REMEMBER WHEN: Vintage pools on the Las Vegas Strip — PHOTOS
By Madelon Hynes Las Vegas Review-Journal
The Glass Pool Inn is shown in this Oct. 6, 2003, photo on Las Vegas Boulevard South. The site was a popular place for photo shoots and appeared in TV programs and movies before it closed in 2003. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Mirage Motel on the Las Vegas Strip featured an aboveground swimming pool with porthole windows. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file)
The Glass Pool Inn, formerly the Mirage Motel, is shown on May 24, 1992. The site was a popular place for photo shoots and appeared in TV programs and movies before it closed in 2003. (Las Vegas Review-Journal file)
A nighttime view of the Desert Inn swimming pool on Dec. 5, 1952. (Don English/Las Vegas News Bureau)
A hometown publicity shoot for the Sands Hotel on July 22, 1955. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The swimming pool at the Dunes on Aug. 29, 1955. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Flamingo pool on June 22, 1953. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Guests enjoy the pool at the Thunderbird Hotel on April 6, 1956. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Gamblers play at the floating craps game in the Sands pool on June 30, 1953. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The swimming pool at the Dunes on Oct. 22, 1955. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Flamingo pool circa 1954. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Unidentified swimmers at the pool at the Riviera Hotel on June 18, 1956. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Women posing at the Desert Inn pool on July 1, 1950. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Frank Librise (butler) demonstrates how to keep cool and enjoy lunch during a photo shoot at the Thunderbird pool circa 1950. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The swimming pool at the Sands Hotel on July 21, 1956. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
A photo of the Thunderbird pool circa 1948. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Guests at the Sands Hotel enjoy gambling in the swimming pool on July 13, 1953. The dealers’ spot was a highly prized position, and the other workers, identified by their sun visors, got a chance to get a tan. (AP Photo/Dick Strobel)
The Thunderbird Hotel pool on July 15, 1954. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
From the Dunes to the Sands, the Thunderbird to the Flamingo, pools at landmark hotels on the Strip were the place to be in historic Las Vegas.
Guests could cool off at the popular V-shaped pool at the Dunes or the figure-8 pool at the Desert Inn Hotel, and those interested in gambling while taking a dip could do so at the Sands pool.
One of the best-known designed pools on the Strip was located at the Mirage Motel (later called the Glass Pool Inn). Opening in 1955, three years after the motel, the pool with porthole windows was a popular location shoot for decades, appearing in TV shows, music videos and movies.
Check out the photo gallery above for a look at vintage pools that kept visitors cool in the desert heat.
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