Anybody have any good/bad memories or stories involving these defunct hotels and casinos?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...s_in_Las_Vegas


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...s_in_Las_Vegas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Grand_Hotel_and_Casino

mgm used to be ballys -- definitely never knew this.

Actually Bally's used to be the "Original" MGM. That was where the famous fire occurred.

The new MGM Grand is located about a mile south of the old one.

uh yeah thats what i meant to write

I had a good chuckle when I read the Stardust used to have a drive-in theatre in back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_Resort_%26_Casino

A lot of people stayed at the Stardust on their first trip to Vegas including myself in 1976. I think I paid around $9 a night during a Christmas holiday.

LOL at the Boardwalk link claiming it had a roller coaster!

Boardwalk was my favorite place for years. I have many stories and pics from that place. I'll try to dig up the pics....

The buffet...ate there three times and barfed twice. Only times I've puked simply from eating food (versus the flu, alchohol, etc).

Second floor rooms were basically open to the casino. They were up an escaltor from a bank of slot machines. People would wander up there thinking it was part of the casino...it was very strange staying on that floor. I had a guy hanging outside our room trying to sell us crack once.

Oh yeah, roller coaster was NOT real!

A dealer there, named Pierino has became a legend between my friends and I. Every trip we would track him down and play with him for the stories. He posed for pics with us once. He told great (not really) stories like how he made a mixed tape for his girlfriend. His blackjack philosophy was that "you are only as good as your next card." He eventually was fired for too many no shows. Probably busy making mixed tapes...
Last I heard, he became a cabby.

They spread 10 cent roulette for a while.

The deli wasn't bad. They sold "Burger Pipes." A burger pipe was a burger shaped like a hot dog. They also advertised Salmon Pipes, but I never actually tried one. The "Pipe" franchise, I believe, no longer exists...at least the website is gone.

I once worked at MGM and would walk across the street to the Boardwalk to count cards. They would often go fairly deep into the shoe making it one of the last places in Vegas where you could do so.

One night I went busto at blackjack except for a single dollar coin...I turned around into the nearest slot machine and won $100...still the biggest slot jackpot I've ever hit (I don't place slots much).

They had a "mini" craps table. It was so small..it was cute, actually. They spread 5-5-5 odds which was nice and I would play the don't. I had one epic night where I won a few thousand dollars. They had to go to the safe to bring out more chips because they ran out of black chips.

I made T-Shirts for the weekend the tower went down. The shirts said, "Down with the Clown!"

On the other side of the sportsbook wall was a desk where they were selling Marriot time shares (or something like that) and once while watching an Elite 8 game between KU and Marquette (I think), they were trying to get us to kill the volume of the game so they could focus on time share sales. It was an unreal arguement.....that guy was such an idiot...also KU covered which was nice.

I took 6 poster sized Boardwalk signs (usually out of the elevator). I still have that collection up in my garage. Also, to this day, I have about 40 Boardwalk magnets on my fridgerator.

Cheap gambling and location made this place great. From the elevator to the strip would be a 2 minute walk vs the larger hotels like Aria, Ballys, MGM, etc where it takes 15 minutes to get to the strip. Also, we liked that we'd usually have the sportsbook to ourselves, there was a cheap bar right there next to the TVs, and the Burger Pipe deli too which we'd eat at on comps.

Anyways, I've always regretted not going to the auction and getting a clown figure or something...if anyone knows where I can get some old Boardwalk stuff, let me know.

I could go on and on...I'll post more little tidbits of info some other time...but I do miss the Boardwalk!

Thanks for your story. I've must have driven by the Boardwalk a thousand times and never thought 2 seconds about it. Funny how it could have such lasting memories for someone else.

Couldn't tell you why, but the Boardwalk was the first casino I stepped foot in in Vegas; we were stupid enough to buy a drink from the bar.

The Westward Ho blew my mind. World's largest two story dive motel. $1 craps, $3 shot of jack and a beer. I think you were supposed to be limited to 2 a night, but the bartenders never cared.

Best part about the Ho might have been Lamar "The Hat man" Harris. Guy wore a bunch of silly hats and sang old country songs, dirty songs, and comedy songs. He took requests and would tell stories about all of the old country guys that he was friends with and recorded with, which may or may not have been true.

And here's another very interesting link to stimulate more discussion:

http://www.lvstriphistory.com/

Thanks, an interesting site. I lived there from 1982 to 1991. I couldn't believe how many condos are there now on the strip when I went there last year.

I think the modern Vegas all started in 1989 when the Mirage opened. I'm glad I got to see it when it wasn't so big. I think everyone should see it once their life, even if they aren't a big gambler.

When I moved to Vegas in 1982, on the first day I made $60 playing blackjack at the Showboat, on the second day I made $90. Then I started to read strategy books and stopped winning. I knew a girl who didn't know jack about 21 and she won 4000 in one night. Of course she lost it all back shortly thereafter.

Great story tidbits Tcash. Thanks for sharing.

My only visit to the old Aladdin went like this.

Was walking down the strip one morning, had to take a leak. Walked into Aladdin, asked a toothless slot attendant where the mens room was. Went there. Walked in, smelled it, saw it, walked back out. Left Aladdin, pissed elsewhere. Moral: not even good enough to piss at.

The end.

But it was good enough for Elvis and Prisilla to get married there.

Yeah, the Stardust was my favorite place to stay. It's a crime that it was flattened by "skyscraper lust". It sure wasn't for lack of business, because it was sold out almost every weekend. The Stardust was the first place I would try when I planned a trip, and rooms were hard to come by all the way up to the end.

It had a motel section out back. There's something to be said about being able to park 10 feet from your room. Yet you could still get room service and like that.

It was just a comfortable, easygoing, relaxed place to stay. They had a pizza joint that would deliver to the rooms for no delivery charge. The sports book was epic - history in motion, where Lefty Rosenthal used to rule.

Yeah, like 40 years before I tried to take a leak there.

And +1 for Stardust. I miss that place. It was great to have a reasonably decent, non-douchified place on the strip. Really liked the steakhouse there. The mexican joint was good too before it closed.

Yea, I used to like the Stardust. I read in one of Sklanky's books that back in the 70's he figured out that some promotion the Stardust Sports book had was actually favorable to the player if he bet on every team in the pool. I forget all the details but he took them for some decent money before they figured out something was fishy. Back then not many casino executives knew much about probablilty.

Also, a funny story, is that I had only been playing poker about a week or two back in the early 80's. I went in the Stardust to a 3 - 6 game caught a bunch of cards and was up about $200. I didn't know you weren't allowed to take chips off the table so I took two racks to the cashiers cage and then came back to play some more. Everybody gave me a funny look and I guess someone told the supervisor. He came over and told me I couldn't do that and made me leave for the day.

Good thing Tony Spilotro wasn't at the table or I probably would of got the **** beat out of me. I hear he used to play a lot in their poker room.

i dont have anything to add other than i love to hear old stories. hope this thread doesnt die!

For years the Stardust had, IMO, one of the best sports talk shows ever, broadcast from the sportsbook on Saturday and Sunday nights from 10 pm to midnight during football season. For a long time a guy named Lee Peete used to host this with a guest handicapper or two and his co-host was none other than Jim Brown on Saturday nights. (Different hosts and handicappers came and went, but the Lee Peete/Jim Brown era were the golden years. This was mid to late 80's I believe.) They would go through every game on the schedule one by one vs the spread for the next day. It was 2 hours of solid handicapping, team analysis, and stories. I used to pick up the show on a scratchy AM signal that would carry into southern California at night.

The Sunday night show would focus on the opening lines for the following week. If I remember correctly, this was somewhat of a big deal since the Stardust was the first sportsbook to come out with the following weeks' numbers instead of all of the other places that wouldn't post the new point spreads until Monday mornings. I may be wrong about this, but I think they actually had some type of lottery for the hard core customers there so they would get priority for betting the opening lines on Sunday nights before any moves or adjustments were made.

I always wished I got a chance to check out Bob Stupak's Vegas World before it became the Stratosphere. I just got the classic Vega$ series starring Robert Urich on DVD from Amazon and it's great watching him go into classic casinos like the Desert Inn, Landmark, and the Sands. Half the episodes are of Tanna driving up and down the strip in the late 70's. Dan Tanna Rules!

The Mexican place was my favorite restaurant. They would give you free chips, salsa, AND this fantastic bean dip. The 9/11 terrorists killed that place. Business was so slow after 9/11 that they went on sabbatical, and never re-opened.

Vegas World was a dump when I went there in the 80's. My dad said it was a dump when he went there years before I did. I suspect it was always a dump.

I was a Frontier regular in my twenties & early thirties & had my bachelor party in a penthouse suite in there. Was a great place to drink & gamble until midnight, when for some reason, the nasty dealers came on shift.

"Rita" was a cocktail waitress who must have been late 60s/early 70s but still wore the slinky outfit. Wasn't much to look at, of course, but she was quite trainable to the point she'd just touch your shoulder & you could nod for yes or shake for no & she'd bring you your next drink. I drank Gold Drivers (Cuervo Gold & OJ) in those days & got potted on a regular basis thanks to Rita.

The Mexican place in there made fresh tortillas which were awesome, though the standard Margaritas tasted like toothpaste. Better to get the hand-shaken ones.

The Frontier was the focus of a culinary workers' strike that didn't seem to have much to do with the culinary workers -- I chatted with the picketers & not one of them had ever worked for the Frontier, so I wonder what all that was about.

One trip we made a pact that we'd swipe the cocktail glasses, which were solid double-old-fashioned size. Members of my group of four would stash one glass at a time under the car in the parking lot; when I backed the car out two days later, we had about 50 glasses in our collection -- my ex-wife still has a few of those.

Though I don't drink & gamble like that any more, I still have fond memories & was sad to see it go.

I miss jai alai in Vegas

At risk of hijacking the thread, the Frontier strike had everything to do with the workers. The Frontier was bought in 1988 by Margaret Elardi and she immediately downscaled the profitable casino. Almost all amenities were stripped and nearly all workers had their wages cut and pensions eliminated. The strike lasted until current TI owner Phil Ruffin purchased the casino, signed contracts with the union, and restored the property... turning a profit on the Frontier in the process.

During strikes it's not uncommon for other union members to join the picket line in an act of solidarity with the strikers. This fact does not mean the striking workers are or are not justified in walking out.

Yea, I remember that show. And I saw Jim Brown at the ol' Keyboard Lounge dancing with two woman the first day I moved to Vegas. I saw all kinds of celebrities there in 9 years. Lola Folona at Whte Cross Drug store, Diana Ross at the Brewery, Kenny Rogers in his prime playing craps with his two bodyguards, Mike Tyson walking thru the Hilton with his entourage, Tommy Hearns, and old time fighter Carmen Pacilio, Jerry Lewis playing poker against Bob Stupac, Telly Savalis playin poker at the WSOP at the Horshoe. And Jay Leno actually asked me for directions way back before he hosted the Tonight Show. He wanted to go to a motorcycle show at Sunset Park. I also saw that guy who used to play Grandpa in the Munsters. I saw him playing the slot machines at the old Dunes (another Defunct Hotel) which used to be where the Bellagio is now. And I probably forgot some. Ah those were the days.

Oh, yea, and Jimmy JJ Walker used to hang out at the Stardust Sports Book too. Dynomite!!