When Binion's was the Horseshoe

From the archives - an old picture I have of Binion's back when it was the Horseshoe.

The worst casino in Vegas just got a little worse

Many years ago, I used to like the Las Vegas Club.  I liked the gambling, I liked the sports memorabilia, I liked the Great Moments restaurant upstairs, and the friendly staff.  I liked the bar with cheap drinks and good bartenders, where you could sit for a while and watch the crowd on Fremont Street.  Later I liked the R & B singers in the back lounge.

Alas, all those things are gone now.  Every time I visit, one more piece has disappeared.  The bar is still there, but nothing else, and the staff generally seems like they would rather be somewhere else. 

I just found out that Tinoco's Restaurant is closed.  It was a very good place, crammed into the back of a very bad casino.  The room was bright and pleasant, the portions were big, and the price was good.  I'm not saying the food was the best in town, but you could tell that the people at Tinoco's cared about their product, their restaurant and their customers.  Everything the Vegas Club seems to have lost interest in.  And now Tinoco's is gone.

The Vegas Club is owned by the same people who own the recently remade Plaza across the street and the recently closed Western Casino on the far end of downtown Las Vegas.  The Vegaschatter website has speculated a bit that the Vegas Club might be in line for a makeover as well.  They also noted that the hotel portion mostly seems to be closed.  All the activity by the owners on the three properties makes me think that the owners maybe actually have a plan.  Maybe.

As of right now, the Vegas Club casino has one thing going for it: location.  It's on the corner of Fremont and Main, surrounded by the newly remodeled Plaza, the expanding Golden Gate, and the never-ending luau that is the California.  Maybe they will sell the place, although I can't imagine who would buy it as it is. 

The sad fact is that the place is falling down, and no one seems to give a crap.  Not too long ago, the same could have been said about the Plaza and the Western.  The owners fixed the Plaza and closed the Western, so I'm guessing some kind of change is coming soon for the Vegas Club. 

Maybe.

Changes in downtown

Late night on Fremont

One of the great things about Vegas is that it changes all the time.  While the big construction projects won't be happening again for the foreseeable future, things still change there, and pretty quick too.

Half my stay will be downtown, and there have actually been a lot of changes since I was there last summer.  Here's what I'm curious about:

The Plaza - Recently renovated, new restaurants, new food court.  I am curious to see how they fixed (or tried to fix) what was probably the most low-rent, smoke-filled, depressing casinos downtown.  That distinction now belongs to the Las Vegas Club, which is actually owned by the same people.
     I always thought that the Plaza could have the best sportsbook downtown - it's big and well laid out, so I'm hoping they got the redo right there.

The D resort - Used to be Fitzgeralds, which was a decent enough low-roller place.  I stayed there once years ago, rooms were good sized, I had a decent view, Howard Johnson-like decor.  The whole place was bought out by the people that own the Golden Gate.  These guys did a great job spiffing up the GG, so I'm excited to see what they have going on down at the old Fitz.  I know they put in a big new bar that looks interesting.
Incidently, I searched "D resort vegas" on both google and bing, niether brought me the new website.  It's here, www.thed.com , if you are looking.

Golden Gate - Always one of my favorite places to play, by the time I get there in July they should be finished with their renovation/expansion.  I don't see anything really breathtaking in the plans, but I'm interested in seeing it anyway.  Between buying and rebranding Fitzgeralds and the expansion here, these guys have been busy.

Drink & Drag - Last time I was downtown (actually, for the past ten years or so) Neonopolis has been a big empty hulk of a place in the middle of Fremont Street.  Now it actually seems like it actually has some life to it, with a whole bunch of new businesses.  One of them is Drink & Drag, which just opened this month.  It's a bowling alley, with dartboards and everything.  Staffed by drag queens. 
     No, it doesn't make sense to me either, and it's not really my scene, but where else on earth can you go bowling with drag queens?  I can't say I know a lot about drag queens, but it's hard to imagine they put on the bowling shoes.  We can file this under "Only Vegas."

I've also been reading about new bars opening up at Binion's and the Golden Nugget, neither of which look particularly exciting to me, but I'll certainly check them out.

www.fremontstreetbars.com - A good website about the bar scene, and downtown info in general.  www.vegaschatter.com  also has some good info on downtown once in a while.

Until next time............

Why did I pick the California?

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm splitting hotels for my July trip - three nights on the strip, two nights downtown.  For my downtown stay, I picked the California.

I'm not from Hawaii.  I'm from Boston, which is close to as far as you can get from Hawaii.  So why would a grumpy Bostonian choose a hotel that pretty much caters to Hawaiians? 

I looked at a few different places downtown - the Plaza, The D (formally Fitzgeralds), the Gold Spike, and all of the Boyd properties - Fremont, Main Street Station, and the Cal. 

As I said before, I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to hotel rooms.  I decided that I wanted a pool, especially since it will be towards the end of my trip, so I might need to wash some of the booze out of me. 

In the end, it came down to price.  I had a good deal from the Boyd companies through the Bconnected players' club.  I've stayed at the Fremont before, and liked it fine.  Boyd might not have the fanciest properties, but I've always gotten such good service there.  I was about to book the Fremont again, but just figured I'd try someplace new. 

So I'm set - three days Planet Hollywood, two days at the California.  It feels nice to be a bit settled.