The beginning of July marked the sixty fifth anniversary of the opening of the now-defunct Stardust resort, though its historical past can nonetheless be seen by its neon signal.
The Stardust neon signal was as soon as known as the “Queen of the Strip,” in response to Johann Rucker, the analysis and content material supply supervisor for the Neon Museum, since its huge 188 toes tall and 90 toes extensive authentic body with its letters have been surrounded by vivid stars. Now simply the letters, that are roughly 17 toes tall, nonetheless get lit up on the Neon Museum, at 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North.
The signal — first put in in 1968 — was designed by Paul Miller and modeled after the area theme of the Stardust resort, Rucker mentioned.
“It’s form of taking part in with that type of area age, like type of retro futurism aesthetic, in an analogous model of that cartoon ‘The Jetsons,’” Rucker mentioned.
Stardust recollections
The Stardust opened in 1958 with 1,000 resort rooms and was on the time the world’s largest resort. It additionally housed the well-known Lido de Paris membership which hosted reveals from 1958 to 1991 and included famend acts like Siegfried and Roy. The multi-colored Lido signal was added to the Neon Museum initially of 2023 and is 56 toes extensive.
Each the Stardust and its leisure choices set the usual for Las Vegas resorts within the later half of the twentieth century, in response to Michael Inexperienced, affiliate professor of historical past at UNLV.
“The Stardust, when it opened, set a typical for measurement, greater than 1,000 rooms and the massive neon signal,” he mentioned. “On the time, it appeared monumental. At the moment it might appear to be a wing at one of many Strip accommodations. Nevertheless it tells us in a way, how a lot issues have modified over what’s, for lots of people, the course of 1 lifetime.”
The positioning of the Stardust is now occupied by Resorts World, a property that has over 3,500 rooms, and opened in 2021.
The Stardust additionally holds a particular place within the cultural historical past of Las Vegas because the story of its administration workforce in the course of the Seventies was the inspiration for the 1995 movie “On line casino.” Though the movie solely checked out sure figures of organized crime in Las Vegas akin to Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro, the resort’s ties to organized crime have been current from its opening till it was acquired by the Boyd Group in 1985, Inexperienced mentioned.
“The Stardust holds a particular place in popular culture,” he mentioned. “And within the cultural mindset of the mob in Las Vegas, it grew to become so central. It additionally ended up being symbolic of the state and the Las Vegas Strip cleansing up their act, ultimately driving out organized crime and the Boyd Group, taking it over and working it cleanly.”
Though the Stardust operated for years after organized crime was largely faraway from Las Vegas, it will definitely closed in 2006 and imploded in 2007 because the property couldn’t sustain with different choices and facilities introduced on by different resorts on the Strip, Inexperienced mentioned.
“It could be good if vacationers got here to Las Vegas pondering, I wish to keep in a resort that jogs my memory of the Nineteen Fifties,” he mentioned. “However that isn’t why they arrive right here.”
Stardust’s legacy
Now the Stardust’s neon signal and the neon signal of the the Lido de Paris present tangible ties to the historic property and supply a “grand finale” to the Neon Museum’s tour, Rucker mentioned.
“Along with being like a reasonably killer picture alternative, the Stardust indicators are an object of fascination for lots of people as a result of it’s simply form of a showstopper,” Rucker mentioned.
Each Inexperienced and Rucker assume that regardless that the Stardust has been gone for 16 years it’s going to stay an vital a part of the historical past and story of Las Vegas.
“The Stardust regarded to the long run from its founding, it regarded to the celebrities, it regarded to the joy of science and human ingenuity,” Rucker mentioned. “I feel Las Vegas is nothing however emblematic of that, the place the town itself is all the time trying to the long run, all the time trying to be a forerunner in lots of, many alternative methods.”
Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com or on Twitter @seanhemmers34.
