Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Triblend Tee

Description

The property that became the Boardwalk Hotel & Casino began in 1966 as a modest Holiday Inn featuring a restaurant, cocktail lounge, and meeting space. Designed by architect Homer Rissman, the six-story hotel provided mid-Strip lodging in a growing cityscape. In 1977, its gaming component rebranded as Slot Joynt Casino, marking the first shift toward a casino-hotel identity. The property changed again in 1985, adopting the name Viscount Hotel, before unveiling its most iconic persona: in 1989, it fully transformed into the Boardwalk Hotel & Casino, adopting a Coney Island–themed façade complete with a faux wooden roller coaster and parachute-jump-style ride. Further thematic expansion came in 1995 with a dedicated “Dreamland” tower addition followed by a full renovation — including the opening of the new 16-story Dreamland Tower in 1996 — expanding to 653 rooms and enlarging the gaming floor to 33,000 sq ft. A standout dining feature was the 24-hour Surf Buffet introduced in 1998 — a unique offering on the Strip. Despite its creative design, the Boardwalk remained small and kitschy compared to neighboring mega-resorts like Bellagio and MGM Grand. In 1997, Mirage Resorts (later MGM Mirage) acquired the property, and it continued operation. On January 9, 2006, the Boardwalk closed to make way for the massive CityCenter development. The main tower was imploded just months later, on May 9, 2006, at 2:34 a.m. Today, the former site of the Boardwalk now hosts high-end developments including the Waldorf Astoria (originally the Mandarin Oriental), Aria Hotel and Casino, and The Shops at Crystals as part of CityCenter. The Boardwalk Hotel & Casino was a charming, offbeat footnote in Las Vegas history—a quirky, Coney Island–flavored retreat that added playful spectacle to a skyline dominated by grandeur. Though it couldn’t compete with megacasinos, its retro facade and carnival flair remain fond memories in the narrative of the Strip’s evolution.