Sands Hotel

The Sands Hotel was an historic Las Vegas Strip hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, the Sands was the seventh resort that opened on the Strip. essdate=2008-01-19 ] .afterIts most famous claim to fame was a 3-week period in 1960 when, during the filming of the movie "Ocean's Eleven", they organized an event in the Copa Room called the “Summit at the Sands”, where for the first time Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford performed on stage together. They would forever be known after that as the Rat Pack. Sinatra would also own a stake in the Sands for a time.

In the 1950s, (limited) integration came to heavily segregated Las Vegas when the Sands allowed Nat King Cole to stay at the hotel and gamble in the casino (up until this point, African-Americans were "strongly" encouraged to not enter any of the Vegas casinos; most of the hotels employed barely more than a handful black employees, even as busboys and dishwashers). In the 60s, Sammy Davis, Jr. convinced the Sands to hire more African-Americans, and to allow them into the casino.

When Howard Hughes purchased the hotel in the mid-1960s, a 500-room tower was added and the hotel became a Vegas landmark. Kirk Kerkorian (MGM) bought the hotel in 1988, and seven months later in 1989 it was purchased by the owners of The Interface Group - Sheldon Adelson, Richard Katzeff, Ted Cutler, Irwin Chafetz, and Jordan Shapiro. The circular tower was added in 1967 by architect Martin Stern, Jr.

In its final years, the Sands became a shadow of its former self—a throwback to the old days, and it ultimately could not compete with the newer and more exciting megaresorts that were being built on the Strip. The decision was eventually made by its final owner, Sheldon Adelson, to shut it down and to build a brand new resort. On November 26, 1996, it was imploded [cite web | url=http://www.venetian.com/HISTORY.aspx |title=Property History |accessdate=2008-01-19 ] and demolished much to the dismay of longtime employees and sentimentalists. The Las Vegas scenes of "Con Air" were filmed at the Sands prior to its demolition.

With the Sands gone, its casino chips are now valuable collector's items due to the casino's legendary musical history, with the average $1.00 chip fetching around $30.00. Some rarer chips reach hundreds of dollars, and sometimes over $1,000.00.

Film history

The 1960 version of "Ocean's Eleven" was filmed here. Footage of the demolition also appeared in the closing credits of "The Cooler". The climactic plane crash in 1997's "Con Air" wound up with the aircraft crashing into the soon-to-be-demolished Sands' lobby.

Musical legacy

Frank Sinatra ("Sinatra at the Sands"), Sammy Davis, Jr. ("The Sounds of '66", "That's All!"), Tommy Sands, Nat King Cole and Count Basie (a posthumous set, also recorded during the "Sinatra at the Sands" stand) were among those who recorded live albums at the Sands.

"'Legends of the Copa RoomThe greatest names in the entertainment industry graced the Copa Room Stage (the showroom at the Sands, named after the famed Copacabana Club in New York City). The likes of Judy Garland, Lena Horne, (she was billed at the Sands as "The Satin Doll") Jimmy Durante, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, along with "The Copa Girls". These were only a few of the legendary entertainers to not only perform at the Sands, but in all the showrooms along the Strip, from the late 40's until the early 90's. The public could sit ringside in a showroom holding no more than five hundred, paying as little as three dollars in the 50s up to 25.50 in the early 90s for the likes of Liza Minnelli, Shirley Maclaine and Diana Ross. "'

References

reflistthe sands was 110 years old and replaced by nothing

External links

* [http://www.socala.com/sands/ Photo gallery of the last day of operation at the Sands Hotel - June 30th, 1996]
* [http://oldsads.org/roadside9.htm The Sands Hotel on a post card in the fifties.]
* [http://gaming.unlv.edu/Xanadu/MartinStern.html 1967 Tower architect Martin Stern, Jr.]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDIzJx7GFQM Video of Tower Implosion ]
* [http://www.sands.com.mo/ Sands Hotel Macao ]