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Oct. 05, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Moulin Rouge gets another go

Owners announce plan to redevelop site of historic downtown casino

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A Pioneer Trail interpretive sign stands in front of the Moulin Rouge on Bonanza Road on Thursday in downtown Las Vegas. Owners of the first integrated casino in Las Vegas say they will start demolishing the vacant landmark and submit plans for a new project on the site.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Owners of the site where entertainers like Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte basked in the vibe of the first integrated casino in Las Vegas say they are poised to revive the soul of that historic spot.

Dale Scott, president and CEO of the Moulin Rouge Development Corp., said he expects to begin demolishing vacant, dilapidated buildings along Bonanza Road within 60 days and submit plans for a new Moulin Rouge resort to the Las Vegas Planning Commission by year's end.

If he succeeds in redeveloping the 15-acre site, it would mark the reversal of a run of unstable ownership, bankruptcy, deterioration and vacancy that's plagued the former Moulin Rouge site for more than 50 years.

It would also result in a resort at an unlikely location in a part of downtown Las Vegas that has copious amounts of litter and vagrancy but very few storefronts and almost no attractions for tourists except for a modest sidewalk marker that notes the Moulin Rouge's significance in Las Vegas' history.


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    • Scott, 46, a retired Air Force master sergeant who bought into the site in 2004, has yet to reveal who would finance the project, although he says they are from outside Las Vegas.

    He did, however, say the company's vision is to create a hotel-casino with a 750-room hotel, more than 100,000 square feet of gaming and upscale amenities that would attract local and tourist traffic.

    "It is going to be an actual hotel-casino, kind of an updated version of what it was yesterday," said Alan Glover, marketing director for the Moulin Rouge company.

    It's not the first time Scott and his business partners have raised hopes for a revival of the bygone casino. In 2004, shortly after taking over the property in the wake of a fire that destroyed the original structure the previous year, Scott described plans for a 40,000-square-foot casino, a 500-room hotel, a Motown Café and a community center. Later that year he scaled down the plans.

    The most tangible change on the site in recent years included closing a short-term apartment building, boarding up the windows and painting the structure purple with gold trim.

    The front of the property is now protected by decorative steel gates and the sides are lined with chain-link fencing topped by curls of razor wire.

    It wasn't always so.

    The Moulin Rouge opened in 1955 as an integrated casino-hotel in a community that had been referred to as the "Mississippi of the West," because of a reputation for segregation and bigotry.

    Despite the hostile social climate in Las Vegas the Moulin Rouge quickly became a hot spot that attracted crowds from the Strip to its after-hours club where artists like Sinatra gave impromptu performances. Other performers at the Moulin Rouge included the Platters, Count Basie, George Burns and Gregory Hines.

    Just six months after opening, the Moulin Rouge closed under suspicious circumstances. It reopened in 1960 and served as a hub for activists who helped negotiate an end to segregation in the downtown and Strip casinos.

    The ensuing and perpetual decline of the site has been interrupted sporadically with hopes for a revival and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. But so far none of the proposals have ever made it off the drawing board.

    Las Vegas casino historians, enthusiasts and researchers have said the site's distance from other downtown casinos and the overall condition of the neighborhood work against any revival of the property.

    "It's in a low-income area, which makes it tough for something that elaborate to make it," historian Michael Green said in 2004. "It's not that it is in a jinxed location, I hope, but the history almost reads that way."

    Contact reporter Ben Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or (702) 477-3861.



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    turbopidar wrote on May 02, 2008 01:21 PM: megaupload files
    will definitely make it easy for you to search megaupload files instead of using complex Google operators.


    Proud wrote on January 06, 2008 09:38 AM: It is unfortunate that so many insecure individuals are intimidated by the possibility that a pipe dream could come to fruition.


    H.B. wrote on November 01, 2007 11:42 AM: Buck the reason, however short lived, The Moulin Rouge was important in Black History is because it took a Jim Crowe town and broke down all barriers never before seen in our history. It was the only Hotel where Black entertainers could not ony perform
    but stay.
    Pre the Civil Rights movement this was an unheard of accomplishment.
    I am proud that my Grandfather was involved in this venture.


    cc wrote on October 20, 2007 07:15 AM: Whats next a casino resort in Harlem


    Tae wrote on October 19, 2007 09:16 AM: I stand corrected G I misread some info i got on the city...thanks for informing me


    G wrote on October 18, 2007 04:28 PM: Tae-The population of the entire state has not increased by 2 million in the last 3 years.


    Tae wrote on October 17, 2007 02:20 PM: A casino in the ghetto…..funny. Many great people and things were birthed from the ghetto. However instead of thinking in that manner why not consider it as a casino coming into a community that could possibly be revitalized. I think that is a great endeavor offering not only rejuvenation to the community but to the city alone. Tourist and locals need something new in this city because the strip is becoming routine. The Moulin Rouge was one of the first integrated casinos in Las Vegas it should not only hold historic significance here in the city but throughout the world. It appears that the residents of Las Vegas who are quick to reject the project are those who are blind to the fact that the city is growing in population. In the past three years the population has increased by over two million people and it continues to grow. If anything locals should embrace the idea for the mere fact that it will bring in job opportunities. The past history of this historic site has caused many people to only display a confidence in negative judgment. However my question would have to be ….because there is no lost in having this project come into fruition, why not consider it an enhancement to this city instead of a pipe dream?


    buck wrote on October 13, 2007 09:32 AM: How can a joint that was open for only 6 months 52 years ago command so much publicity? This is truly amazing.


    PT wrote on October 11, 2007 10:45 AM: "Casinos in a ghetto" is what Atlantic City offers, you know.


    Dave wrote on October 05, 2007 07:16 PM: Sometimes its best to leave history alone. I agree with Mark, no way a casino in the ghetto will survive. These guys are just shoveling a pipe dream, trying to drum up interest in investors -won't happen.


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