Riviera (hotel and casino)

The Riviera (colloquially, "the Riv") was a hotel and casino on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened on April 20, 1955, and included a nine-story hotel featuring 291 rooms. The Riviera was the first skyscraper in the Las Vegas Valley, and was the area's tallest building until 1956. Various hotel additions would be made in later years, including a 12-story tower in 1966, a 17-story tower in 1975, and a 24-story tower in 1988. By the time of its closure in 2015, the resort included a 103,800 sq ft (9, 640 m2) casino and 2,075 rooms. In 1973, the Riviera was sold to businessman Meshulam Riklis, who owned it for the next two decades. The Riviera filed for bankruptcy in 1983, and targeted a middle-class demographic from that point on, which helped the property thrive. Changes included the addition of a Burger King in 1984, making the Riviera the first Strip property to feature a fast-food restaurant. The Riviera emerged from bankruptcy in 1985, but filed again in 1991, amid an expansion project which went over budget. The property emerged in 1993, under the new ownership of Riviera Holdings Corporation. The property's convention space was expanded in the late 1990s, which helped keep the resort profitable. The Riviera was also host to a variety of live entertainment, including female impersonator Frank Marino (1985–2009) and a topless revue known as Crazy Gir

Hotel data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).