Neon McDonald’s & Westward Ho, January 1987. The fast food spot opened on Westward Ho property four years earlier (1/30/83). It was demolished in 2007, then rebuilt directly over Westward Ho’s property line to the north. Photos by John Mozzer.
Out with martinis, in with fries.
Two golden neon arches appeared on the Strip in 1983 (between Westward Ho and Stardust). Riviera responded with a fast food chain at the front of the hotel in 1984. And the rest followed.
Photos: McDonalds (1989), Riviera (1984), The Mint (1987), Pioneer Club (1994), by Craig Bellamy, Ursus LX, Frank Romeo.
Stardust Hotel & Casino 1958-2006
Moe Dalitz & unknown men in front of the Stardust, 1958. The sign is being completed by YESCO before the opening on 7/2/58.
Construction of the Stardust, 1955
“Tony Cornero’s Stardust Hotel”
Anthony “Tony Cornero” Stralla founded the Stardust, financed it through private sale of stock and began building in 1954. By summer 1955, the hotel was said to be in final stages of construction with 1000 rooms built. Cornero was also by that time facing a battle for his gambling license and investigation by the SEC into Stardust stock sales. He suffered a heart attack on the casino floor at Desert Inn on 7/31/55, and died hours later in a room at the hotel.
Stardust stock including 650,000 shares owned by Cornero was later deemed worthless in bankruptcy court. Cornero’s estate worth about $4000 was closed five years later, split between his physician, and attorney A. W. Ham.
(1) Tourist photo, scan from Kodachrome. (2) Unknown photographer, possibly Las Vegas News Bureau.
Tony Cornero’s Stardust under construction, 1954-1955. Undated photos. “My great uncle Bert Rovere and friends, all shareholders in the soon-to-be Stardust Hotel. They came up from L.A. to check things out.” - Richard Rovere.
Stardust’s Atomic-Age logotype was designed by Grace Silver in 1954.
Moai at the Stardust
(1) Eli Hedley in Anaheim CA working on one of the two 10 to 12-foot moai statues which would be placed near the entrance of Aku Aku restaurant at the Stardust. Photo from Bamboo Ben, who says a total of seven statues were carved for the Stardust.
(2-3) A 30-foot statue, seen in the second and third photos, was carved on site. More on the 30-foot statue here. Nalani Kele and Her Polynesian Revue pose with the statue to commemorate the restaurant’s tenth anniversary in ‘69. Photos: (2) Charles Phoenix, (3) Las Vegas News Bureau.
(4) Approx. 6-foot statue for an unknown location. Stardust dancer Rolande Remoncourt poses with a hammer and chisel. Unknown photographer, appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal, “Aku Images Have An Exotic Background,” 1/28/60.
“I grew up in Vegas, quickly! Backstage at the Stardust’s Lido De Paris with my mom, 1967. My dad dealt dice at Stardust & my mom (Elaine Juliano) was in the Lido from ‘65-67.” - David Juliano.
188-ft sign being installed at the Stardust, February 1968
Stardust, July 1967: From a car window we see an Ad-Art truck and the construction of the new Stardust sign, which would be completed – along with an entirely new facade uniting the front of the casino – in 1968. The original Stardust sign, to the right, had been chopped in half during construction in early ‘66.
Stardust, 1965
Exotic Drinks, sign for Stardust Drive-In Theatre (unaffiliated with the hotel), Stardust Auditorium. The attraction board had “Lido ‘66” from around mid-1965 to early ‘66. Slide scans by Ops35mm and Vintage Kodachrome Slides
The Northern Club, 15 Fremont St. Home of the first modern gaming license in Las Vegas, a timeline.
Photos: (1) circa late ‘30s, L. F. Manis Photograph Collection (PH-00100), UNLV Special Collections & Archives. (2) Stock film circa late '30s, from the movie Born to Kill.