Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Saying goodbye to DI

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2000 | 2:35 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

THE QUEEN is dead. Long live the queen.

The dust hasn't even cleared -- that will come later following the implosion -- and already I miss the Desert Inn. Sure, what will rise up from the ashes and rubble of the 50-year-old resort will be something so grand that only Steve Wynn has thought of it. The rest of us should be content just to marvel in its beauty and design when the doors to tomorrow's Las Vegas are opened a couple of years from now.

But for now, can I just one last time talk about the hotel that was? For it was at the Desert Inn that I spent a good part of my childhood, or so it seems through half a century of clouded memories. It was there that Wilbur and Toni Clark held court for their friends, neighbors and, of course, the customers who made the whole thing work. It was during those early days when the Desert Inn was new and the town was even newer that Wilbur would travel the world over as an ambassador of good will for this new phenomenon called Las Vegas.

I suppose it isn't just the passing from view of the DI that has me feeling so nostalgic. Certainly, there is the passage of 50 years in what seems like a nanosecond that causes many of us "old-timers" to consider where we have been and what we have seen in this most remarkable of American cities. There is also the constant reminder of the time that has passed by many of those who have been here to share in the life and times of the grand lady of the Strip.

Couple these memories with the most recent closure of the Circus Maximus at Caesars Palace, an event marked by a stellar final performance by Steve and Edie, and the yearning for bygone days has a tendency to overshadow the excitement that the future always brings.

My father used to counsel me that we must always be moving forward, progressing toward a better day. Those who refuse to change, he would say, those who are content to stand still, will most certainly fall behind because the world is always changing and will pass them by. I have found that to be true not only in hotel building but also in life, generally. We are always challenged to reach back for the good old days at the risk of forsaking tomorrow, forgetting always that the good old days are gone and only our tomorrows hold the promise.

The same is true for the Desert Inn. When Steve Wynn announced the closure and then the certain fate of what most of the world knows as the DI, all but the most heartless had to shed a tear or two for what was. For that was an era of excitement and life-sized thrills that few cities could ever offer and very few hotels could ever hope to provide. Yet that was the very essence of the Desert Inn.

Even though I have tried to repress the nostalgia, my friend Allan Creel would allow none of that. Since he is a bit older than I am, his early days at the hotel were far more cognizant of the real goings on. He has spent most of this summer reminiscing about the old days. Not necessarily the "good" old days because there are plenty of those ahead of us, assuming Steve gets this thing built in a relatively short period of time. Just the old days.

Allan's memory of those glory days, the ones that predated Howard Hughes, Sheraton and Starwood, and the other players who have come and gone throughout the DI's history, are full of fondness for what once was.

Rather than continue to make me misty, I asked him to write it his way, summing up his feelings about the place where Las Vegas once lived and played. My thought was that he could also resurrect a few old memories for others who were there and, for those who are new to town, paint a picture of words to express that which they have never known.

Allan professes an inability to communicate but I think his words speak volumes because they come from the heart and they come from a shared history with a dynamic piece of Las Vegas history for which most of us should feel a twinge of envy.

"She was the queen. She stood sentry over the fabulous Strip. Her throne was the Sky Room, where Murray Arnold hosted heads of state, hotel owners, golf celebrities and the colorful and storied organization people.

"The queen never slept. Night and day there was action at the DI. From major golf tournaments, like the Tournament of Champions which put professional golf back on the map and into America's living rooms with superstars like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gene Littler, to the most fabulous entertainment in the world.

"In the morning you could be eating breakfast with 'Ice Pick' Willie Alderman or Johnny Roselli. There was golf in the afternoon with Bo Winniger, Tony Frabielle or Charlie Resnick, and at night, well, that was the time for cocktails in the Sky Room with Betty Grable, Harry James and a host of other Las Vegas celebrities.

"It was the good old days in Las Vegas, when the hotels catered to the individuals, not the masses. It was a different time, they were different people and, oh, what different personalities they had. Never again will we experience the real heart and passionate foundation of Las Vegas. But that's the way life is. No queen lives forever. Not even the Desert Inn."

Allan, I couldn't have said it any better and, now, I don't need to say any more.