"Ahead of the grand opening of Caesars Palace in August 1966, a flashy advertisement ran in newspapers. "I, Caesar, invite you to an orgy of excitement at my Palace of Pleasure," it read. Accompanied by a cartoon of a half-naked lady feeding grapes to the Roman general, the ad promised "high-powered action," "luscious food" and "Bacchanalian raptures.""
"The developer had a vision. Instead of an ordinary hotel, he wanted a temple to excess. Its name would be Caesars Palace, no apostrophe; in Sarno's kingdom, all guests would be playing the part of Caesar. He drew inspiration from the Roman and Greek aesthetic of Hollywood, not Europe, and designed the waitresses' flirty toga-style dresses himself. The ladies were encouraged to purr, "I am your slave," to guests; after gamblers put in their order, the women replied, "Yes, master.""
"But last month, as I looked around my $400-a-night hotel room, I wondered where my Dionysian dreams were hiding. There were pink stains on the carpet, deep black dents in the baseboards and a Keurig with no pods. After opening every drawer in the entertainment console, I found them - sealed away in an $11.99 "coffee kit." My orgy of excitement died in an instant."
Ahead of its August 1966 opening, Caesars Palace promoted a decadent Roman fantasy promising an "orgy of excitement," lavish food and bacchanalian spectacle. Jay Sarno conceived the property as a temple to excess, adopting Hollywood-inspired Roman and Greek motifs and personally designing flirty toga-style costumes for waitresses. Staff were encouraged to adopt submissive lines such as "I am your slave" and "Yes, master." The resort featured extravagant elements including a chandelier with 100,000 crystals, security mirrors and a shield-shaped pool; a plan to sacrifice pigs to piranhas was abandoned. Recent guest observations reveal worn rooms, stains, damaged baseboards and commodified amenities indicating faded luxury.
Read at SFGATE
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