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Live the Las Vegas high life, circa 1960: Now you can stay at the casino owner’s swanky penthouse

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Want to revel in an over-the-top vintage hotel suite in Las Vegas where a casino owner once lived? For the first time, you can.

Prices for hotel owner Jackie Gaughan’s suite at El Cortez Hotel & Casino start at $500 a night. The downtown hotel is on Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard in the expanding Fremont East entertainment district.

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The 2,700-square-foot suite on the 15th floor was Gaughan’s home for nearly 25 years. He purchased the hotel in 1960 and moved into the penthouse in 1980. He died in 2014, two years before the property celebrated its 75th anniversary.

The suite is definitely one of a kind, with the midcentury decor intact.

For example, it has upholstered pink walls that remain to this day. The color was picked out by Gaughan’s wife, Bertie. You enter the suite through the original hand-carved wooden doors. Once inside, there are two bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, a living room, a full kitchen and even a children’s playroom.

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One of the bathrooms features a marble tub with gold fixtures, with water spouting from the mouth of a golden swan.

The original kitchen appliances remain too. So, too, does an old intercom system that nearly 40 years ago was state-of-the-art.

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You won’t find the Gaughan suite on the hotel’s website. If you’re interested in booking it – for an overnight stay or a private party – call (800) 634-6703.

Info: El Cortez Hotel & Casino, (800) 634-6703

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