Question of the Day 2017-05-06

Biff revealed!

The 9/25/16 QoD attempted — and failed — to answer a question about the “Biff” whose name appeared in big bright lights on the façade of the Las Vegas Club in the mid-1950s. We wrote, “Sometimes we get a Question of the Day that proves utterly baffling and this is one such instance.”

However, since then, Al “So Cal” Fisicaro, one of LVA's original subscribers and contributors going way back into the 1980s, wrote in with what is almost certainly the full explanation.

First, Al took exception with our contention that the name of the hotel-casino was “Biff’s Famous Food [at] Las Vegas Club.”

Al writes, “BIFF'S and "LAS VEGAS CLUB have identical or near-identical fonts, so it’s clear that they comprise the business’ name: BIFF'S LAS VEGAS CLUB. The placing of FAMOUS FOOD such that it splits the business name is an artistic device. It wasn't placed in the dead middle of the name, because it would look stupid to have BIFF'S LAS on one side of the ad blurb and VEGAS CLUB on the other side. In sum, it’s clear that the business’ name was Biff's Las Vegas Club."

As for who Biff was, Al further explains.

“Here in the Los Angeles area, there was a 1950s ‘Googie’ [editor’s note: not Google; Googie was a type of futuristic architecture] diner chain named Biff's that was started by restaurateur W.W. ‘Tiny’ Naylor in 1948. Biff was Tiny’s son. Eventually, there were 39 locations of Tiny Naylor’s restaurants and nine locations of Biff’s. Later on, Naylor opened a restaurant in the Golden Gate hotel, so he may very well have had a hand in the Las Vegas Club directly across Fremont Street.”

Tiny Naylor passed away in 1959, but his son W.W. “Biff” Naylor is alive and well. An investor group led by Naylor bought the venerable Du Par’s restaurant chain in 2004 and subsequently opened two Du Par’s in Las Vegas, one returning to roots at the Golden Gate, the other at the Rampart. The Golden Gate Du Par’s closed last February, while the Suncoast Du Par’s remains open; you can read that story in QoD 2/21/17.

Many thanks to Al Fisicaro for running this down for us and solving the Biff’s mystery forever.

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Jeff May-10-2017

Biff's Famous Foods / Las Vegas Club

On the point about the club's name, there is plenty of evidence that the restaurant and club were separate. During the era of Biff's (c. 1957-1969), Las Vegas Club's owners were JK Houssels Sr, then Jackie Gaughan & Mel Exber. In these years, none of the club advertising, postcards, matchbooks, etc, includes the name Biff. The restaurant, however, does show up in business listings as "Biff's Famous Food."

Here is a listing for Biff's Famous Foods in the '58 phone book, and a 60s-era matchbook for with a rare instance of "Jackie & Mel's" preceding Las Vegas Club. Note the absence of the restaurant in the illustration – it only shows the casino.
http://i.imgur.com/06V0Dtf.jpg

Tiny Naylor was one of the founding owners of Golden Gate Casino, and oversaw The Mint's food and beverage operations.  I share Al's assumption that Biff's was a part of the Naylor chain, I've just never seen any evidence to support the guess.

Question of the Day - 06 May 2017

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