Until the hotel's opening on May 24, 1955, black tourism was non-existent and black entertainers performing in Las Vegas were only allowed in the hotels to perform; they were denied access to public areas beyond the stage and forced to seek overnight accommodations in black boarding houses, according to the National Parks Service, which maintains the National Register of Historic Places, including a website that details the history of places around the US integral to the civil rights movement.

Strategically located between the predominately white area of the Downtown casinos and the largely black west side, the Moulin Rouge Hotel was built at a cost of $3.5 million for the express purpose of being fully integrated, and was at all levels, from employees to patrons to entertainers, according to the website. Opening night was hosted by Joe Louis, one of the investors, and featured performances by the Platters and flashy chorus-line routines. Over the course of the first few months the hotel made the cover of Life magazine and attracted such performers as Louis Armstrong, George Burns, Nat King Cole, Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, and Sammy Davis Jr.

But it wasn't enough to sustain the property, which closed its doors in November 1955, just six months after opening. It was one of four hotels that ran into financial trouble that year, according to reports. One month later, the entity that owned it declared bankruptcy. Four-and-a-half years later, when civil rights activists scheduled a march on March 26, 1960, to protest racial discrimination in Las Vegas resorts, hotel owners, city and state officials, and Nevada Gov. Grant Sawyer set up a meeting with NAACP president, Dr. James McMillan and other black leaders at the shuttered Moulin Rouge. Most of the hotel owners agreed to integrate their establishments, and the planned march was canceled, according to the NPS website.