The Flamingo is the oldest resort on the Strip that is still fully operational. As everyone with basic Las Vegas history knows, famous gangster Bugsy Siegel was the owner of the Flamingo Hotel & Casino when it opened its doors on Dec. 26, 1946. It was a passion project for celebrity mobster Bugsy Siegel to put in the desert, and would have brought an elegant, Art Deco glamor to a proto-Strip that, at that point, consisted of a pair of Old West-themed gambling houses.

The Flamingo Hotel and Casino would trigger Siegels murder six months after it opened, most likely due to the mismanagement and graft by celebrity mobster Bugsy Siegel in running the resort. Siegels murder was just the beginning for the Flamingo hotels and casinos proto-Strip. Opened in 1946 by mobsters-turned-bootleggers and Genovese crime family associate BenjaminBussy Siegel, Las Vegass Flamingo is one of the oldest resorts on the Strip, and, as a result, it boasts an extensive history.

Before the Flamingo, casinos in Vegas were smaller, Wild West-themed joints, lacking anything close to the flash and style that would become associated with the Strip. When the Flamingo opened its doors in 1946, the Miami Beach-styled, art deco-styled resort was at odds with the Old West-themed hotel trend that was then normal for Vegas. Few resorts offered luxury accommodations and high-end entertainment in Western settings–if its Flamingo Casino had an early claim, it was being the first to ditch its Dude Ranch aesthetic in favor of a more cosmopolitan style.

The concept for his Flamingo casino initially came from Billy Wilkerson, the founder of The Hollywood Reporter and the owner of several hot spots on the Sunset Strip, including Ciros. The Flamingo began construction under the ownership of Billy Wilkerson, who was the owner at the time of The Hollywood Reporter and a handful of nightclubs on Sunset Strip. The Flamingo opened again when construction on the hotel was completed March 1, 1947, and it was subsequently very successful.

The Flamingo held a three-night grand opening in December 1946, and, against the general opinion, large crowds showed up for all three nights. The 1946 Flamingo held on to its location only six years before it underwent a first makeover, in which it received new signage and a champagne-colored tower on its street side. In 1967, the Flamingo received a new enclosed drive, as well as a second-floor restaurant overlooking a newly built Caesars Palace.

The hotels initial owner was Benjamin Seagel, who oversaw all of Flamingos construction. Proprietor Benjamin OBoogsyO Siegel gets much of the credit for opening the Flamingo, but his idea for building the Flamingos in southern Nevada actually came from his former business partner, Billy Wilkerson. The original idea for the Flamingo hotel, which opened in 1947, was Billy Wilkersons nightclub ownership in Hollywood, but it would always be associated with his partner/financier, Hollywood mobster Benjamin  Bugsy Siegel.

Mobster Bugsy Siegel forced Billy Wilkersons departure in April, and the Fabulous Flamingo reported profits in May, but not enough to save Siegel. After hearing of construction on The Flamingo, Bugsy Siegel bought the controlling interest in the project, and with help from other mobsters he knew, The Flamingo was funded and opened in December of 1946, touted as the greatest resort in the West. Billy Wilkerson wanted to recreate the Sunset Strip in Vegas, with a European-styled hotel featuring luxury rooms, spa, fitness center, show rooms, a golf course, nightclubs, and high-end restaurants.

The Flamingos was the first true luxury hotel on the Strip, setting the precedent for the comfort, amenities and entertainment options that have been securely interwoven into the towns fabric ever since. The Flamingos has outlasted Strip casinos that came before — it is the only one built before 1950 that is still standing — as well as several of those that followed. It is been a part of Las Vegas, and of the evolution of the Las Vegas Strip, from Old West to super-luxury, from gangsters to corporate executives.

The Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and The Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Flamingo Las Vegas Type Hotel and casino Opened December 26, 1946 Theme Art Deco Miami Owner(s) Caesars Entertainment (1998-present) Hilton Hotels (1972-1998) Bugsy Siegel (1946-1972) Total gambling space 72,299 square feet (6,716.8 m2) No. In 1998, Hilton Corporations gambling properties, including the Flamingo, were spun off as Park Place Entertainment (later renamed to Caesars Entertainment).

Kirk Kerkorian entered the picture at the Flamingo in 1967, when he purchased the resort, cutting off Strip connections to the Mafia entirely and helping signal a move toward corporate gaming on the Vegas strip. Kirk Kerkorian purchased the property in 1967, making it part of Kerkorians International Leisure Company, but the Hilton Corporation purchased the resort in 1972, renaming it The Flamingo Hilton in 1974. El Rancho Vegas came first, five years prior to construction of the Flamingo, while The Last Frontier came second, four years before the Flamingo.