The Las Vegas Club

Hanging around the Down Town area this week, I had to take notice of an aging tower. The Las Vegas Club. It had some sort of mystery to it, lately I have become fascinated by old buildings, or monuments of old. The sad thing is as time passes us by a lot of people generally don't care about history. I mean how many millions of visitors pass by this tall aging structure and never take notice because they are ultimately concentrating on gambling or seeing other sites that's marketed via the internet, or social media. The Grand Canyon tours, drives to Hoover Dam, golfing, and the forms of entertainment to suit one's palette. 

For the last few days, walking across the street from the California Hotel & Casino to the Fremont St. Experience, I couldn't help but notice the Las Vegas Club as it is barricaded off. Signs surrounding the structure suggest a major overhaul of the exterior and interior, or possibly be imploded? I had no clue, I could have asked someone but I wasn't into asking. Just imagining what went on in this place.

I Googled, and Wikipedia'd this place, and this is what I came up with.

The Las Vegas Club opened in 1930. That's an 87 year old building. Man they better keep this structure, it's got history for sure. They had the first neon sign on a hotel and gaming establishment in 1931.

The Las Vegas Club was previously on the south side of Fremont Street, midway between Main and 1st Street. It was right next to the Northern Club casino, which is now La Bayou casino. In 1949 the Las Vegas Club moved across the street to the site of the Overland Hotel, eventually expanding to its present location at the corner of Fremont and Main.

On December 6, 2002, owner Jackie Gaughan agreed to sell the Las Vegas Club and three other casinos, including the Plaza casino and Gold Spike casino, to Barrick Gaming. Barrick was in partnership with the Tamares Group.

January 2007 saw the opening of a new poker room in the casino. The room has since closed.

In March 2007, Tamares announced that it was considering converting the property into a high-rise condo-hotel. This failed to happen, and in April 2013, the Las Vegas Club closed its hotel tower, leaving the casino open. The possibility of a future renovation of the hotel was hinted at, but never occurred.^[7]

In May 2015, the Las Vegas Club announced its intent to open a 13,810-square-foot pharmacy on the eastern side of its casino. This is now unlikely, in light of the August 14, 2015, announcement of the casino's sale to Derek and Greg Stevens, owners of the nearby D and Golden Gate casinos, who plan to close and renovate it.

After the sale, The Las Vegas Club closed at midnight on August 19, 2015.

Here are some photos I took, just imagine what went on in this hotel/casino over the years when it was one of the main attractions in Sin City.

From the corner of Main St. & Ogden

Close up corner of Main St. & Ogden

Same as above from a wider angle

I looked up and imagine what sins took place in here?

Fenced off for construction

Again imagining what took place here during it's heyday

A rather different perspective, who walked these streets?

Who hung out on these verandas?

Who's limousines drove up here?

First Street side, notice the Plaza Hotel in the distance

I am not a historian so I couldn't give you all kinds of information, however this makes it something I want to look into as years go by, I'll read up what I can when I can about this unique building and this part of town. Vegas started in this district, the railroads still cross from here, the Main Street Station Hotel and Casino is right around the corner, yes lots of history here. I hope that the powers that be will truly preserve this part of Las Vegas, we need to keep historic sights, why? History is the biggest teacher we have, we can learn something new by tapping into the past. Do I love Las Vegas? Yes I do.

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