Oftentimes the neatest thing about a piece of memorabilia is the story behind it. All of the old pieces have stories, but often we don't get to hear the story. How did the piece go from being in the casino to being in our collection? We got to hear the story on this Lillie Langtry menu! Lillie Langtry's was a restaurant in the Golden Nugget. One of the items on the menu is the Golden Nugget Porterhouse

It was 2006 when my husband found this neat piece on ebay. We bid on it, and we won the auction. It had a $15 shipping charge, not unreasonable since it's made of wood and is pretty heavy. Still, the seller was near Chicago and we go to the area pretty often, so we contacted her to see if we could pick it up in person. She said yes.

On the appointed day and time, we knocked on the screen door. We heard a man yell "Laura! Your people are here!" "C'mon in folks!" We went in and met Laura the seller, and her parents. They invited us to sit down and we all chatted about Vegas for awhile. Then Laura told us how she got the menu....

In 1981 Laura moved to Las Vegas. I think she was in her early 20's. She had a roommate named Judith, who lived by the motto "Beer: it's not just for breakfast." Judith was a big woman, 6'1" tall, and not slim. The girls used to go out to dinner often, and they liked to collect menus and staple them to their kitchen wall. One day they went to Lillie Langtry's, where Laura loved to order Chinese food. They saw this menu on the maitre'd stand. After they had eaten, and were leaving, the maitre'd stand was momentarily unattended. The girls were both wearing ponchos. With Judith's size, it was a simple matter for her to slip the menu under her poncho and keep walking.

Later, Laura got married, then divorced. She had no children, and her work was her life. One morning she woke up and was paralyzed on 1/2 her body. She was diagnosed with MS. The paralysis was cleared up and she was able to work for another year or so. The disease flared up again and she had to quit work and go on disability. She had to move back to the Chicago area, and live with her parents. She discovered ebay and it gave her something to do as well as a way to earn some extra money. The menu was one of the last things Laura had from Vegas, and she was happy that it was going to a home where it would be appreciated.

Judith died around 2004, she was 46. I don't know how Laura is doing.