Las Vegas' Sahara Hotel and Casino closing after more than 58 years http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/16/las-vegas-sahara-hotel-and-casino-closing-after-more-than-58-years/?hpt=C2 Las Vegas History http://www.lasvegassun.com/history/ Southern Nevada: The Boomtown Years http://digital.library.unlv.edu/boomtown/ Vegas Tripping: Implosions http://www.vegastripping.com/implosions/ The Neon Museum http://neonmuseum.org/ All that glitters is not gold, and when it comes to the glittering lights of the Vegas Strip, nothing is permanent. This weekend, the Sahara hotel saw its last guests leave as it ended its 58-year run on the Strip. The hotel was the brainchild of one Milton Prell, a former jewelry salesman who ran a bingo parlor in Montana. In 1952, he opened the Sahara, which he envisioned as a "jewel of the desert". The Sahara was the sixth hotel on the Strip, and with its fantastical Congo Room supper club and Casbar Lounge, it was a flourishing part of the "ring-a-ding-ding" 1950s and 1960s scene in Las Vegas. Characters who were part of the Strip's history included legendary entertainers Ray Bolger, Donald O'Connor, and Louis Prime, who performed there for years with his wife, Keely Smith. While plans for the site are in flux, it is hoped that some of the Sahara's iconic neon signs will end up in the nearby Neon Museum. The first link will take visitors to a nice article from this Saturday's Las Vegas Sun about the closing of the Sahara. The second link leads to piece from CNN's blog which also talks about the recent closing of this famed Strip stalwart. The third link will whisk users away to a terrific site from the Las Vegas Sun which chronicles the highs and lows of the Strip's history. Moving on, the fourth link leads to a nice digital collection from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas which documents the boom years of Southern Nevada through images, documents, and other archival items. The fifth link leads to a rather raucous and fun archive of Strip hotel implosions captured for posterity. Finally, the last link leads to the homepage of The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, which celebrates neon culture in all of its glory.