Desert Inn Road named for one of valley’s biggest supporters

Big Las Vegas streets are typically named for big Las Vegas people, according to Mark Hall-Patton, Clark County Museum administrator.

It’s only fitting that Desert Inn Road, which crosses under Las Vegas Boulevard and over Interstate 15, is named for Wilbur Clark.

“Wilbur Clark D.I. Road is named after the Wilbur Clark who owned the Desert Inn,” Hall-Patton said. “He was a big casino guy and the face of the Desert Inn for many years.”

Born in Illinois in 1908, Clark moved to San Diego at 19 and held both legal and illegal gambling jobs.

“He ran a couple gambling cruise ships before California Attorney General Earl Warren shut them down,” said Michael Green, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada. “The ships were supposed to wait until they entered international waters to start gambling, and they didn’t, which isn’t terribly unusual.”

Clark met his wife Toni while working at a San Diego hotel and moved to Las Vegas in 1944. Months after arriving, the couple married and bought the El Rancho Vegas, located near what is now the Hilton Grand Vacation Club, 2650 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

“He also had a place downtown called the Monte Carlo Club, which originally was the Northern Club,” Green said. “He was familiar with a resort in Palm Springs called the Desert Inn, and he wanted to build one here.”

Clark bought the land for his resort in 1945 and sold the El Rancho Vegas the following year.

“Once Clark started building the Desert Inn, he became low on funds,” Green said. “His solution was the Cleveland Mob led by Moe Dalitz.”

After selling about three-quarters of his ownership to Dalitz, Clark received the funds to finish the construction. The $6.5 million casino opened as Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn in April 1950, though Dalitz ran the operation.

“To my understanding, Dalitz and his group was very respectful to Clark, though they didn’t have him do much,” Green said. “Clark was the genial host of the Desert Inn, for lack of a better term.”

Clark went on to become a land developer, designing Wilbur Clark’s Paradise Gardens subdivision that sits just south of the Thomas & Mack Center, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

“He named all the streets after his family and friends,” Hall-Patton said. “Toni Avenue is named after his wife, Shirley Street for his dad, LuLu Avenue for his mom and Wilbur Street for himself.”

Clark sold his remaining shares in the Desert Inn in 1964. The following year, he died from a heart attack at 56.

In 1967, Howard Hughes purchased the Desert Inn from Dalitz. The casino underwent additions and renovations until Steve Wynn bought it in 2000 to make way for the Wynn, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

“Clark was one of the greatest salesmen that Las Vegas has ever had,” Green said. “He seemed to know everybody. And if he didn’t know them, they wound up shaking hands with him at the Desert Inn.”

Contact Southwest View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews or 702-383-0403.