Jul. 9, 2003 -- Stardust's owners, who managed what was once one of the Strip's swinging resorts, hope to parlay the property's retro appeal into new business in the future. 

The Stardust, which is marking its 45th anniversary this week, was one of the biggest and nicest Strip resorts when it opened July 2, 1958. The resort's 105-foot pool and 16,500-square-foot casino were the biggest in the state at the time, and its marquee was the world's largest electric sign. 

And even though the property lacks megaresort staples like exploding volcano-style entry statements, luxurious spas or trendy nightclubs, Chairman Bill Boyd says the property is still a money-maker for Boyd Gaming Corp. 

"We still have very positive cash flows," Boyd said. 

Stardust cash flow was up 17.8 percent last year, to $15.1 million. The property's 2003 first quarter was also solid, with cash flow up 6.9 percent to $4.8 million. 

Boyd admitted that the Stardust has seen flashier days but said those seeking retro Las Vegas style can find it at the Stardust. 

"It's Old Las Vegas, and we have a lot of customers who enjoy the classic Las Vegas experience," Boyd said. 

While Boyd Gaming is celebrating its past, the company is also looking to the property's future. 

"The Stardust and its potential for redevelopment are important assets to our company," Boyd said, noting the company has not decided on any firm redevelopment plans for the Stardust site. 

Boyd said, however, he expects to take his time deciding on development plans for the Stardust site. Results from his company's newly opened Borgata megaresort in Atlantic City and from Steve Wynn's planned 2005 opening of Wynn Las Vegas will figure into his calculus, he said. 

Boyd bought the property and its downtown cousin the Fremont on Feb. 28, 1985, 16 months after state gaming regulators asked him to operate the Stardust while investigators sorted out skimming charges against its owners -- Al Sachs and Herb Tobman. Sachs and Tobman were eventually fined $3.5 million on skimming charges. 

A Gaming Control Board member called Boyd in 1983 to ask whether the company could keep the Stardust's 2,000-plus employees working by operating the hotel and casino, he recalled. 

"The state of Nevada's been very good to us, and we owe something back," Chairman Bill Boyd recently said he thought at the time. "I was somewhat naive, because it was a war those first three months." 

But after reigning in some of the excesses of the prior regime, Boyd executives learned more about the property, enough to make them eager to bid on the Stardust and Fremont, Boyd said. 

The company's roots were in downtown Las Vegas and at Sam's Town on Boulder Highway, but Boyd wasn't fazed by the prospect of competing against the big boys on the Strip. 

"It's the same business, no matter where you're looking at," Boyd explained. The family introduced its more personal style of customer service, a change that Boyd's maintained for almost two decades. 

"When we took over the dealers weren't even allowed to talk to customers," he said. "We're more of a family-type company." 

The Stardust's first 25-plus years was also a family affair -- the kind headed by a Godfather. 

Among Stardust's notorious owners -- and hidden controllers -- were founder Tony Cornero, who built most of the original property but died before its opening; Chicago mobster Sam Giancana; Cleveland racketeer and Desert Inn owner Moe Dalitz and alleged mob frontman Allen Glick. 

Longtime Stardust employee Larry Vance, who has worked in various entertainment and food and beverage positions at the property since 1961, bridged both the mob and Boyd eras. 

Vance was a busboy, waiter, captain, valet, and a limo driver before joining middle management in the '70s. 

"Before Caesars, before the International (now the Las Vegas Hilton), before the convention center, we were it," Vance said. "The Stardust was dead center Strip, and we were the biggest thing in the world." 

Boyd prides himself on reinvesting in the company's casinos, and notes the new hotel tower the company added in 1991. 

The Stardust has faced a number of challenges since Boyd bought the property, many of which he acknowledged he hadn't anticipated. 

Chief among those changes was the dramatic Strip building boom that Steve Wynn ushered in when he opened The Mirage in 1989. 

But more than the story of the Stardust's heyday, the history behind the 45th anniversary is really a tale of two distinct eras, the pre-Boyd and Boyd years. 

Both eras were family affairs, with the near-20 years the Boyds have run the property characterized by the family's loyal management, as the property retains dozens of employees who've worked at the Stardust since its early days. 

And Vance drove for Lefty Rosenthal, the sports handicapper and alleged organized crime associate now barred from entering Nevada casinos, and Vance's's philosophy was simple: "Keep your nose clean and your mouth shut," he said. 

"Once I drove a new Rolls over to Siegfried & Roy's that Lefty gave them," he remembered. "I was pretty well liked by the mobsters. They considered me to be Italian, though I'm no more Italian than the Man in the Moon." 

Howard Hughes even figured in the property's history. The eccentric casino owner's plans to buy the Stardust prompted state gaming rulesmakers to draft a regulation giving themselves the power to block casino monopolies. 

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(c) 2003, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. BYD,