The Neon Gutter talks Jackie Gaughan, the most unassuming casino titan Las Vegas has ever known. Owner of the Plaza, Las Vegas Club, El Cortez Gold Spike, Western, and many other downtown properties, Jackie was a champion of the low-roller and common man.
Jackie walked his floors every day, he helped customers start their cars, and he picked up trash. He also played low limit poker with the customers, and lived in a suite on the 14th floor of the El Cortez (You can even rent his former home by the night).
Remember Jackie? Tell us about it. Call our Stinkline at (775) 400-2941. Randy Shandis is standing by! Leave your mailing address to get a Neon Gutter sticker and an authentic $100 entry into Bob Stupak’s Vegas World Daily Slot Tournament.
Have you ever seen another casino owner literally welcome you into his home as Jackie did with the El Cortez, where he lived on the 14th floor?
A bust of Jackie Gaughan takes its rightful place among the hall of Vegas legends at the Circa’s Legacy Club.
Bob Black surveys Jackie’s empire from the balcony of a Gold Spike suite.
Bob Black models the latest fashion outside Jackie’s El Cortez.
Classic neon at Jackie’s El Cortez.
Jackie’s Ogden House behind the El Cortez was a flophouse with cheap rooms. It later was reimagined as the El Cortez Cabana Suites.
Burt, Matt, Jeff, and Dan prepare for a soiree in the El Cortez ballroom, generously provided at low rates by Jackie’s staff.
A view of Jackie’s West Fremont empire from high atop the Plaza South Tower.
Jackie’s Union Plaza, which became just the Plaza after the train station shuttered, anchors the end of Fremont Street.
In its last days, the number 5 fell off our room at the Plaza. We put it back on with some gum.
Jackie’s Las Vegas Club featured sports memorabilia at the entrance and in the hallways.A South Tower room at the end of the Las Vegas Club at the end of its life. This was shortly after Jackie sold it.
Stinky and Amy head to the Gold Spike with a box of t-shirts for participants at the Big Empire Cocktail Soiree.
Steve Fine Print, Phil, and Ghizal greet people entering the Gold Spike from the laxe-security roof.
The Big Empire crew with revelers at an early soiree at the Gold Spike. Fifty-cent cocktails were imbibed, and penny slot machines.
Matt seems delighted by Dan’s very early and very loud performance on Matt’s balcony.
The welcoming exterior of Jackie Gaughan’s Western Hotel, the lowest rung on his property ladder, to the far east of Fremont.
The wide open maw of the Western Hotel casino with cheap table games and good video poker. The deeper you went into the long casino, the spookier it got.
Jackie’s Ambassador East offered cheap rooms and a pool on the east end of Fremont Street, where arriving and departing were an adventure.
