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Hosting the members of the legendary Rat Pack, along with Milton Berle, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and Danny Thomas (who opened the showroom), just to name a few, the Sands was known for the bringing the tops in the entertainment world to Vegas. Regulars knew they could “rub elbows” with the celebrities basking in the lounge after the late evening shows. Most of the presidents of the United States since the hotel’s inception, including Truman and Kennedy and their families, stayed at the Sands during its four decades. For 44 years, the Sands dominated the “strip” in entertainment and good times. For many who visited year after year, it was an old friend, a place of enduring stability in a city of ever-changing skylines as one property constantly tried to outdo the previous years’ attractions. Unfortunately for the Sands, this competition was just too much to keep up with and still maintain the old-style ambiance. Sadly, owner Sheldon Adelson decided it was necessary to ditch it all and start over from scratch with a new property poised to rise from the demolition and beat all (The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino). At precisely 9:00 p.m. on June 30, 1996, under an ominous full moon, a crowd initiated a ten-second countdown leading to the pull of the main power switch that darkened the main sign and hotel tower lights of the venerable Sands forever. The last guests were hesitatingly ushered from the gaming rooms and lounges three hours earlier as officials closed down the tables and machines one by one. The front doors were sealed by workmen. Displaced employees and onlookers exchanged condolences, and many hung on under the great marquee for hours, whispering, not wanting to leave. They were hoping, perhaps, that the world would “reset” and start anew if they waited long enough, and then they could go back inside as if nothing had happened. After the closing, there was still some use made of the Sands before its eventual demolition. Filming of the Chevy Chase movie Vegas Vacation took place there in the summer of ‘96, and in October of that year, scenes were filmed for the Nicholas Cage movie Con-Air, with a convict airplane crashing into the front of the casino. On November 26, 1996, The Sands Hotel and Casino was finally imploded and demolished, much to the dismay of longtime employees and sentimentalists.
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The Sands Hotel and Casino opened December 15, 1952 with just a few hundred guest rooms. The well-known, landmark 500-room tower wasn’t added until over ten years later, when the hotel came to be owned by aviation pioneer and millionaire Howard Hughes. In its heyday, the Sands was the center of entertainment in Las Vegas.