1945 EL RANCHO VEGAS MENU FIRST LAS VEGAS STRIP RESORT NEVADA

Description

Offered is a dated 1945 very large format, 4 panel menu of the El Rancho Vegas, Nevada. The arresting color cover features a “cowgirl”, leaning against a rail, with the iconic El Rancho Vegas windmill tower in the background. The menu opens to reveal a wide choice of entrees. A special “El Rancho DeLuxe Dinner .00” menu for April 7, 1945 is stapled to the regular menu. It has a photo illustration of Nick Stuart, described as “the man, the band, from movieland.” A diner has circled her menu selections in pen and has memorialized her visit in ink on the attached, special menu. Interestingly, the menu prices were constrained by wartime limits. At the bottom of the regular menu, this is printed: “All prices listed are below our ceiling prices. By OPA regulations, our ceiling our are highest prices from April 4, 1943 to April 10, 1943.” The back page has information about magnesium in the desert and a form to fill in for sending the menu to a friend.
El Rancho Vegas was the first resort to be built on the Las Vegas strip. Thomas “Hull bought a large corner parcel on present-day Sahara Avenue and the highway at what he saw as a very low price. The site was in Clark County, just outside the Las Vegas city limits, and so Hull would avoid having to pay higher city taxes. The architectural firm McAllister and McAllister designed a theme combining a Spanish-style exterior with a cowboy, frontier-type of interior.
The resort's low-rise buildings housed a showroom, a cocktail lounge, casino, steakhouse, and a few stores. For late nighters, its Chuck Wagon buffet service included a free breakfast and coffee from 4:15 to 6:30 a.m. Its dining room, with 250 seats, was the largest in Las Vegas. Most of the sixty-three guest rooms were bungalows. Outside, patrons could walk to stables for horse riding. Its rear swimming pool prompted locals and tourists to regard the El Rancho as the first authentic resort in Las Vegas, which was practically transformed overnight. The El Rancho Vegas, built at a cost of under 0,000, was an immediate success. It opened on April 3, 1941. Its trademark was its tower sign on the casino building, topped by a large, farm-type windmill with neon-lit blades that attracted motorists at night. Its showroom, no doubt an inspiration for other Strip and Fremont Street hotels to come, featured a line of sexy dancers from California, called the "El Rancho Starlets," who performed with a live orchestra. The hotel's evening dinner show had a "come as you are" policy that tolerated its customers who arrived in informal dress. The hotel's luxury services soon made it a draw for Hollywood celebrities.” Source: onlinenevada dot org
Size: 11" X 13.75"
Condition. The menu has been folded in half horizontally. The front cover has a few vertical creases, which are difficult to see in the orange background. There is writing on the attached special menu as noted. There are a few brown spots at the bottom of the back cover and some discoloration. The front cover is generally clean (one small spot on the tower) and its color remains vibrant.
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Returns accepted within 7 days of delivery if item does not match description or expectations.