The Vanderpump Hotel quietly opened this week with an official grand opening celebration planned for June. The resort, which has a prime Strip location on the corner of Flamingo Road, has shifted identities over the years, beginning more than 47 years ago as the Barbary Coast.
🛎️ A New Kind of Hotel
Michael Gaughan opened the Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino on March 2, 1979, taking over a four-acre lot originally home to the Desert Villa motor lodge, which first welcomed guests in 1952. The name evolved to Empey’s Desert Villa and the Times Square Motel before closing.
The Barbary Coast cost $11.5 million (or nearly $53 million in today’s dollars) to build from the ground up, allowing Gaughan to establish his own identity as a casino operator. He followed the advice of his father, legendary Vegas magnate Jackie Gaughan, who believed in the power of operating on corner lots.
🎰 Rough Start to an Impressive Legacy
Other Strip properties, including the Flamingo and Caesars Palace, fought it, complaining the new resort would generate too much traffic for the intersection, but Gaughan was able to win approval by the Clark County Commission. A year later, the Barbary Coast would temporarily close to assist survivors of the deadly MGM Grand hotel fire across the street.
Looking back, the Barbary Coast was a bridge between the eras of the motor lodge and the megaresort, making an impression with Victorian decor and stained-glass murals. The cylindrical neon marquee on the southwest corner of the hotel became closely associated with the Strip itself — and the font for the name would eventually become known as “Barbary Coast block.” With less than 200 rooms and a relatively small casino floor, Michael’s Gourmet Room and Drai’s (a restaurant that evolved into a late-night party spot) helped draw visitors.
⌛ An Evolution of Identities
Gaughan sold the Barbary Coast to Boyd Gaming, which renamed the resort Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon. Eventually, the property landed in the hands of Caesars Entertainment. Plans to rebrand the property as a Gansevoort hotel fizzled out (over questions about Russian mob ties) before it was revamped as the Cromwell, mixing luxury with vintage Parisian aesthetics and moving Drai’s upstairs next to a new rooftop pool.
The names and identities keep changing, but the bones of the property are pretty much in place at the new Vanderpump Hotel. If you want to relive the history of the Barbary Coast today, a portion of the marquee is on display at the Neon Museum and decor from the original Michael’s Gourmet Room, including a stained-glass door and marble floor, is now part of a second version at Michael Gaughan's South Point casino.
