Copa Room

{{Short description|Entertainment nightclub showroom in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2016}}

{{Infobox venue

|name = Copa Room

|image =Sands Hotel Copa Room.jpg

|image_caption =

|nickname =

|address = 3950 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89119

|location = Paradise, Nevada, U.S.

|coordinates = {{coord|36.1214|-115.1689|type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NV|display=ti}}

|type = showroom

|genre =

|built = 1952

|opened = 1952

|renovated =

|expanded =

|closed = 1996

|demolished =

|owner = Las Vegas Sands

|construction_cost=

|former_names =

|seating_type =

|seating_capacity = 12,000

|website =

}}

The Copa Room was an entertainment nightclub showroom at the now-defunct Sands Hotel on The Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was demolished in 1996 when the Sands Hotel was imploded.

It was noteworthy for the many popular entertainers who performed there, including members of the Rat Pack, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Jimmy Durante, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Edith Piaf and Bobby Darin, among others.{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rB8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3|date=December 27, 1952|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=1|issn=0006-2510}}

It was also the recording venue for several live albums, including Frank Sinatra's Sinatra at the Sands,{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sinatra-at-the-sands-mw0000650777|title=Sinatra at the Sands|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=July 11, 2016}} Sammy Davis Jr.'s That's All!{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/thats-all%21-mw0000005210|title=That's All!|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=July 11, 2016}} and The Sounds of '66,{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-sounds-of-66-bonus-tracks-mw0000025034|title=The Sounds of '66|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=July 11, 2016}} and Dean Martin's Live at the Sands Hotel - An Evening of Music, Laughter and Hard Liquor.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-the-sands-hotel-mw0000003162|title=Live at the Sands Hotel|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=July 11, 2016}}

The Copa Room's showgirls were known as "The Copa Girls."{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.unlv.edu/collections/showgirls/jack-entratter-and-copa-girls|title=Jack Entratter and the Copa Girls|publisher=University of Nevada. Las Vegas|accessdate=November 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105090326/http://digital.library.unlv.edu/collections/showgirls/jack-entratter-and-copa-girls|archive-date=November 5, 2015|url-status=dead}} The showroom took its name from the famed Copacabana in New York City. Hotel manager Jack Entratter used to be in charge of the New York venue for more than 12 years, where his showgirls were also known as the Copa Girls. Entratter designed the Copa Room to replicate the Brazilian decor at the Copacabana.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8L69CwAAQBAJ&dq=copa+room&pg=PT192|title=One For My Baby: A Sinatra Cocktail Companion|last=Smith|first=Tom|publisher=Peter Owen Publishers|year=2016|isbn=978-0-7206-2017-7}} The room seated about 400 people. Entratter never allowed his showgirls to appear onstage totally nude.

The musical director during the Copa Room's 1950s and 1960s heyday was Antonio Morelli.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FqknEiUD9MMC&pg=PA180|title=Nevada's Historic Buildings: A Cultural Legacy|last=James|first=Ronald Michael|publisher=University of Nevada Press|year=2009|page=180|isbn=978-0-8741-7798-5}}

In 1981, The Sands in Atlantic City, New Jersey, opened and renamed its showroom the Copa Room. The showroom featured many of the same entertainers as its Las Vegas counterpart.