Casinos & Gaming
1952: Milton Prell opens the Hotel Sahara with 240 rooms. The $5.5 million, Moroccan-themed resort is decorated with life-sized camels. Ray Bolger, the scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz,” headlines in the Congo Room until 1957.
Peter Villalobos will be at his front desk terminal Monday when the Sahara’s final guest checks out at around noon. The nearly 60-year-old Strip resort will cease operations two hours later, a victim of both the recession and of progress.
Paul Lowden is planning to have one last dinner at the Sahara’s famous House of Lords steakhouse tonight.
It seems appropriate.
