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A crane lowers a portion of the Sahara sign Tuesday, March 12, 2013 as part of a project to transform the iconic Las Vegas casino into the SLS Las Vegas resort. A portion of Las Vegas Boulevard was closed as work was under way to remove the sign.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013 | 9:40 a.m.
A piece of Las Vegas' past vanished from the Strip on Tuesday, as workers removed the sign from the old Sahara resort.
The sign is being removed as part of a project to transform the Sahara into SLS Las Vegas, the high-end resort project announced in January 2012 by Los Angeles-based hotelier Sam Nazarian. Nazarian heads SBE Entertainment, a hospitality and entertainment empire with real estate, restaurants, clubs and hotels nationwide.
The company expects to spend upwards of $750 million on the project and aims to open the SLS in early 2014.
For Tuesday's portion of the renovation project, northbound lanes of Las Vegas Boulevard were closed to traffic as workers used a crane to dismantle portions of the Sahara sign and lower them onto flatbed trucks. One southbound lane was opened for northbound traffic. Although traffic was slowed in the area, no major tie-ups were reported.
A crew of 24 Vision Sign construction workers began pulling apart the iconic Sahara sign from the top down at 11 p.m. Monday. Six members worked inside the sign structure, severing electrical wires with torches so portions of the sign could be pulled from the rusty metal columns that held them in place. The rest of the workers were stationed on the ground, in charge of directing pieces to the ground and peeling off the welding so they could be transported in 10-foot pieces to a recycling plant near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The sign's history is not lost on Vision Sign Project Manager Rob Crosbie, who said several crew members taking it down had been in charge of assembling it in the 1990s. Crosbie said it was rare for his crew to strip a sign completely. Typically, they either build new ones or renovate old signs.
"I've been doing signs for 25 years in town, (and) these are the fun projects," Crosbie said. "When you are involved in something like this, it is pretty cool."
The Sahara closed in 2011 after 59 years of operation. In its prime, it was well-known for its lounges and popularity among A-list celebrities. The Beatles stayed at the resort during a concert in Las Vegas, and entertainers who regularly performed there included Louis Prima and Don Rickles. Judy Garland and Sonny and Cher were among the stars who appeared on the showroom stage, and the casino was featured in the original version of the film "Ocean's Eleven."
I applaud the redesign efforts but the "SLS" name is dumb. Nothing wrong with the Sahara name. Iconic, historical, recognized. Same goes for the "D". I get the whole ego thing...Wynn, Harrah's, but at least those were names.
Sigh.... and with that Vegas becomes even more generic. Another interesting and imaginative marquee replaced by 3 dull letters: SLS. I hope that some day this town is taken back by the people who actually have vision and imagination. Until then enjoy the D, the M, the SLS, the LVH, TI.....
@VegasObserver: I have had the same thought. I have to wonder how good a job the new management teams are going to do in running these new and rebranded hotels if they can't even complete the relatively simple task of coming up with a name.
I don't remember "The Kerkorian"
Or the "The Hughes"
Or "The Siegel"
Or "The Sarno"
Wynn gets a pass because his original concept was LaRev and I would consider him a Titan in Las Vegas history. These other names..the M, The D, SLS are all built on today's egomaniacal thought process of "I need to see my name on the marquee" or some portion of it. Today's Trumps.
Hate to see the old Sahara go. Had decades of fun there but old Vegas does not work and is not profitable any longer so I understand.
The new owners are putting up their Millions/Billions so they can do as they please and name it as they will. They have gained that right by putting their money where their mouth is.
Good luck to them, hope it works out great. The North end of the strip needs it.
sometimes a name and a property is just used up...the sahara was a dive...it had become so neglected and dirty. i stayed there about 8 years ago and it was disgusting...i could stay there free and chose not to after that.
i dont see much creativity in the initials that are being used for todays properties.
if you are going to name a property after a person, then he had better have a good last name....somehow i dont think the weinberg, or the schwartz, would have the same appeal as the wynn..
seems like a little theaming would be nice, it fits the bill for strip properties
So Sun Staff, all the other articles, and there are many, say that the SLS will open in the fall not early 2014. Also, all of them say it will cost $415 million at most not upwards of $750 million. So which is it? Six months earlier and almost twice as much money for construction means a hell of a lot more construction jobs. And since construction workers are among the hardest hit in LV, I'm sure they would like to know the truth. So lets hear it!
Same thought about the name.
Why isn't the sign being donated to the Neon Museum?
tomD: i would think you would of liked a casino named after you ;)
hey kevin, i believe the neon museum already has the original sahara sign.
The name SLS does nothing for me. I'm sure some will devise their own name for the letters such as Sorry Lousy ****hole. They should have modernized the Sahara. Visitors tend to go back to the hotel & casino they enjoyed with their wives/husbands in their youthful days. It's called nostalgia and the name now kills it. New visitors have a choice, Stay at the MGM Grand? Tropicana? Flamingo? Wynn? Bellagio? Venetian? Caesars Palace? Mirage? The SLS????? I don't think so.
"Visitors tend to go back to the hotel & casino they enjoyed with their wives/husbands in their youthful days."
For some people, the Mirage qualifies as that. The future of Las Vegas is tomorrow!
Recycling Center? Really? They couldn't have offered it to the Neon Museum?
its cool that vegas is seeing a revitalization and an influx of cash after the 'downturn' of a few yrs ago. only problem i see with the plan is that las vegas seems to just want to build superexpensive, overpriced places. vegas is shooting itself in the collective foot by making everywhere so damn expensive. they're are alot of not so wealthy people that would love to go and enjoy the sights and sounds, but the common man has been nearly priced out of going. new places or renovations should be done with more reasonable pricing in mind