How do you close a casino?

Liz Benston, Las Vegas Sun

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

Tony Taeubel, until recently the general manager of the Stardust, can reel off the names of many of the historic property's longtime employees, casino games and property quirks, such as the time capsule buried somewhere beneath the parking lot decades ago that still hasn't been found.

But there was a lot more he didn't know about the property he has run for nearly three years and which closes today. So now, acting like a conservator for a dead heiress who needs to auction off a clutter-filled estate, Taeubel will be overseeing a public auction Nov. 17-21 to sell nearly everything of value at the late Stardust.

It has taken him about a year to get his hands around the challenge, cataloging each of the property's more than 70,000 items.

"I've opened two properties but I've never closed one before," said Taeubel, who ran casinos in the Midwest and South before joining the Stardust in January 2004.

For those wanting to know where old casino tables, lounge chairs and cocktail glasses go to die, the answer will become clear later this month. They will be shuffled into the mix of property that will go on the auction block, starting with the most treasured memorabilia such as signs and games, then shifting to the finer furnishings, artwork, chandeliers and to the rest of the memorabilia. The nitty-gritty items with no collectible value will go after that, including hotel-room furniture, kitchen equipment and lighting.

Slot machines are off-limits: State law prevents the public from buying the machines . Parent company Boyd Gaming Corp. will distribute the slots among existing properties, mostly in Las Vegas, and will sell the remainder to slot distribution companies that do business in Nevada.

Casino enthusiasts have been making trips in recent weeks to pocket casino chips worth $1 to $100 a pop. Regulators require casinos to destroy chips after properties close - causing the value of rarer chips to grow in the future.

For collectors, the Stardust closing is a precious event. The Westward Ho and Boardwalk closed in the past year, attracting bargain-hunters and collectors alike.

The last of the mob-run hotels before the predecessor to Boyd Gaming bought the property in 1985, the Stardust is the largest property to close on the Strip since the fabled Sands 10 years ago.

While the Sands is associated with the Rat Pack and evokes a romanticized period in history, the Stardust has a complex, less-well-known past familiar to a smaller circle of mob historians, said Michael Knapp, a Montana-based collector of Stardust memorabilia who co-authors a definitive list of Nevada casino chips.

Under owners Argent Corp., gambler Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal - the subject of the movie "Casino" - ran a skimming operation for the Chicago mob that state regulators busted in 1983.

Even the birth of the 48-year-old casino - half-built when the property's developer died of an apparent heart attack shooting craps across the street at the Desert Inn - is shrouded in mystery.

There are vestiges of the old Stardust lying around, including Rosenthal's ninth-floor suite in the East Tower, where the mobster installed intricate wooden cabinetry in the living room and left behind pastel-colored furniture that appears to have been little-used since the early 1980s. Like the rest of the property, everything in the room will be sold at auction.

"There are all kinds of nooks and crannies to this place. We really didn't know what we had until we started taking stock," Taeubel said. He recently poked around the East Tower with a reporter, wondering what was behind an industrial door near an unused elevator.

"Maybe we'll find that Teamsters guy behind there, Jimmy Hoffa," he joked, referring to the union boss. But his key didn't work, so the mystery remains.

The auction was initially going to be conducted online, but Boyd decided it could fetch more money by assigning the task to a liquidation company, Great American Group.

The Los Angeles company has handled other high-profile corporate auctions in recent years, including the venerable art collection of the now-defunct Arthur Andersen auditing firm and Three Rivers Stadium, the former home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Mark Weitz, president of Great American's wholesale and industrial division, calls the Stardust auction a "career crescendo" that, unlike typical auctions with regional interest, will likely draw international attention.

The auction also will be broadcast simultaneously on the Internet, where remote buyers can view digital photos of each item for sale and enter bids. Unlike Great American's typical auctions, registration for the Stardust auction is free.

Thousands of items, from the felt on the blackjack tables to ashtrays and swizzle sticks, will have some collectible value because they feature the Stardust logo - but it may take a while for it to appreciate, Knapp warned.

Some of the most expensive items will be casino signs, including an old, rotating Stardust sign at the north end of the property that cost Boyd nearly $130,000 to repair after lightning struck it years ago.

But much has no collectible value and will be sold for cents on the dollar - including garish casino carpet with the property's characteristic starry galaxy theme and some palm trees outside that are past their prime.

In the market for 1,500 bed frames, armoires and easy chairs? Nostalgic customers who want to re-create Stardust guest rooms may have to go to Mexico, where a hotel developer is interested in buying the furniture in bulk to furnish a new property. If that deal collapses, the contents of the rooms will be sold in lots of several dozen rooms at a time, Taeubel said. Collectors will cede that ground to lower-rent hotel operators eager to snap up used plasma TVs and armchairs.

The property plans to donate much of its perishable food to local food banks and homeless shelters. Some of its office equipment and supplies will probably be donated to local schools.

People who miss the auction won't be left empty-handed. Many items will immediately turn up on eBay, Taeubel said.

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