Las Vegas (KSNV) — As we round out Black History Month, we shine a light on a casino that transformed Las Vegas, the Moulin Rouge.
This year marks 70 years since it opened its doors in 1955 over on the Historic Westside.
It became the first integrated casino in the country.
The casino was a hit with its vibrance and its well-known 2:30 am show.
It was also where African Americans could get jobs and not just in the back of the house.
“This was the first place where African Americans could be a manager, where they could be dealers, they could be cocktail waitresses they could be dancers,” said UNLV professor Tyler Parry.
The casino was also home to the first Black showgirls.
98-year-old Anna Bailey was 20 years old when she flew in from New York to dance at the casino.
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“We thought that we were going to be on the strip, and they kept on driving, and it got darker and darker, and we went over the railroad tracks and we said, uh oh. But once we saw the rouge we were ecstatic”
The rouge was only open for 6 months, but its impact was everlasting.
In 1960 state and local leaders came together and signed the “Moulin Rouge Agreement” a document that effectively ended segregation on the Las Vegas Strip.
Some 70 years later the reasons for the casino’s closing are still a mystery, but one thing is certain, its memory lives on.
People found joy in these areas,” said Parry. “People found ways to relax, they found ways to build community with each other, and the fact that the moulin rouge did that in an integrated fashion in Vegas in the 1950s that is something worth remembering to me,” he added.
