From clowns to cowboys: Casino to change theme

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 9:57 a.m.

The tribe announced earlier this year that the casino would adopt a big top circus design, but announced this week that they have scrapped that idea for a ranch theme.

The 400,000-square-foot casino grounds in eastern San Diego County will include Victorian towers, silos, water wheels and gambling in a building that looks like an oversized barn.

"These new designs ... complement the natural landscaping of our reservation and will help share the spirit our ancestors felt when they first settled on the Barona Ranch in 1932," tribal Chairman Clifford LaChappa said Tuesday.

The expansion also includes a 250-room hotel and a 200-acre golf course, both firsts for a California tribe. A two-acre lake with a wedding chapel is also planned.

Construction will begin next year. The project developer, Bergman, Walls & Youngblood, is the same firm that designed the Paris Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, LaChappa said.

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