After eight years in the construction phase, the Landmark opened on July 1^st, 1969, at 3:00 p.m. Five hundred guests were invited to the grand opening ceremony where Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene A. Cernan were honored and escorted by Summa executive director of operations, Robert Maheu, as the first members of the public to enter the casino.¹ Other guests included Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt, Nevada Senators Alan Bible and Howard Cannon, Cary Grant, Tony Bennett, basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, and future Landmark owner Bill “Wildcat” Morris. The 110-degree heat did not deter guests, who arrived in black-tie attire.² The event was such a success that the exterior elevator was packed tight the entire night, ferrying guests to the tower’s top floors. It offered express service from the ground up to the 27^th and 29^th floors with no stops in between. Traffic jams were caused on Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive as locals anxiously came to see inside the city’s long-time white elephant. “Isn’t it fabulous,” one woman commented to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, “We’ve waited so long.”³ Closed-circuit cameras filmed the festivities on the 31^st floor, the evening’s most popular spot, and transmitted the images to other Hughes hotels in the city.

Performing in the 31st-floor Skybar that night was the Lauri Perry 4. Lead singer Lorraine Hunt was in the middle of singing a rendition of “Satin Doll” when a bright light came in through the windows; a helicopter was circling the tower. When she noticed that her audience was beginning to panic, she acted. “Having grown up in the restaurant business I was taught to calm people down,” she recalled in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015. She told the crowd, “As you know, Howard Hughes owns this hotel and he’s a very bashful man so why don’t we go to the windows and wave at him.” ⁴ The helicopter sped away as the guests gathered at the window and began to wave. A security guard approached Hunt afterward and asked how she knew it was Hughes. She replied, “I didn’t.”⁵

Comedian and singer Danny Thomas headlined the Landmark Theatre for its opening week. Dean Martin, already on contract at the Sands, another Hughes-owned hotel, introduced Thomas on opening night. Thomas referred to Robert Maheu, who sent well wishes to Kirk Kerkorian on the opening of the International Hotel across the street the following night, by joking, “It’s so touching to see money congratulating money.”⁶ Thomas proceeded to introduce the many executives and other important people involved with the property. When he concluded, a voice shouted from the front row, “How about introducing me? I only built the hotel.” It was Frank Caroll.⁷ The remainder of the month included Jimmy Durante, Bob Newhart and Theresa Brower, Phil Harris and Harry James, and Dinah Shore. Initially, Hughes had suggested a reunion of either the Rat Pack or Bob Hope and Bing Crosby; however, it was deemed too unlikely.⁸

The tower consisted of twenty-nine floors, with no 13^th or 28^th floor. The ground floor contained the casino cage, elevator lobby, and the Landmark Jewelry shop. Offices for security and accounting occupied the 2^nd and 3^rd floors. Guest rooms ran up the remaining octagon-shaped column floors, 4 through 25. The 26^th floor, in the lower part of the dome, was a maintenance level and equipment storage. Floor 27 housed a cocktail lounge called Club 27 and two restaurants. A golden spiral staircase connected the 27^th to the 29^th, with a 3,000 ft² casino, a restaurant, bar, and showroom occupied. Above that, in the upper portion of the dome, was the 30^th floor, which had dressing rooms for the showroom performers and a catwalk that overlooked the casino. The Skybar took up the entire 31^st floor, where a bar, stage, and dance floor offered a 360-degree city view.

Sun Realty went back to court that October, filing a $5.5 million suit against Plaza Tower and the Hughes Tool Company, claiming they had conspired to cheat Sun out of the brokerage fee. They sought their original claim of $500,000 plus $5 million in damages.⁹ A three-day trial began in the Supreme Court of Nevada on February 24^th, 1971, in which Sun called a member of Plaza Tower as an adverse witness and proceeded to question him for two and a half days of the allotted court time. Displeased with the conduct of Sun’s lawyers, the Justices declared a mistrial since Sun had failed to produce their witnesses and ordered them to pay for the legal and travel expenses of both Plaza Tower and Hughes Tool. Sun Realty did not make any further attempts to acquire the brokerage fee. Still, they challenged the court’s ruling to reimburse expenses and eventually won that case on December 5^th, 1975.¹⁰

Landmark became a leader in country music performances in 1971.¹¹ The choice to focus primarily on country entertainment would persist throughout the hotel’s operation. A production of “The Grand Ole Opry” was the first of many country-themed offerings. It would be followed by Jimmy Dean, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Roy Clark, and the Everly Brothers.