Sands Hotel and Casino opened 66 years ago— PHOTO ARCHIVE
Members of the legendary "Rat Pack," from left, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop pose in front of the marquee for the Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas in this vintage publicity photo.
Jake Friedman at the Sands Hotel opening on the Vegas Strip in December 1952. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Copa Girls opening night at the Sands Hotel 12/15/52. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Sands Hotel Marquee, January 15, 1982. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Sands floating crap game, roulette, and blackjack for summer fun. Freidman, owner of the Sands is standing out of the pool pointing, July, 1953. (File Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Sands Hotel celebrates its 4th birthday on December 15, 1956. Left to right: Lucille Ball, Loretta Young, Danny Thomas, Marlena Dietrick, Jack Entratter, Mitzie Gaynor, Ester Williams.
The Sands Hotel and Casino. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Jane Powell during the Danny Thomas show for the opening of the Sands Hotel, 12/17/52. By the second night of his two-week run, Thomas, overwhelmed by all the press coverage and unaccustomed to such attention, had strained his voice and his doctor told him to take the night off if he wanted to be able to continue his gig. A call went out and, in that old standard of Hollywood and Broadway, the show went on starring a hastily gathered group that included Jimmy Durante, the Ritz Brothers, Frankie Laine, Jane Powell and Ray Anthony. It was, by press accounts of the evening, a wild, free-wheeling ad-libbed show that brought the house down. All the performers would ultimately play the Strip throughout the 1950s.
A collection of room interiors from the Sands Hotel, 12/9/1952. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
Gamblers play craps in the pool at the Sands in Las Vegas in this 1953 Don English photograph. Seldom can a Las Vegas fun seekers tan and cool off all at the same time. Thanks to innovative publicist Al Freeman it was possible at the Sands during the summer of 1953. In one of the best remembered publicy hype, the hotel showed it would go to any depth to keep its players comfortable by putting a casino annex in the swimming pool. (Don English/Las Vegas News Bureau)
Fireworks in celebration of the grand opening of new tower at the Sands Hotel and Casino. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Regency room at the Sands Hotel, Gourmet Captain, Hector Moreno. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
"Nat 'King' Cole — At The Sands" was the only official live recording this great crooner made in his 47 years. He still looked young and confident when photographed at that hotel in 1962, three years before his death. Cole is remembered not only for talent but for participating in successful efforts to end segregation in Las Vegas resorts.
Shuffleboard Tournament, June 1986, at the Sands. (File Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Sands Hotel and Casino (Wayne Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
In this 1953 photo, actor Tony Curtis, right, takes a picture of Janet Leigh, left, and Jack Entratter by the Sands Hotel pool in Las Vegas. Curtis, died of cardiac arrest Wednesday Sept. 29, 2010 at his Las Vegas area home. He was 85. (AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)
Lena Horne performs at the Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas in June 1955. (FILE/Las Vegas News Bureau)
On May 24th, 1957 the Las Vegas News Bureau released the last and most famous "Miss Atomic Bomb" photo of all to conicide with Operation Plumbbob at the Nevada Test Site. Donald English took the famous photo of Copa showgirl Lee Merlin at the Sands Hotel. With a cotton mushroom cloud added to the front of her swim suit, the publicity photo has appeared and continues to appear in hundreds of publications worldwide. (Don English/Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Rat Pack, from left are Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Joey Bishop at the Sands Hotel on Jan 20, 1960. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The Sands Hotel and Casino, 1981. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Frank Sinatra (File Photo)
The Sands Hotel and Casino. (Wayne Kodey/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Sands Hotel and Casino. (Gary Thompson/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Sands Hotel with the Treasure Island behind it, 1993. (File Photo/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Las Vegan Andrew Moran checks out the airplane movie prop in front of the Sands Hotel on Wednesday afternoon 10/16/96. The scene is for the movie Con AIr being filmed in Las Vegas starring Nichols Cage. (Jeff Scheid)
The closing of the Sands Hotel Marquee, June 27, 1996. (Las Vegas News Bureau)
The famed Las Vegas Sands Hotel a landmark on the Las Vegas strip since 1952, home to entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., is imploded early November 26, 1998. (John Gurzinski/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The rubble of the Sands Tuesday morning following the implosion on November 26. 1996. (Jim Laurie)
The Sands Hotel and Casino opened its doors on December 5, 1952. The resort became famously known as the home of the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford.
After a 44-year run, the resort was imploded on November 26, 1996, and the site became home to the Venetian (opened 1999) and Palazzo (opened 2007).
In honor of the anniversary, we took a look through our archive at pictures of the grand opening of the resort.
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
