Print
E-mail
Share
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Stumble
Technorati
reddit
Fark
twitterFour-alarm blaze at Moulin Rouge leads to site demolition
Sign recently removed from historic site
Steve Marcus
Firefighters put water on a a blaze at the Moulin Rouge Apartments, formerly the Moulin Rouge hotel and casino, on Bonanza Road Wednesday. The apartments were supposed to have been vacant were destined to be torn down, officials said.
Published Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 12:04 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 5:16 p.m.
Moulin Rouge Fire
Firefighters from three area fire departments battled a four-alarm blaze for more than two hours at the historic Moulin Rouge hotel and casino Wednesday. Las Vegas Fire Department investigators will begin a thorough examination of the smoldering ruins as soon as the building is safe.
Map of Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge
900 West Bonanza Road, Las Vegas
Sun archives
- Does Moulin Rouge have a place in 2009? (3-12-2009)
- Beleaguered Moulin Rouge lives to fight another day (3-11-2009)
- Once again, a plan for renewing the Moulin Rouge (2-25-2008)
- Low-income residents pushed closer to streets (9-14-2006)
- Historic casino faces challenges (5-27-2005)
- Moulin Rouge revival planned (1-29-2004)
- Officials probe Moulin Rouge blaze (5-30-2003)
- Blaze is latest chapter in hotel's storied history (5-29-2003)
Historical stories
- Moulin Rouge staff features 'big names' (5-25-1955)
- Nearly finished resort hotel damaged by fire (4-7-1955)
Special coverage
The historic Moulin Rouge hotel and casino, destroyed by fire today, is already being torn down, a Las Vegas city spokesman said this afternoon.
The cause of the fire is undetermined, said Jace Radke, spokesman for the city of Las Vegas.
"But it's a total loss," Radke said, referring to the 54-year-old landmark in the western Las Vegas Valley.
Las Vegas Fire Department investigators will begin a thorough examination of the smoldering ruins as soon as the building is safe, he said.
Bulldozers began this afternoon tearing down two-story apartments that had burned near the front of the hotel property, Radke said.
Firefighters from three area fire departments battled a four-alarm blaze for more than two hours at the historic Moulin Rouge hotel and casino.
Las Vegas Fire Department dispatchers were called about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. The fire continued to burn, sending plumes of gray smoke into the sky and threatening nearby structures around the first integrated hotel in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas called in North Las Vegas and Clark County Fire Departments as the flames spread and threatened nearby apartment buildings and other structures.
There were no injuries reported. Firefighters did not find anyone in what was left of the historic hotel.
Hot temperatures in the high 80s and lower 90s did not help firefighters, who had to battle the blaze with hoses from atop ladders.
Radke said that the four alarms were called to bring in more manpower, not because of the intensity of the fire.
"It's a hot day, and they need to rotate crews through there," he said.
Sixteen engines from the three fire department responded to the fire, Radke said.
The fire occurred in part of the hotel that had been converted to apartment units, but was currently unoccupied.
An abandoned apartment building behind the hotel on H Street was also threatened by the fire.
A week ago the famous script sign spelling out Moulin Rouge across the front of the facade had been moved in preparation for its final destination in the Neon Boneyard. The boneyard is temporarily keeping the sign, a spokeswoman said this afternoon.
The Moulin Rouge was slated for a revival several times in its colorful past.
On May 29, 2003, an arson fire destroyed all but the neon sign, the hotel's facade and part of the structures in the historic building at 900 W. Bonanza Road.
The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The Moulin Rouge closed in 1997, a shell of its former self.
The hotel-casino opened on May 24, 1955 and had a wood-framed structure with wooden shingles.
Although the Moulin Rouge had its heydey in the first year of operation, its historical significance in Las Vegas and to America's civil rights movement remains indelible, Las Vegas historians noted.
David Milman, a historian at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society at Lorenzi Park, said the Moulin Rouge's importance was as "a beacon of initegration. Its lasting legacy was not the actual hotel, but rather the idea. Its existence guaranteed that things were going to change in racial policies in Las Vegas."
Once the Moulin Rouge was shuttered in 1997, the resort's 110 rooms were converted into low-rent apartment housing. The hotel is located in what has long been one of Las Vegas' poorest areas.
In the 1950s conditions were so bad in West Las Vegas some houses were mere shacks with no water, sewage system or electricity. Laws of the time prohibited blacks from living anywhere else in town.
The Moulin Rouge was the only hotel and casino in Las Vegas that allowed black patrons.
The resort was built for $7 million by Beverly Hills, Calif., real estate entrepreneur Alex Bisno and New York restaurateur Louis Rubin.
In March 1960 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and community leaders, including the late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun, met at the Moulin Rouge to broker a deal with white casino owners to end segregation practices on the Las Vegas Strip.
Sun reporter Jeff Pope contributed to this report.
Discussion: 13 comments so far…
Post a comment
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Three arrested in fatal shooting of Metro officer
- Franchione potential early candidate for UNLV football post
- Police: 3 arrested in officer’s death have gang ties
- Big fight headed for a New Frontier?
- Mayor: Morale not good among LV city employees
- Creditors want to expand probe of Station Casinos deal
- MGM Mirage (finally) makes George Strait show official
- Reserve Rebels didn’t have time to panic
- $60 million to stabilize neighborhoods buys five homes
- Hotels rein in risque advertising campaigns
Blogs
Elsewhere
Marquardt v. Sonnen scheduled for UFC 109
Bloggity, Bloggity, Bloggity
Will a fourth consecutive title by Jimmie Johnson be good or bad for NASCAR?
Top Chef: Las Vegas
The Jet Stream: And then there were four
Top Chef Episode 12: On keeping it simple
Miech Again
Chilly start for Chace, but Stanback says he'll warm up (1 Comment)
Elsewhere
Harvard Poker Pro: Texas Hold 'Em skills can help traders
Oscar De La Hoya wants to see Pacquiao/Mayweather
- Live chat
- Tuesday, noon PST
- Chat with Krista Creelman
- Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question
Calendar »
- 21 Sat
- 22 Sun
- 23 Mon
- 24 Tue
- 25 Wed
-
UFC 106 at Mandalay Bay Events Center
Mandalay Bay Events Center | 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
-
The Four Tops at The Orleans Showroom
Orleans Hotel-Casino
-
Julio Iglesias at the Las Vegas Hilton
Las Vegas Hilton
-
The Four Tops at The Orleans Showroom
Orleans Hotel-Casino
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Let it burn! Why even fight the fire? Save the resources and let the place burn to the ground.
Who are the current owners?
This has inside job written all over it. Historic property that sits in a delapitated state, a parade of new owners announcing pie in the sky plans, and plenty of homeless around to blame it on. Why pay a demo crew and fight the power that be to razz a historic money pit when you can torch it and blame it on a nameless, faceless homeless person?
What a shame. Sad how history can just disappear in seconds!!
I totally agree with you Bea!
"Las Vegas Fire Department investigators will begin a thorough examination of the smoldering ruins as soon as the building is safe, he said.
Bulldozers began this afternoon tearing down two-story apartments that had burned near the front of the hotel property, Radke said."
This makes absolutely no sense to me.. How can they examine the ruins as soon as the building is safe? If bulldozers started tearing the remains down immediately, then how can they do an investigation on how the fire started ... Sounds to me like someone is trying to blow smoke up our a$$e$
This stinks to high heaven! Oh, and Ricky Barlow is a worthless piece of crap!
Harley: You asked about the current owners.. below is what was said by and in regards to the owners in the RJ.
"The fire happened just a day after a Seattle investment firm took ownership of the property through foreclosure.
Olympic Coast Investment Inc. inherited the property by default after a Tuesday auction failed to attract a winning bidder.
"We are just shocked. I just can't believe it," said John Hoss of Olympic Coast, who was traveling from Seattle to Las Vegas to deal with the fire.
Since the Moulin Rouge closed, developers every few years have announced grand ideas to revitalize the property, located in a rundown, largely industrial neighborhood. None of those plans has come to fruition.
Olympic Coast's plans for the 17-acre property were unknown Wednesday.
The previous owners, Moulin Rouge Properties, filed for bankruptcy in November owing Olympic Coast, its first lienholder, $24 million, Hoss said."
Interesting that the Moulin Rouge failed to sell at an auction on Tuesday, and it burnt down the very next day..
Appreciate the info L in V.
Understand property was "inherited" by Olympic Coast Investment Inc.
Next question, was the structure insured?
Harley-who cares if they have insurance? That property is wrth more vacant than having a low rise 1950's hotel wing with vagrants living in it. They saved a fortune in demo costs regardless of the source of this fire. The owners are happy whether they had a hand in this or not, I suspect the city isn't too broken up about it either. So I doubt much of an investigation will be taking place.
The hotel had some history....not any more
This just gets more bizarre to me... http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-re...
i am still amazed by the wednesday comment that the only thing of value on the property, the iconic sign, had been removed a few days before the fire. curious?