Nearly 35 years of Mirage history highlight necessity in current-day Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Archived footage from 8 News Now captures a beaming Steven Wynn – standing with a white tiger cub and Siegfried & Roy – at The Mirage opening in November 1989.

He was filmed saying the new hotel and casino would “become a standard.”
That statement became reality, per its history as seen through the eyes of historians and those who lived it. Hours of other VHS footage capture the electric opening ceremony, along with weeks of stalled traffic and hordes of guests around it.

David G. Schwartz, the gaming historian at UNLV, said the momentum only increased from there, making Wednesday’s closing of the iconic Las Vegas Strip property so significant.

“Other (hotels) we had were good. They had all the functional elements of a casino resort, but they weren’t really geared towards that high-end (traveler), and they didn’t have a focus on non-gaming,” Schwartz said inside his office Tuesday morning. “Without The Mirage, Las Vegas is still successful but it’s probably not as successful.”

When it comes to megaresorts, Schwartz considers The International – now The Westgate – the first one in Las Vegas based on room count but calls The Mirage the most impactful, and the first with a theme catering to both adults and children. Non-gaming was the ticket.

A dolphin habitat, lush indoor oasis, the most expensive strip show at the time – Siegfried & Roy – and an exploding volcano gave the property an identity incomparable to its competitors. Arguably the most recognizable feature of the property – also, one of the first sidewalk attractions on the boulevard – came at the end of the planning process.

“David Hersey, who had been hired to light the exterior of the hotel, said, ‘Huh, what if we did a volcano?’ Steve Wynn thought about it, and said, ‘Okay, go ahead,’” Schwartz said.

The rest is history. This historian says this property did three things right that provoked others to emulate them: create a concept geared towards the luxury traveler, securing the finances – $620 million – to build it and sustain an efficient operation ever since.

“Before this, if you wanted to go to Wall Street and borrow half a billion dollars to build a casino, ‘why would you want to do that?’ Now they’re like, ‘Oh, you want to build like the Mirage? Here’s the checkbook,’” Schwartz said. “Other (hotel developers) said, ‘Hey, we can do that too.’”
This contributed to a boom in hotel development through the 90s, Schwartz saying it “influenced everything that came after,” including the Strip known to millions of tourists nearly 35 years later.

The volcano goes dormant after its 11 p.m. show Tuesday night. The doors close for good Wednesday morning.

Hard Rock International – which purchased the property in 2022 – plans to reimagine the inside of the standing building by 2027. The volcano and lagoon will be replaced with a nearly 700-foot tall guest room tower in the shape of a guitar.

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