River City Casino was a twin riverboat casino complex (Grand Palais and Crescent City Queen) in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, located one block upriver from

New Orleans Morial Convention Center The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is located in Downtown New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The lower end of building one is located upriver from Canal Street on the banks of the Mississippi River. It is named after former Mayor of N ...

. It was the

brainchild Brainchild may refer to: * Brainchild (band), a local supergroup from Youngstown, Ohio, 1969–1972 * ''Brainchild'' (Society of Soul album), 1996 * ''Brainchild'' (Circle of Dust album), 1994 * Fictional comic characters in the Marvel Universe: ...

Christopher Hemmeter Christopher Hemmeter (October 8, 1939 – November 27, 2003) was an American real estate developer who pioneered the concept of destination resorts in Hawaii and was involved in gambling development of casinos, primarily in New Orleans and Col ...

(operating the Grand Palais riverboat) with a 50/50 joint venture with Capital Gaming International (operating the Crescent City Queen riverboat). The two riverboat complex partially circumvented Louisiana state law (repealed in 2001) requiring riverboat gaming vessels to make the required 90-minute cruise once every three-hour period weather permitting. There would always be at least one vessel docked while the other would sail so patrons would never have to wait in line to board a gaming vessel. The riverboats opened for only nine weeks from March 29 - June 13, 1995. The terminal building complex was still in the ongoing interior construction phase when casino revenue was far below projections, additional funding was not secured and work was abruptly halted with construction tools, blueprints and materials left in place. Riverboat at New Orleans 1996

Bankruptcy

The riverboats and its licenses were eventually sold off and transferred to other companies. Isle of Capri in Lake Charles acquired the Grand Palais (with license) in 1996. Isle's parent company, Casino America paid $55 million for the Grand Palais Riverboat in January 1996, with a package of cash, notes, stock, warrants, and by assuming $10 million of Grand Palais' existing liabilities.

Boomtown New Orleans Boomtown New Orleans (formerly Boomtown Westbank) is a casino hotel located on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, Jefferson Parish in Harvey, Louisiana. It is on a site. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn ...

acquired the Crescent City Queen riverboat without license in 1998 (renamed as Boomtown Belle II) to replace the smaller Boomtown Belle riverboat. Crescent City Queen's gaming license was transferred in 1996 to Casino Magic, which then operated a docked riverboat casino in Bossier City, later renamed

Boomtown Bossier City Boomtown Bossier City (formerly Casino Magic Bossier City) is a hotel and casino located in Bossier City, Louisiana. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. History Casino Magic Corp. merged with Hollywoo ...

. Boomtown's parent company, Pinnacle Entertainment revived the

River City Casino River City Casino is a casino in Lemay, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. It opened on March 4, 2010. History Located in Lemay, Missouri, River City Casino is on the ...

name for its newest property in the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

area when it opened in March 2010.

Current status of riverboat terminal complex

After being shuttered since its closure in June 1995, the terminal building complex was acquired by

Mardi Gras World Mardi Gras World (also known as Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World, MGW) is a tourist attraction located in New Orleans. Guests tour the 300,000 square foot working warehouse where floats are made for Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. Mardi Gras World ...

owner Barry Kern in early 2008 and became one of the venue offerings of Mardi Gras World (New Orleans tour attraction and events venue). The acquisition more than quadrupled Mardi Gras World's event space. After more than 13 years of dormancy, the River City Complex finally saw new life during the

Krewe of Boo Krewe of Boo is New Orleans' official Halloween parade krewe. The parade was created by the Mardi Gras World owner and founder Blaine Kern Sr. Krewe members must be at least 18 years of age. The inaugural parade was held on Halloween night 2008 in ...

inaugural parade on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

night 2008. It was also the site of the

Gulf Aid A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

benefit concert with

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

as the headlining act during the

BP oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered ...

crisis on May 16, 2010. Since then, the River City Complex has become New Orleans' premiere event venue and has hosted events for the NFL, Microsoft, Lexus and more.

In popular culture

The Crescent City Queen riverboat was featured in an episode of the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

TV series The Big Easy in 1996 while it was still docked at the shuttered River City Casino terminal complex. The interior of the CCQ was also used in the pilot episode of the short lived CBS TV series Orleans starring

Larry Hagman Larry Martin Hagman (September 21, 1931 – November 23, 2012) was an American film and television actor, director, and producer, best known for playing ruthless oil baron J. R. Ewing in the 1978–1991 primetime television soap opera, ''Dal ...

in 1997. In the movie Déjà Vu, the white terminal complex could be briefly seen in the background with a cruise ship docked next to it in the scene where

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

and Val Kilmer investigate the

Canal Street Ferry The Canal Street Ferry, also known as the Algiers Ferry, is a ferry across the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana, connecting the foot of Canal Street in the Central Business District of New Orleans with Algiers on the West Bank. I ...

explosion underneath the

Crescent City Connection The Crescent City Connection (CCC), formerly the Greater New Orleans Bridge (GNO), is a pair of cantilever bridges that carry U.S. Highway 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) over the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. They ...

bridge.

References

External links

Hemmeter Companies > River City
past project portfolio
Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras WorldNew Orleans Virtual Archive: River City Casino
(Tulane University School of Architecture)
River City Casino: Grand Palais casino chips
(ChipGuide.com)
River City Casino: Crescent City Queen casino chips
(ChipGuide.com)
Satellite view of the former River City Casino riverboat terminal complex in New Orleans, Louisiana
(Google Maps)
Satellite view of the Grand Palais riverboat (now docked at The Isle of Capri Lake Charles Casino in Westlake, Louisiana)
(Google Maps)
Satellite view of the former Crescent City Queen riverboat (now docked at Boomtown New Orleans Casino as Boomtown Belle II in Harvey, Louisiana)
(Google Maps) {{coord missing, New Orleans 1995 establishments in Louisiana 1995 disestablishments in Louisiana Buildings and structures in New Orleans Casinos completed in 1995 Casinos in Louisiana Defunct riverboat casinos