La Bayou

La Bayou
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Location	Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Address	15 East Fremont Street
Opening date	1920 (1920)
Closing date	June 27, 2016
Theme	French
Total gaming space	3,200 sq ft (300 m2)
Casino type	Land-based
Owner	Derek and Greg Stevens
Previous names	Northern Club Monte Carlo Coin Castle [1]
Renovated in	2000

La Bayou was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

The casino had 3,200 square feet (300 m²) of gaming space with 125 slot machines. ^{[2] [3]} By the time of its closing, La Bayou was one of the few casinos in Las Vegas where slot machines paid out in coins, rather than vouchers.

History

Northern Club: 1920-43

The business opened in 1913 as the Las Vegas Coffee House.

In 1920 Mayme Stocker renamed it the Northern Club, offering liquor and gambling when both were illegal, during the Prohibition era. ^[1] "Northern" was a well-known code word among railroad workers for an establishment serving alcohol. ^[4]

On March 20, 1931, ^[5] the Northern Club received the first Nevada gaming license. ^{[6] [7]} This was also the first gaming license issued to a woman, Mayme Stocker. ^[5]

By 1941, Bugsy Siegel and Dave Stearns were operating the club. ^[8]

Turf Club, Monte Carlo Club, 1940s-1960s

In 1943, Turf Club replaced Northern Club. It ran only until 1945 when Wilbur Clark leased the club, renaming it the Monte Carlo Club. ^[1] The Stockers continued to run the Northern Hotel on the second floor ^[1] until 1949. Monte Carlo Club would close in 1956, but remain in business as a bar until the 1960s. The original building was razed after 1965. A new building was erected, where a Denny's diner opened c. 1967–1968, followed by Sam's Roast Beef c. 1968–1969.

Coin Castle: 1970-99

By 1970, the site was operating as the Coin Castle. ^[9] Herb Pastor was approved to take over the Coin Castle and the nearby Golden Goose casino in 1977. ^[10] Pastor would later also own the nearby Sassy Sally's casino and the Girls of Glitter Gulch strip club. ^[11]

La Bayou: 1999-2016

Pastor decided in 1999 to move ahead with a renovation plan to transform the Coin Castle and Sassy Sally's into La Bayou and Mermaids, respectively, for a total of $6 million. ^{[12] [13]}

In 2006, Pastor's son, Steve Burnstine, purchased the two casinos and the strip club. ^{[14] [15]}

Closing: 2016

In April 2016, Derek and Greg Stevens, owners of the neighboring Golden Gate and Las Vegas Club casinos, purchased the three properties, and announced that the businesses would close on June 27. ^[15] It was razed soon after. The Golden Gate's expansion into the former space opened at noon on August 25, 2017. ^[16]

References

1. "A Brief History of Downtown (cont.)". Classic Las Vegas. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
2. Nonrestricted Square Footage Report (Report). Nevada Gaming Control Board. January 7, 2016. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
3. Nonrestricted Count Report (Report). Nevada Gaming Control Board. April 18, 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
4. Thomas Ainlay; Judy Dixon Gabaldon (2003). Las Vegas: The Fabulous First Century. Arcadia Publishing. p. 50. ISBN   9780738524160.
5. Rinella, Heidi Knapp (July 7, 2000). "New book raises questions about Silver State". Las Vegas Review-Journal .
6. "Fremont Street Experience Brings Downtown Las Vegas Into Next Century". Fremont Street Experience . Retrieved 2008-12-08.
7. McCracken, Robert D. (1996). Las Vegas: The Great American Playground. University of Nevada Press. p. 42. ISBN   9780874173017.
8. Larry D. Gragg (2015). Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas. ABC-CLIO. p. 24. ISBN   9781440801860.
9. "Penny slot machine going way of dodo". Nevada State Journal. Reno, NV. December 12, 1976. – via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
10. "Slot operations denied by board for second time". Nevada State Journal. Reno, NV. August 11, 1977. – via Newspapers.com (subscription required)
11. Dave Berns (July 24, 1998). "Porn Web site jeopardizes gaming exec's license". Las Vegas Review-Journal– via NewsBank.
12. Dave Berns (June 14, 1999). "Ex-problem gambler criticizes federal gaming report". Las Vegas Review-Journal– via NewsBank.
13. Peter O'Connell (August 27, 2000). "Lawsuit seeks to silence two casinos' speakers". Las Vegas Review-Journal– via NewsBank.
14. Valerie Miller (May 14, 2007). "Girls of Glitter Gulch cleans up club, tries to revamp image". Las Vegas Business Press. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. – via EbscoHost (subscription required)
15. J.D. Morris (April 21, 2016). "Stevens brothers purchase more property on Fremont Street". Vegas Inc. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
16. Velotta, Richard N. (August 25, 2017). "Downtown Las Vegas' Golden Gate reopens after renovation". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 19, 2023.

36°10′16″N115°08′46″W / 36.1712°N 115.1460°W / 36.1712; -115.1460