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Vegas Hilton
The Las Vegas Hilton is a hotel, casino, and convention
center in Las Vegas, Nevada owned by Colony Capital.
With 3,174 hotel rooms, this off-strip hotel is the
largest Hilton Hotel in the world and one of the largest
hotel-casinos in Las Vegas. Located on 80 acres (324,000
m²), it has a 100,000 square foot (9,000 m²)
casino and is also home to the largest sports book in
Las Vegas.
The free standing Hilton sign in front
of the hotel on Paradise Avenue is the largest free
standing sign in the world. A larger sign that stood
at the same location was blown down during a severe
wind storm. While smaller then the original, the new
sign is still the largest free standing sign.
Sitting next to the Las Vegas Convention
Center and having its own large convention facilities,
the hotel is a popular place for convention attendees.
The hotel also houses Star Trek: The
Experience and is a stop on the Las Vegas Monorail.
The hotel is forever remembered in
film as the infamous "Whyte House" casino
in the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever".
History
The hotel was built in 1969 by Kirk
Kerkorian and opened as the International Hotel. When
it opened, the International was the largest hotel in
the world. Barbra Streisand was the opening-night performer.
The hotel was sold to Hilton Hotels
Corporation in 1970.
In 1961, Elvis Presley performed and
his performance was booed. He lived in the penthouse
suite for 8 years.
Acquired and renamed in 1971 by Hilton
Hotels, which later spun off this and its other casinos
into the company that became Caesars Entertainment.
On the night of February 11, 1981,
just 90 days after the devastating MGM Grand fire, a
blaze started at the Las Vegas Hilton while it was being
retrofitted with more modern fire safety equipment.
Firefighters, using the knowledge they had learned from
the MGM fire, used local television networks to notify
people to stay in their rooms and not go out to the
halls and stairwells. Because of the lessons learned,
only eight people died in this fire compared with the
85 people who died in the MGM Grand fire.
In September 1991, the casino hosted
the U.S. Navy's Tailhook Association annual meeting.
During this gathering, widespread acts of sexual assault
by Naval officers took place in the hotel. The Navy
attempted a cover-up of the event, however the initial
accusations stood up and fueled a large scandal receiving
wide media attention. Responsibility included the entire
chain of command, ultimately affecting the careers of
over 300 pilots and 14 admirals, including Chief of
Naval Operations Admiral Frank Kelso.
Star Trek: The Experience opens. The
casino adds a space-themed casino, "Space Quest",
that serves as the gateway to the attraction.
Converted the theater to be used for
the Starlight Express show. This involved pouring concrete
ramps into the seating area. When the show closed, the
theater was used to film The Oak Ridge Boys Live series
for one of the County cable Networks before it was gutted
and renovated.
On March 18, 2004 a new "Borg
Invasion 4-D" ride was added.
On June 18, 2004 the property was sold
by Caesar's Entertainment to Colony Capital for $280
million.
On December 14, 2004 Barry Manilow
announced that he will be doing the “Manilow:
Music and Passion" show at the Las Vegas Hilton
opening on February 23, 2005. As part of the contract,
Manilow lives in the penthouse suite that was Elvis's
home for 8 years.
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