1950 Opened - 3145 Las Vegas Blvd. S - 225 rooms - Wilbur Clark $4.5 M
1952 Golf Course Opened - 18 holes - 7,193 yards - par 72
1963 St. Andrews Tower Addition - 100 rooms
1964 Sold to Moe Dalitz and "Others"
1967 Sold to Howard Hughes for $13.25 M
1978 Augusta Tower Addition for $54 M - 500 rooms
1988 Sold to Kirk Kerkorian for $167 M
1993 Sold to ITT / Sheraton for $160 M
1997 Renovation for $200 M
1998 Sold to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc for $400 M
2000 Sold to Steve Wynn for $270 M
2001 Closed in August and Augusta Tower Imploded in October
2004 Palms and St. Andrew's Towers Imploded
April 24, 1950 - The Strip's fifth resort
Desert Inn opened with 225 rooms. The Desert Inn was a Las Vegas,
Nevada hotel/casino that operated from April 24, 1950 to August
28, 2000. It was the fifth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip.
The property included an 18-hole golf course. Locals nicknamed
the resort "The D. I."
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. Mr. Clark would become the
front man, the public face, of the resort, while Mr. Dalitz remained quietly in the background as the principal owner.
The Desert Inn’s most famous guest, billionaire Howard Hughes, arrived on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, renting the hotel's entire top floor. 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, and on March 1, 1967, he purchased the resort from Mr. Dalitz for around $13 million. This purchase was the first of many Vegas resort purchases by Hughes.
In 1997, The D.I. underwent a major renovation. Almost every major star of the last fifty years played at the Desert Inn. It's famous "crystal showroom" hosted
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Dionne Warwick, Wayne Newton, Barry Manilow, Cher, Tina Turner, and more. Comics and variety acts like Don Rickles, The Smothers Brothers, Roseanne Barr, Garry Shandling, Buddy Hackett, Mentalist Brent Webb, Rich Little, all worked the D.I., along with thousands of others.
The hotel was owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide until 1998. It was also owned for a time by MGM Grand Inc. in the late 1980s.
On April 27, 2000, the resort was purchased by Steve Wynn, who closed it several months later. On October 23, 2001, the main tower was imploded to make room for a megaresort that Wynn planned to build. Originally intended to be named Le Rêve, the new project opened as the Wynn Las Vegas.
One of the towers was used as a small museum to display some of Wynn's art collection and as offices for Wynn Resorts. The last remaining tower was imploded on June 14, 2004.
Desert Inn Road, and east-west Las Vegas Valley roadway named after the hotel, still exists, and there are no current plans to rename the roadway at this time.
The Desert Inn was the last Strip hotel with its own golf course. It became part of Wynn Las Vegas, after a rebuilding associated with the new resort's opening.
The hotel was used as a primary backdrop for the TV show Vega$ from 1978-1981. The lead character, Dan Tanna had his office in the DI.
The Desert Inn saw its last commercial use as the Las Vegas set for Rush Hour 2. The interior was converted to resemble an Asian-themed casino for the movie.
