Viva Las Vegas!

28. Wynn

Las Vegas, NV

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This is the site of the legendary Desert Inn that opened in 1950 as the fifth casino on the Las Vegas Strip. On Thanksgiving Day 1966 America's richest man, Howard Hughes, checked in for ten days and rented the entire top two floors. After his reservation was up the hotel needed to get the rooms ready for a junket of high rollers but Hughes refused to leave. Instead he bought the property and went on a Las Vegas buying spree that included the Sands and five other casinos. He bought the Silver Slipper across the street from the Desert Inn just to reposition the neon slipper out front since it was disturbing his sleep. In 1997 the Desert Inn picked up a $200 million facelift but just three days past its 50th birthday in 2000 Steve Wynn bought the casino for $270 million. He went on to blow the thing up for his new resort that would be "life imitating art." He eventually called it the Wynn. Since opening in 2005 the Wynn has piled up awards for its hotel, restaurants and spas. The one thing Wynn retained was the Desert Inn golf course that was the last casino-owned links on The Strip. It was once a regular stop on the Professional Golfer's Association tour and featured a clubhouse and tennis courts. Wynn had the 18 holes redesigned by master architect Tom Fazio and branded it the Wynn Golf Club. When Wynn Las Vegas opened in 2005 it was the first resort to include a full-blown car dealership, including parts. Naturally the models on the showroom floor were only Ferraris and Maseratis and the used cars on display carried sticker prices from $100,000 to $2 million. At first it was free to browse but the dealership became so crowded so quickly it was necessary to charge the curious masses $10 to enter. While the Wynn does not feature its owner's trademark sidewalk show out front it is the first high-rise to be cleaned by an automatic window washing system which is almost a show in itself. It was also the first casino hotel to wed a room key and a frequent-player card onto the same plastic magnetic-strip card.