By Chuck Darrow
It was, if memory serves, breezy, crisp and clear in Atlantic City the evening of Oct. 18, 2007. What would have normally been a sparsely populated section of midtown was instead filled with people eager to watch a local landmark be reduced to a dust-swirling pile of rubble in a matter of seconds. And at 9:37 p.m., that’s exactly what they saw as the Sands Hotel & Casino passed into memory.
The demolition of the 27-year-old adult playpen was ostensibly a time for celebration; a $2 billion, nautically themed mega-resort was to be built on the site by the now-defunct gaming company, Pinnacle Entertainment of Las Vegas. No spoiler alert is needed to report that the project resulted not in a glittering casino-hotel complex, but an empty lot that remains as you read this.
The Sands started life on Aug. 13, 1980 as Our Town’s fourth legal gambling den (and, of course, the nation’s fourth legal casino outside of Nevada). Back then it was called the Brighton Hotel & Casino; it was built on the site of the Brighton Hotel, which was one of the city’s first grand hotels. But it was never profitable, and in early 1981, Inns of America, which owned the legendary Las Vegas Sands, bought it and rechristened it with that famous brand (Inns of America ultimately sold the Sands properties, but the Atlantic City outpost entered into a years-long licensing deal to maintain the name).
There’s much more to the Sands’ story. But we’ll focus primarily on what can be considered the property’s golden age—a 15-20-year-stretch when, thanks to a savvy entertainment policy and ownership (Pratt Hotel Corp.) that clearly understood you have to spend money to make money, the Sands was a show biz giant.
Before we get into that end of things, a brief description of the Sands is probably in order for those who may never have actually been there:
It was situated not on the Boardwalk, but on a piece of land separated from the Great Wood Way by what was the site of the iconic Traymore Hotel, one of the grand palaces of the city’s early-to-mid-20th-century halcyon days. Because of the geographical limits of the tract, the Sands’s 21-story hotel tower had but 500 rooms and the casino was 60,000 square feet, both of which were the absolute minimums mandated by the state’s gaming rules and regulations.
The best way to describe the first two (public) levels—and, really, the entire property—is to say that the Sands’ vibe was what is now generally called “old-school Vegas.” And indeed, the atmosphere absolutely was reminiscent of Vegas icons like the Golden Nugget and Horseshoe downtown and Sahara, Stardust and, yes, the Sands, on the Strip. Suffice it to say, it was pretty darn cool, if not luxurious by modern standards.
Two second-level dining rooms–the Brighton Steakhouse and the Italian-focused Medici–were classic examples of 1980s—and-‘90s casino gourmet eateries: posh, with first-class kitchens and top-flight service. But the center of attention was the Copa Room.
The Copa Room was a carpeted, upholstered, mid-century-style nightclub that seated about 850 at long, rectangular tables and—for high-rollers and other VIPs—plush, half-moon booths. Its layout and intimacy were such that even the “worst” seat afforded great sightlines. The acoustics were likewise superb. But it was those who appeared on the Copa Room stage who created indelible experiences and memories.
Thanks to some of the sharpest entertainment bookers of the legal-gaming era, the Copa hosted a dizzying array or megas-stars who otherwise would be found in sports arenas and stadiums:
Tom Cantone, who today stands as the dean of casino-entertainment programming as President of Sports & Entertainment for the Mohegan Sun casino organization of Uncasville, Conn., came aboard in the mid-’80s and singlehandedly changed the gambling den-entertainment game by realizing—and proving–there was a huge and growing (read: younger, hipper) audience that wasn’t interested in traditional “casino acts” like Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Alan King and Jerry Vale. Cantone’s bookings included the casino debuts of Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Linda Ronstadt. And it was Cantone who elevated Jerry Seinfeld to co-headliner status in the years right before the debut of “Seinfeld.”
Cantone was succeeded by the late Jay Venetianer, whose booking coups included Cher (her 1990 shows were the first in city history to have tickets cost $200) and, most importantly, Frank Sinatra, who did an unprecedented 49 shows there, according to setlist.fm.
Sinatra, of course, was no stranger to the local scene, having played Steel Pier with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, the legendary 500 Club in the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s and Resorts International and the long-gone original Golden Nugget before being lured to the Sands by Venetianer at the turn of the 1990s. There has never been anything like the electricity that shot through the Sands when “The Old Man” was performing there.
Typically, he would perform two or three times a year, with each engagement running Thursday through Sunday. By the middle of Thursday afternoon, the craps tables—which normally would have had $5 or $10 minimum-bet limits—were filled with high-rollers playing at a $100 minimum.
That and the excitement generated by the ultimate casino headliner being on property created an atmosphere that was rivaled during that time period only by the buzz at the Trump Plaza on the nights when Mike Tyson was fighting next door at Boardwalk Hall—and which hasn’t really been duplicated at any local property in many years, if at all.
And seeing Sinatra in such a small venue (accompanied by a 35-piece orchestra) was an unparalleled concert experience.
Venetianer and his wife, Paulajane D’Amato—daughter of notorious/beloved Paul “Skinny” D’Amato, Sinatra confidant and owner of the equally venerated 500 Club–ultimately left AC for Florida, where Venetianer died of a heart attack while attending a 1997 World Series game in Miami.
The Sands, under a second Cantone administration and that of his successor, Jim Wise, currently the vice-president of marketing and sports/online gaming at Firekeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek, Mich., continued to book high-powered acts despite the Copa’s intimate size. Among the superstars who headlined there throughout the 1990s were: Whitney Houston; Dixie Chicks; Bob Dylan; Willie Nelson; Aretha Franklin; Barry Manilow and Joan Rivers.
By 2005, the local gambling industry was reaching its zenith, revenue-wise, and the future seemed unlimited. So, Pinnacle’s purchase of the Sands from billionaire Carl Ichan for $250 million seemed anything but imprudent. But a perfect storm of the economic meltdown of 2006-’07 and the institution of legal casinos in Pennsylvania ultimately put the kibosh on Pinnacle’s plans.
But while competition and economic disasters can kill construction projects, they can’t destroy memories. And the Sands provided at least as many, and possibly more, than any local gambling den ever has.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
