Curtain closing on Moulin Rouge

Debra D. Bass

Monday, Nov. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Almost defunct, practically inoperable, virtually hopeless.

Owners of the Moulin Rouge refrain from using absolutes to describe the dilapidated historic landmark, but admit it is "essentially closed."

Housed in a neighborhood void of tourist attractions, where convenience stores and fast-food chains dominate the private business sector, the Moulin Rouge has fought a long, hard battle to keep its doors open.

James Walker, president and chief executive office, says it's time to throw in the towel -- at least for him anyway.

"I'm not real optimistic," he said. "If we don't have any concrete responses in a few days -- not weeks -- but days, I'm going to pursue other opportunities."

Co-owner Sarann Knight Preddy said they may have to give up hope of reviving the former hotel-casino, but preserving the historic site as a museum is always an option. The Moulin Rouge opened in 1955 as the city's first integrated casino.

Converted to a nonprofit institution, the Moulin Rouge would be eligible for scores of grants for landmark preservation. But Preddy and her husband, Joe, who have owned the property for five years, have kept that option as a last resort.

"What this community really needs is something in the line of private business," Sarann Preddy said. "I certainly think it would be an asset. It would put a lot of people to work and it could be viable."

She described the area encompassing their 900 W. Bonanza Road property as "the forsaken part of town." She said that's part of the reason she wouldn't totally abandon the Moulin Rouge.

Walker, however, said he couldn't bear to see the formerly prosperous hotel-casino, now a spacious snack and cocktail bar, converted to a nonprofit museum.

"I grew up here in West Las Vegas because we had to (because of segregation) and we are dominated by not-for-profit agencies, while other neighborhoods are dominated by for-profit businesses," Walker said. "There are opportunities out there for African-American entrepreneurs and I intend to pursue those opportunities and hopefully others will follow. I think it's harmful to be dependent on the charity of others."

The problem, he said, is equal assess to capital -- a requirement that proved insurmountable in developing the Moulin Rouge.

The city had voted to submit a proposal for the business to receive a $3 million loan from HUD, if Walker and Preddy could raise an equal amount of private funding. It was a condition they never even came close to meeting. They originally suggested a $9.5 million loan for a proposed $11.3 million renovation.

Though the rooms that once held slot machines, blackjack, poker and roulette tables have been stripped of most of those amenities, Walker said they applied and received a gaming license at a cost of $200,000 two years ago "to prove that we could get one." But the move didn't impress potential investors. They gave up the license a week and a half ago.

Now, in the midst of a half-hearted fund-raising promotion, they aren't expecting any surprises.

The 110-room hotel remains open and at capacity, offering residential housing for $300 a month. The snack bar is open sometimes, as is the cocktail bar for friends who stop by to chat. There isn't much interest in the casino-turned-conventional-hall space for which they constructed a stage and dance floor.

There are two schools of thought on why the casino, said to be enormously popular for a time, failed miserably only six months after it opened.

In the early 1950s, when blacks could only enter casinos on the Las Vegas Strip through the back door as workers and entertainers, the Moulin Rouge made history as the first integrated gaming establishment.

It is credited with integrating Strip hotels. In fact, the law prohibiting segregation in Las Vegas was signed at the Moulin Rouge.

When the 88,900-square-foot facility opened in May 1955, it was clearly ahead of its time. It was touted as a first-class establishment with the largest amenities in town -- pool, stage, kitchen. The casino walls are covered with mahogany, which also lines the bar.

Photos from Life magazine and other publications all show standing-room-only crowds. Sarann Preddy, who used to frequent the casino as a customer, attests that "the place was always jumping."

Black entertainers who were permitted to perform but barred from staying at Strip hotels would stop by the Moulin Rouge for late-night jam sessions. Of course, the crowds would follow. But that didn't stop the Rouge from closing its doors in September 1955.

Some say business dried up when the Strip became integrated. Others attribute the closure to a less subtle coincidence. At the time there were only five other hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and the Rouge's popularity was hurting business elsewhere. So soon thereafter, entertainer and showgirl contracts were changed to bar them from after-hours jam sessions.

The original owners -- Louis Rubin, a restaurateur from New York, and Alexander Bisno, a real estate entrepreneur from Beverly Hills -- took the hint. A long list of subsequent owners, have failed to revive the property.

Preddy, who helped acquire landmark status for the hotel, said "There will always be a Moulin Rouge. It just may not be the Rouge that we want."