I found the CSI backstory tonight interesting. It focused on a club named the Chateau Rouge, known as the first integrated casino in old school Vegas.
As many of you know, I was born in Vegas in 1952. My dad played at the Desert Inn, and my aunt (who was not my aunt at the time) danced at the Desert Inn. Then, the Moulin Rouge opened, owned by Sammy Davis Jr. and others, which was the first integrated casino in Vegas.
I thought it was interesting watching fiction weave around reality, espically a reality I know about personally.
It burned down all but the facade in 2003. It's now a declared historical building in Vegas, and there are plans to redevelop it.
UPDATE: I cannot believe how many hits I have been getting over this post! I forgot to mention that my aunt (the dancer) left the Desert Inn to be one of the dancers at the Moulin Rouge. And NO, the Chateau Rouge is a made up casino, NOT REAL. The storyline of the CSI episode related to the Moulin Rouge.
Joan and Sid ... then.
Leslie and Kelly - Moulin Rouge
4 comments:
I wonder what kind of management shenanigans caused the Moulin Rouge to go broke after only 7 months, when it was featuring great black performers & was so hip that headliners from other casinos were hanging out there. Those old casinos look so small now.
I seen that episode of CSI and I did smoe research to see if it really exsisted. So this is really interesting.
Bob, it wasn't management. It was the mob. They didn't take too kindly to the stars, not to mention the customers, that the Moulin Rouge was taking from the Strip after hours, so, they decided to integrate, and people just stopped going downtown and went back to the Strip.
I put up a link, now, to a song my cousins wrote about their mom and dad in Vegas, where they met, which they titled "Moulin Rouge." Enjoy the song.
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