The problem with this party that they both wanted to attend was that it was in downtown Vegas – a bit of a drive from their home. The man, at 87, finally had recently turned in his keys – so the woman would have to drive.  She had driven her whole adult life until the man’s retirement 30+ years ago.  Then they were always together and she had taken the wheel only a few times – mainly like when he was having a heart attack or was in the hospital.  She was now afraid that she had perhaps lost some of her safe-driving skills.  She could cope with the chaotic scary Vegas traffic when the destination was on a familiar route near their home, but she just didn’t want to tackle the downtown maze of constant construction and unknown parking possibilities. At one time they had known every nook-and-cranny of the area and every detail of every casino, but this hadn’t been their gambling stomping ground for many years, and they knew things had been changing.

But then they remember their handy friend, Uber!  They had used share-rides to and from the airport in the past, but decided that this could be the way that they could still enjoy going out even when driving themselves sometimes was not a good option.  The woman hesitated, as usual thinking of the cost.  The woman’s daughter finally convinced her that at age 80 she could let up a little on the extreme frugal concept.  And the man, who had never joined in 100% to the “crazy frugal” concept, reminded the woman that this was the “old age” that they had been saving for all these many years.

So… their beautifully warm autumn evening jaunt began with a jolly Uber driver picking them up at their condo and cheerfully loading the man’s walker into the trunk.  With no concern about the traffic, the couple could enjoy sight-seeing out the windows as the driver took a route they hadn’t been on for several years, noticing all the many changes in the city that had been their frequent vacation destination and then their home for almost 36 years.

The experienced Uber driver knew all the shortcuts and the trip was over quickly, the couple and their walker dropped off conveniently right at the back entrance to the El Cortez, where the party was happening.  They were about a half-hour early so they did what they had been doing for 36 years when they visited a new casino or one that they hadn’t been in for a long time: the woman pulled out coupon books from her purse and found two joining-bonus coupons.  They didn’t know how many years it had been since they last played at the El Cortez.  Would their names still be in the players club database and they wouldn’t qualify as a new member for this bonus?  They knew some casino databases seem to stretch back forever.

The man reminded the woman that he clearly remembers playing a $1 Triple Deuces VP machine here and hitting 4 deuces for $3000.  He doesn’t remember when it was – probably almost 20 years ago – but he said he would never forget the stir it caused as all the “little” players crowded around him, marveling at someone who hit a jackpot on a dollar machine – and at “full-coin” to boot!

Anyway, there was no record of either of their names so the players club clerk processed the coupons for them.  They would each have $10 of free play.

What machine to choose?  This was no time, they agreed, to look for “good” video poker machines; they would go for something fun.  They came across a nickel Triple Play Ultimate X, which was often their “just-for-fun” short-time choice – who cares what the paytable is! They played 5 minutes and then had to quit to head for the party.  Turned the $20 into $5 – cash out – okay – that covers the tip for the Uber driver one-way.

Although the couple had been on the El Cortez casino floor many times, they had never had a room there – and they certainly had never been up in the penthouse suite, which is where the long-time owner, Jackie Gaughan, lived for 25 years, until his death in 2014.  The suite has remained unoccupied by a permanent resident since then although it may be rented out – at a high price, of course, by someone who wants to enjoy the throw-back luxury of the 50’s-60’s.  It is also available for group functions, such as this party the couple was attending. They not only enjoyed chatting with old friends and making new acquaintances, but the 15^th floor patio view at dusk gave a beautiful picture of downtown, with both the familiar old sights they remembered and the new buildup beyond the Fremont Street Experience.

The couple left the party, happy that they had made the effort to get out of the house that evening.  It had been an interesting and entertaining get-together.  Should they order up an Uber and go straight home from the El Cortez?

Or, should they continue down Fremont Street and revive some more memories?  There were still lots of coupons in the lady’s purse.

Tune in next week for the answer.

More info about their April promotions I talked about in my last blog.

Tuesdays double promo has a welcome option. If you earn 300 points, you can choose either the free movie ticket or car wash.  But if you earn 600 points, you will see two places to touch on the kiosk screen and two vouchers will spit out.  Each voucher gives you a choice between a free movie ticket or a free car wash.  So, you can either get one of each or two of the same, i.e., 2 movie tickets.

Other details about the Thursday gas gift card promotion: Different than in previous versions before the Palms became a Stations property, there is no carry-over provision.  You can only get gas cards for the points you earn that same day. The gift card requirements are for base points.  However, you do not have to redeem the points so they remain in your point bank to use for cash, free play, or comps.

ELLIS ISLAND

Ellis Island has just released some details about their casino-wide anniversary party Saturday, April 14, celebrating “50 Years of Ellis.”  The festivities will include giveaways on the casino floor and in the karaoke lounge, drink specials in the bars and dinner specials in the restaurant, including the original bowl of chili and ham sandwich combo available back in 1968.  Their brewery will release a 50th Anniversary Golden Lager April 2 to commemorate the milestone.  A collector’s edition anniversary $5 chip will also be available at their gaming tables throughout the remainder of 2018.

Click here for a short but interesting video about the history of this family business.

Interesting Read

Think the lottery is never an advantage play?  Read this article.  It’s long but was fascinating to me for many reasons, the main one that reinforces my belief that successful gambling is never easy.  It takes intense effort.  Fun but work!

Gallows Humor

I regularly shop at the 99-Cent store – probably not shocking information to anyone who knows me at all.  The other day I nearly got run over in the parking lot of one of these stores.  Brad and I decided that if that ever happened it wouldn’t be a happy event, of course, but it might be an “appropriate” way for me to exit this planet.

 Join us on Saturday, October 28 from 1 to 7 p.m. for free, self-guided access to the Neon Boneyard in recognition of our fifth birthday.   Reservations NOT required.  The lobby opens at 12:30 p.m.

A Red-White-and-Blue Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a city with patriotic feelings as strong as anywhere else in the U.S.A. As I’ve been traveling all over our spread-out city since September 11, I have proudly seen the proof of that everywhere, from children’s make-shift pictures of flags and eagles in the windows of simple homes in the most impoverished neighborhoods to the big new flags that wave from tall new flagpoles I can see above the cinderblock walls that guard the most exclusive suburban enclaves. When we went looking to buy a flag, no store in town had one of any size, so we cut out the full-page color flag from our local newspaper and put it in our window.

Sure, we’re a “company town,” but the towering casino marquees replaced their flashing advertisements of magic, or dancing girls, or the message of possible riches, with eagles and waving flags and the simple message of “God Bless America.” A couple of large casino companies have contributed a million dollars for disaster relief — but small businesses all over town have donation jars at their cash registers in their best effort to help fellow Americans in this time of crisis. Our firemen have been out on the street soliciting contributions for the families of their brothers lost; our entertainers are unselfishly showing up everywhere for benefit activities. And so many people arrived to give blood that the blood banks all over town were swamped.

If you just come here on vacation, you might think of Vegas mostly as the Strip, or  the downtown casino area, or perhaps a few casinos scattered around the outskirts. Actually, casinos make up a very small percentage of our city. If you fly into town in the daytime, you’ll see that most of the buildings are not tall casinos, but are red-tile-roofed houses, stretching in neat rows for miles and miles beyond the Strip or any casino. And in each of those houses is a person or groups of people that have lives much like residents in any American city. Some of these people will never enter a casino their whole life, will never play a slot machine or sit down at a blackjack table, will never eat a meal at a casino restaurant or see a casino show. Many may go to work in casinos, but when they come home and take off their black-and-white dealer uniform or scanty cocktail-waitress costume, they’re simply tired mothers who are cooking their families’ dinner or dutiful husbands who are cleaning out the garage when they would rather be watching a ballgame on TV.

Of course, many local residents do visit casinos, but because of time or money constraints, this is a special maybe once-a-month treat. Even most of the retired residents with extra time and money don’t go to casinos every day. Most of the time Vegas residents are busy with the same activities that you and your family are busy with in a non-casino town: going to school, earning a living, playing golf, standing in line at the DMV, reading old magazines in a doctor’s office, shopping at the mall, figuring out how to make enough money to cover all the bills, reading a newspaper, getting married or divorced, finding privacy time and space to have sex, doing volunteer work, welcoming new babies, and burying the dead.

And when disaster strikes in our beloved country, like it did on September 11, all of our eyes are glued to the TV, just like anywhere else, whether we’re in a casino or at home. For a few days life seemed to stand still, even when we wandered around doing necessary tasks, our pain so great we could barely breathe. The normally raucous casino atmosphere was strangely quiet, with most of the scattered gamblers around only because their planes had been grounded and left them stuck in a place where they really didn’t want to be. Everyone longed to be home, and that was where most Las Vegans were whenever that was possible.

Have you seen Buck and Winnie Greenback at Harrah’s Las Vegas – at least the statue of them in the background of this photo?  I have noticed the Greenback statues for years , always smiled at the over-the-top sterotype of the Vegas tourist,  but I never really gave them much thought.  However, recently I saw this real live couple whom Harrah’s has hired to give visitors an amusing photo opportunity.   They are such an unbelievably double for the statues and so charming that I forgot that I wasn’t a tourist anymore and posed for a cheesy photo.

I wanted to learn more details about this quirky Vegas scene and did a  Google search.  However,  that revealed limited information.  Maybe some of you will be more successful.