John Katsilometes spends some time with Jim Dunbar, who was a member of the Caesars team before the hotel opened 40 years ago

Friday, Aug. 4, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.

In the long history of Caesars Palace, Jim Dunbar has always been ahead of his time.

One day ahead.

The resort celebrates its 40th anniversary on Saturday. But Dunbar celebrates his 40th anniversary at Caesars today.

"I was actually hired on Aug. 4, 1966, a day before we opened," said Dunbar, who was brought aboard as a parking attendant on that date by Caesars Palace (and Circus Circus) mastermind Jay Sarno. Dunbar had spent the nine previous years at the Flamingo and parked Sarno's Cadillac many times at that hotel.

Today, at age 68, Dunbar still pulls full-time shifts as a valet attendant at the hotel.

"It's hard to believe, but I've spent 50 years parking cars," said Dunbar, whose family moved to Las Vegas in 1943. He graduated from Las Vegas High School and remembers Caesars Palace's splashy opening night. When asked how it compared with the opening nights of today's megaresorts - Bellagio and Wynn Las Vegas among them - he said, "I'd say it was bigger than that. Anyone who was anyone - even kings, queens, princesses - were here that night, not just movie stars."

The reason, Dunbar said, was that, "In those days nothing compared to what we had at Caesars. We had the biggest shows, the biggest stars, the best restaurants. I remember when I walked across the street from the Flamingo, it was like another world to me - just across the street. The architecture, the statues we had from Italy, that type of art was a new thing for a casino."

Dunbar encountered all the stars who performed at the old Circus Maximus showroom. His favorite story is the night in the mid-'70s when Frank Sinatra celebrated his 40th anniversary in show business at the hotel.

"They brought in a huge cake with whipped cream and chocolate, and this huge food fight broke out," Dunbar said. "I stopped by the restroom and there was Frank Sinatra, covered in chocolate and whipped cream, trying to get the cake out of his hair."

Dunbar says the employee benefits are better today than when he first started. But memories of cake in the Chairman of the Board's hair are, as they say, priceless.

"Whenever I say I work at Caesars there is a positive response," he said. "People always want to talk to me about it, to know what it's like. It's great."

NoteMart

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