My dad was actually staying in the MGM when it burned down. Fortunately, he made it out safely, but had a horror story to tell about seeing someone jump out of a window. We were lucky as a family because he was able to find a phone and call us at home before we saw the news reports of the fire. I was only 5 years old at the time, but I remember it, and his stories about the smoke and the struggle to get outside.

Too soon...

I think things are starting to cool down.

Wow, I had forgotten about the Jai ALai at the MGM. I remember going there when I was about 8-9 years old. I remember that those guys were real showmen and very athletic. Betting on the two man teams, although I think the games were rigged though (per my parents).

The classic rock song..."Smoke on the Water", by Deep Purple was supposed to be inspired by this event as they were playing in Vegas at the time. Don't know if it is true or not, but that was always the rumour.

That's going to be difficult to be true. Smoke on the Water was on the 1972 Machine Head album....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_on_the_Water

I always said Deep Purple was way ahead of their time

Lmao!^^^^

I believe you're thinking of "The Night Chicago Died", the song detailing the great Las Vegas fire. It had the epic line "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, we don't need no water..."

as to the OP, why would they put up a plaque in/near a building where they want people to be happy 24/7? so they can remember people who died in a hotel fire where they are staying that night? really?

Maybe so people know a lot of people had been on a heater in the past?

Earlier in the thread it came out there is one near the 1981 built south tower... Near nosh deli. In a space near employees only, but still public.



I questioned its existence for the fact it would seem out of place in a casino, however social norms would expect it....

I have yet to check it out myself...

No there is not any memorial to the hotel guests who were victims of the November 21, 1980 fire at the old MGM Grand in Las Vegas (since renamed Bally's). I have searched the entire ground floor (casino and restaurants) as well as the top floors of the original tower for a memorial.

However a few years ago, the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 did have a metal plaque memorial made for the handful of their members who were workers at the MGM Grand who died in the fire. It hangs in their union hall at 1630 South Commerce Street in Las Vegas.

Here is a photo of it:



Putting a memorial up for the hotel fire that would be visible to contemporary Bally's guests would be chilling for many.

No, the games were not rigged. That's ridiculous.

1) Nice thread dig.

2) The fire that inspired the song Smoke on the Water was at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland in 1971.

Search again?

I have visited Bally's on three separate occasions to specifically search the ground floor in the public areas for any sign of a memorial to the victims of the MGM Grand fire. There is nothing.

I figure that the casino executives do not want to upset the current patrons and visitors to the hotel by informing them of what happened there 37 years ago.

video shot of guy climbing down a rope outside the casino is very awesome.
Wearing a cowboy hat... nice

I saw a ghost in the gift shop. He was buying a paracord bracelet.

My first memory of a tragedy when I was a kid. A sprinkler system would have put it out in a minute. I think the casino balked at the $200k price tag.

There is quite a story to that situation. His name was Randy Howard and he was a past US Marine.

Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tracked him down years later and got his story.

Here it is via the internet archives:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170315...ife/leap-faith

Their rationale was that the casino floor was a place which would be active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If a fire were to occur, it would be noticed quickly and put out by fire extinguisher. Evidently that did not work out for them on November 21st 1980 as the deli was closed when the fire erupted in the early morning hours.

Relying on a human. Amazing that logic passed. Thousands of lives rely on a hotel employee being able to extinguish a fire with an extinguisher. Fires (duh) can explode in seconds if they get near combustible material.

The law of course changed. After needless lives lost and hundreds of millions in payments.

37 years ago today. Can't believe it was that long ago.

An excerpt from the MGM Grand Fire investigation report:

The room of origin was that room identified as the Deli (see Diagram A, Section VI). The Deli was one of five restaurants located on the casino level, and was situated in the center of the three restaurants on the east end of the casino.

[..]

The Deli was not sprinklered; heat and smoke detectors were not present. At the incipient stage of this fire, the Deli was prepared for regular business hours, which would have commenced at 0800 hours on November 21, 1980. This was not a 24-hour restaurant, as was the Orleans Coffee Shop directly to the north.

NOTE: The Orleans Coffee Shop was not sprinklered; however, the Barrymore Room (the restaurant immediately to the south of the Deli) was sprinklered.

The normal hours of business for the Deli were from 0800 to 0100 hours, a total of 17 hours of each 24 hours. Typically, the restaurant was cleaned and prepared for its next day of business upon closing time. To the knowledge of the O/Rs, no person(s) were in this room between the hours of 0100 and 0630, except Mr. John Dodge.