Highway 91 & Strip History • 1942–2007

Hotel Last Frontier Las Vegas History: From 1942 Western Resort to New Frontier & 2007 Implosion

Published November 10, 2026 10 min read 5 Archival Photos

Opened on October 30, 1942 at 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard South by Texas movie-theater magnate R.E. Griffith and his architect-nephew William J. “Bill” Moore Jr., the Hotel Last Frontier was the second resort built on U.S. Highway 91. Erected on the desert parcel previously occupied by the 1931 Pair-O-Dice Club and Guy McAfee’s 91 Club, the property operated for 65 years across three major architectural incarnations (the Old West Last Frontier, the Space-Age New Frontier, and the Howard Hughes-era Frontier Hotel) before closing on July 16, 2007 and imploding on November 13, 2007.

No single address on the Las Vegas Strip compressed more turning points in American resort and labor history into one 36-acre footprint. Within those walls, Wladziu Liberace played his first Las Vegas showroom dates in 1944, Ronald Reagan staged his sole two-week nightclub engagement in February 1954, 21-year-old Elvis Presley endured a famously mismatched Strip debut in April 1956, Diana Ross appeared for the final time with The Supremes in January 1970, and 550 union workers held an unbroken picket line for six years, four months, and ten days during the 1990s.

1950 archival photograph of Hotel Last Frontier and Last Frontier Village along U.S. Highway 91 in Las Vegas — Last Frontier (1950) • Source: UNLV Special Collections & Archives • Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive Browse Full Last Frontier Album →

Hotel Last Frontier and its adjoining Last Frontier Village along Highway 91 in 1950, combining R.E. Griffith and Bill Moore’s sandstone lodge with relocated 19th-century mining-camp storefronts.

In This Article • 5 Archival Photographs Click any photo to view full size

Archival Landmark Dossier

Location 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard South (former Pair-O-Dice / 91 Club site)

Opened October 30, 1942 (as Hotel Last Frontier, 2nd Strip resort)

Founders & Architects R.E. Griffith & William J. Moore Jr. (1942); Albert Criz (1955); Rissman & Rissman (1967)

Major Rebuilds New Frontier (April 4, 1955); Frontier Hotel (July 29, 1967); New Frontier (1998)

Historic Milestones Liberace debut (1944), Elvis debut (April 1956), 6-year Culinary strike (1991–1998)

Closed & Imploded Closed July 16, 2007; imploded November 13, 2007

Why Did R.E. Griffith and Bill Moore Build Hotel Last Frontier on Highway 91 in 1942?

Rupert Earl “R.E.” Griffith, who operated more than 160 motion-picture theaters across Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico through the Griffith Amusement Company, drove through southern Nevada in 1941 while scouting cinema sites near the wartime Basic Magnesium plant. Seeing the immediate profitability of Thomas Hull’s El Rancho Vegas two miles north at Sahara Avenue, Griffith acquired the old Pair-O-Dice and 91 Club acreage outside Las Vegas municipal tax boundaries and assigned his 31-year-old nephew, architect William J. “Bill” Moore Jr., to design a self-contained luxury ranch resort.

Working under strict World War II War Production Board lumber and steel quotas, Moore scavenged structural timbers, hand-quarried Arizona sandstone, and used brick from dismantled regional mines to construct the 107-room lodge. Marketed under the slogan “The Early West in Modern Splendor,” the Hotel Last Frontier opened on October 30, 1942 with massive sandstone fireplaces, exposed Ponderosa pine beams, steer-horn chandeliers, and an Olympic-scale swimming pool facing two-lane Highway 91.

Inside the Gay 90s Bar, leather horse saddles replaced conventional barstools along a polished mahogany counter, while the Ramona Room dinner theater booked big bands and specialty acts. In 1944, an unknown Milwaukee pianist named Liberace played the Ramona Room for roughly $750 a week, inaugurating the flamboyant candelabra showmanship that later commanded $50,000 weekly down the highway. Ten years later, in February 1954, screen actor and future U.S. President Ronald Reagan performed his only two-week Las Vegas stage engagement in the Ramona Room, trading song-and-dance banter alongside the Continentals quartet and the Blackburn Twins.

Last Frontier (1949) archival photograph: Last Frontier Village, July 17, 1949. Hand-dated prints. — Last Frontier (1949) • Source: The Las Vegas Archive Historical Collection Browse Full Last Frontier Album →

Last Frontier Village, July 17, 1949. Hand-dated prints.

What Was Robert Cannon’s Last Frontier Village Ghost Town (1947–1950)?

Following R.E. Griffith’s death in November 1943, Bill Moore and hotel general manager Robert “Bob” Cannon expanded the resort’s Western branding into a full-scale outdoor museum directly north of the main casino. Between 1947 and 1950, Cannon scoured abandoned ghost towns across Nevada, Utah, and California, buying weathered clapboard buildings, boardwalks, and mining hardware piece by piece and hauling them by flatbed truck to 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard South.

Opened to highway motorists without an admission gate, Last Frontier Village operated as one of America’s earliest commercial theme parks, predating Walter Knott’s expanded Calico Ghost Town and Walt Disney’s Disneyland by several years. Visitors strolled past narrow-gauge steam locomotives from the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad, a barred pioneer jailhouse, a working assay office, historic stagecoaches, a rare Chinese Joss House shrine from northern Nevada rail camps, and halls packed with antique coin-operated mutoscopes and upright slot machines.

In September 1950, Moore and Cannon added a two-story saloon casino at the northern edge of the village initially named the Golden Slipper and quickly renamed the Silver Slipper, crowned by a revolving 13-foot jeweled neon stiletto that became a Strip landmark in its own right.

Why Did Elvis Presley’s April 1956 Debut Flop at the Space-Age New Frontier?

By 1954, sleek Miami-inspired resorts such as the Sands and the high-rise Riviera made rough-sawn Western lodges look dated. Resort investors leased the core parcel, hired Los Angeles architect Albert Criz, and spent $2.5 million constructing the New Frontier right in front of the old timber wings. Opening on April 4, 1955, just sixteen days before the Riviera and seven weeks before the Dunes, Criz’s low-slung mid-century modern complex replaced wagon wheels with cantilevered glass walls, celestial murals in the Cloud Nine Lounge, and the 700-seat Venus Room.

Seeking a novelty attraction to bridge older gamblers and younger tourists, entertainment director Sammy Lewis and Colonel Tom Parker booked 21-year-old RCA Victor recording artist Elvis Presley for a two-week Venus Room run from April 23 to May 6, 1956 at $12,500 per week. Billed as “The Atomic Powered Singer” beneath velvet-voiced society bandleader Freddy Martin and brash comic Shecky Greene, Presley stepped before middle-aged dinner patrons just as “Heartbreak Hotel” hit number one nationally.

The booking proved an immediate cultural mismatch. Backed only by Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana without screaming teenage fans in the showroom, Presley’s raw rockabilly rhythms perplexed high-limit spenders accustomed to orchestral standards. Newsweek memorably likened Presley’s Venus Room appearance to “a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party.” Although Saturday afternoon teen matinees drew lively crowds, hotel brass relegated Presley below Greene in newspaper ads, and Elvis did not headline another Las Vegas stage until his triumphant July 1969 opening at the International Hotel.

Frontier (1940) archival photograph: Fremont St, July 1940. Photo by George Strock, looking west in front of Apache Hotel. — Frontier (1940) • Photographer: George Strock • George Strock Photographs Browse Full Frontier Album →

Fremont St, July 1940. Photo by George Strock, looking west in front of Apache Hotel.

How Did Howard Hughes Acquire the Rebuilt Frontier Hotel in September 1967?

After a decade of ownership shuffles and cash shortfalls, developer Maurice Friedman and partners, later linked by federal investigators to undisclosed Detroit syndicate interests, bulldozed both the 1942 lodge and the 1955 New Frontier in early 1967. Architects Homer and Marshall Rissman designed a brand-new $20 million, 650-room resort christened the Frontier Hotel, anchored by a sweeping crescent-shaped seven-story tower and a 184-foot roadside pylon sign. The rebuilt Frontier opened on July 29, 1967 with an extravagant gala.

Behind the scenes, federal grand jury probes into skimming and hidden equity at Friedman’s earlier Las Vegas ventures paralyzed the new hotel’s finances within weeks. Operating from his ninth-floor penthouse suite a quarter-mile east at the Desert Inn, billionaire industrialist Howard Hughes stepped in through Hughes Tool Company on September 22, 1967 and purchased the eight-week-old Frontier Hotel for $14 million. Seven months later, in April 1968, Hughes paid $5.4 million for the neighboring Silver Slipper, reportedly in part so his aides could halt its rotating rooftop slipper sign, whose strobe-like sweep irritated him through the Desert Inn’s blackout curtains.

Under Hughes’s Summa Corporation, the Frontier hosted two landmark showroom chapters: on January 14, 1970, Diana Ross sang her farewell concert with The Supremes in the Venus Room while introducing the Jackson 5, and from November 1981 to 1988, illusionists Siegfried & Roy shattered Strip box-office records there with Beyond Belief before Steve Wynn recruited them to anchor The Mirage.

Frontier (1940) archival photograph: “Hell-Raising Las Vegas” May 1940 Photo by Paul Dorsey from Look Magazine’s 8/13/40 issue, photographed during — Frontier (1940) • Photographer: Paul Dorsey • Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive Browse Full Frontier Album →

“Hell-Raising Las Vegas” May 1940 Photo by Paul Dorsey from Look Magazine’s 8/13/40 issue, photographed during Helldorado celebrations earlier that year. This is Fremont at 2nd.

How Did Culinary Union Local 226 Win the Six-Year Frontier Strike (1991–1998)?

In 1988, Summa Corporation sold the Frontier Hotel and Silver Slipper for $47 million to Margaret Elardi, former co-owner of Downtown’s Pioneer Club, and her sons Tom and Chris Elardi. Elardi immediately demolished the Silver Slipper for surface parking, added a 16-story Atrium Tower behind the 1967 crescent wing, terminated the resort’s union contract, halted pension contributions, and cut wages and health coverage.

At 12:01 a.m. on September 21, 1991, roughly 550 housekeepers, cocktail servers, cooks, bartenders, engineers, and porters represented by Culinary Workers Union Local 226, Bartenders Local 165, Operating Engineers Local 501, and Teamsters Local 995 walked off the job. Management hired replacement non-union staff, installed surveillance cameras along Las Vegas Boulevard, and swore the union would never return. Instead, Local 226 sustained a round-the-clock sidewalk picket line 24 hours a day through 115-degree summer heat and winter nights, funded by strike assessments from unionized Strip resorts.

Across 6 years, 4 months, and 10 days, the longest strike in modern United States labor history, not one of the 550 striking Frontier union members crossed the picket line, marched alongside a 1992 desert walk from Barstow to Las Vegas, or abandoned the dispute. National labor solidarity starved the casino of convention bookings until Wichita, Kansas entrepreneur Phil Ruffin purchased the hotel for $165 million, signed a full collective bargaining agreement restoring seniority and back pay, rechristened the resort the New Frontier, and marched back inside arm-in-arm with returning strikers at midnight on February 1, 1998.

Year / Date	Property Name	Key Owner / Architect	Defining Architectural & Historical Milestone
Oct. 30, 1942	Hotel Last Frontier	R.E. Griffith & Bill Moore Jr.	Opens with 107 rooms, sandstone hearths, saddle barstools, and Ramona Room on old 91 Club tract.
1947–1950	Last Frontier Village	Bill Moore Jr. & Bob Cannon	Authentic 19th-century mining buildings, steam locomotives, and Silver Slipper added north of lodge.
April 4, 1955	New Frontier	Albert Criz (Architect)	$2.5M Space-Age rebuild adds Cloud Nine Lounge and Venus Room; Elvis Presley debuts April 23, 1956.
July 29, 1967	Frontier Hotel	Maurice Friedman / Rissman & Rissman	Old timber and 1955 wings razed for a $20M, 650-room curved concrete tower and 184-foot sign.
Sept. 22, 1967	Frontier Hotel	Howard Hughes (Summa Corp.)	Hughes buys eight-week-old resort for $14M; hosts Supremes farewell (1970) and Siegfried & Roy (1981–88).
Sept. 21, 1991–Feb. 1, 1998	Frontier / New Frontier	Margaret Elardi; sold to Phil Ruffin	550 union workers wage 6-year, 4-month, 10-day strike without a single union crossing until Ruffin’s $165M buyout.
Nov. 13, 2007	New Frontier (Demolished)	Elad Group ($1.24B land sale)	Closes July 16, 2007 after $33M-per-acre sale; 16-story Atrium Tower felled by fireworks implosion.

When Was the New Frontier Imploded and What Happened to the 3120 Las Vegas Blvd Site?

Phil Ruffin operated the New Frontier for nine profitable years as a value-priced country-and-western hangout featuring Gilley’s Saloon while mid-2000s Strip land values soared around Steve Wynn’s neighboring Wynn Las Vegas. In May 2007, at the absolute peak of the pre-recession real estate boom, Ruffin sold the 36-acre New Frontier parcel to Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva’s Elad Group, owners of New York’s Plaza Hotel, for $1.24 billion, shattering Las Vegas records at more than $33 million per acre.

The New Frontier locked its doors after midnight on July 16, 2007, ending 65 years of continuous gaming on the parcel. At 2:33 a.m. on November 13, 2007, Controlled Demolition, Inc. ignited 1,217 pounds of explosives laced through the 16-story Atrium Tower following a synchronized Zambelli fireworks barrage, dropping the last standing structure in roughly ten seconds.

Elad’s proposed $5 billion Plaza Las Vegas resort collapsed during the 2008 global credit freeze, followed by Australian billionaire James Packer’s aborted Alon Las Vegas project a decade later. In December 2017, Wynn Resorts acquired the vacant 38-acre assemblage across from Fashion Show Mall for $336 million, holding the historic Frontier tract as prime north-central Strip expansion reserve land.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where was the Hotel Last Frontier located on the Las Vegas Strip?

The Hotel Last Frontier stood at 3120 Las Vegas Boulevard South on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip, directly across from the former Desert Inn (now Wynn and Encore Las Vegas) and immediately north of Fashion Show Mall. Before R.E. Griffith and architect Bill Moore opened the resort on October 30, 1942, the acreage housed the 1931 Pair-O-Dice Club and Guy McAfee’s 91 Club.

How long did the Frontier Hotel Culinary Union strike last?

The Frontier Hotel strike began at 12:01 a.m. on September 21, 1991 and ended at midnight on February 1, 1998, lasting exactly 6 years, 4 months, and 10 days. Involving 550 members of Culinary Workers Local 226 and three partner unions against owner Margaret Elardi, it became the longest strike in modern U.S. labor history, with zero union strikers ever crossing the picket line.

When did Elvis Presley perform at the New Frontier in Las Vegas?

Twenty-one-year-old Elvis Presley made his Las Vegas Strip debut in the New Frontier’s 700-seat Venus Room from April 23 to May 6, 1956, earning $12,500 per week. Billed as “The Atomic Powered Singer” alongside Freddy Martin’s orchestra and comedian Shecky Greene, Presley struggled to connect with middle-aged big-band dinner patrons and did not perform in Las Vegas again until July 1969.

Did Ronald Reagan perform on stage at the Hotel Last Frontier?

Yes. In February 1954, twelve years before winning the California governorship, actor Ronald Reagan headlined a two-week variety engagement in the Ramona Room at the Hotel Last Frontier. Paid to host and perform comedic skits and song-and-dance numbers with the Continentals quartet and the Blackburn Twins, the Last Frontier booking remained Reagan’s sole Las Vegas casino stage residency.

Curated Historical Bibliography

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