AP story about the Stardust closing

[zuluking]

AP-Stardust-Closing

Clock ticks down on Las Vegas' Stardust

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Another decades-old Las Vegas casino will soon face the wrecking ball to make way for something with a little more shine.
Parent company Boyd Gaming says it will close the Stardust Resort and Casino on November first so that construction of a new complex can begin.
A multi-hotel and casino project, dubbed Echelon Place, covering 63 acres on the Las Vegas Strip, is expected to open in 2010.
The company will start tearing down the 48-year-old Stardust early next year.

[zuluking]

The Stardust was the first casino I ever stepped into.

1986, my ex-wife and I are driving North/South across country that summer and we stop off in Vegas. Being young and broke, we try for a room at Circus Circus, but the inn was full.

They call the Gold Key motel and they have a room, so we drive there and check in. Its right across the street from the Stardust, and back then you could cross the strip anywhere.

We walk into the Stardust and right up front they have $1 Blackjack. I plunk $20 and get these big, heavy coins. With the wife watching over my shoulder, I turn my $20 into like $25 over the course of an hour. I remember being so nervous that my palms were sweating, and my hands were shaking. After that, we tried Roulette for the first time, and lost the whole wad (Hey! $25 bucks was ALOT back then!)

I think the worst part of the 2 day stay was the freaking gross-a$$ Gold Key motel.

[AllVegasPoker]

I cut my B&M teeth in the Stardust poker room. It's hard to believe I survived the low limit sharks that swam around those waters back in the day. Of course, that was one of the few pop'n low limit card rooms back then. I've got fond memories of several memorable poker characters there, including the always likable poker room manager Sarge.

I'll be sad to see the Stardust close, but one thing I love about Vegas is its persistent ability to reinvent itself. It's exciting to think about what will be built in place of the Stardust.

[FCBLComish]

There was also the Dunes back then. They had some rocking action there as well.

[sternroolz]

I went to college at Cal Poly Pomona. For those of you that don't know, Pomona & Ontario was the eastern edge of Los Angeles at the time(Rancho and other IE places had not yet been built up much in the early 90's). A friend came up to me about 2pm on a Tuesday and said he didn't feel like waiting around to go to his 6pm class. So we took off for Vegas. Right there. 3 hours later(again, not so much traffic in the early 90's) we were at the Stardust, and I was plopped down at a $3-6 LHE game. My friend milled around the casino and went to eat. BTW, the scene from swingers was dead on. Nothing but blue hairs in the poker room. I run awesome, and keep making sets. 3 hours later I cash out +$280. The old people weren't happy. Gave my friend the $20 he lost on slots(which he promptly puts back into a slot machine and loses). We had originally planned to go home that night, but were too tired. Saw a sign at Palace Station advertising $20 rooms, so we pulled in. The lady said they actually had a $13 a night room if we didn't mind some noise. Sweet. $13 a night it was. Slept like a log, hit the road at 9am, made it to Pomona in time for my 2pm class.

[Ignignokt]

[ QUOTE ]
I cut my B&M teeth in the Stardust poker room. It's hard to believe I survived the low limit sharks that swam around those waters back in the day.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wasn't it Greenstein who wrote about playing there (or somewhere else North Strip) when he was in Vegas for the first time, and having the "sweet old lady" completely turn on him because he wouldn't agree to work with her and the other sharks?

[DayTripping]

Sad thing is one of the best Vegas signs is going to be taken down.

[Jimmy The Fish]

[ QUOTE ]
Sad thing is one of the best Vegas signs is going to be taken down.



[/ QUOTE ]

Hopefully it's already got a reservation made at Neonopolis.

I only played a few hands of stud in the Stardust room, and doubt I'll ever make it back. But to this day, the $1 chip I took with me is my favorite card protector. Nobody in the Midwest knows what to make of a chip with a stamped-metal center:

[Iplayragstoo]

I will that place very much. I just spent 3 nights out there for a pool turny (At the Riv) and spent many hours at the dust. Frist night there(on a monday) ended up playing heads up NLHE with some guy who kept telling me he did this for a living...just kept telling me over and over. So its about 5am tuesday morning, and its just me and him and 3 dealers in the whole place. We decided to up the blinds to 10/20, and end up playing for about an hour like that. the whole room, all 5 of them, were watching us play. I ended up stacking him twice for 2k as he kept speeding at the wrong times. After I took his second 1k, I told him it may be time to look for a second job. I statrted that trip with 770$, and ended the first night up about 3K...I will miss the joint. On another note, they gave us comps for almost every meal...I think I ate 5 out of 7 meals there.

RIP - Stardust [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[RR]

[ QUOTE ]
I will that place very much. I just spent 3 nights out there for a pool turny (At the Riv) and spent many hours at the dust. Frist night there(on a monday) ended up playing heads up NLHE with some guy who kept telling me he did this for a living...just kept telling me over and over. So its about 5am tuesday morning, and its just me and him and 3 dealers in the whole place. We decided to up the blinds to 10/20, and end up playing for about an hour like that. the whole room, all 5 of them, were watching us play. I ended up stacking him twice for 2k as he kept speeding at the wrong times. After I took his second 1k, I told him it may be time to look for a second job. I statrted that trip with 770$, and ended the first night up about 3K...I will miss the joint. On another note, they gave us comps for almost every meal...I think I ate 5 out of 7 meals there.

RIP - Stardust [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Was this player kind of big, bald (sahved) and have a few piercings?