…Is below. 😊

44 years ago I moved here to Las Vegas from Los Angeles because I never wanted to hear “Last Call” again. Now I am basically on lockdown. Forget “Last Call” there is no call at all. 😳

I decided I would deal poker, I knew how, but without juice you could not get a job & I was new here. So I had to go to dealers school. I decided on the Strip Dealers School right next to Foxy’s Firehouse Casino. Some of you might remember it as the Holy Cow Casino & Brewery. It was a month long class, but I got a job dealing at the Nevada Palace after two weeks.

After a couple of months I went to work one night & the place was locked up tight. Gaming had shut it down due to lack of money. “Big Al” who owned it, along with Big Al’s down the road, across from the Showboat, was running low on money. Big Al’s was located where the Nashville Nevada Club once was. It stayed open for a while after Nevada Palace closed, but the owner of the RV sales lot came in & won $25,000 playing craps & Big Al could not cash the guy out.

So, Big Al owed me my last check. Ended up going to court several times, but never did get my money. I did get it in booze though. The cage manager at Big Al’s was a friend of mine. We had moved up here at the same time. Once Gaming left Big Al’s after locking up the casino & shutting down the machines, my friend still had the keys to the front door & called me. The bar was stocked full. 🥃 What we did not drink until about 6 in the morning, we took home in full bottles.

When I blew into town I stayed at a run down motel across from what was then the Treasury Casino right next to the Tropicana. That property had numerous owners over the years. San Remo, Hooters & now Oyo to name a few. The address of the Motel was 5150 Duke Ellington Way. I was in room 83! That location is now an upscale apartment complex.

My first court date to try & get paid from Big Al was November 21st, 1980. I had moved to a brand new apartment complex called Woodbridge. Across the street was a desert lot. A few months after I moved in they started building the Hotel Continental. It is now Silver Sevens Casino. The morning I had to go to court will always be etched in my mind. My apartment was on the 3rd floor facing Flamingo. As I walked out my front door I looked towards West Flamingo & saw the MGM Grand had smoke coming out of the top floors & helicopters were flying over the property. 85 people died that day. 😕

I never did deal poker again. Ended up playing poker instead & doing other things. No idea what happened to Big Al. 😆 I do know he never owned another casino here in Nevada.