The Mint Las Vegas

The Mint
Opening date	1957
Closing date	1988
Casino type	Land

The Mint Las Vegas was a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Opened in 1957, a 26-story hotel tower was added in 1965. In 1988, The Mint was sold and became part of Binion's Horseshoe.

The Mint was the sponsor of the Mint 400, the largest off road race from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s.

The Mint was made famous (or infamous) as the first night's stay in Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta's legendary 1971 weekend trip to Las Vegas, immortalized in Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. According to the book, they stayed in room 1850.

History

Del Webb assumed ownership around 1961.

Milton Prell, who also owned the Sahara Hotel and Casino and the Aladdin Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, at one point owned The Mint.

Patsy Cline performed at the Mint Casino in December 1962 though January 1963, 3 months before her fatal plane crash. She performed with the Glaser Bros. and at one point developed "Vegas Throat" due to the dry desert heat. That night she mouthed the words to one of her LPs played over the loudspeakers. She was the 2nd country performer to perform in Vegas, the first being Loretta Lynn who also played the Mint. Upstairs in the lounge you could see the Johnny Elvis Foster Show For The Love Of Elvis & The Memphis Sound Packed the house every night for 3 months from February 1978 though May 1981. Dell said He was the best thing to hit downtown. Pat Moreno's Artists and Models kept the Mint going from 1960 to 1965. One of the first topless shows in Las Vegas

Peter Urquidi, "Man of Many Sounds", played the Top of the Mint in the "Sky Room" for more than a decade until the early 70's.

The casino can be seen several times towards the end of the 1987 U2 music video "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", which was filmed entirely on Fremont Street and in the 1971 James Bond motion picture Diamonds Are Forever.