Glass Pool Inn facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Glass Pool Inn |
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The motel and pool in October 2003, shortly after closure.
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| Former names | Mirage Motel (1952–1988) |
| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Type | Motel |
| Location | Paradise, Nevada |
| Address | 4613 South Las Vegas Boulevard |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 36°05′13″N 115°10′22″W / 36.08681°N 115.17271°W |
| Opened | 1952 |
| Closed | September 2003 |
| Demolished | 2004 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 2 |
| Grounds | 1.5 acres (0.61 ha) |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 48 |
The Glass Pool Inn was a famous motel in Paradise, Nevada, near the Las Vegas Strip. It first opened in 1952 as the Mirage Motel. What made it special was its unique above-ground swimming pool, added in 1955. This pool had large porthole windows, like those on a ship, that let people see inside.
The motel became very well known for this amazing pool. It was featured in many movies, TV shows, music videos, and photo shoots. In 1988, the motel changed its name to the Glass Pool Inn. This was to avoid confusion with a new, much larger Mirage resort being built nearby. The Glass Pool Inn closed its doors in September 2003 and was torn down in 2004. The land was meant for a big new project called "World Port," but that project was never built.
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History of the Glass Pool Inn
Starting as the Mirage Motel
The Mirage Motel first opened in 1952. It had 22 rooms and was located on the southern part of what is now the Las Vegas Strip. Back then, this road was known as Highway 91. In 1953, Robert and Betty Rosoff bought the motel. They wanted to make their motel stand out from the bigger hotels further north.
The Famous Porthole Pool
To attract more visitors, especially those coming from southern California, the Rosoffs decided to add something special. In 1955, they installed an above-ground swimming pool. This wasn't just any pool; it had seven large porthole windows, each about four feet wide. These windows allowed people outside to look right into the pool!
The pool was shaped like a kidney bean and sat nine feet above the ground. It was quite large, measuring 26 feet by 55 feet. It held a lot of water, about 54,000 to 56,000 gallons. Building a pool with windows above ground was a new idea at the time. It presented some challenges because of the different materials used, like steel for the windows and various metals and plaster for the pool itself.
By 1961, Allen Rosoff, Robert and Betty's son, became a co-owner of the motel. At one point, the pool had a diving board and a slide. However, these were removed after an accident involving the diving board.
Changing the Name to Glass Pool Inn
Allen Rosoff and his wife Susie took over running the motel in 1971. In 1987, Allen Rosoff had a legal issue with another hotel called La Mirage. He felt that the similar name was confusing customers and costing his motel business. He won a court order against La Mirage to stop using the name.
However, before the case was fully settled, a famous businessman named Steve Wynn stepped in. He was building a huge new resort on the Las Vegas Strip, and he wanted to call it The Mirage. To avoid any confusion with either the motel or the other hotel, Steve Wynn bought the rights to the "Mirage" name from both businesses. In 1988, the Rosoffs received $250,000 to stop using the Mirage name for their motel. That's when the motel officially became the Glass Pool Inn.
In August 1998, the Rosoffs announced they were thinking about selling the motel. By then, it had 48 rooms.
Selling and Tearing Down the Motel
In August 1999, Allen and Susie Rosoff sold the Glass Pool Inn and its 1.5-acre property for $5.5 million. The buyers were developers Howard Bulloch and David Gaffin. Allen Rosoff mentioned he was tired of keeping up with the old building.
In 2000, these developers, along with a partner named Tom Gonzales, transferred the property to their group, New World. They planned to build a huge new resort. New World bought several other motels nearby, gathering a large 77-acre piece of land on the Las Vegas Strip. In January 2001, they announced plans for a massive project called World Port Resorts. This project was to include hotel-casinos, a convention center, and an arts center. The Glass Pool Inn property was part of this large area.
The motel closed in mid-September 2003. Tom Gonzales' company, TG Investments, took control of a large part of the land, including where the Glass Pool Inn stood. Gonzales planned to tear down the motel, but he didn't share his exact plans for the land at that time.
Allen Rosoff and his wife were happy with the decision to demolish the motel. He said the place was getting old and run down. He preferred to remember it as it was, rather than see it in disrepair. He thought it would be nice if a new "Glass Pool" could be built someday, but felt the original motel, built 50 years earlier, had served its time.
Many people in Las Vegas were sad to hear the famous pool would be torn down. However, there wasn't much local effort to save it. The Clark County Museum said it would be impossible to move the pool to preserve it. Instead, they made sure to document and photograph it thoroughly before it was demolished. The motel was torn down in 2004. The Glass Pool Inn's sign was left standing for a while after the demolition. It was supposed to be given to the city's Neon Museum, which collects old Las Vegas signs, but it went missing in June 2012.
