New Frontier3120 Las Vegas Boulevard SouthLas Vegas, Nevada 89109 Owner: Phil Ruffin A Little About New Frontier Located on the North Strip across from the old Desert Inn, the New Frontier is an older, less ritzy property than its neighbors. The casino is decorated with an Old West theme. If you like country music, you've come to the right place because it's piped into the casino and Gilley's Saloon features live country music every night. The hotel features a modest 1,000 rooms, which are divided between "Deluxe" rooms and "Suites." The Suites at New Frontier are actually a very good deal for the price, although reviews indicate that they are beginning to show their age. The casino is very roomy at 100,000 square feet. It's also very quiet by Las Vegas standards, catering to an older, less rowdy crowd. The table game rules are pretty average for the Strip, but they do allow 10X odds at the craps table. Minimum bets tend to be $5, but can fall to $3 during slow times. Aside from its decor, the New Frontier is probably best known for being the site of the longest-running labor dispute in the history of the U.S. Margaret Elardi and her two sons bought the property, then known simply as the Frontier, from the estate of the late Howard Hughes in 1988. Beginning in September of 1991, five separate labor unions voted to strike over the decision by the Elardis to eliminate pensions, benefits and guaranteed hours and dramatically slash hourly pay rates for dealers, waitresses, cooks, and maintenence workers. The strike went on for six years before the Elardis finally sold the hotel to Phillip Ruffin in February of 1998. The Elardis were repeatedly condemned by everyone from the mayor of Las Vegas to the governor of Nevada for the entire six years, but refused to budge. On an interesting side note, Bill Bennett, the owner of the Sahara, had three meals a day from the kitchen of the Sahara delivered to the striking workers for the entire six years that the strike drug on. Submit your own comment on New Frontier. |