The Dunes Hotel and Casino opened on the Las Vegas Strip in 1955. Robert Dorr Jr. and John Replogle designed and built the Dunes for $3.5 million, and the resort became known as “the Miracle in the Desert.” Its distinguishing feature was a fiberglass Sultan figure which rose thirty feet above the building and served as a welcoming icon for guests.

The original owners had very little experience in gaming and the Dunes began to struggle financially shortly after it opened. In 1956, Arteburn Riddle reinvigorated business at the Dunes as its new manager. His additions to the hotel complex included the Sultan’s Table, one of the first gourmet restaurants in Las Vegas; an eighteen-hole golf course, which was the largest in Vegas at the time; and new entertainment including topless shows and costumed performances.

Riddle also opened a twenty-four story high-rise called the Diamond of the Dunes as an addition to the original hotel. The building contained a shopping center, two gourmet restaurants, and extra guest rooms. Under his management the Dunes pioneered innovations in Las Vegas entertainment, such as a show stage that jutted out into the audience, and commissioned a 185-foot sign for the resort that was the tallest free-standing sign in the world at that time.

Financial trouble disrupted this period of stability once again in the 1980s. As a result of changes in ownership, the closure of the Dunes’ famous show Casino de Paris, and legal issues, the resort filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984. Steve Wynn, owner of the Mirage Hotel, bought the Dunes complex and demolished it in the early 1990s. The site is now home to another of Wynn’s famous attractions, the Bellagio Hotel and Casino.