The Mint Las Vegas
Encyclopedia
The Mint Las Vegas was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

. Opened in 1957, a 26-story hotel tower was added in 1965. In 1988, The Mint was sold and became part of Binion's Horseshoe
Binion's Horseshoe
Binion's Horseshoe, also known as the Horseshoe Casino or simply The Horseshoe, was a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on what is now the Fremont Street Experience. The casino was named for its founder, Benny Binion and had 366 rooms, three restaurants and a rooftop pool.The...

.

The Mint was the sponsor of the Mint 400
Mint 400
The Mint 400 is an annual desert off road race that was resumed in 2008 after a 20 year hiatus.The race was for both motorcycles, until 1977, and four-wheel vehicles sponsored by Del Webb's Mint Hotel and Casino. Del Webb, a well known builder and friend of Howard Hughes, was owner of the Mint...

, the largest off road
Off Road
Off Road may refer to:*Super Off Road, 1989 arcade game released by Leland Corporation*Off Road Challenge, 1998 console game released by Nintendo*Ford Racing: Off Road, 2008 video game published by Empire Interactive...

 race from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.

The Mint was made famous (or infamous) as the first night's stay in Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter Stockton Thompson was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary , Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 .He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to...

 and Oscar Acosta
Óscar Acosta
Óscar Acosta is a Honduran writer, critic, politician and diplomat. Acosta started as a journalist in Peru for Tegucigalpa Magazine....

's legendary 1971 weekend trip to Las Vegas, immortalized in Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (novel)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is an autobiographical novel by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman. The book is a roman à clef, rooted in autobiographical incidents. The story follows its protagonist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr...

.
According to the book, they stayed in room 1850.

History

Del Webb
Del Webb
Delbert Eugene Webb was an American construction magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona.-Early life:...

 assumed ownership around 1961.

Milton Prell
Milton Prell
Milton Prell was a casino owner and developer most notable for his projects in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was also good friends with Colonel Tom Parker, best known as the manager of Elvis Presley. Elvis married Priscilla in Prell's apartment at the Aladdin in a private wedding shielded from the media...

, who also owned the Sahara Hotel and Casino and the Aladdin Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...

, at one point owned The Mint.

Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

 performed at the Mint Casino in December 1962 though January 1963, 3 months before her fatal plane crash. She performed with the Glaser Bros. and at one point developed "Vegas Throat" due to the dry desert heat. That night she mouthed the words to one of her LPs played over the loudspeakers. She was the 2nd country performer to perform in Vegas, the first being Loretta Lynn who also played the Mint. Upstairs in the lounge you could see the Johnny Elvis Foster Show For The Love Of Elvis & The Memphis Sound Packed the house every night for 3 months from February 1978 though May 1981. Dell said He was the best thing to hit downtown.
Pat Moreno's Artists and Models kept the Mint going from 1960 to 1965. One of the first topless shows in Las Vegas

Peter Urquidi
Peter Urquidi
Peter Urquidi is an American keyboardist.-Biography:Peter C. Urquidi was born November 7, 1921 in Santa Barbara, California to musician Peter Mora Urquidi and Angela Corral Urquidi. Urquidi played piano early on as a teen in big bands with his father, later to go onto a career as a single playing...

, "Man of Many Sounds", played the Top of the Mint in the "Sky Room" for more than a decade until the early 70's.

The casino can be seen several times towards the end of the 1987 U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987...

", which was filmed entirely on Fremont Street
Fremont Street
Fremont Street is a street in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas metropolitan area after the Las Vegas Strip...

 and in the 1971 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 motion picture "Diamonds are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever may refer to:In literature;* Diamonds Are Forever , the fourth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series* Diamonds Are Forever, a 2004 short novel by Ryk E...

".
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