Historic Las Vegas Hotels 2026: Vintage Vegas Still Standing

Las Vegas tears down its past faster than any city in America. The Sands, the Dunes, the Desert Inn, the Stardust and the Riviera are gone, and in 2024 the Tropicana and The Mirage closed too. But a handful of historic hotels still operate, most of them downtown, and two museums keep the rest of the story alive. This guide covers the survivors you can still stay at or walk into, the lost legends, and where to see what is left. Current details were checked in September 2026.

A Short History of Vegas Hotels

• 1905–1930s, the railroad town: Las Vegas grows around the railroad downtown. The Golden Gate's building dates from 1906. Nevada legalizes casino gambling in 1931, and Hoover Dam construction brings workers and money.
• 1941–1950s, the first resorts: El Rancho Vegas opens on the highway south of town in 1941, starting what becomes the Strip. The Flamingo follows in 1946, then a run of resorts, several financed by organized crime.
• 1960s–1980s, corporate Vegas: Howard Hughes buys casinos from the late 1960s, and Nevada changes its law in 1969 to let public corporations own them. Caesars Palace (1966) and Circus Circus (1968) introduce themed resorts.
• 1989 onward, the mega-resorts: The Mirage opens in 1989 and sets off a building boom. Most of the old Strip is imploded to make way for Bellagio, the Venetian, Wynn and others.

Historic Hotels You Can Still Visit

Golden Gate (1906)

At 1 Fremont Street, where Fremont meets Main Street, the Golden Gate calls itself the oldest hotel in Las Vegas and the first in downtown, opened in 1906. It still rents its "Original 10" rooms, which date from that opening. The building is small and the casino lively, with the Fremont Street Experience canopy overhead. It is a place to walk through for five minutes of history even if you stay elsewhere.

El Cortez (1941)

The El Cortez opened in 1941 as downtown's first luxury hotel-casino, built by J.K. Houssels, one of the first people in Las Vegas to hold a casino license. Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky bought it in 1945. Gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan bought it in 1963 and ran it for 45 years, and the Epstein family took over in 2008. In 2013 it became the first hotel-casino listed on the National Register of Historic Places, for its original Spanish ranch-style exterior and neon. Inside, a History Hallway, created with the Mob Museum, covers the city's growth. On East Fremont Street, a short walk from the Fremont Street Experience, it is the most authentic old-school casino still running.

Golden Nugget (1946)

The Golden Nugget opened on Fremont Street in 1946 and became downtown's showpiece after Steve Wynn took control in the 1970s. Today it is downtown's most polished resort, known for its pool with a shark tank and its display of the Hand of Faith, one of the largest gold nuggets ever found. It mixes history with modern comfort better than anywhere else downtown. See our Golden Nugget page.

Flamingo (1946)

The most famous story on the Strip. Bugsy Siegel pushed the Flamingo through huge cost overruns; it opened in December 1946, struggled, and Siegel was shot dead in Beverly Hills in June 1947. Nothing of his original building survives, but the Flamingo still stands on the same land, still pink, with a free wildlife habitat of flamingos and other birds in its gardens. See our Flamingo page.

Caesars Palace (1966)

Jay Sarno's Roman-themed resort invented the themed Strip hotel. Its fountains were where Evel Knievel crashed attempting a jump on New Year's Eve 1967, and it has hosted decades of headliners and title fights. The original 1966 design is buried under later towers and the Forum Shops, but the fountains, statuary and classical style still carry it. See our Caesars Palace page.

Circus Circus (1968)

Also a Jay Sarno idea, Circus Circus brought families to Las Vegas with free circus acts above the casino, and it still calls itself "the world's only permanent circus". The pink Adventuredome theme park came later. With its big-top styling, midway games and bingo hall, it is the closest thing on the Strip to a 1970s time capsule. See our Circus Circus page.

Horseshoe Las Vegas (the original MGM Grand, 1973)

Few visitors realize that the center-Strip hotel now called Horseshoe Las Vegas opened in 1973 as the original MGM Grand. It was the scene of the November 1980 fire, one of the deadliest hotel fires in U.S. history, which led to sweeping fire-safety reforms. It later became Bally's, and was renamed Horseshoe in 2022. See our Horseshoe page.

Other downtown survivors

• The Plaza (1971): at the west end of Fremont Street, on the site of the old railroad depot.
• The D: opened as the Sundance in 1980, later Fitzgeralds, and renamed The D in 2012. Its second floor keeps a vintage slot machine area.
• Four Queens, the Fremont and the California: classic downtown casino hotels from the 1950s to the 1970s, still with their neon.

Our downtown hotels guide compares them as places to stay.

Lost Legends

• El Rancho Vegas (1941–1960): the first resort on what became the Strip, destroyed by fire in 1960.
• The Dunes (1955–1993): imploded in October 1993 in a televised spectacle; Bellagio stands on the site.
• The Sands (1952–1996): the Rat Pack's home base, where Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. played the Copa Room and filmed the original Ocean's 11 (1960). Imploded in 1996 for the Venetian.
• The Desert Inn (1950–2000): Howard Hughes moved into its penthouse in 1966 and bought the hotel rather than leave. Demolished in stages to make way for Wynn Las Vegas.
• The Stardust (1958–2006): famous for its sign and for the skimming that inspired the film Casino. Imploded in 2007; Resorts World now stands on the site.
• The Riviera (1955–2015): the Strip's first high-rise. Imploded in 2016, and its land went to the Las Vegas Convention Center's expansion.
• The Tropicana (1957–2024): once called the "Tiffany of the Strip". It closed in April 2024 and was imploded that October to make way for a baseball stadium.
• The Mirage (1989–2024): the resort that started the mega-resort era closed in July 2024, taking its volcano with it. It is being rebuilt as a Hard Rock resort, which has not yet opened.

The Mob and Vegas, Briefly

Legal gambling made Nevada attractive to organized crime families who already ran illegal casinos elsewhere. Through the 1950s and 1960s, several Strip and downtown casinos were financed or secretly controlled by crime families, who "skimmed" untaxed cash from the count rooms. Corporate ownership after 1969, tighter state regulation and federal prosecutions in the late 1970s and 1980s, including the Stardust skimming cases, ended it. The best place to learn the full story is the Mob Museum.

Where to See the History

The Mob Museum

The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, at 300 Stewart Avenue downtown, is in a former federal courthouse and post office where the Kefauver Committee held a 1950 hearing into organized crime. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Underground in the basement is a Prohibition-themed speakeasy and distillery, open late. Buy tickets online, where the museum offers discounts. See our museums guide.

The Neon Museum

At 770 Las Vegas Blvd North, the Neon Museum's outdoor Boneyard holds signs rescued from demolished hotels, including the Stardust, the Golden Nugget and the Moulin Rouge. From September to May it is open 3 to 11 p.m. (last entry 10 p.m.); from June to August, 8 p.m. to midnight. In 2026, daytime admission (3 to 5 p.m.) starts at $25 and evening admission at $35, and it offers guided tours. Evening is when the restored signs are lit. Reservations are recommended.

Vintage places to eat and drink

The Peppermill, a 1972 coffee shop on the north Strip with neon, huge portions and a Fireside Lounge that appeared in Casino, is the easiest taste of old Vegas. Downtown casino coffee shops and bars keep the feel too.

A Vintage Vegas Day

1. Morning: the Mob Museum when it opens at 9 a.m.
2. Midday: walk Fremont Street: the Golden Gate at the Main Street end, the Golden Nugget, then east to the El Cortez and its History Hallway.
3. Afternoon: daytime tickets at the Neon Museum, a short ride north, or wait for the evening glow.
4. Evening: head to the Strip for the Flamingo's gardens and Caesars Palace's fountains, then a late meal at the Peppermill.

For more, see our vintage casinos guide and Fremont Street guide.