The Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was a Coney Island style hotel located on the Las Vegas Strip. It was owned and operated by MGM Mirage. It was part of the Holiday Inn hotel chain but left after being acquired by Mirage Resorts. It was built before the era of the mega-casinos, and with 654 rooms was relatively small compared to many properties in its vicinity.
Most visitors to Las Vegas would argue the best feature of the Boardwalk was the location on the "Strip": in between the plush Bellagio and the Monte Carlo and across from the Paris, Aladdin and MGM Grand.
The hotel's Coney Island theme could be seen in its facade with an original 1906 parachute jump ride and a faux wooden roller coaster. The hotel was composed of three distinct buildings all built at different times. The newest building was the 16-story tower built in 1996. The Steeplechase building was 6 stories and the Luna Park building was the original four-story structure when the hotel first opened.
History
The Holiday Inn South Hotel opened on this site in 1965. Its named changed to the Viscount Hotel sometime in the 1980s.
Norm Jansen founded the casino in 1977. He started out at the Pioneer Club and then opened a gift shop at what was to be the site of the Boardwalk in 1972. When he sold the Boardwalk, he still retained a gift shop in the hotel. His daughter continued to operate that gift shop until the hotel closed. The casino was named Slot Joynt from 1980 through most of the decade.
In the early 1990s, the casino and hotel formally joined to form the Holiday Inn Boardwalk Hotel and Casino. The Boardwalk became owned by a public corporation (Boardwalk Casino, Inc.) in 1994. The carnival facade was built the following year and a 15-story tower was finished in 1996. It was later acquired by Mirage Resorts in 1997. When MGM took ownership in 2000, the Holiday Inn name was dropped.
The hotel and casino closed on January 9, 2006, and the main hotel tower was imploded on May 9, 2006, at 2:34 A.M. PST in order to prepare the site for CityCenter.
Attractions
- Wedding gazebo
- Two small pools
- Several restaurants including a sushi bar and the 24-hour "Surf Buffet"
- 75-seat race and sports book
- Prince cover band Purple Reign
References
External links
- Video recording of the Boardwalk implosion
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