All Las Vegas's eyes and ears are currently directed towards the semi-derelict expanse that stands across the strip from the New Frontier . Until 2001, this was the site of the veteran Desert Inn casino, and its expansive, anachronistic golf course; as of early 2002, it's impossible to predict quite what will replace it.
The Desert Inn was bought in April 2000 by entrepreneur extraordinaire Steve Wynn, using $275 million of his own personal cash, which had been burning a hole in his pocket since the sale of his Mirage organization to MGM. With his usual hyperbole, Wynn called this "the single most important piece of real estate in the western United States," twice the size of the Mirage and Treasure Island combined, with lengthy frontage not only on the Strip but on both Paradise Road and Twain Avenue. He has announced plans to build a new $1.6 billion casino resort called Le Reve - French for "The Dream" - named for his favorite among his personal collection of Picasso paintings. What that will mean in practice, however, he's keeping close to his chest. He's dropped hints about it being "water-themed," and commented that unlike Bellagio , the Mirage , and Treasure Island - which "were all essentially the same building," and fundamentally "pictures to be viewed from outside" - it will be designed from the inside out. Scheduled opening date is September 2004.
At time of writing, Picasso's version of Le Reve was on display in the Wynn Collection (daily 10am-5pm; $10), a one-room gallery set just off what was the Desert Inn 's main lobby, the only part of the old building still left standing. Nine of the total twelve canvases, by such artists as Matisse and Gauguin, are female portraits; one of the few exceptions is a Warhol triptych of Wynn himself. As for Le Reve , you can only assume the planned resort won't share the painting's in-your-face phallic imagery.
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