 91 Club because of its location on US Highway 91. In 1942, it became the Last Frontier.

On April 4th, 1955, it became the New Frontier after a major modernization.

It was the Strip's second casino and the first themed resort as a cowboy town and known for its cheap rooms.

Elvis Presley had his first Las Vegas appearance at the Frontier in 1958. Diana Ross and the Supremes had their final performance on January 14, 1970. For years, it was the home of Siegfried and Roy's white tigers and magic act. My wife and I saw it, but weren't too impressed with it. Plus, it was way over-priced.

In 1967, it was purchased by Howard Hughes and the name shortened to Frontier. It was the scene of the longest-ever strike by the Culinary Workers Local 226 from 1991 to 1998.

It closed July 16, 2007. The sixteen story hotel came down at 2:30 AM through the imploding effect of 1000 pounds of dynamite. It was quite an elaborate ceremony.

It will be replaced with an 8 billion dollar resort.

David Schwartz, the director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV summed up my feelings pretty-well when he said, "It's another budget option on the Strip that's gone. The future is really high end."

Plus, it would appear that Las Vegas has little care as to its heritage. I give the city low marks in preservation.

We were there in the fall of 2006 and just don't like the new Strip. It is way too expensive and upscale for us "regular folk." Thankfully, Slots-A-Fun and Circus-Circus are still there, but I'm sure their days are numbered.

Looks Like We'll be Staying Downtown. --RoadDog