Farewell to the Clarion Hotel

The hotel opened as the Royal Inn in 1970. It changed hands a few times before it became the Clarion Hotel in 2009. It closed on Labor Day 2014.

 

I was sad when I saw the news headline that the Clarion, the Former Debbie Reynolds Hotel, was to be imploded tomorrow morning.  I know that hotel! It’s atmosphere harkened back to a different time, a Vegas that was just nostalgia now.  That’s the more romantic view of it, anyway. It would also be accurate to describe it as an exhausted skeleton that had dimmed beside the lights of the Strip.

I first met the Clarion Hotel around Christmas 2013.  Scott and I had tickets to see the Shades of Sinatra show at the old Wolf Theater in the hotel. It was one of those lounge shows that paid tribute to Old Blue Eyes by performing his most popular sings, with some witty banter thrown in for good measure.  Scott had warned me that it was an older off-strip hotel, so I arrived prepared.  But still, we were quite surprised by some of the quirks of this old hotel:

Mismatched luggage carts in front of an old elevator.

1. The dark cement parking lot had low ceilings, menacing corners, and a kill-people-here vibe.

 

2. The lobby was a potpourri of the hotel’s previous incarnations. It looked a little like a saloon, with Mediterranean colors, and a slight Greek feel.  There was a small round fountain in the middle that looked out of place.  There was no water in it.

 

3. There was a small elevator straight out of the 1970s, and three mismatched luggage carts were lined up in front of it.

 

The empty “24 Hour Food Court”.

4. In the main room off of the lobby there was a “24 Hour Food Court”.  This consisted of various vending machines with ramen noodles, stale sandwiches and salty snacks.  There were round tables on an old wooden dance floor.  They were probably for banquets at some point, but had been relegated to food court status.

 

5. Behind the bar was a stack of canned goods beside a microwave oven.  I specifically noticed the cans of Beefaroni and had to fight the urge to buy one as a pre-theatre snack.

 

 

6. There was a set of stairs on the way to the Wolf Theatre that led up to abandoned meeting rooms and ballrooms.  There was no furniture, only faded curtains and beckoning shadows.  I wanted to explore but my fiancé insisted that we leave.  “This is all bad, we should get out of here,” he said.  I initially let my curiosity argue against it.  Then I remembered every horror movie I had ever seen and decided he was right.

Curtained entrance to an empty meeting room.

 

An abandoned ballroom. Even the sign warns you that you can’t leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box office of the Wolf Theatre.

I was disappointed, but also slightly amused, at this vintage hotel.  But that all changed when I saw the box office of the Wolf Theatre.  It brought a smile to my face. The design and lettering had a very art deco feel to it, and the peacock style lighting on the top brightened up the whole hallway. On either side were framed black and white photos of the various stars who had performed there, asking us to remember. Soon we were escorted into the theatre itself, and were seated in a semi-circle red booth with a table.  My sweetheart put his arm around me as we ordered drinks and watched the small red-curtained stage.  Photos of Sinatra flashed by before the performers came out and sang familiar tunes. It was a relaxing night, and if I imagined hard enough, I could pretend that Frank was really singing to us.  When the show was over, we talked excitedly about coming back to see the show again, and maybe bringing some people we knew.  The joy of it was enough to distract us from the hotel’s strange quirks.  But sadly, we won’t be going back to the Wolf Theatre.  When I read the article about the hotel closing, I was reminded of the way Las Vegas constantly reinvents itself and starts over again.  You have to experience what you can, when you can, because you never know when the desert will decide it’s time is up.  I’m glad I was able to go the Clarion Hotel at least once before the curtains closed forever.

View of the stage from our booth.