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While much of the festivities this year are being centered around the City of Las Vegas' Centennial Birthday, the Riviera Hotel and Casino continues to celebrate its 50th Anniversary (April 20) throughout the rest of 2005, and through to April 20th of 2006.

Here's just a few of the things that are happening in which you can take part and become part of the resort's history.

Free to the public, two eight feet by four feet vanilla frosted sheet birthday cakes are served daily (1 p.m. to 4 p.m.), along with champagne, throughout the month of May. Food and Beverage Director Lloyd Wentzel tells me that "The cakes are so large they have to be delivered from the kitchen on carts divided in half, just to get through the hotel doorways. They are then frosted together at the serving site."

If cake and champagne aren't your style, the resort has decided to continue its 99-cent food offer promotion at the its retro Hound Doggies in the new Penny Town location. All food items (except whole pizza) are 99 cents, which include spicy chicken sandwiches, shrimp cocktail, as well as meatball, Italian and American hoagies.

You don't want to miss seeing Liberace's Million Dollar Mirror & Rhinestone Ebony Piano which will be on display through May 25. It is the perfect compliment to Mr. Showmanship's 1954 Rolls Royce Silver Dawn Convertible Sedan, that you can see through Dec. 31. Liberace was the first headliner to appear at the newly opened Riviera in 1955. You'll be able to enjoy the continuous running tape with highlights of the flamboyant pianist's career.

Las Vegas' very own Walk of Stars features granite sidewalk slabs honoring Liberace and Frank Marino, star of the long-running An Evening at La Cage, installed in front of the Riviera at the beginning of this year.

As well, the "Fifty Is Nifty" promotions, which I talked about in a recent column will be continuing throughout the year. If you missed my column you an get the details at the Riviera's Player's Club.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention another long-running show that has kept the Riviera on the map, and that's the very sexy Crazy Girls. I happened to drop in the other night to see it once again, and as usual, was impressed with the girls and the show.

Following the performance I talked to Elisat Lovato, who is one of the very sexy group of women who make up Crazy Girls. With the looks of a movie star and body of a dancer, it's easy to see why Eli, as she is called by her fellow performers, turns so many heads, both male and female.

I talked to her after a recent performance of Crazy Girls to see how she ended up in Las Vegas from her native country of Argentina.

Her parents, who were performers, moved around, playing gigs in Chile and Spain, "so I was constantly traveling, but I was only performing on the side, backstage," she says laughing. "I used to imitate my mom, who was a dancer."

She didn't get to perform professionally until she was 14. "It was in a show and it was funny, because they didn't know how to dress me up to make me look like a woman, as it was a sexy show."

This was a little surprising, seeing as how Eli had attended a Catholic school and had seriously considered becoming a nun. "I was a good little girl for a long time, then I got -- I don't know," she laughs. "Found out about boys."
She and her family ended up in Miami, where she lived for seven years before making the move to Las Vegas. "I had done a lot of modeling in Miami because there weren't many shows where I could perform as a dancer and I needed to make money. I got an offer to come here to do an awards show for Spanish television at the Tropicana and I fell in love with Vegas."

She said she was a little timid about coming because of her height. "I'm only 5 feet 6, but things had changed, and shows were taking dancers who weren't all 5 feet 8 and over. I think I was officially the shortest dancer hired at the time," but it wasn't at the Riv.

Crazy Girls was the first job she'd auditioned for, she says, "but at the time I was too short. Then I went to Rio and loved it. It was hard work as it was 12 hours a day, four days a week. A lot of work, but it was like family."
She had taken dance lessons in Miami, but was still undecided as to what course she would follow. "I saw how difficult a career in dancing could be, so I was very hesitant to go for it, but I decided to do it and I've been working every since, so I've been very lucky."

This is the first show, she says, where she had to perform topless. "I was very unsure if I could do it or not. I was feeling self-conscious about my body, but when my family came to see it, and I told them my feelings, they said, 'Since when are you such a prude?' I'm shy at times in some areas of my life, but now I'm used to performing topless and it doesn't bother me at all."

Eli admits it's very hard work to keep her body in the shape it is. "They don't like us to be too thin here, we have to maintain a certain weight, so it means a lot of working out, eating healthy." She admits she loves to eat, but has to be ever vigilant, "because I wouldn't be able to eat just one piece of cake, or one slice of pizza."

Her exercise regime consists of yoga, pilates, weights, and aerobics, at which she will spend two to three hours a day.

She knows her dancing won't last forever, so is making plans for the future. "I'm working on it right now and just got my degree for yoga instruction. For a couple of months I'm going to hospitals on a voluntary basis, to work with cancer patients, and with the elderly, which will be difficult, but exciting at the same time.

"They are all excited as well as it will give me plenty of practice and I'll be helping people. I'm a perfectionist, so before I go into business for myself I want to know as much as I can."

As for Crazy Girls, "they're a great bunch and we act almost like sisters towards each other, so it's a fun job."

The Riviera team members thank you all for your support and patronage throughout half a century.  We wouldn’t be here without you. For further details, call (702) 734-5110, or click on? Riviera Hotel.