Moulin Rouge Hotel
Moulin Rouge Hotel opened in 1955 and closed in 1955, the same year, downtown near Fremont Street, with up to 110 rooms. On the site today: Empty land in Historic Westside; the first racially integrated casino in Las Vegas.
The story
When most Las Vegas casinos kept Black people out unless they were performers or staff, a group of investors opened the Moulin Rouge in West Las Vegas on 24 May 1955, with the boxer Joe Louis as host. It was the first integrated hotel casino in the United States. Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole performed there, and stars from the Strip came after their own shows, so it added a third show at 2.30 in the morning. The casino closed in October 1955. In 1960 the agreement to desegregate Strip casinos was reached at a meeting in the closed building. After fires and decades of failed plans, the last buildings came down in 2017.
- Opened1955
- Closed1955
- RoomsUp to 110
- There nowEmpty land in Historic Westside; the first racially integrated casino in Las Vegas
Nearby, also gone
- Las Vegas Club 1930–2015 · up to 410 roomsNow: Circa Resort & Casino
- The Mint 1957–1988 · up to 300 roomsNow: Part of Binion's
- Fitzgeralds 1980–today · up to 639 roomsNow: The D Las Vegas (renamed in 2012)
Old Vegas: where to still see it
Facts from Moulin Rouge Hotel on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).