Abstract
The collection contains material collected by Barbara Tabach to document the final days of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada (2007). Included are brief oral history audio recordings and transcripts for approximately 50 individuals wo worked at or were customers of the New Frontier, as well as over 650 digital photographs of the people and the building. Also included is a digital video of the November 2007 implosion and a
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Date
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Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
The collection contains material collected by Barbara Tabach to document the final days of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada (2007). The collection includes oral histories conducted by Tabach, who interviewed approximately 50 individuals that frequented or worked at The New Frontier, including customers and employees of Gilley's restaurant. The collection also contains over 650 digital photographs of the people and building, resulting in a digital video of the November 2007 implosion, and a digital video compilation of the New Frontier and its employees. Most of the photographs and both videos were compiled and edited by Tabach; some images were captured by photographer Evie Dean. A
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Advance notice and arrangements are required for access to digital files; please contact Special Collections for more information.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Access copies of digital files are grouped according to material type: images/videos, audio recordings, and transcripts.
Biographical / Historical Note
The Last Frontier Hotel opened in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 30, 1942. In its early days the hotel featured a western theme and The Last Frontier Village, a replica of a pioneer town featuring stagecoaches and the Little Church of the West, also stood on the property. The hotel was sold in 1951 and again in 1955. The new owners revamped the design, replacing the pioneer old west décor with modern, atomic age designs and the name of the hotel changed to The New Frontier. The hotel attracted Hollywood types as well as scientists who worked at the Nevada Test Site. Elvis Presley made his Las Vegas debut at the hotel in April 1956. After another series of ownership changes the hotel was demolished, and in June of 1967 the new building was opened. Shortly thereafter Howard Hughes purchased the hotel and shortened the name to the Frontier Hotel. The hotel was purchased by the Eldari family in 1988 and became the site of a contentious six year Culinary Workers Union strike from 1991 to 1998. The strike ended when the property was sold to Phil Ruffin in October of 1998. The hotel saw its name change back to the New Frontier in 1999. Ruffin sold the New Frontier to ELAD Property Group in May 2007 for 1.24 Billion and the New Frontier closed its doors for the final time on July 16, 2007. The building was imploded on November 13, 2007.
Source: Chung, Su Kim. 2012.
Preferred Citation
Barbara Tabach Collection on the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, 1961, 2007. MS-00800. Special Collections, UNLV Libraries, University of Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated by Barbara Tabach in 2015; accession number 2015-106.
Processing Note
Materials were processed by Karla Irwin in 2016. Oral history audio files were converted from WAV to MP3 for access. Transcript files were converted from DOC to PDF/A and video files (AVI, VOB, MOV) were converted to MP4. No access copies were created for supplementary video files such as IFO and BUP as they contain no significant content. Duplicate files are not included.