Nice article on Jackie Gaughan and the El Cortez

Vegas as it used to be....and today

Great article. When I visit Vegas I always go downtown at least once and the ElCo is my first stop.

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Jack in San Francisco

It might have been the first time I ever stayed at the El Cortez around 1987...wife and I were total low-rollers and were staying in a tower room. We were in the elevator one morning heading down to have breakfast and the elevator stopped and a man got on. He asked us if we were going to breakfast and we said yes, so he reached into his jacket and gave us a comp for two.

A year or so later I discovered that man was Jackie Gaughan. Just a great man.

Back in 1971, we traveled from NJ to Vegas for a 10 day trip. We had a coupon book which included a free breakfast at the El Cortez. The trip was in February. One morning we woke up very early....like 4 am...and decided to go downtown for breakfast. We were staying at the LVH. We had a mint green Ford Pinto and we picked it up in the parking lot for the ride downtown. I didn't think it was very cold out and just wore a spring jacket. When we got downtonw, we past a bank which gave the time and temp, and it said them temp was 33 degrees. Must be that dry humidity.

So we got seated in the coffee shop and ordered our free breakfast. 2 eggs, hash brown, bacon and coffee. Can't beat a deal like that. We thought the place was old at that time, and that was 41 years ago. I think the last time I ate there was back in 1997.

It has changed a lot since 1997.

Nice article, I saw Jackie the last time I was in Vegas in 2009. He and his co-horts were eating dinner a few tables away from me.

Jackie still comes down to play poker everyday.Do you think he gets his chips for free?

The ElCO has done a really good job of balancing the old-time feel of the casino while also making quality changes to make it more appealing.

Good anecdote: Back when Jackie owned the Western his advisors wanted to shut it down because it was losing money. Jackie said "no" strictly on the basis that he liked the employees that worked there.