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| 2008/12/14 14:30:33瀏覽425｜回應0｜推薦1 | |
| In the article that appeared in these pages earlier this year, it was noted that many of the original casinos on the Las Vegas Strip were given names that recalled their desert surroundings. Among these were the Mirage, the Aladdin, the Sahara, the Desert Inn and the Sands. The last one on that list is the casino that we will be focusing on in today's lesson.
Somewhat fittingly, this Monday marks the 56th anniversary of its opening. Let it be noted, though, that anyone thinking about celebrating the occasion at the Copa Room, the best known bar in the casino/hotel, is a dozen years too late. The Sands Las Vegas was demolished in June of 1996 in a controlled implosion. A gambling facility bearing the Sands name has risen anew in Macao for another lesson. For today we will take a look back in tme and recall some of the most memorable moments from the Sands' storied history. Most of the recollections will center on the Sands Las Vegas, though we will also touch on the Sands Atlantic City before our lesson concludes. During its heyday, meaning the 1950s through the 1970s, the Sands was the place to be and be seen in when in Vegas. The above-cited Copa Room was the site of a series of standard-setting performances in the 1960s featuring Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr.,Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and--Ol' Blue Eyes himself--Frank Sinatra. The super group was referred to as the "Rat Pack" during the three-week stint on the Copa Room's stage. The name stuck and the five crooners were referred to as thus from there on out. It's worth pointng out that the Rat Pack's inaugural engagement was labeled "Summit at the Sands" and staged expressly for the filming of the orginal Ocean's Eleven film in 1960. A few years later billionaire Howard Hughes bought the Sands and immediately added a towering 500-room wing to the existing property. The good times did not last, however. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was clear its best days were behind the Sands. In the lead-up to demolition, the Nicolas Cage blockbuster Con Air was filmed on the premises. The climactic scene features a C-130 --filled with hardened criminals in a prison transfer -- crash land on the Strip and come to a final stop in the Sands lobby. The Sands casino empire continued making a go of it on into the 21th century with its Sans Atlantic City property. In summer of last year, however, that casino was similarly imploded to make room for a bigger and ostensibly better gambling facility. In the run-up to demolition, a veritable treasure trove in loose change was exposed by removal crews. After the 2,350 slot machines were unbolted, a mother lode of coins emerged. Twenty-six years' worth of lost change was collected and counted, with the final tally surpassing even the most optimistic of estimates. Most of the coins were quarters, though dimes, nickels, pennies, fifty-cent pieces and the odd silver dollar were all present. An occasional banknote -- including a couple of C-notes -- were also present. Spokeswoman Carmen Gonzales of pinnacle Entertainment, future developer of yhe site, noted: "Some of the coins were stuck to the floor, they had been there so long. They were real gunky and dirty, and had become like part of the cement. We had to dig them out of the floor with a knife." Then came the pain of counting them all. The entire mound totaled US$17,193.34 in coins and the occasional bill. More money was expected to come in from the sale of old gambling chips. Collectors for rare editions, though the typical specimen bearing the Sands logo sells for under US$100. |
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