The California Hotel and Casino (also known as The Cal) opened in 1975 at a cost of $10 million with a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

and

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

located in

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the St ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

near the

Fremont Street Experience The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of some ot ...

. When it opened it had 325 rooms which has since been expanded to 781. The California has been owned by

Boyd Gaming Boyd Gaming Corporation is an American gaming and hospitality company based in Paradise, Nevada. The company continues to be run by founder Sam Boyd's family under the management of Sam's son, Bill Boyd (born 1931), who currently serves as the ...

since it was built by

Sam Boyd Samuel A. Boyd (April 23, 1910 – January 15, 1993) was an American entrepreneur, casino manager and developer. He was noted for introducing successful marketing, gambling and entertainment innovations into the casino gambling industry, as ...

. After facing slow business initially, Boyd soon began focusing on the Hawaiian market, offering Hawaiian food and encouraging a more casual atmosphere. He introduced vacation packages from the islands, with charter airfares as low as $9.90. An estimated 80-90% of visitors to Las Vegas from Hawaii stay at a Boyd property. Boyd's Hawaiian marketing, which extended to the Fremont and

Main Street Station Main Street station may refer to: Canada * Main Street station (Toronto), a subway station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada * Main Street–Science World station, a SkyTrain station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada United Kingdom * Main Street ...

with their later acquisitions, is credited with helping to build a large Hawaiian community in Las Vegas, which is sometimes called "the ninth island". In 1989, the hotel designated the term Golden Arm, after Stanley Fujitake rolled

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

for three hours and six minutes in

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street c ...

without losing. In 1994 an additional tower was added and the remainder of the hotel was remodeled. The property is connected to

by an enclosed

walkway In American English, walkway is a composite or umbrella term for all engineered surfaces or structures which support the use of trails. ''The New Oxford American Dictionary'' also defines a walkway as "a passage or path for walking along, esp. a ...

. A multimillion-dollar redesign and renovation was announced in December 2015, and was completed in December 2016. The project included three new openings: Holo Holo – The Happy Bar, the Cal Sports Lounge, and Redwood Steakhouse. A Hawaiian cuisine restaurant, Aloha Specialties, was renovated as well. By the time of completion, work had already begun on updating 435 guest rooms and 56 suites in the west hotel tower with new carpet, fixtures, and furniture. The hotel renovation was expected to be finished in early 2017.

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External links

* {{Coord, 36, 10, 23, N, 115, 8, 40, W, type:landmark, display=title Casinos in the Las Vegas Valley Downtown Las Vegas Skyscraper hotels in Las Vegas Boyd Gaming Casinos completed in 1975 Hotel buildings completed in 1975 Hotels established in 1975 1975 establishments in Nevada Casino hotels

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