The oldest casino in Las Vegas, The Golden Gate Casino

21 May 2008

When you're in Las Vegas, odds are you're there to gamble. Not many people pay attention to other aspects of Vegas. To stop and look at Vegas as a whole, many would notice that it's dry, dirty, hot, and extremely expensive.

The euphoric rush which takes over while gambling and partying often blinds individuals to the current state of affairs. But let's face it, we all love to gamble. And some places in Vegas do have more appeal than others.

Though some people may rather stay in places like the Bellagio and Caesars Palace, the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino really tells the sordid story of Vegas, and people still frequent its small quarters.

You can find the Golden Gate Casino at One Fremont Street in Las Vegas. Part of the Fremont Street Experience, Golden Gate is the oldest and smallest hotel on the Fremont, coming in at only 106 rooms. The casino opened in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada.

In 1907, it was assigned Las Vegas' first telephone with the number 1. In 1931, after gambling was once again legalized in Nevada, the Hotel Nevada was expanded and then renamed “Sal Sagev” which is Las Vegas spelled backwards.

Its current name was picked up in 1955 when a group of Italian-Americans from San Francisco started the Golden Gate Casino. The 106-room, four-story hotel was completely renovated in 2005.

The Golden Gate was the first casino to serve a fifty cent shrimp cocktail, which is now a Las Vegas cliché. The shrimp cocktails, available for years at 99-cent, were coined as the “Original Shrimp Cocktails” and have become a mainstay of the San Francisco Shrimp Bar and Deli and is quite the favorite of both locals and tourists.

The shrimp cocktails are what the Golden Gate Casino is best known for. Unlike other casinos who also offer 99-cent shrimp cocktails, Golden Gate doesn't pad the glass with lettuce or any other filler. Millions of people make the trip into the casino each year just to try a shrimp cocktail. Unfortunately for many of the cocktail fans, the price did rise to $1.99 in April 2008.

But the shrimp cocktail isn't the only appeal that the Golden Gate has. In the early 70s and throughout the 80s, people heard rumors of mafia activity taking place in the Golden Gate. This was never proven, and ultimately passed off as Italian-American stereotypes.

America has always been enthralled by the mafia. It's no wonder that people would crowd the casino in hopes of catching a glimpse of some sort of mob activity. The Golden Gate isn't the only casino to suffer this fate by far.

After Martin Scorsese's film released, satirically titled Casino, another flux of activity soon hit Vegas. But it's Vegas after all. Hints and rumors of organized crime may bring in a certain niche, but Vegas has always stood as an institution solely for their gambling.

No matter the shrimp, the mob, or the cheaper prices at the Golden Gate, the fact is that they're the first casino around. And for most people, this counts as something. Their hotel is ripped to shreds by critics, and after the price of shrimp increased to a dollar, many people decided to go elsewhere. But the Golden Gate will always have a fan-base. It will be purely on nostalgia if not anything else.

Tags: las vegas, fremont street, golden gate casino, nevada, shrimp cocktail,
Posted In: Gambling History, Land Based Casinos, Las Vegas,

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