Vol. 3, No. 12, December 2007, Tumbling Dice
Hollywood on the Strip
The property has been completely refurbished, removing all hints of its former life as the Aladdin. Even the Desert Passage shopping mall has been completely rejuvenated, complete with a name change to the Miracle Mile Shops.
Robert Earl, co-founder of Planet Hollywood, said he expects the casino to molify critics who predict the casino will go the way of the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain. The lack of success with the celebrity-backed restaurant forced Earl to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001.
“On a personal level, I still have a lot to prove after what happened with the Planet restaurant company,” Earl said. “And I plan to silence the critics, if you like, with the success that I’m hoping we’re going to have in Vegas.”
In some ways, the property is already a success. Earl and his investors bought the struggling Aladdin for $800 million. With rising land values along the Strip, some are saying that even with the cost incurred to spruce up the property, the investors have likely doubled their money.
“We’re sitting on a very large profit, even before we perform,” Earl said. “We bought it inexpensively just at the right time. Everyone else in the industry says we stole it.”
Just a week before the celebrated grand opening, Planet Hollywood celebrated the opening of Trader Vic’s, perhaps the best known tiki bar in the U.S., and the purported inventor of the mai tai.
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