Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

I was comparing our Fremont St. Las Vegas photos from 2012/13 when we wintered in Las Vegas and a 2015 visit, with our recent March 2024 trip.

March 2024 - New name/sign on the Strip (to us). The sign is on the Plaza Hotel, connecting the Garage Mahal (parking Main Street) to the Circa (Fremont St.) with an above street walkway.

Circa 2024 photo from TripAdvisor

Circa Resort & Casino is a casino and hotel resort in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The property was previously occupied by the Las Vegas Club hotel-casino, the Mermaids Casino, and the Glitter Gulch strip club.

La Bayou was a casino located on the Fremont Street.

Taken 2012.

Taken 2015.

The business opened in 1913 as the Las Vegas Coffee House.

In 1920 Mayme Stocker renamed it the Northern Club, offering liquor and gambling when both were illegal, during the Prohibition era. "Northern" was a well-known code word among railroad workers for an establishment serving alcohol.

On March 20, 1931, the Northern Club received the first Nevada gaming license. This was also the first gaming license issued to a woman, Mayme Stocker.

By 1941, Bugsy Siegel and Dave Stearns were operating the club.
Turf Club, Monte Carlo Club, 1940s-1960s

In 1943, Turf Club replaced Northern Club. It ran only until 1945 when Wilbur Clark leased the club, renaming it the Monte Carlo Club. The Stockers continued to run the Northern Hotel on the second floor until 1949. Monte Carlo Club would close in 1956, but remain in business as a bar until the 1960s. The original building was razed after 1965. A new building was erected, where a Denny's diner opened c. 1967–1968, followed by Sam's Roast Beef c. 1968–1969.

Coin Castle: 1970-99
By 1970, the site was operating as the Coin Castle. Herb Pastor was approved to take over the Coin Castle and the nearby Golden Goose casino in 1977. Pastor would later also own the nearby Sassy Sally's casino and the Girls of Glitter Gulch strip club.

La Bayou: 1999-2016
Pastor decided in 1999 to move ahead with a renovation plan to transform the Coin Castle and Sassy Sally's into La Bayou and Mermaids, respectively, for a total of $6 million.

In 2006, Pastor's son, Steve Burnstine, purchased the two casinos and the strip club.

Closing: 2016

In April 2016, Derek and Greg Stevens, owners of the neighboring Golden Gate and Las Vegas Club casinos, purchased the three properties, and announced that the businesses would close on June 27. It was razed soon after. The Golden Gate's expansion into the former space opened at noon on August 25, 2017.

Taken 2012-2013.

Las Vegas Club (2013) now Circa.

Mermaids Casino was a casino located on the Fremont Street. Taken 2012-2013.

When the Silver Palace casino opened in the summer of 1956, it was the first two-level club in Las Vegas, and the escalator, connecting the casino with the lower-level restaurant, was the first in Southern Nevada.

Various name changes (1964-1999)
The Silver Palace gave way to Carousel Casino in July 1964, followed by Gambler's Hall of Fame Casino in 1974. In 1976 the property became Sundance West, followed by Sassy Sally's in 1980.

Mermaids Casino (1999-2016)
In 1999, owner Herb Pastor decided to move ahead with a renovation plan to transform it into Mermaids, and renovate his nearby Coin Castle casino into La Bayou, for a total of $6 million.
In 2006, Pastor sold the two casinos and his neighboring strip club to his son, Steve Burnstine.

Closing (2016)

In April 2016, Derek and Greg Stevens, owners of the neighboring Golden Gate, the D, and Las Vegas Club casinos, purchased the four properties (Mermaids Casino, La Bayou Casino, Glitter Gulch Gentleman's Club} plus the corporate office located at 111 N. 1st Street) and announced that the businesses would close on June 27. It was demolished over the course of 2017 along with the Las Vegas Club and the Glitter Gulch strip club to make way for the Circa Resort & Casino, which opened in December 2020.

Vegas Vickie, Sin City's iconic kicking neon cowgirl sign, was named "Sassy Sally" when she first hung over the entrance to the Glitter Gulch casino in 1980. Then in 1994 she "married" a neighboring neon sign cowboy, Vegas Vic, and acquired her current name.

Time took its toll on Vegas Vickie, as it does to all Las Vegas showgirls. Her makeovers grew increasingly involved and expensive, and when Glitter Gulch closed in June 2017, Vickie was taken down and hauled away, her future uncertain.

Taken 2012

What goes around, comes around.

Making her grand return to Downtown Las Vegas, the celebrated kicking cowgirl first appeared on the dazzling Downtown landscape in 1980 and became a must-see landmark on the Fremont Street Experience. With the goal of uniting old and new Vegas in never-before-seen ways, Stevens acquired the sign in 2016 with the intent to give Vickie a new home at Circa. After a fresh makeover, Vegas Vickie now resides in Circa’s lobby at her namesake bar.