After barely 60 years on the Las Vegas Strip the classic Riviera Hotel and Casino will close forever today on May 4, 2015. The hotel opened on April 20, 1955. It was the first high-rise of 9 stories to open on the Las Vegas Strip. TheRiviera opened its doors on April 20th, 1955. Liberace and his brother, George were the headliners and actress Joan Crawford was the official hostess.
The hotel had over 2,100 rooms and 110,000 sq. ft. casinoof gaming space.
In February of 2015, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority acquired the Riviera hotel and its land for $182.5 million. The hotel will be demolished to make way for a planned expansion of LVCVA’s Las Vegas Global Business District exhibit and meeting center project.
Wall sized photo in the entrance of the hotel
Front of the Riviera side from the Las Vegas Strip
“No Ifs and or butts
Valet entrance from Las Vegas Blvd.
The Entrance of the Riviera from the Strip
The Pool at the Riviera
South side of the Riviera stretching from Las Vegas Blvd. to Paradise Rd.
The Riviera having its 60th Anniversary
Looking at the north end of the hotel from the Las Vegas Strip heading south
Photos by: LasVegas360.com
Date Taken: May 2, 2015
The Riviera opened on April 20, 1955 as the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The Riviera is one of the oldest and most famous casino resorts in Las Vegas.
The Riviera closed in May 4, 2015 and is currently own by the Las Vegas Convention authority which who paid $182.5 million to acquire. Here are some photos of it’s last operational day on May 4, 2015.
The Riviera opened on April 20, 1955 as the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The Riviera is one of the oldest and most famous casino resorts in Las Vegas. Home of famous Crazy Girls show.
The Riviera or ‘The Riv’, opened on April 20, 1955 as the first high-rise and the ninth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The Riviera is one of the oldest and most famous casino resorts in Las Vegas. Home of famous Crazy Girls show.
Loved by some, reviled
by others and perceived with suspicion by many. This is how best payout online casinos for quick withdrawal are, those spaces where emotions are at their
peak and where you can experience all kinds of sensations, although the fun is
usually present. And it is that the chance is capricious and sometimes it
offers situations so rocky that they have entered the annals of the history of
this type of establishments, whose mecca continues being Las Vegas, but that
have been internationalized offering a possibility of leisure in very varied
environments. Incredible losses, epic gains, curious misunderstandings and
remarkable eccentricities season this compendium of anecdotes that can
summarize the things that can come to live in a casino and offer a portrait of
all its aspects.
To begin with, nothing
better than going back to 1950 and going to Las Vegas, the center of the world
of this sector. In the middle of the Cold War, the American army installed a
program of nuclear bombs tests just 112 kilometers away from the city. The
detonations could be heard and, above all, seen with total clarity from the
city, being channeled this dangerous fact as one more tourist attraction that
the festive tourists of Las Vegas enjoyed. Fixed schedules of the detonations
were even established so that visitors could see them.
Entering into the
matter of chance, some of the stories of Kerry Packer, an Australian
multimillionaire and gambling enthusiast, who on one of his great nights came
to ruin a casino, were left for posterity. A week after her visit, the
Aspinalls Club in London declared bankruptcy because Packer had pocketed
$300,000. Another legend of the casino is Ashley Revell, whose lack of
responsibility and madness about gambling led her to sell her house, car and
other personal items to bet everything on red in roulette. Her win caused
stupor, but it is the clear example of how far a human being with pathological
gambling behavior can go.
On July 14, 2000, one
of the most curious anecdotes occurred when the number 7 came up six times in a
row in roulette. The mathematical probability of this happening is 1 in 3 billion, so it
left everyone present astonished. But the history of casinos is not only made
up of great victories or tragic defeats, but also of curiosities. For example,
haven’t you ever wondered which is the smallest casino in the world? It’s
located in a cab! Yes, you read right. A London cab located in Birmingham
offers the possibility to play with a table, a croupier and a web server to
slot machines, being used to transport clients to Grosvenor Casino, so it
stands as a kind of warm-up.
Another curious
location of a casino is that of a prison. From 1932 to 1967 the Nevada State
Prison had among its facilities a poker room, blackjack, dice and other
elements. It was never able to operate with a license because it was denied
over and over again, but informally acted as such and the profits went to
improve the conditions of the prisoners. It’s simply incredible that something
like this could happen for so long. And finally, what many may not know is that
the FedEx courier company experienced a turning point in its history thanks to
the casinos.
The biggest jackpot
known to date
Slot machines are the
favorite game of many, and with good reason, since slots, as they are also
known, can amuse us for hours and hours, no matter if we are veterans or
complete beginners. There are two types of these machines: programmed and
random. The programmed machines are those that have to be played a number of
certain games for the machine to deliver a prize. These are generally found in
bars. On the other hand, slot machines are ruled by the RNG (Random Number
Generator) that makes the combinations always random and you have the same
possibilities of winning in each round you play, this type of machines are the
norm in casinos.
Some might think that
winning a lot of money in slot machines is impossible. However, this is false.
A gambler can testify that he won the biggest jackpot known to date. This
happened in 2003 in a casino in Las Vegas, where a person won $39 million in
one of the machines. And since then many people continue to win at the slot
machines.