Post #730551 by laundromat on Wed, Oct 29, 2014 8:17 PM

I'm a few years late to this party, but I have a few replies ...

Bali Hai was closed and demolished around 1990, which indicates that it was a casualty of the widening of Desert Inn Road. The road use to make a 90-degree curve right after Bali Hai. It was widen and straightened. Monaco Motel on the strip was taken by imminent domain and demolished for this project. Photo:
http://vintagelasvegas.tumblr.com/post/97722491739/monaco-motel-1980

Here's a map from 1950, the year D.I. was opened, showing D.I.s property which later included the church, Monaco Motel, Bali Hai: http://i.imgur.com/flkj8DK.jpg ... and if this map looks foreign it's because some of the street paths themselves (not just the names) have since been changed.

On 2011-06-29 17:54, Dustycajun wrote:
The amenities - it was a Howard Hughes resort.

Howard Hughes bought the Desert Inn in 1967, maybe it was connected with that sale, or maybe it was one of many properties that Summa Corp picked up.

On 2011-06-30 07:14, JOHN-O wrote:
It's the Howard Hughes angle which is the most interesting to me. That's the first I've heard of him having a footprint in Las Vegas prior to the late 1960's ... the Howard Hughes brochure reference is definitely pre-1958. I can tell because notably absent from that map is the Stardust Hotel which opened in 1958.

The brochure is definitely late 60s at the earliest. "Spring Mountain Rd" (aka Twain Av, Sands Av) did not exist before some time late 60s-mid 70s.

On 2011-07-31 12:26, aquarj wrote:
The different signs at the Bali Hai are puzzling too.

Not uncommon in Las Vegas, even in the 1950s, for signs to change in the space of a couple years.