Golden Gate Hotel & Casino | |
---|---|
![]() | |
![]() | |
Location | Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 |
Address | 1 Fremont Street |
Opening date | January 13, 1906 |
Theme | 1930s San Francisco |
No. of rooms | 106 |
Total gaming space | 12,243 sq ft (1,137.4 m2) |
Signature attractions | Shrimp cocktail Dancing Dealers |
Casino type | Land-based |
Owner | Derek Stevens Greg Stevens |
Previous names | Hotel Nevada Sal Sagev |
Renovated in | 1906, 1931, 1955, 1964, 2005, 2012, 2017 |
Website | Golden Gate Hotel & Casino |
The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino is located at One Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. A part of the Fremont Street Experience, it is the oldest and smallest hotel (122 rooms) on the Fremont Street Experience.
John F. Miller initially opened a temporary tent hotel – the Miller Hotel – on the property in 1905, while he planned to construct Hotel Nevada, a permanent hotel structure. The first record of Hotel Nevada being open is a blurb in Las Vegas Age on January 13, 1906. [1] A casino operated within the hotel until a statewide gambling ban took effect in 1909. In 1931, the property was expanded and renamed as Sal Sagev ("Las Vegas" spelled backwards). In 1955, Golden Gate Casino, a separate business, opened on the ground floor of the hotel. [1] The entire property was renamed as the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in 1974 after the casino bought the hotel. [1] The property has been a hotel since 1906, the oldest in Las Vegas. It has been a consistently operating hotel and casino since 1955.
John F. Miller was among the first to come to Las Vegas in 1905. [2] An auction for property in the city's future downtown area was held in May 1905. [3] Miller purchased a $1,750 parcel at the southeast corner of Main Street and Fremont Street. [4] [3] On the property shortly thereafter, he established the Miller Hotel, a temporary tent hotel that was also known as the Hotel Nevada. [3] [5] [6] [7]
In August 1905, Miller had plans to construct a permanent two-story hotel structure on the property. [6] [8] Construction on the new hotel was to begin as soon as the Kuhn Mercantile Company could vacate the property. [8] In September 1905, the Miller Hotel became the first lodging establishment in Las Vegas to receive plumbing. [3] [7] In December 1905, plans were underway for a two-story retail and apartment building, to be constructed adjacent to the Hotel Nevada. The front of the new building was to be cemented to blend in with the hotel. [9] Miller planned for the hotel to be modern, with amenities that included heating, electricity, and a telephone system. [10]
The two-story Hotel Nevada, [4] located at 1 Fremont Street, [11] opened on January 13, 1906, becoming the first hotel structure in Las Vegas, [4] [12] and the only concrete hotel in southern Nevada. [13] The hotel rooms measured 10 feet square, cost $1 per day, and were referred to by a local newspaper as "first class". [4] Due to the hotel's popularity, Miller announced in June 1906 that he would soon have a third story added to the property, [13] but historic photographs and later newspaper records show that while the hotel was expanded, it did not have a third story until the early 1930s. [1] In October 1906, construction was underway on the addition, which consisted of brick and measured 20 feet by 30 feet. The addition added a kitchen and four bedrooms. [14] In 1907, Las Vegas' first telephone was installed at the Hotel Nevada, with the number 1. [11]
The hotel's casino operated until 1909, when gambling was banned in Nevada. The casino's blackjack and poker tables were subsequently put into storage. [4] By March 1918, Miller was considering a large addition to the hotel that would consist of reinforced concrete and would include 40 feet of frontage along Fremont Street. [15] The hotel gained additional popularity beginning in 1925, when city officials had Fremont Street paved. In 1931, the property was expanded to three and four stories and 106 rooms [16] and in early 1932 was renamed Sal Sagev (Las Vegas spelled backwards), with a Hotel Sal Sagev neon sign added to the building. [4] [11] [1]
In July 1955, Abe Miller – the property's longtime operator [17] and the son of John F. Miller [2] – was approved for plans to lease the Sal Sagev's ground floor to a 22-man group, which would sublease the floor for $25,000 per month to eight Italian-American men, including: Italo Ghelfi, Robert Picardo, Al Durante, Leo Massaro, Dan Fiorito and Tiny Naylor, [18] nearly all of them from Oakland, California. The eight men planned to open the 9,500-square-foot [19] Golden Gate casino on the ground floor of the Sal Sagev. Renovations on the new casino were underway that month and were being financed by the 23-man group, with an estimated cost of $330,000. Abe Miller was to receive $2,300 per month, as well as five percent of the gambling profits. [17] [20] [21] The Golden Gate casino, named after the Golden Gate Bridge, [4] opened on the ground floor later in 1955, [21] while the hotel retained the Sal Sagev name. [21] [22] Italo Ghelfi, one of the casino's 22 original partners, [23] operated the casino for nearly 40 years. [21]
In February 1957, John F. Miller died during a nap at his apartment, located within the Sal Sagev hotel. He was 92 years old, and had experienced a substantial period of declining health. [2] Abe Miller continued to operate the Sal Sagev into the 1960s. [24] In 1964, the hotel was expanded to include a total of 106 rooms. [25] In 1965, the hotel's exterior was covered in aluminum siding, which remained until its removal in 1990. [26] As of 1969, Abe Miller operated the property with his sister, [5] Helen Nugent. [2] [5]
In 1974, the entire property was renamed as the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. [4] [1] Abe Miller and his sister had died by 1985, and his sister willed her small ownership of the property to nuns at The Convent of the Good Shepherd of Las Vegas. [27] [28] Ghelfi's family purchased the property from the partnership in 1990, and removed the metal-screen façade that had earlier been applied to the structure. [21] The Golden Gate's 90th anniversary was marked by numerous celebrations in late May 1996, including Las Vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones proclaiming it to be "Las Vegas' Most Historic Hotel." [25]
The 106-room, four-story hotel was renovated in 2005.[ citation needed ] By that time, the property was managed by Ghelfi's step-son, [29] [30] Mark Brandenburg. [21] Brandenburg [31] later became the owner. In March 2008, Brandenberg sold a 50% interest in the property to Desert Rock Enterprises, the investment company of Derek and Greg Stevens, who also owned the Las Vegas 51s baseball team and a 19% stake in the Riviera casino. [32] With new money infused by the Stevens, the Golden Gate undertook casino upgrades and hotel room renovations. [33] The following year, the Stevens raised their stake to 60%, and Derek took over as CEO, with Brandenburg as president. [33]
In 2010, a Du-par's restaurant opened inside the Golden Gate, replacing the Bay City Diner. [34] Du-par's operated as a leased tenant of the Golden Gate. [35]
In 2012, the Golden Gate began its first major renovation in more than 50 years, gutting the old piano bar area and vintage hotel lobby area in favor of a more open and modern look, including scantily-clad women at the betting tables known as dancing dealers. The $12 million renovation includes a 35,000-square-foot, five-story hotel tower with 14 new suites and two penthouses, a new porte cochere, a new check-in and slot club desks, an expansion of the casino floor and a new high limit gaming area. [36] Greg and Derek Stevens became full owners of Golden Gate in 2016.[ citation needed ] [37]
On February 7, 2017, the Du-par's restaurant closed due to financial reasons, as it had been struggling with lease payments. [38] [35] It was owned by Biff Naylor, son of one of Golden Gate's original owners, Tiny Naylor.[ citation needed ]
That month, construction began on an expansion to the Golden Gate's casino. The expansion would take Golden Gate's footprint into the space formerly occupied by the La Bayou casino. [39] The Golden Gate closed around 2:00 a.m. on August 21, 2017, to allow for the multimillion-dollar renovation project, which had been planned for eight months. The project doubled the casino size and added 100 new slot machines. The project also added a new casino entrance, and extended the outdoor OneBar by 20 feet. The renovations occurred at the site of the former La Bayou as well as an alley that once separated the two casinos. The Golden Gate reopened 106 hours later, at 12:00 p.m. on August 25, 2017. [40] The casino contains 12,243 sq ft (1,137.4 m2) of space. [41] A sportsbook was added on June 1, 2019. It is operated by Derek Stevens' company, Circa Sports. [42] [43]
The Golden Gate was the first to serve a fifty-cent shrimp cocktail in 1959, now a Las Vegas cliché. The idea came from owner Italo Ghelfi, who based it on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. [44]
The Original Shrimp Cocktail consists of a regular-sized sundae glass filled with small salad shrimp and topped with a dollop of cocktail sauce. In 1991, the price was raised from 50¢ to 99¢, as the property was losing $300,000 a year on shrimp cocktails under the previous price. [11] The price was raised in 2008 to $1.99. [44] Until the 2012 renovations, there was a deli bar from which the shrimp cocktails were served. As of October 26, 2012, the price stood at $2.99. As of August 2013, the price was $3.99.
In 2019, with the closure of the privately owned Du-par's restaurant, Golden Gate discontinued serving its shrimp cocktail. Derek Stevens, co-owner of Golden Gate, reintroduced the menu item on a temporary basis in October of that year, [45] and then again in 2020 at the Circa, where he is also co-owner. [46]
The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada on the Fremont Street Experience. The property is owned and operated by Landry's, Inc. It has 2,419 hotel rooms.
The California Hotel and Casino opened in 1975 at a cost of $10 million with a hotel and casino located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada near the Fremont Street Experience, two years after a similar named Fremont Street casino, California Club was sold to the Golden Nugget. When it opened it had 325 rooms which has since been expanded to 781.
The Pass Casino, formerly the Eldorado Casino, is a casino in the Water Street District, located in downtown Henderson, Nevada. It is owned and operated by DeSimone Gaming. First opened in 1961, it was owned by Boyd Gaming from 1993 to 2020.
The Fremont Hotel & Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It is part of the Fremont Street Experience, named after American explorer and politician John C. Frémont. The casino is operated by the Boyd Gaming Corporation.
The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of some other adjacent streets.
Downtown Las Vegas is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the Strip. As the urban core of the Las Vegas Valley, it features a variety of hotel and business highrises, cultural centers, historical buildings and government institutions, as well as residential and retail developments. Downtown is located in the center of the Las Vegas Valley and just north of the Las Vegas Strip, centered on Fremont Street, the Fremont Street Experience and Fremont East. The city defines the area as bounded by I-15 on the west, Washington Avenue on the north, Maryland Parkway on the east and Sahara Avenue on the south.
Fremont Street is a street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada that is the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley – and Nevada – besides the Las Vegas Strip. Named in honor of explorer and politician, and coordinator of the Sacramento River massacre John C. Frémont and located in the heart of the downtown casino corridor, Fremont Street is today, or was, the address for many famous casinos such as Binion's Horseshoe, Eldorado Club, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Golden Nugget, Four Queens, The Mint, and the Pioneer Club.
Derek Stevens is an American businessman who owns several hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas. Stevens, along with his brother Greg, purchased the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in 2008, followed in 2011 by Fitzgeralds, which they renamed as The D Las Vegas. He also owned the Las Vegas 51s baseball team from 2008 to 2013, and built the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center in 2014.
The Plaza Hotel & Casino is a hotel and casino located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It currently has 995 rooms and suites, an 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) casino and more than 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) of event space. The Plaza Hotel also has a showroom, rooftop swimming pool, fitness center, bingo room, restaurants, a sports bar, and Oscar's Steakhouse, named after the former Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman.
The Four Queens Hotel and Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas on the Fremont Street Experience. The 690-room hotel and 27,269 sq ft (2,533.4 m2) casino is owned and operated by TLC Casino Enterprises, which acquired the property from the Elsinore Corporation in 2003.
Mermaids Casino was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
Vegas Vic is a neon sign portraying a cowboy which was erected on the exterior of The Pioneer Club in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in 1951. The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface based neon signs, to the friendly and welcoming human form of a cowboy. The sign's human-like abilities of talking and waving its arm received an immediate acceptance as the unofficial welcoming sign, reproduced thousands of times over the years and all over the world. The sign can still be found at 25 E Fremont Street, where it has been since 1951 on the exterior of what used to be The Pioneer Club but is currently a souvenir shop. The trademark is currently owned by Pioneer Hotel, Inc., which owns and operates the Pioneer Hotel and Gambling Hall on the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. Laughlin has a twin of the Vegas Vic image on another large sign referred to as River Rick.
El Cortez, a hotel and casino, is a relatively small downtown Las Vegas gaming venue a block from the Fremont Street Experience and Las Vegas Boulevard. Slots, table games, and a race and sports book occupy one floor of the main pavilion, at this historic casino. It opened on Fremont Street on November 7, 1941, and is one of the oldest casino-hotel properties in Las Vegas, along with the nearby Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. Primarily Spanish Colonial Revival in style, it reflects a 1952 remodel when the façade was modernized. On February 22, 2013, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Las Vegas Club was a hotel and casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas Club opened in 1930, joining the Las Vegas Hotel which had opened in 1908. The Las Vegas Club was relocated across the street in 1949. At its new location, the Las Vegas Club operated within the Overland Hotel, which was established in 1905.
Pioneer Club Las Vegas was a casino that opened in 1942 and was located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, at 25 East Fremont Street. It ceased operating as a casino in 1995, the same year the Fremont Street Experience was completed.
The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel is a 34-story, 639-room hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, owned and operated by Derek and Greg Stevens.
La Bayou was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Downtown Las Vegas Area" is the name assigned by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) which includes the Downtown Las Vegas area casinos and the Stratosphere Tower which is located 2 miles (3.2 km) from Fremont Street. The city of Las Vegas uses the term Downtown Gaming for the casinos near the Fremont Street Experience. The land is part of the 110 acres (45 ha) that were auctioned on May 15, 1905 when the city was founded.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
Circa Resort & Casino is a casino and hotel resort in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The property was previously occupied by the Las Vegas Club hotel-casino, the Mermaids Casino, and the Glitter Gulch strip club. Circa is owned by brothers Derek and Greg Stevens, who also own other downtown casinos. They purchased the Las Vegas Club in 2015, followed by the acquisition of Mermaids and Glitter Gulch. The three businesses were demolished in 2017, and construction on Circa began in February 2019, with an opening initially scheduled for December 2020.