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>> Las 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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