Hotels in Las Vegas are still busy as the holiday weekend winds down. But you won't find a lot of tourists crowding the sidewalks at Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard. It's the least developed major intersection on the Strip, and as News 3's Tom Hawley tells us, that wasn't always the case.

This intersection has one hotel, a gift shop, and not much else. But it has a rich history. Let's start with the empty building that was supposed to be developed as the Ivana Trump Tower and now will listen to any offer.

You might remember it as Holy Cow, a brewpub and restaurant with a small gaming area. It was popular for a while but it wasn't able to survive the economic downturn after 9/11 and closed its doors in September 2002.

Before that, it was Foxy's Firehouse, which started as Foxy's Delicatessen 1966, but changed names after a fire. Foxy's was a small grind casino with lousy odds and a modest snack bar. It went out of business in 1988.

The Sahara has been on the southeast corner since 1952. Before that, Club Bingo had a five year run that started in 1947. The centerpiece was a 300 seat bingo parlor, but it also had the Bonanza Room dance hall. Back then, the street had a different name, too.

Old maps show San Francisco Avenue where Sahara is now. Catty corner from there, the round sign for Bonanza Gifts, was first built for the Jolly Trolley. It was another grind joint with no hotel rooms and a small casino. It was known for its hamburgers and the Disco Dollies, a small topless revue. The burgers and dollies weren't enough though, and it went under in 1981 after four years.

The only corner without a building currently is the most important, historically. Despite what the movie "Bugsy" and those new medallions on east Fremont would have you believe, the first full service hotel casino on the Strip wasn't the Flamingo, it was at the Las Vegas and Sahara intersection.  

El Rancho  Vegas opened on Highway 91 and San Francisco in 1941, eventually boasting 144 rooms. Entertainers included big names like Chico Marx, Betty Grable, Eartha Kitt and Joe E. Lewis. El Rancho Vegas remained popular but a fire burned it to the ground in 1961. The land is still vacant today.

MGM-Mirage recently purchased that corner and is developing plans to eventually put a mega-resort where the El Rancho Vegas started it all.