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The
original owner of the 40 acres the Flamingo sits on was on
of Las Vegas' first settlers, Charles "Pops" Squires.
Mr. Squires paid $8.75 an acre for the land. In 1944, Margaret
Folsom bought the tract for $7,500 from Squires, and she then
later sold it to Billy Wilkerson. Billy Wilkerson was the
owner of the Hollywood Reporter as well as some very popular
nightclubs in the Sunset Strip - Cafe Trocadero, Ciro's and
La Rue's.
In
1945, Wilkerson purchased 33 acres on the west side of U.S.
Route 91, about one mile south of the Last Frontier in preparation
for his vision. Wilkerson then hired George Vernon Russell
to design a hotel that was more in the European style and
something other than the "sawdust joints" on Fremont
Street. His hotel would have luxurious rooms, a spa, health
club, showroom, golf course, nightclub and an upscale restaurant.
Due to the high cost of materials during the war, Mr. Wilkerson
almost immediately began to run into financial problems and
quickly found himself $400,000 short, it was then that he
attempted to find new financing.
In
late 1945 Benjamin Siegel and his "partners" came
to Las Vegas and purchased The El Cortez on Fremont Street
for $600,000 and later sold it for a $166,000 profit. It was
at this time that Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and his
organized crime associates found out that Mr. Wilkerson had
ran out of money on his project and used the profits from
The El Cortez sale to "encourage" Mr. Wilkerson
to take on partners. Immediately Mr. Siegel and his partners,
including mob member Frank Costello, invested $1 million into
the property. They allowed Wilkerson to retain one-third ownership
and operational control. Mr. Siegel then took over the final
phases of construction and convinced some of his underworld
associates to invest in his new project.
Unfortunately Mr. Siegel had no experience designing or constructing
a building and as a result costs continued to mount from his
constant changes and gouging from construction companies and
suppliers, including workers who would deliver materials by
day, steal them at night and re-sell them the next day. With
costs mounting and construction moving slowly Mr. Siegel was
losing patience and it was during one of his many outbursts
that upon seeing his construction foreman looking quite nervous,
Benjamin Siegel said "Don't worry, we only kill each
other".
Mr.
Siegel finally opened the hotel at a total cost of $6 million
on December 26, 1946 and was billed as the world's most luxurious
hotel[citation needed]. The 105 room property was built seven
miles from Downtown Las Vegas. Originally known as The Pink
Flamingo Hotel & Casino, a large sign was built in front
of the construction site announcing that the "Flamingo"
was a William R. Wilkerson project, Del Webb Construction
was the prime contractor, and Richard Stadelman was the architect
(who later made renovations to the El Rancho Las Vegas.
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