Anthony Bondi, The Neon Museum Collection. 2015.010.859
Hailed as the “Miracle in the Desert,” the Dunes Hotel & Casino opened on May 23, 1955, the vision of a group of individuals from varied professional backgrounds, including financier Milton Gettinger, movie theater owner Alfred Gottesman, Rhode Island-based restaurateur Joe Sullivan, and costume jewelry maker Bob Rice. The property was imagined as an updated, fairy tale version of Baghdad as portrayed in the Arabian Nights, and featured design flourishes and signage which reflected this theme. Among the property’s memorable signage was the large fiberglass sultan, standing 30-feet high atop the Dunes’ main building, and a large, vibrant tower, measuring 180-feet tall. This tower, evocative of the onion-dome design common in Middle Eastern-influenced architecture of the period, was reportedly so bright that Dunes management was required to line adjacent room curtains which faced the sign, after countless guests complained about its blinding brilliance. Upon opening, the Dunes was celebrated for its 85-acre footprint filled with lush foliage, its expansive Emerald Green golf course, and groundbreaking entertainment offerings such as Minsky’s Follies and Casino de Paris.
The Dunes was one of a handful of casinos to open in Las Vegas in 1955, described as “the class of 1955” by the New York Times, alongside the likes of the Riviera Hotel & Casino and the Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino. Decades of financial challenges and ownership changes culminated with the property’s closure on January 26, 1993, and its demolition months later, on October 27. With its spectacular closure, the Dunes made history as the first major property in Las Vegas’ history to be imploded, to a crowd of over 200,000 spectators on the Las Vegas Strip. Today, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino sits on a majority of the land which the Dunes once occupied.