New Frontier Hotel and Casino | |
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The New Frontier in 2004
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Location | Paradise, Nevada |
Address | 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard South |
Opening date | October 30, 1942 |
Closing date | July 16, 2007 |
Theme | Western |
No. of rooms | 986 |
Total gaming space | 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) |
Signature attractions | Gilley's |
Notable restaurants | Gilley's Phil's Steakhouse |
Casino type | Land-based |
Owner | El-Ad Group |
Previous names | Last Frontier The Frontier |
Renovated in | 1967 1989 |
Coordinates | 36°7′46″N 115°10′6″W / 36.12944°N 115.16833°WCoordinates: 36°7′46″N 115°10′6″W / 36.12944°N 115.16833°W |
The New Frontier (formerly Last Frontier and The Frontier) was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, US. It was the second resort that opened on the Las Vegas Strip and operated continuously from October 30, 1942 until it closed on July 16, 2007. The building was demolished on November 13, 2007. The land is now owned by Crown Resorts, which began construction on Alon Las Vegas in 2015 and plans to open in 2018.
The property started as a nightclub called Pair-O-Dice that opened in 1930, then The Ambassador Night Club in 1936 and was renamed the 91 Club in 1939 for its location on US-91. It was subsequently rebuilt and renamed the Hotel Last Frontier in 1942. On April 4, 1955, it was renamed the New Frontier, following a modernization of the resort.
The resort had the distinction of hosting Elvis Presley's first Vegas appearance in 1956, and the final performance of Diana Ross and The Supremes on January 14, 1970.
In the 1950s and the early 1960s, the New Frontier went through a succession of owners and operators. In 1966 and 1967 (by which time it had been renamed The Frontier) the casino had secret ownership interests by Anthony Joseph Zerilli and Michael Polizzi, "two high-ranking members of the Detroit Mafia family" according to The Boardwalk Jungle by Ovid Demaris, along with Emprise Corporation (now called Delaware North Companies. In 1971, a federal trial in Los Angeles found Zerilli, Polizzi and four other individuals, along with Emprise, guilty of concealing their interest in the casino.)
On September 22, 1967, the resort was purchased for about $14 million by businessman Howard Hughes. Hughes purchased the resort from the previous owners, which had also included Steve Wynn, with a 5% interest, in one of his early ventures when he first moved to the Las Vegas area. (Wynn indicated that he did not know that the other owners had mob connections.