Sands Hotel and Casino
Crime bosses such as Doc Stacher[1] and Meyer Lansky acquired shares in the hotel and attracted Frank Sinatra, who made his performing debut at Sands in October 1953.[1] Numerous sources state that organized crime figures Meyer Lansky[5] and Doc Stacher;[6] illegal bookmakers like Mike Shapiro,[7][a] Ed Levinson,[11] and Sid Wyman; as well as Hyman Abrams and Jack Entratter[12] were involved in the financing of Sands and had shares in it.[15] The tag line would be "A Place in the Sun", named after a recently released film starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, and quite suitable to the hot desert location of Las Vegas.Entratter made many show business friends during his time at the nightclub; he was able to use these connections to sign performers for the Sands Copa Room.[20] In the early years, Freedman and his wife Carolyn were one of its attractions, wearing "matching white, leather outfits, replete with identical cowboy boots and hats".[21] Lansky and Costello brought the Sands to Frank Sinatra's attention, and he began staying at the hotel and gambling there during breaks from Hollywood, though some sources state that he was not a hardcore gambler.[25][26] Sinatra typically played at Sands three times a year, sometimes a two-week stint, which "brought in the big rollers, a lot of oil money from Texas".[b] In 1955, limited integration came to heavily segregated Las Vegas when the Sands first allowed Nat King Cole to stay at the hotel and perform.During that time, the movie's stars Sinatra, Dean Martin, Davis, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford performed on stage together in the Copa Room.[33] Hughes plotted to oust Sinatra from the Sands for good, and asked Robert Maheu to draw up a plan shortly after the new hotel opened in 1967.His IOUs, chits or "markers" were torn up at the end of Sinatra's engagements because he was considered to be good for business—bringing the hotel more monetary value than the worth of his gambling losses.[35][c][d] Fuming, Sinatra began what The Los Angeles Times describes as a "weekend-long tirade" against the "hotel's management, employees and security forces.Jack, Edward and Willian Pratt, said they will spend $40 million in renovating the Sands Hotel and expanding the rooms, casino and public area accommodations, but subsequently bought it back as they were unable to make a profit.[49] The next year, MGM sold it for $110 million to Las Vegas Sands, a new company formed by the owners of The Interface Group, including Sheldon Adelson, Richard Katzeff, Ted Cutler, Irwin Chafetz and Jordan Shapiro.The hotel is arguably most associated with its 56 feet (17 m) high sign, made iconic with photographs of the Rat Pack standing underneath it.Author Alan Hess wrote that the "sleek Modernism of the Sands leaped past the Flamingo to set a higher standard of sophistication for Las Vegas."[59] The porte-cochère of the hotel featured three great sharp-edged pillars jutting out in front of the glass-fronted building, angling down into the ground, which resembled fins.The bar featured bas-reliefs with a Western theme, including cowboys, racing wagons and Joshua trees, designed by Allan Stewart of Claremont College, California.Stern's plan amounted to an almost total rebuild of the main building and erased most of the defining features of McAllister's original design.It became a great place for socializing between the stars after 5 pm,[4] including the Rat Pack, and Jerry Lewis, Steve Lawrence and Don Rickles.[18] Some of the more famed singers like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. had to sign contracts to ensure that they headline for a given number of weeks a year.Notable performers included Judy Garland,[67] Lena Horne (one of the first black performers at the hotel,[68] billed as "The Satin Doll"), Jimmy Durante,[69] Dean Martin, Pat Cooper, Shirley MacLaine, Marlene Dietrich,[70] Tallulah Bankhead,[71] Shecky Greene,[72] Martin and Lewis, Danny Thomas, Bobby Darin,[73] Ethel Merman, Rich Little,[74] Louis Armstrong,[75] Jerry Lee Lewis, French singer Edith Piaf, Nat King Cole, Robert Merrill,[76] Wayne Newton,[77] Red Skelton,[78] and "The Copa Girls".Hollywood celebrities such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall,[79] Elizabeth Taylor, Yul Brynner, Kirk Douglas,[80] Lucille Ball and Rosalind Russell were often photographed enjoying the headline acts.[83] Morrissey's B-side track, "At Amber" (1990), takes place at the Sands Hotel, and recounts its by-then aging and somewhat seedy atmosphere.Often the festivities would carry over after hours to Morrelli's home in Las Vegas, nicknamed "The Morelli House", which was eventually relocated and sanctioned an historical landmark by the State of Nevada.
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