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Agua Caliente was the biggest, most successful casino-resort in the Western Hemisphere between 1928 and 1935. More on that below.
Agua Caliente Menu Cover. Shows caricatures of the Hollywood elite who visited the place, drawn by Xavier Cugat! The scene is probably in the Casino's Patio. Menu is described by the seller on eBay: "Rare and very special menu from the Agua Caliente Race Track Restaurant in Old Mexico Tijuana in the 1930s. Agua Caliente was Known as The Playground of the Stars . Famous musician, actor and bandleader-- Xavier Cugat-- did this amazing caricature of all the major stars of the day who once frequented this famous restaurant. I can spot Laurel & Hardy, Joan Crawford, The Marx Brothers, Eddie Duchin, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and Ramon Navarro.... just to name a few. "How many can you name?"...the menu asks. "Xavier Cugat" name is printed on the drawing (at lower right)." Actual date, Tuesday July 31, 1934 is on the inside of the menu.
Agua Caliente, Tijuana, Mexico (a stone's throw from the California border and San Diego) was heralded as the Monte Carlo and Deauville of the Western Hemisphere. It was the biggest, most lavish resort of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. It had the world's richest horse races and golf tournaments. "The Agua Caliente resort cost approximately $10,000,000, an enormous sum of money for that period. The first stage of the project comprised a 500 room hotel, casino, health spa, and café, inaugurated on June 23, 1928. The second stage consisted of an "olympic size" swimming pool, health clinics, 18 hole golf course, putting course, horse racing and greyhound race tracks, gardens and tropical aviary, bungalows, laundry, and workshop areas completed at the end of December 1929. The resort also had its own private radio station and airport facility [and railroad link].
"Movie czars and stars, sports notables, diplomats, maharajas, ranking politicians and famous aristocrats mingled there in luxurious surroundings along with more ordinary patrons anxious to see and be seen with such luminaries. Mobsters also dropped in on the scene. Bugsy Siegel visited and imagined a similar plush resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip."
All this came to an end with the repeal of Prohibition and the relaxing of gambling at California racetracks, the development of gambling in Nevada, and, finally, the criminalization of gambling in Mexico in 1935."
My two web pages about Agua Caliente:
http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/AguaCalienteChips.htm
http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/AguaCalienteMorePics.htm
Robert
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