Castaways (Las Vegas Strip)

Opened 1957

Closed 1987

Castaways on the Strip is remembered for an unlikely landmark: a carved teakwood Jain temple displayed in its courtyard as the Gateway to Luck. The hotel-casino stood at 3320 South Las Vegas Boulevard, on land later incorporated into the Mirage. It was a different property from the former Showboat that subsequently adopted the Castaways name on Fremont Street.

Start with its history

The original Castaways on the Las Vegas Strip, illustrated from a user-supplied period photograph.

The history of Castaways (Las Vegas Strip).

A brief history of Castaways (Las Vegas Strip)

The Mirage on December 25, 2013, a later resort whose grounds included the former Strip Castaways site. Castaways had closed in 1987 and is not shown.

Before the Castaways name

The site’s lodging history preceded the Castaways brand. Vintage Las Vegas traces a succession of roadside auto-court names, followed by the Sans Souci hotel redevelopment in 1955 and a casino and showroom opening in 1957. The Castaways name followed in 1963. These were different stages of development, rather than one opening day for every building and business.

A hotel and an intermittent casino

Gaming was also intermittent. UNLV’s Castaways collection history describes repeated casino closures and reopenings during the 1963–1987 period. A hotel could continue accommodating guests while its casino was shut, so a long hotel history should not be read as proof of continuous gambling. Howard Hughes acquired the property in the late 1960s; it later operated within his Summa organization.

The temple’s life beyond the casino

The temple carried a history beyond Las Vegas. Built for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, it eventually became decorative architecture at Castaways. Its casino presentation gave a religious structure a new commercial meaning. Members of the Jain community sought to preserve it, and the Jain Center of Southern California’s commemorative account describes its donation, dismantling, storage and eventual reassembly at the center. The artifact survived the resort that had displayed it.

The Mirage replaces the Strip site

Castaways closed in 1987 and was demolished for Steve Wynn’s Mirage project, which opened in 1989. The former Castaways occupied only part of the larger redevelopment, near the Mirage’s northern Strip frontage. This was a replacement of the earlier casino site, not merely a Castaways renovation or a new sign on the same hotel.

One name, two different properties

The reused name can obscure that sequence. In 2000, the owners of the separate Showboat hotel-casino at 2800 Fremont Street announced that it would become Castaways. That property’s later closure belongs to its own history. The Strip Castaways had already disappeared. Here, the dated Mirage photograph illustrates what followed on the wider site; it does not show the Castaways building or establish the outline of its former grounds.

Read the full history

Sources and context

The Strip Castaways and its casino interruptions

UNLV Castaways Photograph Collection PH-00270: 1963–1987 history, earlier San Souci and replacement by Mirage. Its purchase-year account is not adopted as settled. Archival access does not grant image reproduction rights.
The earlier auto courts, hotel and casino

Vintage Las Vegas Strip Index, updated January 20, 2024, The Mirage section: earlier auto courts, 1955 hotel redevelopment, 1957 casino/showroom, 1963 Castaways and Mirage north-gate location. The underlying newspaper pages are leads, not all independently inspected. A reported earlier move is not treated as one unchanged footprint.
The historical street address

Nevada Magazine, 1977 issue 4, hotel directory: Castaways Hotel, 3320 Las Vegas Boulevard South. Contemporary address evidence; advertised prices and room availability are not current visitor information.
The Hughes ownership period

American Experience, Las Vegas: An Unconventional History, transcript: Hughes’s acquisition of Castaways alongside other Strip properties in the late 1960s. No private motives or additional purchase terms inferred.
The Gateway to Luck’s religious history

Harvard Pluralism Project: teakwood Jain temple from the St. Louis fair, Castaways courtyard presentation and community recovery. Its 1988 transfer/demolition timing differs from other accounts; no exact transfer year selected.
Preserving and reassembling the wooden temple

Jain Center of Southern California, 2008 Pratishtha souvenir, pages 5 and 52–54, archived by Jain Quantum: the community’s recovery and reassembly account. The book’s photographs are not selected for reproduction. Acquisition and transfer dates are not treated as settled across accounts.
A different property adopts the name

September 20, 2000: VSS announcement renaming the separate Showboat at Boulder Highway/Fremont Street, with plans to phase out its earlier name. A reused brand, not a relocation of the Strip hotel.
Keeping the two Castaways histories separate

UNLV Showboat company collection MS-00983: different Las Vegas Showboat, sold in 2000 and renamed Castaways, later closed. Its opening and demolition dates are not assigned to the earlier Strip Castaways.
The replacement resort’s opening

The Neon Museum: Mirage opened November 22, 1989. Combined with PH-00270, distinguishes replacement-site redevelopment from a surviving Castaways building or mere rename.
The wider site after the Mirage

Current operator checked October 20, 2026: Hard Rock Las Vegas is coming soon on the former Mirage site. This does not establish an opening date or current public access.

1957 dates the casino/showroom stage in the selected historical chronology. The earlier motel, 1955 hotel redevelopment and 1963 Castaways name are separate milestones; no exact first gaming day or continuous operation is established.

Historical accounts differ on the stages and dates of the Wynn purchase and the temple’s transfer. This account does not assign one purchase or donation year.

The former-site marker is approximate. Later resort addresses, generic coordinates in archive metadata and the entire Mirage footprint should not be substituted for the original Castaways site.

No rights-cleared photograph of the original operating Castaways has been established here. The selected 2013 Mirage view is explicitly later resort context, not an original Castaways image or proof of identical buildings.

The former Mirage closed in 2024 for Hard Rock conversion. The later photograph does not establish surviving attractions or current visitor access.

This site through time

Replaced by The Mirage

1987 – 1989

The Strip Castaways closed in 1987 and was demolished as the Mirage site was assembled. The Mirage opened in 1989 on a larger property that included the former Castaways grounds near its northern Strip frontage. This was a replacement development, rather than a renamed Castaways hotel. The former Castaways occupied only part of the later Mirage resort site.

Historical source — UNLV Special Collections, Castaways Hotel Photograph Collection PH-00270, historical background; Mirage opening corroborated by The Neon Museum, The Mirage & Beyond (https://neonmuseum.org/the-mirage-beyond/). Former-site vicinity corroborated by Vintage Las Vegas Strip Index, The Mirage section (https://files.vintagelasvegas.com/strip.html).

The former casino footprint has not been reconstructed as a surveyed boundary. The Castaways map pin indicates an approximate former-site vicinity, not the entire later Mirage resort.
This relationship concerns the original Strip Castaways, not the former Showboat on Fremont Street that later used the Castaways name.

Find the place.

Castaways (Las Vegas Strip)

The map marks an approximate site. It does not identify an entrance or a walking route.

View the site on a map

Follow the evidence.

Sources, image credits and the limits of what we know.

Historical sources10 documents and records

The Strip Castaways and its casino interruptions

UNLV Castaways Photograph Collection PH-00270: 1963–1987 history, earlier San Souci and replacement by Mirage. Its purchase-year account is not adopted as settled. Archival access does not grant image reproduction rights.
The earlier auto courts, hotel and casino

Vintage Las Vegas Strip Index, updated January 20, 2024, The Mirage section: earlier auto courts, 1955 hotel redevelopment, 1957 casino/showroom, 1963 Castaways and Mirage north-gate location. The underlying newspaper pages are leads, not all independently inspected. A reported earlier move is not treated as one unchanged footprint.
The historical street address

Nevada Magazine, 1977 issue 4, hotel directory: Castaways Hotel, 3320 Las Vegas Boulevard South. Contemporary address evidence; advertised prices and room availability are not current visitor information.
The Hughes ownership period

American Experience, Las Vegas: An Unconventional History, transcript: Hughes’s acquisition of Castaways alongside other Strip properties in the late 1960s. No private motives or additional purchase terms inferred.
The Gateway to Luck’s religious history

Harvard Pluralism Project: teakwood Jain temple from the St. Louis fair, Castaways courtyard presentation and community recovery. Its 1988 transfer/demolition timing differs from other accounts; no exact transfer year selected.
Preserving and reassembling the wooden temple

Jain Center of Southern California, 2008 Pratishtha souvenir, pages 5 and 52–54, archived by Jain Quantum: the community’s recovery and reassembly account. The book’s photographs are not selected for reproduction. Acquisition and transfer dates are not treated as settled across accounts.
A different property adopts the name

September 20, 2000: VSS announcement renaming the separate Showboat at Boulder Highway/Fremont Street, with plans to phase out its earlier name. A reused brand, not a relocation of the Strip hotel.
Keeping the two Castaways histories separate

UNLV Showboat company collection MS-00983: different Las Vegas Showboat, sold in 2000 and renamed Castaways, later closed. Its opening and demolition dates are not assigned to the earlier Strip Castaways.
The replacement resort’s opening

The Neon Museum: Mirage opened November 22, 1989. Combined with PH-00270, distinguishes replacement-site redevelopment from a surviving Castaways building or mere rename.
The wider site after the Mirage

Current operator checked October 20, 2026: Hard Rock Las Vegas is coming soon on the former Mirage site. This does not establish an opening date or current public access.

What remains uncertain5 notes on context and interpretation

1957 dates the casino/showroom stage in the selected historical chronology. The earlier motel, 1955 hotel redevelopment and 1963 Castaways name are separate milestones; no exact first gaming day or continuous operation is established.
Historical accounts differ on the stages and dates of the Wynn purchase and the temple’s transfer. This account does not assign one purchase or donation year.
The former-site marker is approximate. Later resort addresses, generic coordinates in archive metadata and the entire Mirage footprint should not be substituted for the original Castaways site.
No rights-cleared photograph of the original operating Castaways has been established here. The selected 2013 Mirage view is explicitly later resort context, not an original Castaways image or proof of identical buildings.
The former Mirage closed in 2024 for Hard Rock conversion. The later photograph does not establish surviving attractions or current visitor access.

Image credits2 images with source information

The original Castaways on the Las Vegas Strip, illustrated from a user-supplied period photograph.

AI-assisted illustration adapted from a user-supplied historical photograph; original creator unidentified.

Source reference: User-supplied reference attachment codex-clipboard-d2646560-3b88-48e2-b5f1-253e70cdfbb1.png; original photograph source, creator and date unverified. URL identifies intended Property use, not photograph origin.

AI-assisted illustration: simplified architecture, colours and vegetation; fine marquee text omitted. This is an illustration, not archival photographic evidence.

No specific item restrictions established. Underlying photograph provenance and adaptation permission remain unverified; user requested publication, no third-party clearance asserted.

Image source ↗

The Mirage on December 25, 2013, a later resort whose grounds included the former Strip Castaways site. Castaways had closed in 1987 and is not shown.

King of Hearts / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Source reference: King of Hearts, own work, December 25, 2013. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Selected as later Mirage resort context; it does not depict the original Castaways or establish its exact former footprint.

Depicted date: 2013-12-25

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Original photograph retained without editorial alteration. Responsive displays may resize and crop the presentation.

Retain attribution, source, licence and a changes notice. Adaptations require the same or a compatible licence. No endorsement implied.

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