The swimming pool overlooking Fremont Street gave way to the popular Center Stage Restaurant. But the Union Plaza also kept growing and changing. Sam and Bill Boyd sold their interest in the hotel and opened the California. And for many years, the station identification blared throughout the Southwest, announcing it was at “Number One Main Street, the Union Plaza Hotel.” They also proudly noted they were UP-town while being downtown. But it was the area’s first 50,000-watt station, and later a pioneer in conservative talk radio. KDWN wasn’t the first Las Vegas radio station to broadcast from a hotel. But Sloate also brought in other Broadway classics, like The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and plays like The Owl and the Pussycat.Īnother contributor to the Union Plaza’s success was a radio station. He continued to import plays and musicals to the hotel, including shows like Mind with the Dirty Man, featuring porn star Marilyn Chambers, and Norman, Is That You, about a Jewish couple surprised to learn that their son was gay. Maynard Sloate, a onetime jazz drummer and veteran of the Tropicana, became entertainment director in 1972. Just to annoy you, we’ll tell you that the dinner show cost 5.75 and the late show was 4.50.įiddler set the template for bringing actual Broadway and Broadway-style shows to the Union Plaza, though the kinds of shows would vary. Its main showroom opened with Fiddler on the Roof, then the longest-running Broadway show ever-and the film version came out that November. The more formal grand opening ceremonies lasted over three nights in August. It opened with a midnight champagne party with enough bubbly for 10,000 celebrants. The operators promoted it as the “world’s largest casino” and it was, at about an acre and a half, or 66 thousand square feet, along with a parking garage that could accommodate 1,000 cars. It was substantial at 504 rooms and suites. The Union Plaza was unusual for downtown, and, indeed, for the Las Vegas gaming industry. The hotel opened on July 2, 1971-not warp speed, but fast. Zick and Sharp, a longtime Las Vegas firm, were the main architects. Last time, we were talking about the group that built the Union Plaza-Frank Scott, Sam Boyd, Jackie Gaughan, and Kell Houssels, Junior, along with investors like Bill Boyd and Howard Cannon.

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