El Rancho
El Rancho opened in 1948 and closed in 1992, after 44 years, on the Las Vegas Strip, with up to 1,007 rooms. On the site today: Fontainebleau Las Vegas (site of the Thunderbird, later the El Rancho).
The story
Marion Hicks and Clifford Jones, then Nevada's lieutenant governor, opened the Navajo-themed Thunderbird on 2 September 1948. In the mid-1950s the state looked into claims that Mafia figures secretly held a stake in it, but the owners prevailed. It staged Flower Drum Song and South Pacific. Major Riddle leased it from 1977 and renamed it the Silverbird, but it closed on 3 December 1981 after his death. Ed Torres reopened it as the El Rancho on 31 August 1982, named after the old El Rancho Vegas across the road. It closed for good on 6 July 1992. The tower was imploded on 3 October 2000, and Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened on the land on 13 December 2023.
- Opened1948
- Closed1992
- RoomsUp to 1,007
- There nowFontainebleau Las Vegas (site of the Thunderbird, later the El Rancho)
Nearby, also gone
- Riviera 1955–2015 · up to 2,075 roomsNow: Convention center space on the eastern part; the Strip frontage is for sale
- El Rancho Vegas 1941–1960 · up to 222 roomsNow: A Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare and MGM's Festival Grounds, across from the SAHARA
- Westward Ho 1963–2005 · up to 777 roomsNow: Mostly empty land and a McDonald's, between Resorts World and Circus Circus
Old Vegas: where to still see it
Facts from El Rancho Hotel and Casino on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).