The Hotel Last Frontier/The New Frontier/The Frontier/The New Frontier (cont.)

In 1959, Bill Miller was brought in to be the Entertainment Director.  He quickly began to turn the entertainment around.  The Treniers, one of the best rock and swing groups in the country, were hired.  Francis Faye, Pete Barbutti and bongo artist, Jack Costanza were signed to contracts.

"We'd begin at about midnight and play until 6:00 am, doing twenty to thirty minute sets."  Claude Trenier, Oral History, 2002. 

In 1960, the IRS seized all the money from the Last Frontier and the New Frontier for unpaid taxes. Actor Preston Foster severed all ties with the Hotel.

In 1964, when "Doc" Bailey unexpectedly died, the hotel came under the control of Banker's Life Insurance Company.  They decided the property needed a make-over and tore down the original buildings and began construction on a new 500-room hotel. 

John McArthur was rumored to be interested in the property and was said to want to build a skyscraper.

The Frontier Operating Company with Steve Wynn as one of the partners was formed and they took over the lease from Bankers Life.

The new building was designed by Rissman and Rissman, a Los Angeles architectural firm with 650 rooms and new 186 foot tall sign designed by Bill Clark of Ad-Art.  The sign contained more than a mile of flourescent tubing, a mile and a half of neon and more than 23,000 light bulbs. The 30- foot tall F at the top of the sign rotated on a specially built mechanism.  An enormous caisson was installed to keep the sign from topplin over in a Las Vegas windstorm.

This new hotel was built on the footprint of the original Hotel Last Frontier.  The Last Frontier Village was closed and it was rumored that it would re-open with the new hotel.  However, that did not happen.  When the Village closed, it was forever.  When he realized that the Village would not re-open, Dobey Doc began to dismantle it and began moving the wagons, stagecoaches and larger props out to his homestead near the Tropicana Hotel. 

When it came time to license the owners of the Frontier Operating Company, the owners hit a snag with the Licensing Board.  Rumors swirled that one or more owners had connections to the mob.  Wynn, apparently unaware of this, was caught in the scandal. 

Just before it was set to open, Howard Hughes bought the property in July, 1967.  He bought the Frontier and the Silver Slipper, the small casino and showroom next door.  He decided that the New Frontier name had to go and rebranded the hotel The Frontier.  Hughes had bought the Silver Slipper because the revolving Slipper could be seen from his penthouse in the Desert Inn and he complained it kept him awake at night.  Hughes bought the property for $14 million.

Wayne Newton, then billed as the Midnight Idol, signed a two-year contract with the Hotel.  Newton was paid $50,000 a week.  Another familiar face, Frank Sinatra, Jr was performing at the hotel with the Harry James Band.

On January 14, 1970 the Hotel hosted the last performance by 1960s girl group extraordinaire The Supremes.  It was the last time that Diana Ross performed with the group.  On May 7th, 1970,  Diana Ross returned to the stage of the Frontier as a solo performer. with Sammy Shore (Pauley's dad) as her opening act.

In 1982, the Frontier managed to snag Siegfried and Roy away from Donn Arden's Halleluiah Hollywood at the original MGM Grand Hotel.   Siegfried and Roy's Beyond Belief would set a new standard for showmanship as the entertainment landscape of the Strip began to change from popular acts such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr and Liberace to magic and variety acts.

In 1988 the Summa Corporation (Hughes Company), sold The Frontier to Margaret Elardi, the one-time owner of the Pioneer Club on Fremont Street.  Elardi angered many long-time residents by tearing down the Silver Slipper for a parking lot (it's the Vegas way). 

In the early 1990s. Elardi refused to come to an agreement with the Culinary Union.  The Culinary Union workers at the Frontier called for a strike.  The strike would last over five years and cause the Frontier to go into a decline as tourists refused to be caught in the middle between picketing workers and management.   

In 1997, Elardi sold the resort to Kansas businessman Phil Ruffin for $167 million.  Ruffin settled with the Culinary Union and the long strike finally came to an end.   Ruffin, changed the name back to the New Frontier (though he kept the old sign that said The Frontier)and set about trying to bring the hotel out of its decline.   Over the years, he toyed with various ideas for revitalizing the hotel.  In 2005, Donald Trump and Ruffin broke ground on a sixty-four floor condominium project.  That project which will have no casino or gaming is still being built as of this writing.

In May 2007, Ruffin announced that he had sold The New Frontier for 1.3 billion (yes, you read that right) to a group of Israeli businessmen known as the Elad Group.  The Elad Group,  has said the new hotel, which will be a replica of the famed NYCity Plaza Hotel, will have 3,500 hotel rooms and 300 private residences.  It will be an ultra-luxury hotel.  Elad Group has asked Tel Aviv investment group, IDB Development for help in financing the building of the new property.  Each would own half of the hotel if the two companies come to an agreement.

Elad Group is said to be spending $400 Million (yes, you read that right) to spruce up the Plaza in NYCity.  The Plaza will become a mixture of hotel and private luxury condos.

The hotel will close forever on July 15th.  

No date has been set for the demolition.

            The Frontier Sign 

Special thanks to RoadsidePictures for allowing us to use this image. 

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