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Vegas Retold
Illustration of cream Desert Inn hotel blocks with terracotta roofs and square turrets behind palms, green lawns and a rocky pond waterfall.

Image & source

Desert Inn

Opened April 24, 1950

Closed August 28, 2000

Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn opened on April 24, 1950. Its name presented a personal welcome, although Clark was not its only financial force. UNLV’s collection history explains that rising construction costs exhausted his funds and that he sold a majority interest to Moe Dalitz to finish the resort. Clark remained a partner until 1964.

Start with its history

Desert Inn, illustrated from a user-supplied photograph: cream hotel blocks, palms and a landscaped pond.

The history of Desert Inn.

A brief history of Desert Inn

Nighttime Strip view with the Frontier sign at left and Desert Inn signs and a hotel tower at right.

Image & source

The Strip in September 1989: Frontier at left, Desert Inn frontage and tower at right.

Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn opened on April 24, 1950. Its name presented a personal welcome, although Clark was not its only financial force. UNLV’s collection history explains that rising construction costs exhausted his funds and that he sold a majority interest to Moe Dalitz to finish the resort. Clark remained a partner until 1964.

A country-club resort

The hotel developed a country-club identity as well as a casino and showroom. Golf became part of that setting in the early 1950s. The surviving sources do not give a single consistent starting year for the course: UNLV’s Clark history places its addition in 1951, while The Neon Museum dates the course’s opening and the inaugural Tournament of Champions to 1953. The tournament is a reminder that the Desert Inn offered reasons to visit beyond the gaming floor.

Hughes moves from guest to owner

Howard Hughes became the property’s most famous resident and then its owner. PBS’s history traces his arrival in 1966 and his purchase in 1967 after pressure to vacate his suites. Buying the Desert Inn was the beginning of a wider collection of Strip casino holdings. This was an ownership change within the operating resort, rather than a new casino replacing it.

Names, owners and a luxury renovation

The property continued through further ownership and presentation changes. Contemporary reporting records Kirk Kerkorian’s 1988 purchase and the 1993 sale to ITT. Archival records use the MGM Desert Inn name, and Nevada’s February 1998 registration order identifies Sheraton Desert Inn Resort & Casino. These names belong to the same resort’s history. A renovation completed in 1997 emphasized luxury and personal service while reducing the room count, according to the Las Vegas Sun’s report on its fiftieth anniversary.

The sale and the casino closure

The final sale has two dates that should not be collapsed. Wynn’s corporate filing identifies an April 28, 2000 purchase agreement and completion on June 22. It records the hotel and casino closing on August 28, 2000, while the golf course and related operations initially remained open. Closure of the casino therefore did not mean that every activity or structure vanished that day.

Demolition and replacement in stages

Redevelopment also occurred in stages. Wynn’s May 2004 announcement still described Desert Inn buildings awaiting demolition on a separate twenty-acre site. Wynn Las Vegas opened in April 2005. In April 2006 the company announced Encore’s groundbreaking on the original Desert Inn site, north of Wynn. Today’s Wynn and Encore occupy the redeveloped resort grounds; neither is simply the Desert Inn under another name.

Reading the old site today

The September 1989 photograph preserves an earlier view: Desert Inn lettering and a hotel tower stand to the right, while the large Frontier sign belongs to the casino across the Strip. The map marks the former Desert Inn hotel vicinity. It cannot reconstruct the changing hotel buildings, country-club land or later Wynn/Encore boundaries from a single point.

Read the full history
Sources and context

  1. UNLV: Toni and Wilbur Clark Papers

    MS-00361, Biographical/Historical Note: construction funding, Dalitz majority, April 24, 1950 opening, 1951 golf addition and Clark’s 1964 exit. Supports introduction paragraphs 1–2; golf-year conflict retained.

  2. The Neon Museum: Sports Vegas

    Desert Inn Golf Club section: 1953 course opening and inaugural Tournament of Champions; conflicts with UNLV’s 1951 addition. Supports introduction paragraph 2.

  3. PBS American Experience: Howard Hughes

    Buying up the Strip: 1966 arrival, 1967 Desert Inn acquisition and later casino purchases. Supports introduction paragraph 3.

  4. Las Vegas Sun: Desert Inn marks 50th anniversary

    David Strow, April 24, 2000. Ownership changes in 1988 and 1993; renovation completed in 1997 with reduced room count. Original article read in Chrome. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  5. UNLV: Desert Inn Hotel and Casino papers and photographs

    MS-00419, subseries I.B., 1985–1990: description explicitly refers to MGM Desert Inn. Collection range is not an exact name-usage date. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  6. Nevada Gaming Commission: Starwood registration order

    February 19, 1998 order, paragraphs 9–10: Sheraton Desert Inn Corporation doing business as Sheraton Desert Inn Resort & Casino. Original PDF read; not a current operating claim. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  7. Wynn Resorts: 2002 registration filing

    Historical Development and financial Note 1: April 28 agreement, June 22, 2000 completion, August 28 hotel/casino closure with golf and related operations excepted. Supports significance paragraph 2.

  8. Wynn Resorts: 2004 expansion announcement

    May 3, 2004 announcement: remaining Desert Inn structures and separate twenty-acre site. Supports phased demolition in significance paragraph 3.

  9. Wynn Resorts: Encore groundbreaking on original Desert Inn site

    April 28, 2006 release: Encore on original Desert Inn site north of Wynn; Wynn opened April 28, 2005. The release compresses the 2000 purchase to April 28; the filing distinguishes agreement and completion. Its opening-anniversary wording does not override UNLV’s April 24, 1950 opening date.

  10. Mapcarta: Desert Inn historical site locator

    Latitude 36.12861, longitude -115.16639; GeoNames 12089183 attributed by Mapcarta. Former hotel vicinity, corroborated with Wynn/Encore site succession; approximate, not a current operating hotel. Read October 19, 2026.

  11. The Neon Museum: Demolished Las Vegas hotels

    Desert Inn entry states Wynn and Encore now occupy its former site. Its compressed 2001 demolition wording is qualified by Wynn’s 2004 remaining-structures announcement.

UNLV’s Clark history places the golf-course addition in 1951; The Neon Museum dates its opening and Tournament of Champions to 1953. This account retains early-1950s precision for the course.

The April 28, 2000 agreement date and June 22 completion date are different transaction milestones; the casino/hotel closure on August 28 did not end all golf or site operations.

The mapped point is an approximate historical hotel locator, not a surveyed footprint. Desert Inn demolition and later redevelopment extended over several years.

This site through time

Replaced by Encore Las Vegas

2000 – 2008

Encore was developed on the original Desert Inn hotel site after the earlier hotel and casino closed and its buildings were removed. Wynn Resorts identified that original site at the April 2006 groundbreaking, north of the Wynn hotel; Encore opened in December 2008. This connects the older hotel site to its later replacement within a much larger redevelopment.

Historical source — April 28, 2006 Encore groundbreaking release, original Desert Inn site north of Wynn. Opening corroborated by December 22, 2008 opening-night release; phased demolition documented in May 3, 2004 expansion announcement.

  • The former Desert Inn resort also included golf-course and associated land. This hotel-site relationship does not assert identical tower footprints, surveyed parcel boundaries or present-day entrances.

Replaced by Wynn Las Vegas

2000 – 2005

Wynn Las Vegas opened in 2005 as a new resort developed on the former Desert Inn resort and country-club grounds after the old hotel and casino closed in 2000. The original Desert Inn hotel area lay farther north, where Encore was subsequently developed. This is redevelopment of a larger resort site, rather than a rename or a claim that the two hotel towers share an identical footprint.

Historical source — Wynn Resorts 2002 registration filing: Historical Development and financial Note 1, Desert Inn acquisition and August 28, 2000 closure; Wynn Las Vegas project on the acquired resort/golf-course land. Corroboration: April 28, 2006 Encore groundbreaking release places the original Desert Inn site north of Wynn and records Wynn opening April 28, 2005.

  • The former Desert Inn grounds included hotel buildings, golf course and associated land. This relationship does not project the current Wynn/Encore complex or its entrances back onto the old resort.

Find the place.

Desert Inn

The map identifies the property area. 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 sources11 documents and records

  1. UNLV: Toni and Wilbur Clark Papers

    MS-00361, Biographical/Historical Note: construction funding, Dalitz majority, April 24, 1950 opening, 1951 golf addition and Clark’s 1964 exit. Supports introduction paragraphs 1–2; golf-year conflict retained.

  2. The Neon Museum: Sports Vegas

    Desert Inn Golf Club section: 1953 course opening and inaugural Tournament of Champions; conflicts with UNLV’s 1951 addition. Supports introduction paragraph 2.

  3. PBS American Experience: Howard Hughes

    Buying up the Strip: 1966 arrival, 1967 Desert Inn acquisition and later casino purchases. Supports introduction paragraph 3.

  4. Las Vegas Sun: Desert Inn marks 50th anniversary

    David Strow, April 24, 2000. Ownership changes in 1988 and 1993; renovation completed in 1997 with reduced room count. Original article read in Chrome. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  5. UNLV: Desert Inn Hotel and Casino papers and photographs

    MS-00419, subseries I.B., 1985–1990: description explicitly refers to MGM Desert Inn. Collection range is not an exact name-usage date. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  6. Nevada Gaming Commission: Starwood registration order

    February 19, 1998 order, paragraphs 9–10: Sheraton Desert Inn Corporation doing business as Sheraton Desert Inn Resort & Casino. Original PDF read; not a current operating claim. Supports significance paragraph 1.

  7. Wynn Resorts: 2002 registration filing

    Historical Development and financial Note 1: April 28 agreement, June 22, 2000 completion, August 28 hotel/casino closure with golf and related operations excepted. Supports significance paragraph 2.

  8. Wynn Resorts: 2004 expansion announcement

    May 3, 2004 announcement: remaining Desert Inn structures and separate twenty-acre site. Supports phased demolition in significance paragraph 3.

  9. Wynn Resorts: Encore groundbreaking on original Desert Inn site

    April 28, 2006 release: Encore on original Desert Inn site north of Wynn; Wynn opened April 28, 2005. The release compresses the 2000 purchase to April 28; the filing distinguishes agreement and completion. Its opening-anniversary wording does not override UNLV’s April 24, 1950 opening date.

  10. Mapcarta: Desert Inn historical site locator

    Latitude 36.12861, longitude -115.16639; GeoNames 12089183 attributed by Mapcarta. Former hotel vicinity, corroborated with Wynn/Encore site succession; approximate, not a current operating hotel. Read October 19, 2026.

  11. The Neon Museum: Demolished Las Vegas hotels

    Desert Inn entry states Wynn and Encore now occupy its former site. Its compressed 2001 demolition wording is qualified by Wynn’s 2004 remaining-structures announcement.

What remains uncertain3 notes on context and interpretation
  • UNLV’s Clark history places the golf-course addition in 1951; The Neon Museum dates its opening and Tournament of Champions to 1953. This account retains early-1950s precision for the course.
  • The April 28, 2000 agreement date and June 22 completion date are different transaction milestones; the casino/hotel closure on August 28 did not end all golf or site operations.
  • The mapped point is an approximate historical hotel locator, not a surveyed footprint. Desert Inn demolition and later redevelopment extended over several years.
Image credits2 images with source information

Desert Inn, illustrated from a user-supplied photograph: cream hotel blocks, palms and a landscaped pond.

Vegas Retold · AI-generated illustration

Source reference: User-supplied Desert Inn postcard photograph; photographer and exact date unknown. URL is intended-use locator.

AI-generated editorial illustration; simplified forms and colors. Postcard lettering and golfer graphic removed. Not archival photographic evidence.

User requested creation and publication of this AI-generated illustration as Desert Inn main Property image. Reference supplied by user; exact photographer and date unknown. User supply does not establish copyright clearance or public-domain status.

Image source ↗

The Strip in September 1989: Frontier at left, Desert Inn frontage and tower at right.

LBM1948 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Source reference: Own-work photograph by LBM1948, dated September 1989; exact 1027×643 original.

Depicted date: 1989-09

License

Original photograph reproduced without editorial alteration; responsive overview and index displays may crop the presentation.

CC BY-SA 4.0 International. Retain attribution/source/license, identify changes, and share adaptations under the same or a compatible license. No endorsement implied.

Image source ↗
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