Conquering Caesars

Conquering Caesars The first time I visited Las Vegas was in the summer of 1979. It was a place where you could easily run into Sinatra and his crowd blowing their paychecks at dice. It was the luxest, plushest, highest rolling operation in Las Vegas that was just beginning to define itself for the coming century. According to David Schwartz, author of the forthcoming book Grandissimo, which chronicles Caesars Palace and its founder Jay Sarno, Caesars heralded the launch of the modern mega casino. But back home in Vegas, 2011 and 2012 mark a serious stepping up for Caesars. Octavius is tricked out with up-to-the-minute technology (including an app for ordering room service, towels and your car), ultra-comfy beds and a private check-in area. Caesars was everybody's joint of choice. Men broke out their tuxedos. A poker room was put in place, the sports book was upgraded and Qua Baths n the business), Harrah's was not exactly famed for its sky-high quality casinos. "Caesars Entertainment Corporation [which is what the Harrah's group has been rechristened] is now a multibillion-dollar gaming company, the largest in the world, and this is their flagship casino," says Schwartz. Everything else in town was a little modern and a little tacky. You drove up the entrance, past the cypress trees, and it felt like you were being transported back on time. It was no longer the brightest star in the desert. Though resonance remained in the name (intentionally spelled without an apostrophe, so as to connote that everyone staying there was a mini Caesar), the property began to seem tatty-especially if you had the misfortune, in recent years, of staying in the rundown Centurion Tower. It seemed like a crummy way for such a classy place to go out. While the old joint maintained its die-hard clients and did what it could to keep up, young gamblers just weren't being drawn there as they had once been. Downstairs near the front desk, the tired coffee shop has been replaced by a 24-hour eatery manned by Michelin-starred chef Michel Richard. Fronted by a wine tower and a cool bar, it handily outdoes other round-the-clock options on the Strip. The effect remained fully there in '79-five years before Sarno would die in a high-roller-suite hot tub, post-coitus with a woman 50 percent his age. Bigger, better, newer casinos sprang up. And for us, there was little question that right there was the eye of the Vegas hurricane. For people with more money and sophistication, Caesars Palace was the ultimate Vegas playground. Female hotel guests wore evening gowns to the shows and the gaming tables. Caesars had fountains, reflecting pools, fantasy glamour. But a young Steve Wynn had interesting thoughts of his own. Conquering Caesars Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 25/04/2012