Mayme Stocker (September 5, 1875 - December 12, 1972) [1] was an American business owner who was the first person in Las Vegas to legally own a gaming license. [2] [3] [4] She opened the Northern Hotel in 1920, [5] an establishment that covertly sold alcohol under the guise of a soda shop [6] that would later become the now-defunct La Bayou casino. [7] [8]
She was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in 1875 to George and Anna May Clifton, and was the oldest of 6 children. Her mother died while she was in the 8th grade, and she was left to take care of her siblings. [1] She married railroad worker Oscar Stocker at the age of 16, with whom she had 3 children – Clarence, Harold and Lester. [9] Stocker followed railroad jobs, reaching Las Vegas in 1911, where she would live for the rest of her life. [1]
When she died at the age of 97 in 1972, Mayme Stocker was a member of the Republican Party, the Emblem Club at her local Elks Lodge, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. [1]
Mandalay Resort Group was an American hotel and casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. Its major properties included Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, as well as half of the Monte Carlo. In terms of market capitalization, it was one of the largest casino operators in the world. Its stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol "CIR" and "MBG".
Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It features circus and trapeze acts, as well as carnival games, at its Carnival Midway. The resort also includes the Adventuredome, an indoor amusement park.
The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on 60 acres (24 ha) along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by his brother. The Stardust had numerous creditors, and construction was stopped in 1956, when the project ran out of money.
The Hacienda was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, that operated from 1956 to 1996. It was opened by Warren Bayley, who owned other Hacienda properties in California as well. Bayley opened the hotel portion in June 1956, although the opening of the casino was delayed as the Nevada Gaming Control Board objected to his choice of casino manager, Jake Kozloff. The casino portion eventually opened on October 17, 1956. The $6 million property had 266 rooms and the largest pool on the Las Vegas Strip. Like its sister properties in California, the resort included a neon sign that depicted a cowboy riding a palomino horse.
The DunesHotel & Country Club was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It opened on May 23, 1955, as the tenth resort on the Strip. It was initially owned by a group of businessmen from out of state, but failed to prosper under their management. It also opened at a time of decreased tourism, while the Strip was simultaneously becoming overbuilt with hotel rooms. A few months after the opening, management was taken over by the operators of the Sands resort, also on the Strip. This group failed to improve business and relinquished control less than six months later.
The New Frontier was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The property began as a casino and dance club known as Pair O' Dice, opened in 1931. It was sold in 1941, and incorporated into the Hotel Last Frontier, which began construction at the end of the year. The Hotel Last Frontier opened on October 30, 1942, as the second resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The western-themed property included 105 rooms, as well as the Little Church of the West. The resort was devised by R.E. Griffith and designed by his nephew, William J. Moore. Following Griffith's death in 1943, Moore took over ownership and added a western village in 1948. The village consisted of authentic Old West buildings from a collector and would also feature the newly built Silver Slipper casino, added in 1950.
The Riviera was a hotel and casino on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened on April 20, 1955, and included a nine-story hotel featuring 291 rooms. The Riviera was the first skyscraper in the Las Vegas Valley, and was the area's tallest building until 1956. Various hotel additions would be made in later years, including a 12-story tower in 1966, a 17-story tower in 1975, and a 24-story tower in 1988. By the time of its closure in 2015, the resort included a 103,800 sq ft (9,640 m2) casino and 2,075 rooms.
The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers to the area, and fresh water was piped in to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam, bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center, now classified as a Mega resort.
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 on the Fremont Street Experience.
The Four Queens is a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The property includes a 690-room hotel and a 27,269 sq ft (2,533.4 m2) casino. The Four Queens was developed by Ben Goffstein, who named it in reference to his four daughters. The casino opened on June 2, 1966, followed by the eight-story hotel two months later. The hotel opened with 115 rooms, and a 10-story addition was completed in 1969. Another 18-story tower was added in 1981.
Leroy's Horse & Sports Place, also known as Leroy's Race and Sport Book or simply Leroy's, was an operator of sports books in Nevada. As of 2012, it had 72 race and sports books and kiosks. It was based in Las Vegas. Leroy's parent company, American Wagering, was purchased by British bookmaker William Hill in 2012, and its locations were rebranded under the William Hill name.
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, formerly Binion's Horseshoe, is a casino on Fremont Street along the Fremont Street Experience pedestrian mall in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is owned by TLC Casino Enterprises. The casino is named for its founder, Benny Binion, whose family ran it from its founding in 1951 until 2004. The hotel, which had 366 rooms, closed in 2009. TLC reopened 81 of the rooms as a boutique hotel called Hotel Apache in July 2019.
The Moulin Rouge Hotel was a hotel and casino in West Las Vegas, Nevada, that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Although its peak operation lasted only six months in the second half of 1955, it was the first desegregated hotel casino and was popular with many of the Black entertainers of the time, who would entertain at the other hotels and casinos and stay at the Moulin Rouge.
Clarion Hotel and Casino was located near the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It included a 12-story hotel with approximately 200 rooms, and a small casino. The property opened as a Royal Inn on April 19, 1970. It was renamed Royal Americana in 1980, and then Paddlewheel in 1983.
The El Rancho Hotel and Casino was a hotel and casino that operated on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It originally opened on September 2, 1948, as the Navajo-themed Thunderbird. At the time, it was owned by building developer Marion Hicks and Lieutenant Governor of Nevada Clifford A. Jones. A sister property, the Algiers Hotel, was opened south of the Thunderbird in 1953. During the mid-1950s, the state carried out an investigation to determine whether underworld Mafia figures held hidden interests in the resort. Hicks and Jones ultimately prevailed and kept their gaming licenses. Hicks died in 1961, and his position as managing director was taken over by Joe Wells, another partner in the resort. Wells added a horse racing track known as Thunderbird Downs, located behind the resort. The Thunderbird also hosted numerous entertainers and shows, including Flower Drum Song and South Pacific.
La Bayou was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
West Las Vegas is a historic neighborhood in Las Vegas, Nevada. This 3.5 sq mi (9.1 km2) area is located northwest of the Las Vegas Strip and the "Spaghetti Bowl" interchange of I-15 and I-11/US 95. It is also known as Historic West Las Vegas and more simply, the Westside. The area is roughly bounded by Carey Avenue, Bonanza Road, I-15 and Rancho Drive.
Suzanne "Sue" Pluskoski Lowden is the former Chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party and a former Nevada state senator. Lowden is a former businesswoman, television news anchor and kindergarten teacher. Lowden was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2010 United States Senate election in Nevada and the 2014 Nevada Lt. Governor election.
Sarann Knight-Preddy was an American business leader and gaming pioneer in the U.S. state of Nevada. In 1950, she became the "first and only woman of color to receive a gaming license" in the state. She was the co-founder of a node of the Democratic Club in Las Vegas.
The Aladdin was a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Toy manufacturer Edwin S. Lowe originally opened the 450-room Tallyho Hotel on the property in 1962. The Tallyho was the only major hotel in Nevada to not include a casino; it closed at the end of the year and was sold to Kings Crown Inns of America, a hotel chain which reopened the property a month later as the King's Crown Tallyho. The company added a casino and showroom but plans to open the casino were halted when the Nevada Gaming Control Board declined to issue a gambling license because of concerns about the resort being inadequately financed.