The El Rancho Fire

After World War II the El Rancho entered its glory days, attracting guests and celebrities alike; Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were married there in 1958.

In the early morning hours of June 17, 1960 the quiet Las Vegas morning was pierced by the sirens of three fire companies as they raced to the El Rancho Hotel.  The first hints of fire were detected in the backstage area of the Opera House Theater and despite the heroic actions of the firefighters and El Rancho employees who fought the fire it quickly spread to consume the main building, casino, shops, theater and steakhouse.  Eyewitnesses watched as the fire consumed the hotel and the iconic fifty foot windmill was turned into a symbolic funeral pyre of the hotel and eventually collapsed, its mock wind vanes flailing as it fell.

Thankfully, due to the quick actions of firefighters and El Rancho employees the hotel was quickly evacuated and no one was injured in the fire.

Although the owners vowed to rebuild the El Rancho, that never came to pass and the surviving rooms were converted into a motel operation that was just a shadow of its former self.  

For years the lot stood forlornly vacant, across the street from the Sahara Hotel & Casino, a monument to the glamour that once was but now it has a new lease on life re-invented as the home of Rock in Rio concert arena.