Couple fight destruction of Desert Inn

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, July 13, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

Nancy Tufano and Gary Romano watched the Dunes hotel-casino implode. Then the Sands went down in a heap. Then it was the Hacienda.

It didn't take long before the couple from Massachusetts learned that this isn't Massachusetts, where history is preserved. In Las Vegas, many landmarks are imploded, most times on live television.

They can't bear to watch yet another historic landmark demolished.

Tufano and Romano hardly consider themselves community activists, but they're willing to fight casino mogul Steve Wynn's plan to tear down the Desert Inn and erect a resort expected to outclass Bellagio.

"We already have a Bellagio, do we need something bigger and better?" Tufano, 30, said. "They all look the same now. The Desert Inn is different. It has character."

The couple created their own website that pictures the Desert Inn in its original form when it was built in 1950 and its existing state following its latest renovation a year ago.

"Should Wynn be allowed to take away such a historic part of Las Vegas? Does he have the right to wipe away fifty years of history?" their website says. "Why should one man's ego get in the way of the greater good?"

The couple has no affiliation with the Desert Inn, but they spent last weekend at the hotel and fell in love with it. After talking to a longtime Desert Inn bartender and an older desk clerk, they felt compelled to battle Wynn.

"When you hear these employees talk, there is an element of fear that people will lose their jobs," said Gary Romano, 28. "It's one of the hotels that has been around a long time, and the employees have been there a long time."

Employees of the Desert Inn have been reluctant to discuss the closing of the hotel because they fear they will be fired or retaliated against.

Tufano said they built the website Sunday when they returned from their brief stay at the Desert Inn. The page gives viewers an opportunity to e-mail all seven Clark County Commissioners and urge them to save the hotel.

"Please do not allow the world-famous Desert Inn resort, a historic Las Vegas landmark, to be destroyed by Steve Wynn," the message to board members reads. "It is your duty to protect history, the economy and the environment of Las Vegas."

Romano said commissioners haven't responded to his messages.

"I know the gaming industry is important to the community, but they represent the whole community and we need to take into account everybody's needs," Romano said. "This town is affected by those decisions; there will be people who end up on unemployment, and it may impact the number of tourists coming to town."

Wynn bought the Desert Inn hotel from Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. for $270 million in April. He plans to tear down the existing hotel and adjoining golf course for his new megaresort.

The new resort will include an expansive lake surrounded by restaurants. Along with the new hotel, he will build time-share condominiums.

Wynn is trying to buy out all of the homeowners who live in the exclusive Desert Inn Estate neighborhoods. He has offered remaining residents between $900,000 and $1.2 million for their homes. Homeowners have until Friday to take the offer.