El Rancho Vegas Opens (1941)

1941

Opened
April 3, 1941
Location
Highway 91 at today's Sahara Avenue, just outside the Las Vegas city limits
Builder
Thomas Hull, who had run seven California hotels including the Hollywood Roosevelt
Cost
Under $500,000
Size at opening
Sixty-three guest rooms, mostly bungalows; a 250-seat dining room, the largest in Las Vegas
Signature
A tower sign topped by a windmill with neon-lit blades
Expansion
Beldon Katleman bought it in 1947, spent about $750,000 and added 220 rooms
Casino
Briefly Nevada's largest at 18,000 square feet after Katleman's expansion
End
Destroyed by fire on June 17, 1960, and never reopened
Where to see it today
No visitor site; the Online Nevada Encyclopedia says Hilton built a 1,200-room timeshare tower on part of the land in 2004

About

In the late 1930s Las Vegas casinos were concentrated on Fremont Street downtown, and Highway 91 to Los Angeles held only a few roadhouses such as the Pair-O-Dice. In 1940, local businessmen Robert Griffith and James Cashman approached Thomas Hull, a California hotelier who had opened "El Rancho" motor hotels, about building in Las Vegas. Local accounts say Hull counted cars passing on the highway while waiting out a flat tire, and decided the open desert south of town was the place for a resort.

Hull bought a corner parcel at the highway and present-day Sahara Avenue, in Clark County rather than the city, which kept his taxes lower. The firm McAllister and McAllister gave it a Spanish-style exterior and a cowboy interior. El Rancho Vegas opened on April 3, 1941, at a cost of under $500,000, with a showroom, casino, steakhouse, stables, a pool and sixty-three rooms, most of them bungalows. Its windmill sign with neon-lit blades drew drivers at night.

The resort was an immediate success and a draw for Hollywood celebrities, and its showroom set a pattern for later Strip hotels. Ownership changed often: operators included Sanford Adler and, for a time, Wilbur Clark, before he built the Desert Inn. Beldon Katleman bought the El Rancho in 1947, spent about $750,000 remodelling it in French Provincial style and added 220 rooms. Its expanded casino was briefly the largest in Nevada, and through the 1950s it booked acts such as Betty Grable, Eartha Kitt and Joe E. Lewis.

Before dawn on June 17, 1960, a wind-driven fire swept through the El Rancho, and its windmill collapsed into the flames as people watched from the Strip. Firefighters found no evidence of arson. Katleman never rebuilt, and Howard Hughes later bought the empty land, which stayed vacant for more than forty years. The El Rancho's lasting importance is that it proved a resort could succeed outside town on Highway 91; the Last Frontier followed in 1942 and the Flamingo in 1946, and the highway became the Strip.

More from the 1940s

Before and after

Good to know

  • The Online Nevada Encyclopedia gives the El Rancho's opening room count as sixty-three, while the same source's Flamingo article cites it as a 110-room hotel by the mid-1940s; the hotel grew in stages.
  • The El Rancho's Chuck Wagon offered a late-night buffet with free breakfast and coffee from 4:15 to 6:30 a.m.
  • Its showroom featured a line of dancers from California called the "El Rancho Starlets" and had a "come as you are" dress policy.
  • A different, later hotel also used the El Rancho name: the old Thunderbird was renamed El Rancho before it was imploded in 2000.
  • The City of Las Vegas timeline calls the El Rancho Vegas the first themed resort on what would become The Strip.

Questions about El Rancho Vegas Opens (1941)

What was the first hotel on the Las Vegas Strip?

El Rancho Vegas, which opened on April 3, 1941, on Highway 91 at what is now Sahara Avenue. The City of Las Vegas calls it the first themed resort on what would become the Strip. It was followed by the Last Frontier in 1942, the Flamingo in 1946 and the Thunderbird in 1948.

Who built El Rancho Vegas?

Thomas Hull, a California hotelier who had operated seven hotels, including the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles, and had opened El Rancho motor hotels in California. Las Vegas businessmen Robert Griffith and James Cashman encouraged him to build in Las Vegas. Hull sold the resort soon after it opened, and it changed owners several times.

Why was El Rancho Vegas built outside town?

Hull saw growing traffic from Los Angeles on Highway 91 and wanted a deluxe resort unlike the downtown hotels. The land was cheap, and because the site was in Clark County, just outside the city limits, he avoided higher city taxes. That choice set the pattern for the resorts that followed and turned the highway into the Strip.

What happened to El Rancho Vegas?

A wind-driven fire destroyed most of the resort before dawn on June 17, 1960, and its famous windmill sign collapsed into the flames. Firefighters found no evidence the fire was set deliberately. Owner Beldon Katleman never rebuilt, Howard Hughes later bought the empty land, and it stayed vacant for more than forty years.

Is anything left of El Rancho Vegas?

Not as a place to visit. According to the Online Nevada Encyclopedia, the site across from the old Sahara stood empty for more than forty years after the 1960 fire, and in 2004 Hilton used part of the land to build a 1,200-room timeshare tower. Photographs of the resort are held by UNLV Special Collections.