Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino (formerly Sahara Tahoe, High Sierra, Horizon Lake Tahoe, and Hard Rock Lake Tahoe) is a casino hotel in Stateline, Nevada. It is one of four major casino hotels in Stateline.[citation needed] Horizon Lake Tahoe closed on April 1, 2014, to begin a $60 million renovation and rebranding as Hard Rock Lake Tahoe, which held its grand opening on January 28, 2015. It has 539 hotel rooms and 22,750 square feet (2,114 m2) of gaming space, with 431 slot machines, 33 table games and a William Hillrace and sports book.[1][2][3]
History
Sahara Tahoe (1965–1983)
Plans for the casino hotel were announced in January 1963 by the Del E. Webb Corporation, a real estate development firm that also owned casinos in Las Vegas, including the Sahara.[4] Webb leased 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land for the development from the Park Cattle Co., a ranching company with large land holdings in the area.[5][6] Construction began in April 1964.[7] The property opened as the Sahara–Tahoe on June 30, 1965.[8][9] Developed at a cost of $25 million, the Sahara had a 14-story hotel with 350 rooms, and a 1,000-seat theater restaurant.[8]
The Sahara expanded with a second hotel tower completed in late 1968, with 224 rooms on 8 floors.[10][11]
Elvis Presley performed at the Sahara Tahoe from 1971 to 1976, and his suite is still available for guests to book.
High Sierra (1983–1990)
In 1983, the Sahara was given a Western theme and rebranded as the High Sierra Hotel/Casino.[12][13][14]
In 1985, it hosted the companies who defined the High Sierra Format, the basis for how computers access CD-ROMs today.
Horizon Lake Tahoe (1990–2014)
In 1990, the High Sierra was sold to Columbia Sussex, which re-branded it again as Horizon.
In 2005, Park Cattle Co. moved to evict Columbia Sussex from the premises, alleging that they had allowed the Horizon to fall into disrepair.[15][16] The ensuing lawsuit lasted until 2008, when Tropicana Entertainment (successor of Columbia Sussex's casino business) agreed to pay $165 million to Park Cattle and end the lease for the Horizon as early as 2011.[17][18]
In 2009, Tropicana Entertainment transferred the lease and the operating business of the Horizon back to an affiliate of Columbia Sussex.[19][20] Tropicana was undergoing a bankruptcy reorganization and hoped to focus its efforts on its neighboring MontBleu Casino.[19]
In 2014, NevaOne LLC, a Park Cattle affiliate, acquired the Horizon's operations.[21] NevaOne closed the Horizon for renovations on April 1, 2014, with plans to rebrand it as the Park Tahoe Casino Resort.[22][23] Warner Gaming, which operated several casinos, including the Hard Rock Las Vegas, was retained to manage the property.[21]
Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (2014–2023)
In July 2014, the Park family announced that the Horizon would be rebranded as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe, instead of the Park Tahoe.[24] The name was used under license from Brookfield Financial, which owned the rights to the Hard Rock brand in the Western United States.[25] The property reopened as the Hard Rock on January 28, 2015, after $60 million of renovations.[26]
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