Not to be confused with the hotel and casino that burned down in 1960. The El Rancho was a Western and Mexican-themed hotel and casino located where The Drew currently resides on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The hotel originally opened as the Thunderbird in 1948, became the Silverbird in 1978, and finally, the El Rancho in 1982. The hotel was owned by Ed Torres.
The El Rancho was home to Rodney's Place, a comedy club owned by comedian Rodney Dangerfield.
The El Rancho ("The Ranch" in Spanish) is named after the El Rancho Vegas, the first hotel and casino on Highway 91 (The Las Vegas Strip). It burned down in 1960 and was never rebuilt.
History[]
Public Years (1982 - 1992)[]
In 1981, back when the El Rancho was known as the Silverbird, owner of the casino, Ed Torres, decided to hire a casino architect known as Martin Stern Jr. to expand the hotel and add a new entrace. Not only did he do that, but he also completely changed the theme of the hotel. No longer did the hotel have massive reflective facades on it's casino, but it now had a more Spanish/Western style theme to it.
Along with the new theme came a large 13-story 600-room hotel tower, doubling their room count from 400 to a total of 1,000 rooms. A new 90,000 square feet race/sports book, a 52-lane bowling alley, and new restaurants were added to the hotel.
Just after the completion of the renovation, comedian Rodney Dangerfield opened Rodney's Place, a comedy club located inside the casino.
In 1987, Ed Toress hired Martin Stern Jr again to expand the casino.
Closing (1992 - 2000)[]
On July 6, 1992, the El Rancho officially closed for good. Before the closing, a liquidation sale was held.
After the hotel closed, Las Vegas Entertainment Network Inc bought the hotel and casino for plans to open "El Rancho's Countryland USA." It was originally going to be expanded, having 2,001 hotel rooms, all in two 20-story hotel towers. It was slated to open on 1994. During those years, the readerboard on El Rancho's neon marquee only said, "Coming Soon - Future home of Countryland USA". In the early 2000’s there were plans for an NBA- themed venture and, possibly, an arena to be built on the site, but they never came to fruition.
The El Rancho was imploded on October 3, 2000, by Turnberry Associates- the latest owner in a long history of corporate buyouts- deemed the abandoned hotel an “eyesore."
Years after the implosion, in 2005, Witkoff Group and New Valley, LLC. bought the former El Rancho site to build the Fontainebleau (Now known as The Drew).
Thematic Influence[]
The El Rancho's architecture is themed after an old western town with what seems to be a Mexican-like palette (Including the use of red, yellow, and beige colors.) The casino's interior, including the bingo hall, buffet (named "The Wagon Wheel") and the pool are also heavily themed after a western village or a tacopark