Also included are a number of artifacts and nineteenth and early twentieth century gambling machines.Įxtent: 5 boxes and 1 oversized box (2.62 cubic feet, 3.91 linear feet) The bulk of the collection consists of paper inventories, Fuller's original notes, casino marketing materials, and casino and gambling merchandise. '(The Riviera) looked like a 50s Rat Pack casino up until yesterday,” Schumacher said.Of 4 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next >| Harvey's Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino CollectionĮxtent: 33 boxes and 4 oversized boxes (26.11 cubic feet, 26.67 linear feet)Ĭollection is comprised of materials, dating roughly 1830-1995, from Harvey's Lake Tahoe Hotel and Casino Resort and the associated Harvey J. Dean Martin was a part-owner for a short time as part of his exclusive residency. The casino’s first headliner was Liberace.

The Riviera also pioneered the business model that helped Vegas turn into an entertainment capital. More recently, it was featured in “The Hangover” in 2009. Three of the most famous movies ever filmed in Las Vegas used the Riviera as a backdrop, including the Rat Pack’s original 1960 “Ocean’s 11,” the 1971 James Bond film “Diamonds Are Forever” and “Casino,” the 1995 movie based on real-life Vegas mobsters Frank Rosenthal and Anthony Spilotro during their 1970s heyday at the Stardust. Hollywood’s version of the past, however, would hoist the Riviera to the top.

The casinos were cleaned up in the 1970s and 1980s, courtesy of state and federal crackdowns on organized crime. That casino was run by Bugsy Siegel, who is regarded as the most historically significant figure from that era. “The Riviera was and always was the Chicago outfit’s crown jewel in the desert,” Schumacher said.Ī classic mob joint, the Riviera’s place in that seedy time is probably outranked by the Flamingo, historians said. The mobsters were known to have controlled the money-counting at the most famous casinos in their day, including the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust - all of which have already disappeared from the Strip. Gambling profits were skimmed to send back home to pay for their gangs’ illegal enterprises involving illegal betting, drugs, prostitution, murders and everything else. When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos in a takeover that had started the decade before. The Flamingo has been completely rebuilt at its original location, but the Tropicana still has pieces of its original building, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip, said Michael Green, Nevada historian and a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Most of its contemporaries have been long gone, with only the Tropicana and Flamingo casinos still in business.

Riviera casino las vegas 80s