The Summit at the Sands: When the Rat Pack Ran Vegas
7 min read
If you want the single coolest moment in Las Vegas history, it is a few weeks in early 1960 at the Sands. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop were in town all at once, and the whole city bent around them.
They called it the Summit. The rest of us call it the Rat Pack, and this is the run that built the whole image.
Movie by day, show by night
The group was in Vegas filming the original Ocean's 11, the heist movie about robbing five casinos at once. They shot during the day, then walked into the Copa Room at the Sands at night and performed together, loose and unscripted, drinks in hand.
Word got out fast. People flew in from everywhere hoping to catch whichever combination of them showed up that night. You never knew who would wander on stage, and that unpredictability was the whole draw.
Sinatra's town
Sinatra had a stake in the Sands and real pull in the building, and it showed. The Copa Room became the room everyone wanted, and the Sands became the address. For a stretch there, Frank Sinatra was effectively the mayor of the Strip after dark.
It was charming and it was also a power move. When Sinatra was happy at your hotel, the whole town paid attention.
The part the legend skips
Here is the piece the glossy version leaves out. Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the biggest stars alive and still ran into the color line in a town that was deeply segregated. Black performers had headlined for years while being turned away from the rooms and pools of the very hotels they sold out.
Sinatra used his weight to push integration at the casinos he was tied to, and the Rat Pack era is part of how that wall finally started coming down. The cool is real, but so is the harder story underneath it.
Frequently asked
Can I still see the Sands?
No. The Sands was imploded in 1996. The Venetian stands on the site today.
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