The Best is Yet to Come
One of the oldest casinos in America is getting a facelift, but not quite in time to celebrate Frank Sinatra’s one-hundredth Birthday. Ol’ Blue Eyes was a longtime guest and one-time owner of the Cal Neva Resort & Casino. Originally built by Robert P. Sherman in 1926, Criswell Radovan LLC is currently renovating the entire Crystal Bay property. They had high hopes to reopen on December 12—Sinatra’s 100th birthday—the new contemporary Americana resort now plans to open this spring.
Strangers in the Night
Paying homage to the Sinatra-era, Frank, Marilyn, Sammy and the Kennedy Family would certainly feel right at home. Nearly two-hundred luxurious guest rooms, suites, and historic chalets promise panoramic vistas from the ten-story resort on Lake Tahoe’s north side. Sinatra and his strangers in the night once avoided the public with the infamous underground tunnels that linked parts of the resort. It’s unclear whether politicians and Hollywood celebrities will continue to sneak around in them.
My Kind of Town
Highlighted as a line down the center of the old fireplace, the California and Nevada state line runs through the resort. Gaming is set to resume on the Neva side in a refurbished non-smoking casino with table games and slot machines. Planned, presumably on the Cal side, will be a kids club, a game room, and a resort spa as part of the rebirth.
All or Nothing at all
Imagined and built by Sinatra, the upgraded and restored Showroom Theater will return to a preeminent entertainment venue. Ski bunnies and the like will again be able to visit the signature Circle Bar—the property’s focal point—a once favorite après ski destination for the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is going through a revitalization period and fans of the Rat Pack will soon get a kick out of the completely renovated Cal Neva Resort & Casino.
Reservations are set to begin early in 2016.
Renderings Courtesy of Criswell Radovan, LLC