El Rancho Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Triblend Tee

Description

A couple of weeks after the December 3, 1981 closure of Silverbird Hotel and Casino, Aladdin Hotel and Casino owner, Ed Torres, announced plans to buy it and its property from Tiger Investment. He intended to renovate and reopen it by May 1982 with a new hotel tower. Torres was approved for a $25 million purchase by the Nevada Gaming Commission in April 1982. He spent another $25 million on renovations before opening it as the El Rancho Hotel and Casino on August 31, 1982, with over 1,000 attendees. The resort, named after the original El Rancho Vegas which operated on the Strip from 1941 to 1960, featured a western theme, wooden interior, American Indian items, chandeliers, buffalo heads, western paintings, and a 52-lane bowling alley to attract families. A new poker parlor was added, but the hotel tower construction began years later. Martin Stern designed the renovated resort, employing 1,400 people. The 13-story hotel tower began construction in 1987 and was completed in 1988, adding 580 more rooms. El Rancho struggled in its later years due to the early 1990s recession and competition from new mega resorts, particularly The Mirage and Excalibur. In May 1992, Torres announced the resort’s closure in two months, giving a 60-day notice to workers. He had tried unsuccessfully to sell the resort for $25–30 million. The Culinary Workers Union voted against his request for concessions, and El Rancho owed gaming taxes for its 918 slot machines. The bowling alley, sportsbook, and slot machines shut down on June 30, 1992, and the rest ceased operations on July 6, 1992, affecting 324 employees. At closing, El Rancho had a 90,000 square-foot casino, 1,007 hotel rooms, and four restaurants. The land now houses the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort and casino.