Caesars Palace

Caesars Palace is a AAA, Four Diamond luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip.

Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corporation and is located on the west side of the Strip, between the Bellagio and the Mirage. The hotel includes a convention facility of over 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²).

Caesars has 3,960 rooms in six towers: Augustus, Centurion (now Nobu), Roman, Palace, Octavius, and Forum. The Forum tower features guest suites with 1,000 square feet (93 m²) of space.

History

In 1962, Jay Sarno, a cabana motel owner, used US$35 million that had been lent to him by the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund to begin plans for a hotel on land owned by Kirk Kerkorian. Sarno would later act as designer of the hotel he planned to construct. Construction of the 14-story Caesars Palace hotel began in 1962. That first tower had 680 rooms on the 34-acre (14 ha) site.

Sarno struggled to decide on a name for the hotel. He finally decided to call it Caesars Palace because he thought that the name Caesar would evoke thoughts of royalty because of Roman general Julius Caesar. Sarno contracted many companies to build the hotel, from the Roman landscapes it presents, to the water fountains that have been stages of various events, and the hotel's swimming pools. The hotel was inaugurated on August 5, 1966.

In 1969, a Federal Organized Crime Task Force accused the casino's financial manager, Jerome Zarowitz, of having ties with organized-crime figures in New York and New England. Although Zarowitz was never tried, the task force pressured Jay Sarno and his other investors to sell the casino. In 1969, the Lum's restaurant chain, led by Stuart and Clifford S. Perlman, bought the hotel for $60 million. The company soon shed its restaurant operations and changed its name to Caesars World. On July 15 of that year, executives lay ground on an expansion area of the hotel, and they buried a time capsule in the area, but the time capsule was stolen days later.

In 1973, the Del Webb corporation was contracted to build a 16-story building adjacent to the Palace. The project was finished in 1975.

Centurion Tower (Nobu Hotel)

The Centurion Tower was completed in 1970. The 14 story tower cost $4.2 million.

In 2011 it was announced that the tower would be renovated and operate as the first Nobu Hotel and include a Nobu restaurant.

1980s

In 1981, the Perlmans sold their shares in Caesars World after trying to get a gaming license for a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission accused the brothers of doing business with people who had organized-crime connections.

1990s

The hotel's management wanted it to have a new atmosphere as the 1990s approached, a trend mirrored by many of the big Las Vegas resorts. This move was not strange to Las Vegas hotel owners, as most hotels there were planning to modernize.

In 1992, The Forum Shops at Caesars opened; it was one of the first venues in the city where shopping, particularly at high-end fashion house stores, was an attraction in itself. In 1998, the 29-Story Palace Tower opened. The fourth phase, which opened on October 22, 2004, has the second-built circular escalator in the United States. The other is at the Westfield San Francisco Centre.

2000s

Caesars has opened the Plaza, an open-air area with celebrity chef Bradley Ogden's eponymous restaurant and the Colosseum, where Céline Dion (A New Day...) and Elton John (The Red Piano) were regular performers. The Colosseum was specifically built for Dion's show, A New Day..., a spectacular produced by former Cirque du Soleil director Franco Dragone. Dion's show was also notable for having some of the highest ticket prices for any show in the city, with seats as high as $220 each; nonetheless, the show regularly sold out.

Caesars Palace opened the Augustus Tower in August 2005 (designed by Bergman Walls Associates). It stands 26 floors high and is perpendicular to the Strip.

In 2005, Harrah's Entertainment acquired Caesars Entertainment, Inc. and became the owner of Caesars Palace.

In 2006, the hotel held a total of four Michelin stars for their restaurants. Two stars for Restaurant Guy Savoy and one star each for Bradley Ogden and Mesa Grill.

Ownership

Over the years, the hotel has been owned by various companies, including Sheraton and The Hilton International Corporation, Caesars Entertainment bought the property in 2001 before it merged with Harrah's in 2005. That year, Caesars Palace was affected by a large flood.

Caesars Palace is the flagship property of the current Caesars Entertainment.

Future and Octavius Tower

With the success of the Augustus Tower, Caesars Entertainment Inc. was planning to expand by building a new hotel Octavius Tower and sports complex. The sports complex would replace the events center. The project cost $1 billion and Harrah's planned to open it in summer 2009. In January 2009, Harrah's said it would postpone the opening of the new tower, citing a lack of demand for hotel space. The 21-story Octavius Tower opened in January 2012.

The Colosseum at Caesars

The Colosseum at Caesars Palace is a 4,296-seat entertainment venue, originally built for Celine Dion's show A New Day... in 2003. The venue has since hosted performances by numerous other artists.

In May 2007, Bette Midler was announced as Dion's formal replacement. Midler will reportedly only perform about 100 shows a year, with Elton John continuing to perform his popular Red Piano show 50 nights a year while Midler is on hiatus. When Midler opened at the Colosseum, the sold-out show debuted at No. 1 on Billboard.com's Weekly Ticket Grosses.

After taking a three-year hiatus, Cher, following her Farewell Tour, returned to Caesars Palace with a three-year contract, performing 200 shows beginning May 6, 2008.

The Mexican superstar Luis Miguel performs several shows every September since 2007 to celebrate the Mexican Independence Day.

Gloria Estefan performed a special seven-day concert in 2003 for the launch of her album Unwrapped. The show was titled Live & Unwrapped, and all the concerts were sold out.

Stevie Nicks performed a special four-night stint at The Colosseum in May 2005. Her show was called "Dreams", and was sold out. Nicks also played one night exclusive shows at The Colosseum again in August 2005 and December 2006. She performed another four-night stint in March 2007.

On May 26, 2009, U.S President Barack Obama performed in the Colosseum in the one-night show A Good Fight alongside Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler and Rita Rudner to fundraise for Nevada's senator Harry Reid re-election campaign. Several streets were closed and the Augustus tower was blocked as security precautions by the Secret Service during the visit.

In March of 2011, Celine Dion returned to The Colosseum with her new show entitled "Celine", which is under contract for 70 shows per year, through 2017.

Entertainment and attractions

Caesars offers additional attractions including:

• Fall of Atlantisâ€"free show; features Animatronics, foutains, and fire effects
• Festival Fountainâ€"free show
• Pure Nightclub a nightclub
• A number of world-famous restaurants and celebrity chefs
• The Pussycat Dolls Lounge, an adjunct of the Pure Nightclub

In February 2006, a section of the casino was designed to match the Pussycat Dolls Nightclub and is called the Pussycat Dolls Casino.

During the 1980s, the hotel opened an Atari game room that had over 60 Atari video game arcade machines.

Bacchanal

In early September 2012, Caesar's Palace opened a new casual dining location costing $17 million. Executive Chef Scott Green is said to be heading the attraction. At 25,000 sq ft, the facility seats 600 and is said to serve 500 dishes daily. Bacchanal holds nine separate show kitchens.

PURE

PURE was a popular nightclub. The venue was 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) and was the host of The Pussycat Dolls Lounge. The club was frequented by celebrities hosting invite-only parties.

PURE offered three separate partying spaces, each with their own DJs: the dance area, lounge and terrace.

The club was known to pay significant appearance fees for celebrities to attend events at the club. During the fall of 2009, Scott the Engineer of The Howard Stern Show made an appearance as a "celebrity" DJ.

PURE was purchased in 2010 from Pure Management Group by Angel Management Group, an operator of many other bar and nightclub venues.

PURE closed for re-modeling in May 2014 and is expected to open under a new name in early 2015.

Notable performers

Many top international performers, such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Cher, Bette Midler, Liberace, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, George Burns, Pilita Corrales, Pat Cooper, Diana Ross, Paul Anka and Odia Coates, Julio Iglesias, Judy Garland, David Copperfield, Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan, Phyllis Diller, Luis Miguel, Janet Jackson, Shania Twain, Jerry Seinfeld, Harry Belafonte, Eric Tsang, Hins Cheung, Louie Anderson, Mariah Carey and Deana Martin have performed at the hotel.

In 1982 Ronnie Vannucci, now playing in Las Vegas-based The Killers, became the youngest musician to play with a band at age six in a lounge in Caesars Palace.

Magician David Copperfield was a headliner for several stints in the Circus Maximus Theatre.

Comedian George Burns had performed there a number of times in the early 1990s and had stated that he wanted to perform there on his 100th birthday but could not due to failing health.

In 2011 Celine Dion announced a three-year commitment to perform; a number of the songs will form part of her 2013 album Water and a Flame. Dion has already stated she will perform a series of Duets with the likes of Stevie Wonder on "Overjoyed" and lesser know artists including Sarah Collis.

Stunts

On December 31, 1967, Evel Knievel tried to jump 141 feet (43 m) over the hotel's water fountain with his motorcycle. The attempt was spectacularly unsuccessful, and left him hospitalized in a coma for 29 days.

In 1980, Gary Wells gained much media coverage, and much physical suffering, when he unsuccessfully tried to jump a motorcycle over a water fountain at the Caesars Palace. He sustained injuries to many different parts of his body.

In 1989, Robbie Knievel successfully completed what his father could not do years before by completing the fountain jump.

On May 4, 2006, Mike Metzger became the first person to ever backflip on a motorcycle over the fountains.

Caesars Magical Empire

In mid-1996, a new venue known as "Caesars Magical Empire" was created on the property, showcasing major magicians such as Michael Ammar, Jon Armstrong, Lee Asher, Whit Haydn, TC Tahoe, Jeff "Magnus" McBride, Scott and Jenny Alexander, and Alain Nu. This development coincided with the 1990s campaign to reinvent Las Vegas as a destination for family vacations, by creating attractions appropriate for children as well as adults. The "Empire" was an extravagantly themed immersive dining and entertainment experience, housed in a 66,000 sq ft (6,100 m²) specially built building constructed with 800 tons of steel. Guests with ticketed reservations entered through the "Celestial Court" to the "Chamber of Destiny", which, through elaborate effects, appeared to be a magical elevator which transported them underground to "subterranean catacombs." In reality the guests didn't descend at all; the walls of the room were raised by a large electric winch and the floor of the room shaken by pneumatic actuators. "Roman gladiators" led the guests through winding dimly lighted passages, assuring them of their safety, and then humorously pretending to have taken a wrong and dangerous turn.

The guests then arrived at the circular, domed, and ornately appointed Sanctorum Secorum, a central, 70-foot (21 m)-high rotunda, from which other areas of the "Empire", such as the mirrored "Infinity Hallway", could be accessed. An audio-visual welcome from a heroic statue of Caesar was enhanced by music, a light show, and a 20-foot (6.1 m) gas flame curling up from a fissure in the "rock." A large vase seemingly floating in space near a statue poured a continuous stream of water into a pool. The guests were then divided into groups and given one of three medallions to wear. Next, guests were escorted to ten dining chambers, each seating 24 persons (for a total of 240 guests at each seating). In addition to a wait staff which interacted comically with the guests, magic was performed in each dining room by a sorcerer host. In one amusing trick, guests were given paper "menus" on which were images of a cow, chicken, fish and vegetable, and were instructed to tear one of the pictures as indication of their choice of a beef, chicken, fish or vegetable entre. The menus were then collected and seemingly all thrown haphazardly together, then "destroyed" by fire. but nevertheless, each guest correctly received his or her chosen dinner. A stylized clear glass goblet that held spirits during the meal were also available for purchase in the Caesars Magical Empire gift shop.

The interior of the entire complex was decorated in a combination of pseudo cave-and-classic architecture, with faux rock-work and stone, real marble floors, triumphal arches, brass railings, painted mosaics, atmospheric sky domes, banners, torches, Roman "classical" furniture and lamp reproductions, statuary, caryatids and telemons, bas-relief faces of mythical personages, and intricately cast "carved" designs, all theatrically lighted.

After dining, the guests were free to visit one of two lounges, The "Spirit Bar" (flanked by two "Seance Rooms") or the "Forbidden Crypt." Additionally, they could see more magic performed in one or another of two incongruously named and designed theatres: the 75-seat "Secret Pagoda Theatre", or the 150-seat "Sultan's Palace."

While the endeavor was popular and profitable, accommodation of several audiences of 240 diners each day at capacity was no match for the potential income from the enormous audiences which could be accommodated in a large concert space. Thus the six-year reign of the "Empire", came to an end on November 30, 2002, after which the structure was razed to make room for a large concert hall created for singer Celine Dion.

Sporting events

The Caesars Palace Grand Prix car race (a Formula One World Championship event) was held at Caesars Palace in 1981 and 1982. After the Watkins Glen race course was removed from the schedule following the 1980 season, Formula One included an event in Las Vegas for the 1981 campaign. The new race was not popular among the drivers, primarily because of the desert heat. The track was laid out in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel and was surprisingly well set up for a temporary circuit: wide enough for overtaking, it provided ample run-off areas filled with sand, and had a surface that was as smooth as glass. Its counter-clockwise direction, however, put a tremendous strain on the drivers' necks. When Nelson Piquet clinched his first World Championship by finishing fifth in 1981, it took him fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion. The 1982 race was won by Michele Alboreto in a Tyrrell, but the race was not renewed for the following season due to poor attendance. The area will host a round of the Stadium Super Trucks on November 7, 2013.

Several championship boxing matches were held in Caesars Outdoor Arena in the 1980s. Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Durán all headlined here, along with Larry Holmes against both Muhammad Ali and Gerry Cooney. England boxing captain Errol Christie was on the supporting bill with Hearns when he fought Duran. Also, two bouts between Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe were contested here, one of which included the infamous "Fan Man" incident which saw a parachuter with a fan attached to his back parachute down to the ring in the middle of the fight. Michael Moorer also won the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World when he defeated Holyfield. The fight led to Holyfield's first of several retirements. Oscar De La Hoya also headlined several boxing cards here during the mid-to-late '90s, as did Shane Mosley. Wilfredo Gomez fought there 5 times, including his defeat against Salvador Sanchez and a win over Juan Antonio Lopez at the Holmes-Cooney undercard.

Caesars Palace has played host to a number of professional wrestling events throughout the 1990s, the most notable of which is WWE's Wrestlemania IX in April 1993 which capitalised on the Roman theme of the venue. Billed as the "Worlds Largest Toga Party" it remains to this day the only Wrestlemania with a particular theme. WCW also held a series of events at Caesars Palace, including Clash of the Champions XXX in January 1995 as well as COTC XXXII and an episode of WCW Monday Nitro, each in January 1996.

The arena also held one of its more interesting events during the summer of 1991: a pre-season game between the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. A rink was laid out over the parking lot and held firm despite 85-degree temperatures. Behind a goal from Wayne Gretzky, the Kings came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 5-2 before a crowd of over 13,000. The game served as a predecessor to both the Frozen Fury (the Kings' annual preseason game in Las Vegas that began in 1997) and the Winter Classic (the annual regular season game played outdoors on New Year's Day that began in 2008).

On October 2, 2004, big-time boxing returned to the Palace, as Wladimir Klitschko and former Olympian Jeff Lacy headlined a card televised on Showtime.

In popular culture

Film

• Hells Angels on Wheels (1967)
• Hell's Angels '69 (1969)
• Where It's At (1969)
• The Electric Horseman (1979)
• Pleasure Palace
• History of the World, Part I (1981)
• Rocky III (1982)
• Oh, God! You Devil (1984)
• You Ruined My Life (1987)
• Rain Man (1988); setting of the iconic card counting sequence.
• Hearts Are Wild (1992)
• Showgirls (1995)
• Fools Rush In (1997)
• The Strip (1999)
• Rush Hour 2 (2001)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
• Dreamgirls (2006)
• 10.5: Apocalypse
• Category 6: Day of Destruction
• Iron Man (2008); in the opening scene, Tony Stark gambles during an awards ceremony in which his friend Obadiah Stane accepts the award on his behalf.
• The Hangover (2009); the main characters stayed in the hotel.
• In the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Caesars Palace appears in the fictional city of Las Venturas, but with the name "Caligula's Palace". The casino is a major part of the game's plot, in which the main character must pull off a robbery heist on the casino, which is run by the mafia.
• 2012 (2009); Caesars Palace and the other hotels along the Las Vegas Strip collapse into the ground after being hit by a cloud from the Yellowstone Caldera eruption.
• The Guilt Trip (2012)
• The Hangover Part III (2013)
• Godzilla (2014); Caesars Palace, along with many other Strip casino hotels are seen destroyed and immensely damaged.
• Step Up: All In (2014)

Television

• A&E had a reality show called Caesars 24/7 showing behind the scenes at Caesars. The jobs highlighted by the show ranged from security and concierge to "The Grape Goddess" and "Shadow Dancers." Many visitors were documented as well. The show ran for two seasons.
• In The Partridge Family episode What? And Get Out of Show Business?, the family depart to Las Vegas for their first live gig at Caesars Palace.
• During The Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders", Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders stay at Nero's Palace in Las Vegas, an obvious spoof of Caesars.
• Likewise, in Raymond Briggs' book Father Christmas Goes on Holiday and its animated film adaptation Father Christmas, Father Christmas visits Las Vegas and stays at Nero's Palace.
• In The Sopranos Season Six, Part two, Tony stays at Caesars Palace following the murder of Christopher Moltisanti, also he seems to have some connection with the management of the hotel because he is sent the Casino's private jet, and given a penthouse for free.
• In Will & Grace Season Six, last two episodes "I Do. Oh, no You Di'nt (Part 1 and Part 2)", Karen Walker hops on a plane to Caesars Palace, Sin City with fiance Lyle (John Cleese) and faithful friends Will and Jack.
• The first-episode auditions for Cycle 12 of America's Next Top Model were held at Caesars Palace.
• In the Friends episodes 'The One in Vegas' (Part 1 and Part 2) and 'The One After Vegas', the six main characters stay at Caesars Palace.
• Miss Chinese International Pageant 2000 was held at Caesars Palace.
• Caesars Challenge was taped at Caesars Palace and aired on NBC from 1993 to 1994.
• In The Suite Life on Deck episode 'So You Think You Can Date?', London asks Bailey to write her report on Julius Caesars Palace. Bailey then corrects her that Julius Caesar was a Roman emperor, not a casino.
• In episode 15 of the first season in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Agent Ward and the Asgardian witch Lorelei stay in the hotel.
• The principal characters of The Strip were employed by the casino's owner.
• In Dominion the casino is the personal compound of General Riesen.

See also

• Caesars Atlantic City
• Caesars Windsor
• Caesars Entertainment

References

External links

• Official website
• History of Caesars Palace