Somebody - Joel, I think - asked to hear my chip-harvest story about Cesar's, so here goes.

I have a campsite and shed up the hill from Watsonville, so had seen Cesar's from the outside on several occasions. But I had heard the place was a bit "rough and tumble" and was fearful of entering. But - eventually - I decided to try. Walked in - the bar is toward the front with the card tables in the rear. Many -- let's call them rowdy -- patrons on the weekend night. One card table, a $1 poker game; in the adjoining room, a $5 game (blackjack I presume). Jose Cahue, the owner, was dealing at the poker table (I had done a little research into who ran the place, and he wore a name tag). That's him, I think, dealing, in Dick's photo of the card game. The table was busy, all seats filled, and spectators in the "gallery" behind the wooden hitching-post board. Eventually he noticed me staring and asked what I wanted. I asked for ten chips. He shook his head, "Ten? I'm not going to have any left at this rate!" I asked for five. He was not really happy with that either, but agreed. More likely because he didn't want to keep the players waiting during this conversation.

I may have been one of the few collectors to get out of the place with some chips. I never tried to hit up the blackjack dealer, I was afraid Mr. Cahue would raise a big stink.

Yes, unfortunately, he lost his liquor license when a patron was plied with alcohol (nobody knew the guy also had cocaine in his system) and slumped down over his drink table. Mr. Cahue actually did not notice this, as he was busy dealing cards some distance away, but eventually someone called an ambulance. I think the patron was already dead by that time. California's Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission imparts a strict liability on any bar-owner when a customer dies in the establishment of imbibing alcohol.

The gambling commission did not revoke Cesar's license, so Mr. Cahue gave it a try continuing the games and offering only O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer, which went over like a wet chicken. Actually, a wet chicken might have proven more exciting.

Eventually, Kyle Kirtland, owner of Club One in Fresno, came to the "rescue" and bought Cesar's license, intending to expand the casino area of the club, or so he told me when we met at The Deuce (another cardroom Mr. Kirtland owned). I told him that Cesar's would be a challenge, to say the least, and he said he knew of the history and character of the place. He even had a new name for it: Tres. (Get it? Club One, The Deuce, Tres? There's a mathematical progression going on.)

The idea was to move Cesar's (or Tres, if you will) to a more upscale location in Watsonville, and at least one site was considered, but something happened . . . the old Cesar's building was demolished (no difficult task) and a McDonald's erected on the site. I don't know if Mr. Kirtland also owned the McDonald's franchise (a smart move if he did) - but the Tres deal never materialized.

Anyway, that's the Cesar's story, and a little bit expanded. And, no, there are NO Tres chips that I know of, but feel free to look around for one if you must!