Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/753186
Ihic te essi quid eiciand untisse nihicid mi, site nist autectio. Name non nonseque voloris re,Expedis millectur, tent re cus eum sequi rescium autem est aut occuptas exerese quaecto et quo que perro idusam et ut eris renisci dipsae acerum, PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF THE LAS VEGAS NEWS BUREAU (HISTORIC); BY JEFF GALE (SCULPTURE, DINING TABLE) Bertie's completely pink marble bath, with gilded swan fixtures and pin-up fairies floating in etched glass bubbles; '80's-era inlaid carpeting; and an '80s-era security system in every room whose screen lets you see whoever might be at the door—even a shotgun-wield- ing pop star on a horse. 600 Fremont St., 702-385-5200; elcortezhotelcasino.com . In her video for that catchy earworm "On My Mind," Ellie Goulding endures the rantings of a sharkskin suit-wearing boyfriend from the bed of a f abulous, retro blush-colored bedroom; rides horses through the casino floor of El Cortez with a hot female sidekick; and gets glammed up in the beauty parlor—along with sidekick and horse—before wreaking violent revenge on same boyfriend. No special effects here, explains El Cortez Executive Manager Alex Epstein, whose family owns the hotel. "The horses took the freight elevators to our offices," she laughs. "There was a cleanup crew following them through the casino floor." And that might not be the wildest thing that's ever happened in the longest continuously run hotel and casino in Las Vegas, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in November. Owned in the 1940s by, among others, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, forward thinking keeps El Cortez hip (think its mob-themed Siegel's 1941 restaurant, locally decorated OAK suites, and its Founder's Room now a Hong Kong-style reflexol- ogy parlor). Lucky for Vegasphiles, the Epsteins are keeping the best of the retro details. That blush suite is onetime owner Jackie Gaughan's real-life penthouse, from which he could survey his Downtown holdings. Its renovation just finished, the 3,500-plus-foot party pad (available for rent by appointment) retains wife HOW SUITE IT IS VEGAS'S SEXIEST SEPTUAGENARIAN (HOTEL, THAT IS) SHOWS HOW IT'S DONE. BY ANDREA BENNETT CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The oldest continuously run casino-hotel in Vegas, El Cortez was fab then and is fab now; Ellie Goulding does a little self-examining in Bertie Gaughan's pink bath; the refreshed retro dining room; Goulding and partner in crime saunter through the casino floor; a sculpture in the dining room. LIVING LAS VEGAS 116 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM