When a person thinks of segregation in U.S. history, most think of it existing only in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee (aka the southern states.) When a person thinks of 1950s era Las Vegas, they think of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin,) the Mob and the glitz and glamour of the era. Most people don’t know that famous black celebrities who performed at the Vegas Casinos like Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Jr. and Josephine Baker weren’t actually allowed to stay in the same casinos they performed in. In fact, they had to find lodging in west Las Vegas, a.k.a. the black side of town. 1950s era, Las Vegas was just as segregated as Mississippi during that time.
All of the casinos in downtown Las Vegas and the Strip were segregated during this time. Blacks were only allowed in as the entertainment or to do low-level labor jobs. A group of white investors saw the need and financial benefit of an integrated hotel casino. The group brought in Joe Louis to have a small ownership percentage and be the official host of the casino (think of Jay-Z ownership era with the Brooklyn Nets.) Because Vegas was segregated with actions like redlining, the casino could only be built in one place, west Las Vegas, which was a great distance from the Strip or the Downtown area.
The casino was named Moulin Rouge after the famous dance cabaret in Paris, France. The casino opened on May 24, 1955 and became the first desegregated hotel casino in the U.S. The Moulin Rouge opened too much fanfare. In fact, it made the cover of Life magazine on June 20,1955. The casino was fully integrated from top to bottom, from black employees to black patrons. A- list Black celebrities like Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Lionel Hampton and Count Basie performed at the Moulin Rouge.
Black patrons and celebrities weren’t the only ones drawn to the Moulin Rouge. Famous A list white celebrities like George Burns, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra either gambled or performed at the new hot spot. The showgirls at the big segregated casinos were leaving their shows immediately after they ended to head to the Moulin Rouge. The casino bosses got so mad at this act that they threatened to fire anyone they saw headed to the Moulin Rouge. This didn’t stop the showgirls, as they just hid on the way to the hottest spot in town. The Moulin Rouge was so hot, the management added a 2:30 am show to accommodate the crowds.
With such a happening place, you would expect the good times to roll on forever, right? To the shock of everyone, the doors of the Moulin Rouge were padlocked shut in October 1955. The casino lasted 6 months! What happened? No one knows for sure, but there are plenty of theories:
1. No Profits
The number one rule of business is when expenses exceed earnings, that business won’t last long. The Moulin Rouge had big over head expenses and not enough profits to offset them. No business could survive that cash flow system. This explanation seems hard to believe, given how many customers visited the casino. It’s only plausible if they ran it like a lot of now defunct businesses that were more concerned with the glitz instead of the financial books.
2. Skimming of profits
Many people believe the owners of the Moulin Rouge were skimming so much money from the casino that it couldn’t cover its bills and thus had to shut down. Crooked casino operators were the standard course in 1950s era Vegas, so this theory wouldn’t be surprising.
3. Mismanagement
This one goes hand in hand with theory 2, with all the embezzling of funds and lack of strong, adequate management. Many believe this is the number one reason the Moulin Rouge shut down so fast.
4. Mortgage problems
Many people believe competing casino owners pressured the banks who held the mortgage on Moulin Rouge to call in the mortgage loan early to eliminate the new integrated hot spot as it became a threat to its existing businesses.
5. Location
They could only build the Moulin Rouge in one location (west Las Vegas) because of segregation and redlining. Unfortunately, this location wasn’t near the Strip or Downtown, so it was a hike to get to and many potential white patrons didn’t enjoy visiting the black side of town to get to the casino. Current day Vegas has the infrastructure to support casinos not on the strip or downtown (i.e. Red Rocks or the Palms) but in the 1950s this infrastructure was not in place.
6. Over saturation
Vegas was becoming over saturated with casinos (is that possible?) The tourism levels weren’t at the levels they are at today. In fact, many of the segregated casinos like the Riviera, Dunes, New Frontier and the Royal Nevada also had financial troubles during this time. If some of the segregated casinos were struggling, it only makes sense that the one unsegregated one would also feel this pain, but only worst. Think of the phrase, “When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.”
7. Building Contractors
Another theory was that the building contractors who built the Moulin Rouge weren’t paid what they were owed for their labor and threatened the owners for the payments. The owners did what any unethical owners would do, closed the business and got the hell out of dodge. This theory correlates with theories number 2 and 3.
8. Racism
Last but not least, good old-fashioned American Racism. A lot of white residents of Las Vegas and owners of the other segregated casinos weren’t too happy with the opening and the initial success of the Moulin Rouge. It was taking away performers, income and customers from the other casinos, and the casino was helping to elevate blacks to equal status and privilege in Vegas. The powers that be certainly couldn’t have that in 1950s America! Customers from the South who believed in good old-fashioned Jim Crow wouldn’t go near the Moulin Rouge. This theory also correlates with theory number 4. If you don’t think there weren’t secret meetings to discuss how to put the Moulin Rouge out of business, well then you just don’t know American history.
If I had to guess, I would say it was a combination of theories 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 that lead to the Moulin Rouge’s premature demise. Two years later, the Moulin Rouge was reopened, but the new owner (Leo Fry) had different purposes for the reopening of the casino. Under Fry, the Moulin Rouge liquor license got revoked three times, for the unethical and despicable practice of charging black patrons more for drinks than the white patrons. Fry even admitted he did this to discourage the black patrons from visiting the Moulin Rouge.
Las Vegas was still very much segregated, even with the opening of the Moulin Rouge. Something had to be done to change this. In 1960, a meeting between the head of the local NAACP (Dr. James B. McMillan), the Las Vegas Mayor (Oran Gragson), Nevada governor (Grant Sawyer) and other prominent white business and community figures was held at the Moulin Rouge to discuss the possible desegregation of Las Vegas. An agreement was made, and the casinos became desegregated. Of course, some casinos like the Sal Sagev refused to oblige by the agreement, but most honored it.
The Moulin Rouge switched ownership hands many times and fell into decay after Fry’s ownership. In 1989, a black business woman named Sarann Knight-Preddy bought the decaying property. She could not secure local or federal funding to revitalize and upgrade the property, even after it was named a National Register of Historic Place in 1992. In 2003 a fire started by an arsonist, gutted the Moulin Rouge property. A later fire in 2009 finished what remained of the property. With the property becoming an eyesore and detriment to the neighborhood, the demolition of the Moulin Rouge was approved and occurred in phases from 2010 to 2017. All that remains of the hotel today is the neon sign that is on display in the Neon Museum in Las Vegas.
Today, a person of any race can walk into any casino in Las Vegas and gamble away their money, but this was not the case in the 1950s era of the city before the Moulin Rouge opened. What should be a standing shrine to the Civil Rights Movement, not only for what it stood for but also for the historic agreement that was struck there, is instead an empty plot of land in what is still sadly one of the worst areas in the Las Vegas Valley.
Historians say the Moulin Rouge never stood a chance to succeed, given all the opposition to it from the beginning. Given its tumultuous history and the current status of the area, you can say that’s an accurate assessment. Still, in its short time, it helped bring progress to a city that was stuck in the past and needed a push forward.
