By Contributor,Julie Tremaine

Copyright forbes

When Flamingo Las Vegas opened in 1946, there was nothing like it anywhere in the city. The casino hotel was revolutionary in its resort-style design, intended to provide a luxury vacation experience and entice guests, especially Hollywood royalty, to visit for extended stays. As a casino, it redefined the gambling experience: the gaming areas had no clocks or windows, nothing to signify the passage of time; and the only way to access the hotel lobby was through the tables.

Though there were casino hotels in Las Vegas at the time, it was the opulence of the place that made the Flamingo stand out. “It was absolutely gorgeous,” opening night performer Rose Marie recounted to the Mob Museum in 2017. “It was Monte Carlo in the desert. It was so out of place, you wouldn’t believe it.”

The Flamingo Las Vegas, seen here in August 2025, is the oldest casino on the Las Vegas strip.
Julie Tremaine

That new kind of Las Vegas experience was a hit. In its early days, what was then called the Flamingo Hotel attracted performers like Jimmy Durante and Judy Garland. Wayne Newton, now widely known as Mr. Las Vegas, had his first headlining gig there in 1963. Elvis Presley’s 1964 movie Viva Las Vegas, filmed at the Flamingo, brought national attention to the hotel. Other resorts like Sahara and Caesar’s Palace followed the Flamingo’s lead, eventually creating the Las Vegas Strip as we know it today, so bright that it’s visible from space. But times change, and tastes change. Many other casino hotels that once lined Las Vegas Boulevard have rebranded and rethemed, or have been lost to time. But the Flamingo Las Vegas is still standing nearly 80 years later, and has had a recent string of renovations and new openings that make the old feel new again. The hotel recently unveiled a $20 million renovation of its pool complex, and has opened three new restaurants in the past year, including offerings from Gordon Ramsay and celebrity restauranteur Lisa Vanderpump.

The early Flamingo Hotel’s pool was featured in Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas.”
Courtesy of Flamingo Las Vegas

The bright pink neon lights and the splashy signage are all that remains of the original Flamingo. The last remaining original structure was torn down in 1993. But the hotel definitely still has whispers of that same retro spirit, especially because of the nods to the Flamingo’s notorious past.

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Founder Billy Wilkerson—publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, who was also seminal in the formation of Los Angeles’s Sunset Strip—originally dreamed up the resort, but quickly ran short of cash during its construction. He brought on notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel as a business partner, but Siegel quickly did two things: oust Wilkerson, and rack up millions of dollars in debt before the casino even opened. Despite the opening fanfare, he couldn’t recoup his losses. Finances got so bad, and mistrust so high, that New York mob boss Meyer Lansky, an old childhood friend whose money was financing the project, allegedly ordered the hit that ended Siegel’s life in July 1947.

An “idiot burger,” with braised short rib, gruyère and cheddar cheeses, roasted mushrooms and spicy tomato chutney; and the restaurant’s signature “pink drink” at Gordon Ramsay Burger.
Julie Tremaine

Today, Siegel’s spirit lingers in the hotel. Hotel rooms, renovated in 2018, have nods to his brief era at the Flamingo. The pocket door of the bathroom slides out to reveal historic images of the hotel; at the center, a postcard “written” from to Siegel by girlfriend Virginia Hill. “Weather is beautiful! Wish you were here!! Having a fabulous time at the Flamingo,” it reads. Bugsy’s suite, the hotel’s presidential suite, lingered until that 1993 renovation. Siegel designed the space specifically for his own safety; it had bulletproof glass and five exits, including a ladder down into a garage where Siegel is said to have had a getaway car and driver at the ready 24 hours a day, as described on the hotel’s monument to Siegel.

Downstairs in the main casino space, Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse, named after the mobsters who made the hotel possible, offers a classic steakhouse experience in a similar vintage-inspired atmosphere. That restaurant and its speakeasy opened in 2020. Among the newest offerings is Havana 1957, opened in December 2024, an outpost of the Miami original with live music, and Gordon Ramsay Burger, opened in January 2025, the celebrity chef’s seventh Las Vegas restaurant.

A deviled egg “garden,” mango-chili crab tower and Vanderpump Frosé at Pinky’s by Vanderpump.
Julie Tremaine

The star of the hotel is Pinky’s, Lisa Vanderpump’s flamingo-themed restaurant, which opened in December 2024 evokes the glamour and allure of the Flamingo in its early days. The restaurant takes a tongue-in-cheek approach in both its decor—think massive chandeliers, portraits of flamingos dressed as gentlemen and women, and a stylish Art Deco atrium facing Las Vegas Boulevard—and its food and beverage offerings. Among cocktails like a caviar bump martini and an everything bagel dirty martini are birdcages artfully filled with charcuterie and deviled egg “gardens” with toppings like lobster, crab salad and bacon and blue cheese.

The entertainment at the Flamingo also blends old and new: Wayne Newton still has a residency, performing three nights a week, but the hotel also has acts like RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!, inspired by the smash reality show, and Piff the Magic Dragon, who rose to fame on America’s Got Talent with his comedy and magic act supported by Mr. Piffles, his magic-performing chihuahua (who is also dressed as a dragon in the show).

A flamingo fountain in Flamingo Las Vegas’s courtyard, which also has a wildlife habitat with real flamingos and the hotel’s new Go Pool.
Julie Tremaine

Outside, past the hotel’s signature Chilean flamingos in their wildlife habitat, is the resort’s newest and most modern offering: the Go Pool, which debuted its massive and costly renovation in May 2025. The five pool, 1.5 acre complex offers complimentary admission to the 21+ public, and has a daytime dj creating the kind of only-in-Las-Vegas experience the Flamingo has been offering for nearly 80 years.

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