Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2006 (18. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2006-09-29 / 38. szám
ALL GOOD THINGS... End of an Era: the Legendary Stardust Closes Forever SUSAN JANCSO's Exclusive Interview With WILLI AM S. BOYD As the proverb says, „All good things come to an end.” Still, it is hard to believe that after the end of this year, the legendary Stardust Hotel and Casino will be no more. Gone will be its old Villas and its new towers, its restaurants and its ah-so-easily accessible swimming pools, and most of all, its glittering neon sign that has meant Las Vegas in many a movie and TV show across the years. Gone will be its famous hospitality to the little people, its affordable or free rooms and its no-play-required bonuses. It was the first hotel in the old Las Vegas Uncle Alex and Aunt Ella took us to visit when we first arrived to the U.S. as refugees from Hungary. It was the last one standing that combined budget prices with welcoming comfort if not luxury. It pains me to think that less generous and likeable places will remain standing, while the Stardust will be no more. But it is some consolation that, unlike other places on the Las Vegas Strip that disappeared without a trace, without a warning or a last goodbye, the Stardust will at least go in style. Perhaps it’s due to its owners, the Boyds’ longtime legacy of integrity, commitment and excellence that the final exit of the Stardust will be something to remember. On the eve of this historic event, I had a chance to ask Mr. William “Bill” S. Boyd, the son of founder Sam Boyd and the present owner of Boyd Gaming Corporation, a few questions regarding the past, present and future of this, the most famous Boyd property on the Las Vegas Strip. Before the big “Stardust of Yesterday” dinner party - Hírlap Editor Susan Jancso with Wiliam “Bill” Boyd, who owns the world’s third largest casino operation, yet never ceases to be gracious to his guests and employees. When I set up the interview with Communications Director Rob Stillwell, I asked him what floor Mr. Boyd’s office was on. He said, don’t worry about it, just ask for him or me. Now I know why. His office is in a modest one-story building, not on the top floor of a highrise from where you see the whole glittering Las Vegas Strip. The room is kind of dark but warm and welcoming, the furnishings are rich, the walls are lined with antique slot machines and family pictures. Like his office, Mr. B. himself is down-to-earth, warm and welcoming. He makes me feel at ease, as if it were the most natural thing in the world that he dedicates a full half hour to me on this busy day, when he is giving a gourmet dinner and a commemorative book to more than a thousand of the Stardust’s most faithful guests over the years. At first he asks the questions.- So you’re working for a Hungarian publication?- Yes, actually we own a newspaper and a Hungarian restaurant in Los Angeles.- In Los Angeles? OK. Are there a lot of Hungarians there?- Yes. I understand there are about 50 thousand of us in L.A., and 200 thousand in California. A million and a half in America. You know, your own receptionist, Lisa is of Hungarian origin...- Wow! It’s a small world!- First of all I want to give you a few things that I brought with me. This is a book I wrote about Las Vegas, waiting to be published. The title is “Where Wishes Come True - My Thirty-Year Love Affair with Las Vegas”. Rob: - She’s been coming here a long time, you know.- Thank you.- And this is one that is already in print, there are a couple of Vegas stories in there. I just wanted to return the favor. Mr. Boyd, you are so gracious to do this event, the farewell dinner and book presentation, to allow the Stardust to go down in style.- Well, the Stardust has been very close to our company for 23 years, but I have lived here for over 60 years, so I grew up with the Stardust, and it’s a very emotional thing for me.- Mr. Boyd, you are a living legend. (Laughter.) You own the Stardust and many other hotels/ casinos in Las Vegas and in other parts of the world. Boyd Gaming is “the third largest casino operation in the world”, right?- Yes, that’s true, but we’re quite a ways from number two though.- Maybe with this new project that you are starting... But let me ask you this: how did your father do it? I mean, today it is so hard to get your children to get involved in the family business (I know from experience). I understand you were an attorney, practicing for many years.- Well, I’ll tell you how that happened. I moved here in 1941, around this time of year.- How interesting! I was born in 1941, around this time of the year (September 27, to be exact.)- My father was a dealer, and I grew up around this business. You know, casinos to me were like grocery stores to most other people.- Do you gamble, by the way? Sometimes?- Only if I go out of town. I never gamble in Las Vegas. You know, if I were in Europe, or in the Caribbean, or somewhere where gambling is legal, I might, just for fun. I’m not a serious gambler, at all. I think my gamble has probably been in business, (laughs) Everybody gambles somewhere, and I do it in business.- Oh, that’s so true! I always say that, when my husband tells me, “You know, casinos are not there for you to make money, you can only lose if you gamble!” But then, he gambles with millions of dollars when he buys buildings or other things for business. Everybody gambles, only they do it in a different way!- We look at Las Vegas now as the Entertainment Capital of the world, rather than the gambling capital, because we have so much else here.- I know. That’s why Indian Casinos will never compare. People may go there because it is closer, but there will never be another Las Vegas!- But, to return to the story, my Dad worked his way up in business. As I was growing up, my Mom and Dad used to tell me, “Billy - they called me Billy -, Billy, you don’t want to grow up to be a dealer like your dad, so go get an education!” It’s very ironic, isn’t it? So I did. I went to law school and I came back to Las Vegas and practiced here for 15 years. In the meantime my father worked his way up in the business. He originally bought a one percent interest in the Sahara hotel when it opened in 1962, and he was a casino chip boss there.- One percent, huh? Yes, one percent. And that was the only investment he ever had in his life up until then. It cost sixteen thousand dollars, ten thousand of which he borrowed. And he couldn’t even get it from the bank, because in those days people in the gaming business were thought to be kind of - well, not very stable characters, so he borrowed from a friend of his sister and brother-inlaw, but they also made my dad’s sister sign it too, guarantee it. Fortunately, the Sahara was very successful, and he was able to pay that back. Then his partner decided to build a place in downtown Las Vegas, and that was called THE MINT. If you’ve been coming here for 30 years, you probably remember... it was right next to the Horseshoe. Many years later, the Horseshoe bought that, bought the Mint. The hotel tower that’s still there even now that’s the original Mint hotel tower. Anyway, my father went downtown run that hotel, and that was his first opportunity as a general manager. He bought more stock, he bought 3 1/2 percent stock of the Mint. The Mint was even more successful than the Sahara was. And that was how he really-really got his start. In the meantime, we bought a little casino in Henderson in 1962, the Eldorado. Now I’d been practicing law for nearly for years at that time, but I invested in it with my father, borrowed the money that I needed for it...- What kind of law did you practice, may I ask?-1 was in the general practice. In those years in Las Vegas, it was a very small community, comparatively. When I started to practice in ‘58, we were probably 200 thousand, in that range...- And now?- Now we are almost 2 million. In those years, most all attorneys did everything - everybody did divorces for example - but you specialized a little within the firm. I did mostly business kind of work, contracts, wills and probates, those became my major specialties within the firm. Anyway, I made my first big investment in 1962 in the Eldorado with my dad, and that was my first big investment. I borrowed a substantial amount of money to invest with him there. I kept practicing for another 11 years. The Eldorado - as the years went on - became quite successful for a small casino. And later on, when my dad left the Mint - he was there for about ten years and ran it - they merged with Del Webb, and he sold his stock after about a year and he bought Del Webb stock. He went out and ran the Eldorado for a couple of years. In the meantime some local people, whom he knew very well, decided to build the Union Plaza in downtown Las Vegas, and they invited him to come in not only to invest, but to run the place, and he did that. I went in and invested in the Union Plaza as well, and that was my second investment in the gaming business.- You built it up step by step...- Yes. I owned about 3 1/2 percent, the same as my dad had owned in the Mint. He was the largest stockholder, 12 or 13 percent, but there were others that had the same, and there were a lot of smaller stockholders. That AMERICAN Hungarian Journal Szeptember 29,2006 / 0
