Even at 84, former Las Vegas casino executive Steve Wynn can command a crowd with stories from his past. On Thursday, he entertained a packed theater at the Golden Nugget, one of the downtown resorts he once led, during a fundraiser for the Neon Museum.
Wynn spent nearly two hours recounting the development of one of his most ambitious Las Vegas projects: The Mirage, the resort that helped transform the Strip.
Introduced by daughter Gillian and taking the stage with wife, Andrea Hissom, and Neon Museum executive director Aaron Berger, Wynn quickly took charge as if he owned the place — which he did from 1967 to 1989.
He told story after story about the acquisition of the Strip land that was to become The Mirage in 1989, the development of the iconic erupting volcano and how it changed the Strip landscape and how few of the financial experts of the day expected it to survive.
