My family moved to Las Vegas in 1952 when the Sands and Sahara hotels were under construction. We first lived at the Tower Motel across from the Sahara, where the big souvenir store now stands. There weren't a lot of places to live in those days. Homeowners would rent out a room in their house or convert a garage into a rental unit.
I was too young to be in the casinos, but I was curious. They fascinated me so I would sneak in for as long as I could, until someone made me leave.
At the Boulder Club, the old guys played 10-cent craps. The dealers could hold a row of dimes in their palm and "shoot" the payoffs with their thumb. I couldn't figure out how they were able to shoot out two, four, or 10 dimes so fast and so accurately.
Later we moved to the southwest corner of 4th Street and Lewis. We lived in an old duplex owned by Otto Westlake, who owned the whole corner and four or five small houses. Westlake's parents bought the land at the 1905 auction. I think he owned the land under the Four Queens, too. Westlake lived to be about 91 and remembered it all. As soon as he died, people began tearing his buildings down.
Mama got a job as a maid at the Elwell Hotel, on 1st and Carson. Bill Elwell and his two sisters owned the hotel. The bar was a local hangout. Right across the street was the funeral parlor.
Mama lied about my age so I could get a "police card." I soon got a job as a change girl at the old Fortune Club, right next to the Golden Nugget. Then I got lucky and got a change girl job at the Horseshoe.
We saw Benny Binion and Doby Doc every day. We all just loved them. On payday, I would go to the cashier and give him my name. The cashier would take out his yellow legal pad and then, with his finger, go across the pad counting the days I had worked. Then he'd pay me in cash. No Social Security, no income tax, nothing. I made $10 a day, so he would count out six $10 bills. That's how it was done.
All the dealers were men in those days, except at one little place on Fremont Street called the Santa Anita, where they had women dealers. It didn't seem to me like the Santa Anita ever had any business. I remember hearing that people didn't trust women dealers.
I worked at the Horseshoe when Benny Binion had to go back to Texas and serve time. He got his wealthy friend Joe W. Brown from New Orleans to come and run the Horseshoe for him until he got out.
What a change! Very soon, the crowd went from Texas people to New Orleans people. Everyone liked them and especially their Southern accents. But as soon as Benny got back, it was out with the New Orleans bunch and back in with the Texas bunch.
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