The Moulin Rouge Hotel was 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
West Las Vegas
West Las Vegas is a historic neighborhood in Las Vegas, Nevada. This area is located northwest of the Las Vegas Strip and the "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange of I-15 and US 95. It is also known as Historic West Las Vegas and more simply, the Wests ...
that was listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1992. Although its peak operation lasted only six months in the second half of 1955, it was the first
desegregated
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...
hotel casino and was popular with many of the Black entertainers of the time, who would entertain at the other hotels and casinos and stay at the Moulin Rouge.
The hotel was named after the Paris nightclub, the
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (, ; ) is a cabaret in Paris, on Boulevard de Clichy, at Place Blanche, the intersection of, and terminus of Rue Blanche.
In 1889, the Moulin Rouge was co-founded by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, who also owned the Olympia (P ...
.
History
Founding
At the time, almost all of the casinos 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 ...
and the
Strip
Strip or Stripping may refer to:
Places
* Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya
* Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...
were totally
segregated—off limits to Black people unless they were the entertainment or labor force. It was during this era that
Vester Heath saw the need for an integrated hotel. A group of white investors, led by Will Max Schwartz (38% ownership share), including
Louis Rubin (29% share), owner of
Chandler's Restaurant in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and
Alexander Bisno (31% share), who worked in
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
financed and opened the Moulin Rouge at a cost of $3.5 million.
Famed Black boxer
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...
was brought in with a small ownership share (2%) to serve as the official host.
[ Its 900 West Bonanza Road site placed it in a prime location between the Strip, which served a predominantly white audience, and the segregated Black neighborhood of West Las Vegas.
25 of 27 applicants (including Rubin and Louis) were granted gambling licenses by the state of Nevada to operate the hotel-casino in early May 1955, and the Moulin Rouge opened on May 24, 1955,][ on a site.] It was the first integrated hotel casino in the United States.[ The building was designed by local architects Walter Zick and Harris Sharp.]
Operating and direction
When it opened, the Moulin Rouge was fully integrated top to bottom, from employees to patrons to entertainers.
The hotel made th
June 20, 1955
cover of ''Life'' magazine, with a photo of two showgirl
A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing, toplessness, or nudity.
History
Showgirls date back to the late 180 ...
s. A veritable "A" list of performers regularly showed to party until dawn. Prominent Black singers and musicians such as Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...
, Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.
Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...
, Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
, Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
, Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress, singer and dancer. She is the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which was for her performance in '' C ...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
, Pearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in '' St. Louis Woman'' in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role i ...
, Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...
, and Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
would perform often. Many of these artists were banned from gambling or staying at the hotels on the Strip.[ In addition, white performers, including ]George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
, Jeanette MacDonald
Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and Actor, actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', ''Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow (1934 ...
, Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
, Frankie Laine
Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...
, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", "Louise", " Mimi", and "Thank Hea ...
, Zsa Zsa Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor (, ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were actresses Eva Gabor, Eva and Magda Gabor.
Gabor competed in the 1933 Mis ...
, Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...
, Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...
and Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
, would drop in after their shows to gamble and perform. Eventually management added a 2:30am "Third Show" to accommodate the crowds.[
]
Closure and landmarking
In October 1955 the doors of the Moulin Rouge were padlocked[ and the casino was closed. According to Michael Green, professor of history at Southern Nevada university: “In the end I think four factors sank the Moulin Rouge: bad management, bad location, bad timing and bad luck.”][ By December 1955, the casino had filed for ]bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
,[ which was granted the following March. Nevertheless, to maintain its gaming license, the Moulin Rouge (like many closed properties) operated on a temporary basis for a state-mandated minimum of eight hours every two years. For example, video poker machines were trucked in for a day] on June 19, 2012, June 11, 2014, and for the eighth time on May 29, 2018.
The hotel was leased separately and kept operating after the closure of the casino. Leo Frey purchased and reopened the resort in 1957, but it continued with limited services in the years afterward and the showroom was closed for 22 years.[ Other limited operations included the hotel building being used for a public housing apartment complex][ and souvenir retail. In 1992 the property was listed on the City of Las Vegas Historic Property Register] and the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
[ as a symbol of expanding Black civil rights and a monument of Las Vegas's past.
]
Civil-rights heritage
Front-of-the-house Black workers (dancers, dealers, and waiters) failed to get hired at other casinos after the Moulin Rouge closed in October 1955.[ Segregation continued as part of normal Las Vegas operations. In one incident in the late 1950s, ex-Moulin Rouge dancer Anna Bailey was part of a group of Black women who went to the Sands to watch Frank Sinatra perform; after being stopped by security and denied entry, Sinatra himself escorted them into the lounge and seated them at his private table.][ The short but vibrant life of the Moulin Rouge helped the ]Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
in Las Vegas. Many of those who enjoyed and were employed by the hotel became activists and supporters. The hotel was also the spark needed to bring an end to segregation on the Strip.
Bob Bailey, the former emcee at the Moulin Rouge, and his wife Anna, a dancer in the show, became friends with local civil rights leaders, including Drs. Charles West and James McMillan, the first Black doctor and dentist in Las Vegas, respectively. In 1960, under threat of a protest march down the Las Vegas Strip against racial discrimination by Las Vegas casinos, a meeting was hurriedly arranged by then-Governor Grant Sawyer
Frank Grant Sawyer (December 14, 1918 – February 19, 1996) was an American politician. He was the List of Governors of Nevada, 21st Governor of Nevada from 1959 to 1967. He was a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. ...
between hotel owners, city and state officials, local Black leaders, and Dr. McMillan, then serving as president of the local NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
. The meeting was held on March 26 at the closed Moulin Rouge. This resulted in an agreement to desegregate all Strip casinos.[ ]Hank Greenspun
Herman Milton "Hank" Greenspun (August 27, 1909 – July 23, 1989) was the publisher of the ''Las Vegas Sun'' newspaper. He purchased the ''Sun'' in 1949, and served as its editor and publisher until his death. Greenspun was also a promine ...
, who would become the publisher of the ''Las Vegas Sun
The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily Subscription business model, subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays ...
'', mediated the agreement.[
]
Preservation and fires
Frey instituted a policy of charging Black patrons more for drinks than white patrons, for which his liquor license was revoked in 1960, 1961, and 1962.[ Ironically, with the ending of segregation in Las Vegas with the Moulin Rouge Agreements of 1960, westside businesses and the Moulin Rouge itself suffered, as Black patrons were no longer limited to segregated businesses.][ For a while the hotel was owned by the first ]African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
woman to hold a Nevada Gaming License, Sarann Knight-Preddy
Sarann Knight-Preddy (July 27, 1920 – December 22, 2014) was an American business leader and gaming pioneer in the U.S. state of Nevada. In 1950, she became the "first and only woman of color to receive a gaming license" in the state. She was t ...
, who first leased the site in 1985, then purchased it for approximately $2 million from Leo Frey in 1989.[
Although the Moulin Rouge complex remained shuttered for decades, many failed plans were hatched to rebuild and reopen the cultural landmark. But on May 29, 2003, a fire gutted the complex. The facade, with its signature stylized name was spared destruction. In 2004, a man arrested near the property was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of arson in connection with the fire.
January 2004 saw the Moulin Rouge sold again for $12.1 million to the Moulin Rouge Development Corporation. The stylized "Moulin Rouge" neon marquee sign was turned back on. A $200 million renovation of the site was announced but was never completed; the site was rezoned to allow two onsite towers with 1,727 hotel rooms and a casino, along with space for a restaurant/bar, offices, retail, meeting spaces, performing arts, and a wedding chapel.][ The two planned towers would have reached in height, each sheathed in a "multi-toned red curtain wall". Instead, the developers went bankrupt in 2008 and a receiver was appointed for the property.]
Following a February 2009 decision to tear down the structures as a public nuisance
In English criminal law, public nuisance was a common law offence in which the injury, loss, or damage is suffered by the public, in general, rather than an individual, in particular.
In Australia
In ''Kent v Johnson'' the Supreme Court of the ...
, the third fire in four years on May 6 of that year caused significant damage to the original hotel lobby building, but did not touch the remaining original exterior wall that held the script marquee. The signage had just been removed for storage at the Neon Museum
The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, features signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.62 acres. The museum features a restored lobby shell from the defunct La Concha Motel as its visitors' center, which ...
boneyard. The property, which was in foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
at the time of the fire, had failed to sell at a foreclosure auction
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan.
Formally, a mortg ...
the day before.[
In June 2010, the Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission approved permits for demolition of the remains of the buildings,][ citing numerous concerns by the city about the safety of the structures. Instead of demolishing what was left of the hotel wings, which had seemed to catch fire every few years, the city instead demolished the stone exterior wall, pillar, and facade that held the marquee sign. Also destroyed was the landmark tower that stood over the West side and was a symbol to the residents. The tower, which the city claimed was unstable, took nearly half a day of weakening to finally pull down. In February 2011, the red mosaic pillars still laid in the empty lot, and the unstable, fire hazard hotel wings still stood.
In 2017, the receiver awarded Clark County the right to redevelop the Moulin Rouge site, but the county withdrew its bid after an outcry from neighborhood residents over the proposed reuse, a government building.][ The demolition of the remaining hotel buildings was approved in August][ and carried out in October of that year after a final fire. In July 2019 a bid by a local group called Moulin Rouge LLC to develop a new hotel, casino, and convention center complex was accepted; a bid by a rival group also proposed a new casino and hotel.][
As of 2020, only the sign frame remains. The site is totally flat. It was sold to BBC Capital, a private equity investment firm based in Australia, in November 2020, for $3.1 million. The firm plans to build a casino on the site. The Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority has expressed an interest in acquiring the northern parcel to develop market rate housing integrated with the Marble Manor development.
]
Design
The complex itself consisted of two " Googie-populuxe" Modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
style stuccoed buildings that housed the hotel, the casino, and a theater: a single-story casino/theater building was attached to a two-story vee-shaped hotel building to its west, enclosing a courtyard formed by the hotel building and the west wall of the casino/theater.[ The exterior had a neon sign with the hotel's name in stylized cursive writing][ and murals depicting dancing and fancy cars. The marquee and roadside signs were designed by Betty Willis, creator of the " Welcome to Las Vegas" sign at the south end of the Strip.]
Setting and theme
The hotel was located in West Las Vegas, where the black population lived. West Las Vegas was bounded by Washington Avenue Washington Avenue may refer to:
United States
* Washington Avenue (Miami Beach) in Miami Beach, Florida
* Washington Avenue (Milford Mill, Maryland)
* Washington Avenue (Towson, Maryland)
* Washington Avenue (Minneapolis), a major street in Minne ...
on the north, Bonanza Road
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on ...
on the south, H Street on the west, and A Street on the east.
The establishment was a model of eye-catching, 110 rooms, a gorgeous showroom, swimming pool, restaurant/coffee shop, dress-shop, and bar which was constructed of highly polished and expensive hardwoods.
The exterior murals of the Moulin Rouge Las Vegas included many references to Paris and Toulouse-Lautrec. "Black showgirls performed on a stage amid a backdrop of walls featuring mahogany wood trim and Toulouse-Lautrec
Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the la ...
-style murals of black French cancan dancers."
The Moulin Rouge in Paris was a primary source of inspiration. When the casino opened, Clarence Robinson produced the floor show
''Floor Show'' was a Canadian music variety television series which aired on CBC Television in 1953.
Premise
Monty Hall, a Toronto radio broadcaster in the 1950s, made his television debut as ''Floor Shows host. The series featured dance ban ...
which concluded with the "Tropi Can Can",[ inspired by the French Cancan. The original was created in the 19th century to the Moulin Rouge Paris: «The Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino opened on May 24, 1955, to fanfare, long lines of well-dressed visitors, and Las Vegas' newest showroom revue, the Tropi-Can-Can Revue» This inspiration comes from the first Afro-American star in France, ]Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
.
Other references to Paris included:
* The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
Locally nicknamed "'' ...
appears vertically on the sign of the establishment, and also on the casino chips,
* A French Chef was at the head of the largest gastronomic restaurant of the establishments
* From the entrance, security personnel were dressed in the uniform of the French Foreign Legion as allusion to France and Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...
, who made a comeback after the war with Yves Montand
Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer.
Early life
Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held strong ...
at the Moulin Rouge. According to the press, this added a touch of glamour in Las Vegas.
References
External links
We Shall Overcome - Moulin Rouge
* ttp://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2004/12/09/cover_story/cover.txt Hidden histories
Former Showgirl Recalls Working at Moulin Rouge
*
*
*
{{Authority control
History of racial segregation in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Las Vegas
Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley
Defunct hotels in the Las Vegas Valley
Architecture in Las Vegas
Modernist architecture in Nevada
Casinos completed in 1955
Hotel buildings completed in 1955
Hotels established in 1955
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada
West Las Vegas
1955 establishments in Nevada