Okay, as promised, heres a little more detailed Laughlin casino history! Ready? Here goes..... Scottj LB posted an old black and white aerial photo of the Laughlin strip a short while ago. Its a really cool shot.....and one of the few old images of Laughlin that reside online! The photo can be dated to early 1984, because visible near the top of the image just to the right of center is a construction crane. This was the crane being used to build the first (smaller) tower at the Riverside Hotel in 1984. Heres another pretty cool fact that I learned many years ago while leisurely cruising along on the Riverside, and mentioned by Matt Arbuckle in his comment to the previous post with this photo below. In the early 70s, an elderly woman with the last name of Lafferty (dont know what her first name was) purchased a small parcel of riverfront property where the northernmost (Bourbon) tower of the CO Belle Hotel now sits. She placed a modest mobile home on the land. A few years later the Pioneer Hotel was built and a few years after that, the original Edgewater Casino and small (Santa Fe) tower was constructed. The original Colorado Belle riverboat was built in the mid-80s by the owners of the CIRCUS CIRCUS hotel in Las Vegas shortly after the first Riverside tower was completed. I am not sure whether the same company had first built the original Edgewater, or purchased it around the time they built the CO Belle, but, shortly after the Belle opened, the owners started expansion of both properties. They built the Edgewaters low rise Monterey wing (the one that now surrounds the pool to the west, half of which was razed in 2010 to make room for the E-Center). Plans were then in the works to build additional room towers at the Belle and, finally, the 26-story Sedona Tower at the Edgewater. Standing in the way, however, was the elderly, stubborn Mrs. Lafferty, who liked her little mobile home and lazy river life-style. Problem was, it was a slice sandwiched in between the original Edgewater and the new CO Belle. The Circus Circus folks, very anxious to have a continuous, combined resort property and river walk, started making offers to Mrs. Lafferty, which she obstinately refused. They started construction all around her property, and their offers rose to over a MILLION dollars. Still, the determined Mrs. Lafferty wouldnt budge! Finally, as the old saying goes, the Circus Circus folks made Lafferty an offer she couldnt refuse, a reported $2.5 million for her land.....AND a luxury suite on the top floor of the new Sedona Tower of the Edgewater Hotel, once it was completed, for the rest of her life! Mrs. Lafferty finally caved, taking the generous offer. She moved out of her mobile home and decided to use her new-found wealth to travel around Europe while construction on the property was completed. But, sadly, as the story goes, Mrs. Lafferty passed away overseas, and never made it back to Laughlin to enjoy her luxury suite.....the only rooms in the Sedona Tower with a balcony, which is visible from the river and the Arizona side of it. The suite was originally called the Lafferty Suite in and ode to the old lady, but, many years ago, was renamed to the Phoenix Suite, which now rented out to guests and organization for events. The bedroom of the suite is also rented separately as a guest room, For safety reasons, the balcony to the suite is closed, however! So, with the story told, take another look at my cropped and sharpened version of the historic aerial photo. You can see the construction crane for the first Riverside tower much more clearly now at the top left of this enlarged version and also far more visible in this image is (what I am all but sure is) Mrs. Lafferty home, near the bottom right next to the river! Of course, there was no riverwalk then, and only vacant land where the CO Belle, and the Flamingo Hilton would soon be erected.....
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 21:49:11 +0000
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