The El Morocco opened in 1964 across from The Stardust. It's circular main building complimented the La Concha next door with it's scalloped windows all the way around. The motel was heralded as an affordable luxury getaway with fabulously appointed suites, rooms, and an award winning pool/garden area with two pools; one for adults and a small fountain and pool for children.
The casino contained a coffee shop, a cocktail lounge, a full service beauty salon catering to both genders, and a popular and often-said very good restaurant called The Copper Cart.. The motel operated in sync with the La Concha until 1983, and the casino and restaurants closed a year later. Through the 90's the motel sat dormant while the main casino/lobby, and restaurant building became another popular restaurant, The Ginseng Korean and Japanese BBQ Restaurant. By the year 2000 this also went under and the lobby/casino became a tacky souvenir store/internet cafe/tourism bureau/anything else they could cram into it.
In January 2008 these also closed and the classic building is slated for demolition. This architectural landmark on the strip will be a great loss.
The El Morocco pictured next to the La Concha, just before the latter's dismantling.
The tacky souvenir shop made use of the original casino/motel signage.
Inside, it retained more signage and fixtures which remained visible if you could take your focus off of the T-shirts, sunglasses, and nik-naks.
The motel building was partly demolished in 1993 at the same time as the La Concha, but about one third of it was left intact at the rear of the lobby building. The beloved garden pool area is a barely recognizable with the perimeter of some of the children's pool still intact in the dirt and rubble.
The beauty salon also retains some signage and fixtures inside, but is an abandoned catastrophe.
UPDATES:
2-24-2008
Sadly, the end has come for the El Morocco. Yesterday, the last of the hotel rooms were demolished along with the beauty parlor. The casino/lobby is in the process of asbestos removal, in preparation for it's final demolition. This is truely a sad and loss for our city, not only historically, but architecturally.
3-1-2008
The rear of the main casino/lobby building has come down and they're working their way into the center of this unique structure. Very sad to see it crumbling away after all these years.
3-3-2008
3-5-2008
3-8-08
3-10-08
3-13-08
5-1-08
The property is filled in, flat, and getting an asphault surface soon. The El Morocco was a total loss. No signage and no building exist anywhere anymore.
