Flamingo Capri Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Triblend Tee

Venue History

The Flamingo Capri was a classic mid-century Strip motel that quietly helped bridge the gap between old-school motor courts and the larger resort era. Opened on October 30, 1959, it sat directly north of the original Flamingo Hotel and Casino, on the land now occupied largely by The LINQ Hotel + Experience. The property began as a 180-room luxury motel, developed for about $2 million by partners George E. Goldberg and Bill Capri, a Flamingo employee whose surname inspired the “Capri” half of the name. Guests at the Flamingo Capri enjoyed a unique arrangement: they could use many of the Flamingo’s hotel services and amenities next door while paying more modest motel rates. Architects Douglas Honnold and John Rex designed the low-rise complex with a contemporary, motor-court layout—rooms clustered around parking courts and landscaped areas, facing Las Vegas Boulevard. Early advertising boasted air-conditioning, telephones, televisions, and 24-hour food service, positioning the Capri as an upscale but approachable alternative to the big Strip hotels. In 1964, the Flamingo Capri Restaurant was added, strengthening its identity as a self-contained motel rather than just Flamingo overflow. The property also famously marketed the Flamingo Wash, which ran beneath it, as a romantic “Venetian canal”—a bit of creative spin that later became infamous when flooding periodically swept through the area. A major turning point came in 1971, when contractor and entrepreneur Ralph Engelstad purchased the Flamingo Capri. He added a casino in 1972, then expanded the motel with new wings and the Shangri-La pool in 1974. By 1976 the property was operating under the Best Western banner, still using the Flamingo Capri name. Engelstad’s ambitions outgrew the modest motel. In 1977, construction began on a 19-story tower that would form the core of a new resort. On November 1, 1979, the entire complex was rebranded as the Imperial Palace, and the original Flamingo Capri casino building was demolished to create the new entry. Some of the old Capri motel rooms, however, remained in use for decades under the Imperial Palace and later The LINQ. Today, while the Flamingo Capri name is gone, its DNA lives on in The LINQ complex—its story marking an important, often overlooked chapter in the evolution of the Las Vegas Strip.