Getbig Bodybuilding Boards > History - Stories - and Memories
Stories - Inspirational / Las Vegas
stuntmovie:
I can sort of recall my first visit to LV. This was back when you had to stop in a little service station just east of the LA boundary and have them install some kind of air-conditioner in your backseat window so you could make it through the desert without sweaten away most of your bodyweight.
There was no major highway back then. You would sort of follow the railroad tracks through numerous apple and orange picken towns that might have had a population of 500 each, and when you got to Pasadena you were on your own all the way into Las Vegas town.
Las Vegas wasn't too popular cause no one could take the heat.
But once you almost got there you were guaranteed to enjoy yourself because the food was cheap and the hotel rooms were even cheaper and someone always came around to ask you what you wanted to drink. They really liked to keep you good and wet.
The first time I arrived on the Strip, the first place you came to was the single story Hacienda stansing there all alone on the left side of the road with a green batch of grass and a small swimming pool in its center. It was there all alone stranded by it lonesome self, but there was a sign offering coolness inside and free champaign from a silver fountain.
I like silver fountains so I never let it pass me by.
Further on down the Strip was a new joint called Ceasars Palace with a big wet fountain out in front a bit further was The Sands.
There could have been other small joints along the way, but none did much to impress me enough to remember, but there was nothing to the east or to the west of the Strip. Not even roads or dirt lanes to head ya off in those directions.
All along the Strip there were hand painted, 4x8 plywood, signs offering Strip-front acres for $300/per, but we all figured that you'd have to be crazy to own anything way out here, so we'd just laugh at the stupidiy of it all and keep on trucken down the road because our type of action was located downtown on Fremont Street where men were men and women were really women, and the beer was cold and plentiful and no one ever heard of Tequila shots or fancy highballs.
Fremont Street was wide open way back then with ample parking withing five feet of the casino front doors. On many occasions I'd have to encourage an old timer's donkey to move a bit so I could fit the car behind his ass-end.
(continued later)
knny187:
Who hasn't heard of George?
stuntmovie:
Thanks, Knny.
And then there was a guy who competed with Steve Reeves and made a similar impression among the bb fans by the name of "Pedersen" (might be wrong on the spelling there).
He moved to LV and got involved in the "Bad Debt" business which was a very heavy business back in those days.
In fact I honestly cannot recall a weekend when I went to LV when the local newspaper didn't have another story about another mysterious hole in the desert with another body in it.
Those were the days when the Boyz ran the town and it was totally and completely (but not permanently) different than you see it today.
For instance, if you walked out the back door of any building or structure on Las Vegas Blvd, all you'd find was deserted wasteland all the way out to the horizon and the starriest sky you've ever seen covering it all.
I'm sure that many a hole digger took a break and enjoyed the cosmos on many an occasion before continuing with the business at hand.
I recall once showing up at the Sands Hotel/Casino about 3:00 in the morning. We were a bunch of young Marines (Lieutenants) and a couple of old time Navy Chiefs who had requisitioned an olive drab bus off the base at Camp Pendleton and decided to see what this place had to offer.
Back then there were only a handful of casinos on Las Vegas Blvd (The Strip), but each of them had an official Greeter at the door 24/7. And that Greeter would be a recognizable figure like George Raft or one of the top boxers of the day. His job was to shake your hand and make you feel welcome before you got five feet inside the casino and throw the bums out when and if they caused any trouble.
There was a battle on over in Viet Nam and we all had Marine Corps haircuts (even the Chiefs who were part of our outfit) so we were greeted exceptionally well and taken immediately to the bar where our Greeter informed the bartender that, "The drinks are on the house!"
After a few cold beers and a couple of shots by the older guys, we ventured out onto the casino floor and received an immediate and warm reception from on of the Pit Bosses who was apparently notified of "our importance".
Most of us followed him to one of the Craps tables which was relatively empty and he informed us that he was there to make sure we had a good time and didn't blow all our money that first night in town. We thought that he was joking so he got a big harty-har in return.
Then he said, "Go ahead and play. Have a good time! But just make sure you quit when I tell you too!"
So we all lossened up a bit and got into the game throwing the dice with no real knowledge of how it all worked but the Craps crew also got the "word" and were very helpful.
About a half hour later, the Pit Boss came by and checked each one of us to see if we were winning. Each of us was ahead a bit (me by $30 or so - a good amount of money way back then), so he told half of us to take our winnings and have some more drinks at the bar. Eventually everyone ended up at the bar with decent winnings except for the two Navy Chiefs who weren't satisfied with their $60 winnings which they eventually lost completely.
So we're all at the bar talking about the great game we just played and the most money we had ever made while having fun, when the Pit Boss comes up and says, "Thanks, guys! It really is a pleasure to see you all enjoying Las Vegas and we want you to know that we really do appreciate what you're doing over there. And let me just add this ........ This town wants to make sure your enjoy yourself before you head on back to work or overseas, so if one of the Pit Bosses ever offers advice on when to quit a game, take that advice and count your winnings. We don't want any man in the service to lose in this town right now."
And then he said, "Make sure you stop in the Stardust before you head back to the base."
And the next day we did just that and the same thing happened while we were there ....... Greeted at the front door, drinks on the house, friendly greeting and important advice from a Pit Boss, and counting profits at the bar with complimentary drinks all around.
I started to think that the House was cheating for us! The only loss was when the Pit Boss advise was not taken.
We all got back to Pendleton with extra money in our pockets and great stories of this little town in the desert that took care of Marines and Navy guys real well.
But I still got that feeling that those casinos cheated on our behalf, but those were the days when the good old "Boyz" ran the place and things were so much different then.
onlyme:
I'm not quite that old to know stories quit like that Stunt. But I do know they happened. But I can even tell a short story kind of in relation to that old days. I loived in Vegas in from late 1999 to late 2001. Had a really nice condo up on Flamingo just past Decatur. While I was there I worked for my unlce and then Pete G. bought a T-shirt company which I ran. The place was just under 10,000 sq. ft. in size. We did a ton of work for the casinos and even casinos and hotels all over the country. That is how cheap it was to print shirts in Vegas. We even printed the Mr. Olympia shirt for 2 years.
Well another thing we did was sell Super Bowl t-shirts which is huge iin Vegas because if all the betting. My uncle every year for 20 years have setup tables inside several casinos and sold Super Bowl shirts. It is the easiest money you can make.
Well we had a salesman that worked for us that was a quick talking guy who appeared to have allot of connections. So he went down to the strip and delivered shirts for us to the casinos and helped seel shirts at our location at Harrahs. Well one day I get a call in my office from a guy who I swear I could barely undrstand. He sounded like the Godfather with a cold. Anyway this guy was very pissed off. He exlained to me a guy came into his hotel he owned (The Conch Hotel) and sold him 10 cases of Super Bowl shirts. That is 720 shirts. He said the guy dropped off 2 or 3 cases I can't remember but hasn't been back and that he paid him already IN CASH. He sent over the invoice signed and everything from our shop. So I told the guy I will look into it and try to see what is up.
Well I couldn't find the guy and never saw him again. Then later that day I get another call from another casino (The Westward Ho). and I get the same fucking story, except only 5 cases and they paid the guy with a check and faxed me over the invoice too. Well now I'm getting more pissed but at least I know they guy is still in town.
So I call the guy back from the other hotel. I tell him the call I just got. I couldn't say sorry more than the conversation I had with this guy. I could tell right away that he was from the old days especially when he kept telling me that. Well to make a 30 minute conversation shorter. They guy ended up not being mad at us and not making us repsonsible. He said it was his fault he paid the guy in cash and that he paid beofre he got all the shirts. But he did make sure that I knew that he would take care of it personally (he said that) and that he promises this guy will not do this again. He said his brothers are already looking for him. They had a vidoe of the guy so the had a picture of him. In fact, it was one of his brothers who said go ahead and pay him in cash. You know keep it off the books kind of stuff. I mean they buy the shirts from us fro $10 and sell them for $20 or $25.
Well, we never did hear from this guy ever again. And his name did come up a few times from some others he ripped off during his time in Vegas. Well even though no one ever seen him again, I am pretty sure he never left Vegas.
stuntmovie:
Only, I don't know if you ever saw "CASINO" or not but it was based on a true story of the guy who managed the Stardust Hotel/Casino for the Boyz.
Back then the stuff you mentioned was not a common occurance because only the Boyz messed with Boyz and always with the permission of the other Boyz. The guys who ended up resting in holes were usually those guys who owed substantial amounts of money and tried their best to pay another day.
When the Stardust Manager retired he moved by my old place in a very exclusive oceanside neighborhood called Lagua Neguel in Laguna Beach pretty close to where Ozzie and Harriet Nelson lived with Ricky and David. We all got together once and played vollyball on the beach behind their house.
Good times and fun days but we never had any idea nor even cared who our neighbors were back then. Can you picture Ozzie and Harriet and a retired Casino boss playing vollyball on the beach in Laguna?
I couple of years ago, I went on a search for the real and original "Whiskey Pete" who way back when had a ten stool bar right at the California/Nevada boarder. (Now called Primm, Nv.)
Some of you might recall that place as it had blinking, 100 watt household lightbulbs hanging from a rig about 100 feet overhead that you could see from that 10 mile rise leading down to the Primm Valley flats. And it was the only light and structure in that whole damn area, so many old timers would stop in and have a quick one before hitting the road once again for the next 45 miles into something more civilized.
The guy who owned this place of about 600 square feet was called Whiskey Pete and today there are three huge hotel/casinos close to where he used to hang his hat and tie up his horse, but no one in any of those places today ever met or even knows what ever happened to him.
I know that for a fact because I spent one entire day doing my best to locate someone in authority who could offer me some reliable information, but no one could or even seemed to give a damn.
SO when you guys drive by Whiskey Pete's on your way to the Olympia or the USA, make sure you bow your head in silence for a moment or two in memory of good old "Whiskey". He was a real good guy, trying to make a living in the desert and apparently he did pretty darn good.
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