The Castaways Hotel and Casino was forced to shut its doors Jan. 29, the second closure of a historic Las Vegas hotel in less than a month.

Late that afternoon, officials with the company holding the mortgage on the bankrupt Castaways property received approval from the bankruptcy judge to seize all assets from the owners, VSS Enterprises. Officers from both companies, along with representatives of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, entered the casino and began shutting down operations. Gamblers in the casino were told to stop and were given their accumulated winnings while guests in the hotel's 450 rooms were told to pack their bags and leave.

The closure left more than 800 employees out of work. Local union officials scrambled to assist the newly unemployed, a task made more difficult by the Jan. 9 closure of Binion's Horseshoe, which put more than 1,000 people out of work.

Binion's was forced to close by U.S. marshals who seized casino funds in an attempt to pay off millions of dollars in debt. The hotel was purchased a few days later by Harrah's Entertainment and reopening plans are in the works.

No such plans are in the cards for Castaways, however. The hotel and its contents will most likely go on the auction block as early as next week, but whether anyone will purchase the property with the intention of reopening it is doubtful.

This year would have been the 50th anniversary for the hotel, which began its life in 1954 as the Showboat. Its location just east of the busy Fremont Street was considered a plus at the time, allowing it to be away from the hustle and bustle of Glitter Gulch and the Strip. As the city developed in other directions and the neighborhood around the Showboat fell onto hard times, the hotel struggled to find an audience.

It was owned in the 1990s by Harrah's Entertainment, but the company primarily bought the hotel for its name value and -- after stripping the Showboat signage -- sold the property to VSS Enterprises in 2000. A top-to-bottom overhaul removed the old riverboat theme and replaced it with a South Seas look, complete with a new name.

Things looked bright for the hotel for a while, especially after a deal was announced to re-brand the hotel as a Holiday Inn. However, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the downturn in the local economy hit Castaways especially hard. Strip and downtown hotels were able to weather the storm, but the Castaways couldn't recover. It sank into bankruptcy in 2003.

All parties involved apparently tried to make the hotel work by borrowing more money and attempting to secure the shaky Holiday Inn deal. Faced with mounting debt and angry shareholders, officials with the companies accepted the inevitable and the closure was ordered.

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