Nice display.

Dodged a bullet in the late '60s. I was then a student at Occidental College in SoCal, I often took the Gamblers' Special overnight flights from Burbank to Hawthorne. For $10 they provided round trip airfare, a meal and free play voucher.

Their rickety DC3s rattled and were noisy, so the distributed cheap champagne to lessen the toll. Upon arrival and before departure, we were bussed to and from the ElCap. The dealers sat in waiting for the fresh meat to arrive!

Speaking of meat, they had a one-girl whorehouse named Green Front a few blocks away from the casino. My dinner was also meat, on a free voucher, composed of a chopped beef steak served on a wooden plank. Health concerns aside, it was very good.

On one fateful night in February 1969, the return flight never made it as he plane crashed into the snow-bound High Sierras. The wreckage wasn't found until months later, after the snow melted. I remember Walter Cronkite on this nightly CBS newscast announcing that the wreckage was finally discovered.

But for fate you wouldn't have me to kick around on this forum! I hope the AH who gave me a death wish is among the recently departed folks who seem to generate the longest posts here.May he RIH alongside the poor folks who went down on the 'Gamblers' Special".