The Boardwalk Hotel and Casino was a

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

-style hotel on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

. It was owned and operated by

MGM Mirage MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Par ...

. It was part of the

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

hotel chain until it was acquired by MGM in 2000. It was built before the era of the mega-casinos, and with 653 rooms was relatively small compared to many properties in its vicinity. The Boardwalk was located in between the

Bellagio Bellagio may refer to: * Bellagio, Lombardy, an Italian town * Bellagio (resort), a luxury resort and casino in Las Vegas * Bellagio (Hong Kong), a private housing building * Bellagio declaration, an intellectual copyright resolution * 79271 Bellag ...

and the

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

and across from the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

and MGM Grand. The hotel's Coney Island theme could be seen in its facade with an original 1906

parachute jump The Parachute Jump is a defunct amusement ride and a landmark in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, along the Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island. Situated in Steeplechase Plaza near the B&B Carousell, the structure consists of a , open- ...

ride and a faux

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also b ...

. The hotel was composed of three distinct buildings all built at different times. The newest building was the sixteen-story tower built in 1996.

History

The Boardwalk began as a 138-room

hotel, planned for opening in August 1965. The hotel included a restaurant, cocktail lounge, and meeting space with a capacity for 100 people. The hotel, located at 3740 South

Las Vegas Boulevard Las Vegas Boulevard is a major road in Clark County, Nevada, United States, best known for the Las Vegas Strip portion of the road and its casinos. Formerly carrying U.S. Route 91 (US 91), which had been the main highway between Los Angel ...

, was designed by architect Homer Rissman and was completed in 1966. The hotel first opened with a six-floor tower, ultimately known as the

Steeplechase Steeplechase may refer to: * Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles * Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...

tower. In March 1966, employees of the Holiday Inn, who were represented by the

Culinary Workers Union The Culinary Workers Union, UNITE HERE Local 226 is a local union affiliated with UNITE HERE which operates in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. Members include a variety of occupations organized along craft lines working in restaurants, ...

, began

picketing Picketing is a form of protest in which people (called pickets or picketers) congregate outside a place of work or location where an event is taking place. Often, this is done in an attempt to dissuade others from going in (" crossing the pick ...

in front of the hotel, alleging that they did not receive wages and conditions that were standard for the area. Holiday Inn denied the claim, stating that wages and conditions were equal to or above local standards. The union ultimately lost its fight. A second hotel tower, eventually known as the Luna Park tower, opened in 1968. Norbert Jansen, former owner of Pioneer Club, opened a gift shop, Holiday Gifts, at the hotel in 1972. In October 1975, the hotel's innkeeper died in a fire that was believed to have been started by a cigarette. The fire was confined to the innkeeper's room on the fifth floor, and caused approximately $40,000 in damage. Guests of the fifth floor were evacuated, and approximately 10 were treated for smoke inhalation. Later that month, the Holiday Inn received approval from the

Clark County Commission The Clark County Commission is the governmental organization that governs and runs Clark County, Nevada, providing services to the unincorporated areas. Its offices are located at the Clark County Government Center in Downtown Las Vegas. The commi ...

for a 10-story, 300-room expansion. The hotel was located on . In December 1977, the

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board, also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming ...

voted against Avis Jansen's plan to install 15 slot machines at the gift shop, then known as Holiday Gifts South. She had been rejected due to the fact that her husband Norbert was the landlord of the business; he had previously been convicted of tax evasion in the 1960s, and was also involved in a company that filed bankruptcy. The gift shop soon began operating a casino on the site known as Slot Joynt. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the hotel was known as Holiday Inn South and Holiday Inn South Strip, differentiating it from other Holiday Inn hotels in the city. The hotel was renamed as the Viscount in 1985.

Boardwalk (1989–2006)

In 1989, under the management of Jansen, the hotel and casino were branded Boardwalk Hotel & Casino (alternately, Holiday Inn Casino Boardwalk, or Boardwalk Holiday Inn). Boardwalk became a public corporation ( Boardwalk Casino, Inc.) in 1994. The carnival facade was built the following year and a 15-floor, 451-room tower was finished in 1996. In 1996,

Jacobs Entertainment Jacobs Entertainment, Inc. is a Gaming, Hospitality, and Entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more li ...

made a $9 million investment in the Boardwalk. In December 1997,

Mirage Resorts Mirage Resorts (formerly Golden Nugget Companies) was an American company that owned and operated hotel-casinos. It was acquired by MGM Grand, Inc. in 2000, forming MGM Mirage (now MGM Resorts International). History Golden Nugget Companies Inc. ...

agreed to purchase the Boardwalk and three adjacent parcels for $135 million. The $105 million Boardwalk sale was approved by the

and the

Nevada Gaming Commission The Nevada Gaming Commission is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of casinos throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. In 1959, the Nevada Gaming Commission ("Commission") was created by the pass ...

in June 1998. At the time, the Holiday Inn Boardwalk included 650 employees, 653 rooms and a casino. Minor improvements were planned for the Boardwalk, with no immediate plans to replace it. A decision to expand or replace the Boardwalk was expected within three or four years. When

took ownership in 2000, the Holiday Inn name was dropped. The hotel and casino closed on January 9, 2006, and the main hotel tower was imploded by

Controlled Demolition, Inc. Controlled Demolition, Inc. (CDI) is a building implosion, controlled demolition firm headquartered in Phoenix, Maryland. The firm was founded by Jack Loizeaux who used dynamite to remove tree stumps in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and moved on to ...

(CDI) on May 9, 2006. The property is now the location of

Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas The Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas, formerly the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, is a 47-story luxury hotel and condominium building in the CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is managed by Hilton Worldwide as part of the W ...

CityCenter Aria Campus, commonly known by its former name CityCenter, is a mixed-use, urban complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is located on and contains a total of . The complex includes Aria Resort and Casino, the Vdara condo-hotel, t ...

Attractions

*Wedding gazebo *Two small pools *Several restaurants including a

sushi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...

bar and the 24-hour "Surf Buffet" *75-seat

race and sports book In the United States, a sportsbook or a race and sports book (sometimes abbreviated as book) is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, horse racing, ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

cover band

Purple Reign ''Purple Reign'' is the sixteenth mixtape by American rapper Future, hosted and executive-produced by DJ Esco and Metro Boomin. It was released on January 17, 2016 with an 11-hour notice via LiveMixtapes and DatPiff. It is Future's first non-comm ...

References

External links

Video recording of the Boardwalk implosion
{{Las Vegas Strip Casinos completed in 1966 Hotel buildings completed in 1966 Hotel buildings completed in 1996 Hotels established in 1966 Hotels disestablished in 2006 Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley Defunct hotels in the Las Vegas Valley 2006 disestablishments in Nevada Buildings and structures demolished in 2006 Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion Skyscraper hotels in Paradise, Nevada Demolished hotels in Clark County, Nevada Casino hotels 1966 establishments in Nevada