Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was one of the three finalists for the location of the new United States Air Force Academy, but ultimately lost to Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1968, Hugh Hefner built his first Playboy resort in Lake Geneva. The club closed in 1981 and in 1982 was converted into the Americana Resort, and in 1993 to the present Grand Geneva Resort. Royal Records (formerly Shade Tree Studios) was a Lake Geneva music recording studio where artists such as Ministry, Cheap Trick, Queensrÿche, Crash Test Dummies, Iron Maiden, Nine Inch Nails and Skid Row have recorded albums. Lake Geneva is located at (42.592380,
The Riviera (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin) time for a dance on September 1 later that year. Local architect James Roy Allen was selected to design the building. The total cost was only $55,000. In 1980, the building was rehabilitated by local architect Daniel Curran. As the "most intact historic building associated with transportation in the Geneva Lake area," the Riviera was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on April 3, 1986. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Riviera ballroom hosted such renowned swing and jazz bandleaders as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Gene