This month marks 29 years since the Hacienda closed its doors on the south end of the Strip. The resort went out with a bang just weeks later with a New Year’s Eve implosion, ushering in a new era for the address now occupied by Mandalay Bay.
🧳 The First Family Resort
The property was originally known as the Lady Luck during construction, but financing fell through. One of the investors, who already owned a string of Hacienda motels in California, took over and the Vegas version was born in 1956.
Long before the M Resort came around, the Hacienda was the first hotel seen by travelers driving in from California. Dominating a then-quiet south end of the Strip, the property had a casino but catered to a family-oriented clientele, who could hang around and enjoy a go-kart track, golf, and the largest pool on the Strip.
🎰 Adjusting to the Vegas Boom
The Hacienda was like most Vegas hotels of its time — a deluxe motor lodge that expanded to accommodate a growing tourist market. The number of rooms grew from less than 300 to more than 1,100. The resort wasn’t flashy, sporting an exterior best described as “60’s office building chic,” although there was Spanish inspiration in the surrounding archways, porte-cochère, and lobby design, which included a waterfall.
Over the years, the Hacienda hosted residencies by magician Lance Burton and comedian Redd Foxx. (It was also where our own Dayvid Figler first rocked out to Cook E. Jarr and the Krums). Couples could get hitched at the Little Church of the West chapel, which was spared from the implosion and relocated farther down the Strip.
🛩️ A Hotel with Planes
The Hacienda had its own airline, which revolutionized the junket business during the 50s and 60s. The hotel would break even on flights and free-flowing champagne, but profit at the casino, drawing in middle-class “low rollers” and earning resentment from other casino operators. The Hacienda also sponsored a publicity stunt that kept a Cessna 172 in the air for nearly 65 days, flying low and connecting to a moving truck in the desert to refuel.
🥰 A Legacy Honored
Circus Circus Enterprises bought the Hacienda in the mid-90s and immediately made plans to replace it with what would become Mandalay Bay during a period when “mega-resorts” were redefining the Strip.
The Hacienda’s colorful marquee, featuring a cowboy atop a horse, was the first sign restored by the Neon Museum and is on display in the Fremont East district. For a while, the Hacienda name was licensed to a property near Lake Mead that’s now the Hoover Dam Lodge. Otherwise, the hotel is a distant memory for those looking back on a time when Las Vegas thrived on value and touches of marketing ingenuity.
- The Hacienda opened less than a year before rival Tropicana, which had an implosion of its own last year. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
