13 Fremont Street

Keyhole Bar, circa 19??-1955: The Sal Sagev Hotel building was located on the corner of Main and Fremont Streets. The Hotel and the Casino were only two of the businesses that were located in the building. At various times there were a beauty shop, a barber shop, a bus depot, and a jewelry store, among others…each of which had their own address. At the end of the building, next to the alley, was #13 Fremont Street. I don’t know what was there in the 1930’s; the 1944 phone book shows the Trail Café was there. I’m not sure when it opened, but the 1952 through 1955 Las Vegas phone books show the Keyhole Bar at 13 Fremont Street.

I’ve not found any indication of gambling at the Keyhole Bar; it’s always possible they had a slot machine or two, but I wanted to show you this cool matchbook ! Even better is this photograph that Todd B. found…is that a great entryway, or what!? After the Keyhole closed, the Lucky 13 opened.

First published in the Casino Chip & Token News, Fall 2006, “reprinted” here with the permission of Todd Barrett. Thanks, Todd!

Lucky 13 Club, 1955-1957: This small club, located in the Sal Sagev Hotel building, was licensed for slot machines and 21. As far as I know, no chips or ashtrays have shown up from this club, but there are some very cool feature matches out there somewhere—we saw them on ebay. The Golden Gate Casino has expanded into the Lucky 13 Club’s space. Next time you go into the Golden Gate, use the Fremont Street entrance that’s next to the alley on the east end of the building and you’ll be walking into the Lucky 13 Club.

I’ve never seen a good picture of the Lucky 13 Club, but we do have a postcard that shows a small part of the sign. We finally added the feature matchbook to our collection…yaaaaaaaay!!!

Look at the left side of the postcard--you can see the "13" from the club's sign.