El Cortez Hotel and Casino

Brintons designed and manufactured 6,500 square yards of custom Axminster carpet for the iconic refurbishment of El Cortez's casino floor, bringing a bold and nostalgic flare to the famous Fremont street casino.

When El Cortez partnered with Brintons to revamp their decades old carpet, the announcement of the refurbishment sparked a cult following of the previous carpet, which the company also designed and manufactured 13 years prior.

El Cortez has undergone many renditions since its grand opening in 1941. While keeping their status as the only casino-hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places in mind, it was important to create a carpet that could hold the old-school Las Vegas glamour similar to the prior design.

The new Brintons custom Axminster features flashy tropical foliage coursing through a field of red and gold leopard print. Adam Weisberg, General Manager of the property, as quoted in this Washington Post article, explains the pattern as “a nod to a Havana Cuba look from the 1950s, which is a time and place in history synonymous with gangsters and well-dressed socialites sipping on rum cocktails.”

In response to the uproar the carpet design kicked off, El Cortez started preserving and selling squares of the 2007 carpet, pulled from the clean non-booze-stained attic stock, in the hotel’s gift shop.