O/T The Las Vegas Boneyard

i remember the westward ho was down near the stardust it seemed. we went in there a few years ago and i thought the pit boss was gonna beat the living hell out of this guy running a roulette wheel and screwing up everybodys bets. little oriental guy who couldnt even speak english. constantly smiling at the boss even when he was getting his ass chewed. that seemed to me like the old vegas meets the new, even though i wasnt around for the old. youd have to think in the 50-60-70's eras they wouldnt even let a guy like that in the casino, but the pit boss had not changed a bit since his uncle got him in years ago.

 

There was a scene in the movie "Corvette Summer" that was filmed there, I have a copy of it here somewhere.

 

Ive lived in the Vegas area since '52, an original native.

It's been rather sad to see "old Vegas" disappear but in this town money talks and history is just the day before today.

Most of those signs are fairly new, the YESCO yard had a lot of the ones that they took down when they covered Fremont Street, what a waste that project is/was.


I cruised Fremont Street darn near every Friday and Saturday night from 68-72, street was packed with 14-20 year olds cruisin.The drive-in at the bottom turnaround was the Blue Onion and the grassy park at the top was the UP railroad station.

I can recall my parents taking us for a drive up Fremont Street and out the Strip when all the casinos closed in memory of JFK, never seen that since. We know he was connected.

The place isnt the same but then what is.

If you want an interesting insight into Las Vegas and Nevada read "The Green Felt Jungle", the mob owned this town and State till Howard Hughes came in the early seventies and brought coporate America into the gaming business.