Elvis Presley played his first (albeit unsuccesful) show at the "New" Frontier in 1956 and Killers frontman Brandon Flowers now owns the famous Frontier marquee The property started as a nightclub called Pair-O-Dice[4] that opened in 1930, then The Ambassador Night Club in 1936 and was renamed the 91 Club in 1939 for its location on US-91.[4] It was subsequently rebuilt and renamed the "Hotel Last
Frontier" in 1942. On April 4, 1955, it was renamed the New Frontier, following a modernization of the resort. The resort had the distinction of hosting Elvis Presley's first Vegas appearance in 1956, and the final performance of Diana Ross and The Supremes on January 14, 1970. In the 1950s and the early 1960s, the New Frontier went through a succession of owners and operators. In 1966 and 1967 the New Frontier had secret ownership interests by Anthony Joseph Zerilli and Michael Polizzi, "two high-ranking members of the Detroit Mafia family" according to The Boardwalk Jungle by Ovid Demaris, along with Emprise Corporation (now called Delaware North Companies. (In 1971, a federal trial in Los Angeles found Zerilli, Polizzi and four other individuals, along with Emprise, guilty of concealing their interest in the casino.)[5]
On September 22, 1967, the resort was purchased for about $14 million by businessman Howard Hughes, who then shortened its name to "The Frontier". Hughes purchased the resort from the previous owners, which had also included Steve Wynn, with a 5% interest, in one of his early ventures when he first moved to the Las Vegas area. (Wynn indicated that he did not know that the other owners had mob connections.) In 1988, Margaret Elardi bought The Frontier from the late Howard Hughes company, Summa Corp.. Elardi had previously been the part-owner of the Pioneer Club Las Vegas and the Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall in Laughlin. She closed the showroom, which had featured Siegfried and Roy, and down-scaled much of the hotel. In September 1991, union workers began a strike at the hotel, which would last for years. Developer Phil Ruffin bought the resort in 1998 from embattled owner Margaret Elardi and her two sons. Phil Ruffin sold the Frontier to ELAD, owners of The Plaza New York, who are planning The Plaza Las Vegas. The New Frontier closed its doors on July 16, 2007, and demolished by implosion on November 13 (Clauss Construction and Controlled Demolition, Inc.). The entire property will be rebuilt as a new mega-resort on the Las Vegas strip.
