and Joan Rivers played there, too.īut that’s the way it is with the Strip’s old girls. Everyone remembers Liberace and Dean Martin, but through the years Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr. The walls were graced with the faces of some of the great entertainers who have played in the showroom since the Riviera’s opening on April 20, 1955. The casino was a babbling brook of tinkling slots with not much happening on the green felt.
The poolside was dappled with the pallid goose flesh of sunshine-seeking tourists. On this day, the convention center bustled with one low-rolling conference after another. Come May, the Riv will get slipped the shiv. It certainly didn’t resemble the sort of joint that ought to be demolished and replaced with a convention center the size of Delaware. I walked into the Riviera knowing it had seen better days, but thinking it still looked pretty good for an old Vegas girl. Claire Fitzpatrick, left, and Ruthie Gillis are former Riviera showgirls.
