Silver Slipper
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The Silver Slipper opened in 1950, the casino was built on the grounds of the Last Frontier Village , and was originally named the Golden Slipper Saloon and Gambling Hall.
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All in the name
The owner originally designed to call it the Silver Slipper, but there already was an existing establishment with that same name. The problem was solved when that small operation was later purchased and shutdown, and the Golden Slipper became the Silver Slipper.
Rotating slipper
The casino was known for its rotating slipper that sat on top of the casino.
On April 30, 1968, the Silver Slipper was purchased by billionaire Howard Hughes for $5.4 million in his famous spending spree of buying Las Vegas properties, which included the Frontier rights next door.
Urban Hughes legend
Legend has it that he purchased the casino because the bright lights from the rotating slipper bothered him. This was a time when Mr. Hughes feared for his personal safety, and because the toe of the slipper always stopped and faced the window of his Desert Inn penthouse before rotating again, he was fearful a camera could be planted in the toe either by the government or by someone else.
The slipper is off
After several attempts at requesting that the slipper be turned off, he decided to purchase the casino. Eventually, the slipper lights were turned back on when the rotation was turned so that it didn't always stop directly at his penthouse window.
The end
The casino was purchased for $70 million on June 23, 1988 by Margaret Elardi, who by this time owned the Frontier. It was then demolished several months later and turned into a large parking lot. There were plans to build an addition to the Frontier on its former grounds, however, they had to eventually be scrapped due to the costly union strike that soon took place, which put a severe financial strain on the resort and many resorts like it.