Month: November 2012

Tally-Ho, The King’s Crown Goes To Aladdin

I was researching the old King’s Crown hotel and casino in Las Vegas in order to see if that’s was the King’s Crown on this vintage keychain. I didn’t find any concrete evidence (even when asking my casino-knowing pals; if you know anything, please do tell!), but why waste the info I did find?

The old King’s Crown casino was the second name of the original Aladdin, located at 3667 Las Vegas Boulevard South. The property originally opened in 1963 as the English Tallyho Motel. It was built in 1962 by Edwin Lowe, inventor of Yahtzee, who was going to prove that a resort motel without a casino could be successful. It wasn’t and the Tally-Ho became the King’s Crown (or the King’s Crown tally-Ho) in 1964. The King’s Crown was dethroned after just six months when it was denied a gaming license.

Milton Prell then purchased the property, and created the Aladdin casino, which opened on March 31, 1966.

Along with the legendary kitsch design, the Aladdin is probably most famous for hosting the wedding of Elvis & Priscilla Presley on May 1, 1967.

And the fact that the casino property has had a lot of problems; a lot of owners.

In 1969, Parvin Dohrmann Corporation took over the Aladdin, and in 1972, using the name Recrion Corporation, sold it to Sam Diamond, St. Louis politicians Peter Webbe and Sorkis Webbe, and St. Louis attorney Richard L. Daly. The resort was sold to Wayne Newton and Ed Torres in 1980; Newton sold off his share to Torres within two years. In 1984, the Aladdin went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 1987, Japanese businessman Ginji Yasuda purchased the Aladdin, but state regulators stepped in, removing Yasuda and putting the resort in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 1988. In 1994, Jack Sommer and the Sommer Family Trust purchased the hotel, only to close it on November 25, 1997. And the old Aladdin was imploded in 1998.

Sommer took on London Clubs International as a partner and a new Aladdin re-opened, late, in 2000. But it was sold in bankruptcy on June 20, 2003 to a partnership of Planet Hollywood and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

A more complete story of the Aladdin, aka The Vegas Jinx, can be found here.

The Unintentional Skunk Collection

I was going to write about this at Inherited Values, but then I realized I have little to say about my odd, yet growing, collection of skunks. I don’t search for them, but they continue to find me. And soon, there will be too many to fit on the shelf.

The collection began with the the pair of vintage hand-painted coffee can lids with skunk decals.

Then I met “Stinkie” the skunk figurine. (I didn’t name him; his name is on the silver foil label on his tummy.) Then I found the pair of vintage masked stuffed toy skunks. I was gifted the skunk figurine with fur. By that point, when I ran into the vintage skunk planter, I knew I was officially collecting skunks. Before that point the items were parts of my other collections (vintage masked toys, kitschy stuffed animals, kitsch figurines, home decor, etc.), but now the skunks all sit together. If I have a favorite, it might be this vintage sawdust-stuffed skunk from Japan; I kiss his little nose and his little strawberry leaf hat.