![]() There are just so many wonderful memories about working here." "I would get up in the morning and be excited to go to work. This was my family," said Salter, who started her career at the hotel when it was owned by real estate developer Del Webb. Leaving for a job at another casino was never a consideration. Almost 42 years later, Salter served her final meal in the Caravan Cafe, which closed last year. She went to work at the Sahara when she was 22 years old, as a waitress in the hotel's coffee shop. "It was a wonderful property and it still is. ![]() The Sahara is where you saw the stars," Villalobos said. For personal or professional reasons, he and others chose to remain, hoping that the Sahara would one day return to what it once was. ![]() Like other longtime Sahara employees, Villalobos could have gone to a job with a newer hotel-casino. SBE never operated the casino that was done by Navegante Group. The year SBE took over, the company spent about $2 million to refurbish and make cosmetic changes to the Sahara's public areas. Villalobos gave Azarbarzin a firm handshake last week and thanked him for the four years that SBE kept the property operating. His thoughts have been with employees like Villalobos, who remained loyal to the property, even as the city's two-decade building boom added megaresorts that dwarfed the aged, 1,720-room Sahara. Last week, Arash Azarbarzin, president of SBE's hotel division, who has overseen the Sahara since the company took control, said the goal was to close the Strip resort "quietly and with dignity." In March, SBE said it was "no longer economically viable" to operate the Sahara. They have not announced plans for the 18-acre corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue. The new owners had hopes of breathing new life into the resort. Sahara owners SBE Entertainment of Los Angeles and private equity firm Stockbridge Real Estate of San Francisco acquired the hotel-casino in 2007 from the family of the late casino pioneer William Bennett. The nearly 60-year-old Strip resort will cease operations two hours later, a victim of both the recession and of progress. Villalobos will be at his front desk terminal Monday when the Sahara's final guest checks out at around noon. He supervised thousands of hotel check-ins for high rollers and want-to-be high rollers. He watched the parade of celebrities and the pseudocelebrities. In its day, the Sahara was Las Vegas' epicenter.įor almost 35 years, he manned the Strip hotel's front desk.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |