Four aces

The Sands

Opened: 1952

Cost to build: $5.5 million

Opening act: Planting a time capsule that included Jimmy Durante’s hat and Bing Crosby’s pipe.

Biggest act: The Rat Pack -- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop -- performed onstage for the first time in the Copa Room.

Sinatra connection: Owned a good-sized share of the hotel and, at different times, drove a golf cart through a window and overturned the casino boss’ furniture.

Girls, girls, girls: Hosted an annual Miss Atomic Bomb beauty contest.

Closed: 1996

*

The Dunes

Opened: 1955

Cost to build: $5 million

Opening act: A two-day extravaganza complete with a bathing-suit beauty contest.

Biggest act: A $1.5-million demolition of the hotel and its historic 18-story sign, including fireworks, phony cannon blasts and an audience of 200,000.

Sinatra connection: He donned a sultan costume for a performance at the desert-themed resort.

Girls, girls, girls: Boasted the first fully topless show, in 1957, and still more nude women in its French revue, Casino de Paris.

Closed: 1993

*

The Riviera

Opened: 1955

Cost to build: $7.5 million

Opening act: Liberace headlined for $50,000 a week.

Biggest act: The Riviera’s skyscraper was the city’s first, standing nine stories and reshaping the skyline.

Sinatra connection: Pal Dean Martin headlined in 1969, after he and Sinatra stopped playing at the Sands.

Girls, girls, girls: Legendary pin-up Betty Grable performed “Hello, Dolly!”

Closed: Not Yet

*

The Tropicana

Opened: 1957

Cost to build: $15 million

Opening act: Singer Eddie Fisher wowed a crowd that included then-wife Debbie Reynolds.

Biggest act: The Folies Bergere, declared by The Times in December 1959 to have “the liveliest and loveliest collection of girls this showtown has ever seen.”

Sinatra connection: Sammy Davis Jr. starred on the Tropicana’s brand-new stage in 1973, when the hotel was the only place in Vegas with two showrooms and two major shows.

Girls, girls, girls: Carol Channing canceled her contract at the hotel because she didn’t want to follow nude showgirls. This despite having a hit satirical song titled, “You’ve Got to Take Your Clothes Off in Las Vegas.”

Closed: Not Yet