Now known as Planet Hollywood, this casino has been plagued with problems and changes of ownership since it opened in 1962 (as, not the Aladdin, but the Tallyhoo).

The Tallyhoo didn't have a good run, closed, and reopened as The Aladdin in 1966, a theme of failure and change continued for the resort over the years. When the Aladdin did first open, it was the largest casino on the Vegas Strip, and had a 500 seat theater.

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Over the next 30 years, through various owners, the hotel gradually declined. The first impression I had of it was in 1997, when, as a friend of mine and I walked through it, we observed, dilapidated carpet, wall coverings and gaming tables that, if you kneeled down to take a look at them sideways, appeared literally warped. This was a long ways from the luxury resort where Elvis wed, in 1967. For a Vegas Strip casino, this sort of wear and tear was a handicap, especially considering that the ultra luxurious Mirage had opened down the street years prior, in 1989, Bellagio was opening the next year just across the street, and Paris, a luxury contender in its own right, was on its way next door by 1999.

When the Aladdin re-opened in 2000, post demolition and entirely new, it included high end gaming upstairs on the Mezzanine level in an area known as the London Club. The biggest problem with this high end gaming club was even finding it, unless you already knew where it was. Some of the hotel elevators opened right by it, but otherwise, from the main casino floor you had to take a certain escalator up and then across a series of passageways. My player card at that time said "London Club" on it, not Aladdin, and this London Club card represented the top tier of their player's club. I used to play Baccarat up there, did quite well actually, among the tuxedo and elegant evening gown dressed dealers. The women wore very low cut tops that accentuated their assets. I actually dated one of the dealers for while, a beautiful blonde girl who definitely looked good in (or out of) her plunging neckline dress.

One night I won about $45,000. at their London Club Baccarat table at a shoe where, if I had been playing as hard as I used to in those days, I would have easily cleared at least a half million. This was towards the end of 2001, when the casino was in bankruptcy, and I recall the pit boss saying, "We appreciate it," quite sincerely, when I cashed out and mentioned that I had actually taken it easy on the casino that night.

At one end of the London Club was a high end restaurant where we dined more than once. Its menu included Middle Eastern, European and Asian food, and you could get plates that included delicacies from all three dining cultures. Later, this was closed and a nightclub opened in its place.

The Aladdin had some nice casino marketing events at that time. For one shopping spree they gave me two $1000. gift cards for Neiman Marcus. For another event, they assigned a scantily clad Playboy playmate to be my caddy on the golf course.

The "new" Aladdin though, ended up in trouble just like the old one. One of the problems I think was that the resort had no Las Vegas strip vehicular access. The drive in entrance to the Aladdin was on the side, on East Harmon Avenue, and via a tunnel not via any sort of grand, open, circular driveway entrance. (Interestingly, today, right across the street the Cosmopolitan follows this same example, with no Strip entrance for cars, only a tunnel like entrance on E. Harmon.) The Aladdin wasn't even designed well as far as pedestrian access on the Strip, as you have to walk a number of steps up to get to the casino doors, which meant that most end up walking right by, unless willing to walk up those stairs. (Across the street, at least the Cosmopolitan has true street level pedestrian access right from the Strip sidewalk.)
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I am sure that many would-be Aladdin casino destined travelers ended up driving into the circular driveway entrance of next door Paris, and just staying there instead once they realized that they were not pulling into what looked like the Aladdin's driveway.

In 2003, the Aladdin was sold to a partnership that owned the Planet Hollywood restaurants, and changed its name and theme post-9/11 away from the Middle Eastern motif, and reopened in 2007. It changed hands a few times again since then, and has been owned by Caesar's Entertainment Corp. (which is actually Harrah's, that changed its name to Caesar's in 2010, sometime after buying out Caesar's Ent. Inc.) since about 2009.

Still, the dome shaped windows of the Aladdin, a throwback to its desert Middle Eastern theme, remain. They couldn't change that. And its spirit remains, on some levels at least.