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Vegas Retold

The history of Frontier Hotel and Casino

Opened 1942 Closed July 16, 2007

Illustration of the Frontier's tall blue pylon and cream FRONTIER lettering beside the long hotel facade and a road lined with period cars.
Illustration of the Frontier Hotel and Casino, with its roadside sign, hotel frontage and period cars, based on a supplied historical photograph.

Vegas Retold · AI-generated illustration

Image source

The Frontier began on Highway 91 in 1942 as the Hotel Last Frontier. Renovations brought the New Frontier name in 1955; a rebuilt resort opened in 1967 and became the Frontier under Howard Hughes. Phil Ruffin restored the New Frontier name after buying the resort in 1998. It closed on July 16, 2007, and was imploded that November.

Its changing names and buildings trace the Strip's shift from western-themed roadside resorts to larger casino hotels. The Frontier also became the focus of a Culinary Workers Union strike that began in 1991 and ended in 1998.

  1. UNLV Special Collections — Frontier Hotel and Casino Collection (MS-00297)

  2. UNLV — New Frontier plot plan, 1966

  3. UNLV — Dreaming the Skyline historical project map

What remains uncertain

  • The resort was rebuilt during the 1960s; this Property record follows the resort's historical identity rather than implying that its original buildings survived throughout.
  • No present-day parcel condition, viewing position or visitor access has been verified.
  • The map pin is an approximate historical-site point from UNLV, not a surveyed footprint or visitor entrance.
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