Like its sister properties in California, the resort included a neon sign that depicted a cowboy riding a palomino horse.

The Hacienda was the first Las Vegas resort to target a family clientele, and until 1962, it operated a plane service to fly in guests from out of state.

The Hacienda closed on December 1, 1996, and the hotel was imploded at the end of the month as part of a televised New Year's Eve special.

The Hacienda initially began as a hotel-casino project called Lady Luck, which was being planned by Carlton Adair in 1954.

[2] Adair also brought in Warren "Doc" Bayley, a travel columnist and owner of several Hacienda motels in Fresno, Bakersfield, and Indio, California.

[2] The Lady Luck project received approval from the Clark County Planning Commission in January 1955,[5][6][7] and construction was underway later that year.

[3][4] The Hacienda was designed by Homer A. Rissman,[11][12] and was built like other Las Vegas properties at the time, with a central building for the casino and restaurants, and motel structures to provide lodging.

Because of the high cost for performers, the Hacienda owners decided to refocus the space on hosting conventions rather than live entertainment, which instead would be offered in a lounge.

[19] Like the other Hacienda hotels, the Las Vegas property featured a roadsign neon sign that depicted a cowboy riding a palomino horse.

[21] The Hacienda was built on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, making it the first resort to be seen by motor tourists arriving from California.

[23] The Hacienda was also popular because of its location near the McCarran International Airport, although the resort never had the same success as other Strip properties such as the Dunes and the Sands.

[32] In 1957, a few months after the opening, Kozloff filed a writ of attachment against the Hacienda, alleging that he was owed $71,000 from a loan he made to the property.

[40][44][45][46] The resort also offered the Hacienda Holiday, a promotional program for tourists in which $10 casino chips were given away as part of a $16 package deal.

In 1958, the Clark County licensing board ordered the Hacienda to halt this program, objecting to the fact that the chips were redeemable in the casino.

[10] From December 1958 to February 1959, the Hacienda sponsored a flight endurance record when two men took turns flying a Cessna 172 across the southwestern United States for a period of 64 days.

[54][55][56] One county commissioner had opposed the keno addition, stating that it would add a "honky tonk" atmosphere that was common in the city's Fremont Street area.

[22][57][58] In 1966, the Clark County Commission threatened to shut down the Hacienda unless Bayley made improvements to a resort that her company was building at Mount Charleston.

[59] To focus on the Las Vegas Hacienda, Bayley sold off the California hotels in 1970, with the exception of one located in El Segundo.

[10][60][61] Several weeks after Bayley's death, Magleby announced that American Mining and Smelting Inc. would purchase the Hacienda, with plans for expansion and remodeling of the resort.

[63] Later in 1972, the Hacienda was sold for $5 million to a group of buyers,[64][65] which included Allen R. Glick, Paul Lowden, and Eugene Fresch.

[78] Later that year, state investigators found that money had been skimmed from slot machines at Glick's casinos, including the Hacienda.

[82] The Little Church of the West, located further north on the Strip, was relocated to the Hacienda property in 1979, making room for the new Fashion Show Mall.

[104][105] Lowden said that an inability to reach an agreement with the Culinary Workers Union was a major factor in choosing to sell the Hacienda.

[111][112] The resort's horse and rider neon sign was also saved, being put on display in downtown Las Vegas.

The Neon Museum had the sign refurbished at a cost of $60,000, and it was then installed in its new location a couple weeks prior to the Hacienda's closure.

[21][113] Before the Hacienda was demolished, the stairwells and stripped interiors of the hotel were used in a firefighter training mission to aid them in the event of a real high-rise fire.

After the Hacienda's closure, salvage crews removed equipment such as air conditioners, and they had to knock out walls in the hotel's southern end stairwell.

[30] After taking ownership of the Hacienda, Glick said in 1973 that the resort would return to the "friendly image of the past" by eliminating nude stage shows.

[134] In 1967, the Hacienda hosted a two-hour late-night TV program called The Las Vegas Show on the fledgling United Network.

Hosted by Bill Dana and featuring regulars Ann Elder, Pete Barbutti, Danny Meahan, Joanne Worley, Cully Richards and Jack Sheldon,[135] the show (and the network) were shut down after only a month on the air.