Flamingo Hotel

Offering the finest in accommodations, amenities, and guest services, the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is a jewel of a vacation spot. One of the first hotels built on the "Strip" in Las Vegas, the Flamingo was the brainchild of Bugsy Siegel. Siegel had previously been intimately connected with gambling ships running off the California coast outside the three-mile limit then in force. When threats of Japanese submarines dried up that opportunity, Siegel turned his attention elsewhere.

Siegel and his partner Frank Costello purchased property in November, 1945, for $63,000. Thereafter, Siegel elected to supervise every aspect of the project and managed to convince some of his underworld cronies to provide financial backing for the proposed luxury and gambling hotel. The building itself cost almost double the original estimate because of a shortage of materials due to World War II. Legend has it that Siegel named his finished hotel after his girlfriend. Virginia Hill was known to Mexican dealers as "the Flamingo" because of her bright red hair, and today's incredible Flamingo Las Vegas bears her name still.

Grand Opening

The Flamingo opened on December 26, 1946. Touted as the most luxurious hotel in the world, the Flamingo seemed to have been built in the middle of the desert. The hotel opened with a bang. Top entertainers such as Jimmy Durante, Xavier Cugat and his band, and Rose Marie (famous for the Dick Van Dyke Show) were all there the first night. A second grand opening was held two days later with such guests as Lucille Ball, Eleanor Parker, and Bill Holden.

Today's Flamingo Las Vegas

Since those early days, the Flamingo has remained as one of the most well-known of the Las Vegas resort casinos. Today it boasts luxury rooms and suites, six great Caribbean-style pools, a full golf course, tennis courts, ten restaurants, spas, and a 77,000 square-foot casino with 2,000 slot machines and gambling games galore. Major entertainers continue to perform at the Flamingo, with headliner Gladys Knight currently in the spotlight.