Harrah's Lake Tahoe

Casino infobox
casino=Harrah's Lake Tahoe
theme=
address=15 Hwy 50
Stateline, NV 89449
logo=Harrah's logo.svg
logo_size=200px

---

rooms=525
date_opened=June 20, 1955
space_gaming=65,000 ft² (6,039 m²)
attractions="South Shore Room"
shows=
restaurants="The Summit"
"Friday's Station"
owner=Harrah's Entertainment
casino_type=Land
renovations=
names_pre="Stateline Country Club"
"Nevada Club"
"Harrah’s Stateline Club"
website=http://www.harrahs.com/our_casinos/tah/ Harrah's Tahoe

Harrah's Lake Tahoe, is a resort casino in South Lake Tahoe at Stateline, Nevada. It is branded with the name of its former owner William Fisk Harrah and owned by Harrah's Entertainment. The 18-story tower and 525 rooms, plus 65,000 square feet of casino make it one of the largest resorts at South Lake Tahoe.

History

Harrah’s was first established in Lake Tahoe when William F. Harrah purchased George’s Gateway Club in January 1955 for $500,000 and Harrah’s Lake Club opened in June 20, 1955. This is now Harveys Lake Tahoe.

In 1956 Harrah’s Lake Club was sold for $5,250,000 in cash to Harvey Gross, which at the time was the most expensive casino purchase ever. In 1958 Harrah acquired an interest in the Stateline Country Club and Nevada Club across the street (Harrah’s current location) and opened Harrah’s Stateline Club.

The South Shore Room opened at Harrah’s Tahoe in 1959 at a cost of $3.5 million. This 750 seat showroom, whose opening act was comedian Red Skelton, made entertainment a priority at Harrah’s and saw entertainers such as Wayne Newton, Lawrence Welk, Bill Cosby, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra. In 1963 Barry Keenan, Joseph Amsler and John Irwin abducted the 19-year-old son of musician Frank Sinatra.

Portions of the Bette Midler film Jinxed were shot on location at the hotel in summer 1981 for the summer 1982 release of the film. Other locations used in the film were Harrah's in Reno and the Harrah's Auto Museum also in Reno.

Bill Harrah had been planning to build a hotel at Lake Tahoe for many years, but had been hindered by costs. However in 1971, when Harrah’s went public, he finally had the finances available to build his dream hotel. In 1972 Harrah broke ground on his $25 million, 18-story, 250 room hotel which opened November 9, 1973. Each 500 ft² room was furnished with a fully stocked bar, bay windows, 2 bathrooms with TVs and telephones. Harrah’s Lake Tahoe earned the first five-star diamond rating in casino history.

The hotel was later expanded with 290 additional rooms in 1976.

In 2000 Harrah’s completed a $26 million dollar renovation to update the casino, hotel rooms and restaurants on the 18th floor including the Forest Buffet and Friday’s Station.

In 2005, on December 3, a shootout occurred in a private booth near the casino floor. One person was killed, and two Douglas County Sheriff's Deputies were injured. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1915578/board/flat/31584847]

References

*Mandel, Leon (1981). William Fisk Harrah The Life And Times Of A Gambling Magnate. Doubleday & Company, Inc. ISBN 0-385-15513-1.
*Stearns, John (April 29, 2001). [http://www.rgj.com/cgi-bin/printstory.cgi?publish_date=20010429&story=988601679 "Casinos share local history"] . Retrieved Aug. 1, 2005

External links

* [http://www.harrahs.com/our_casinos/tah/index.html Harrah's Lake Tahoe website]