I was shocked to discover today that according to county records, the Diamond Inn Motel (the motel with the pink elephant out front) was built in 1940! That has to make it the oldest structure standing on Las Vegas Boulevard, right?

Do you think Las Vegas has a track in its future? I know I'd spend some time and money there on each visit to the city if they had one. Or maybe there is one I don't know about? Betting and watching the races in a sports book is fine, but it's not the same experience as going out for a day or night at the track and watching, hearing, and smelling the horse races in person. Seems like a natural. Any chance? If not, why?

During the movie about Johnny Cash, Walk The Line, I noticed one segment where they showed John and his wife-to-be, June Carter, playing in Vegas at a place called the Mint. Does the place still exist or was this more movie "liberty?"

When Wet 'n Wild closed, they said it would open up somewhere else. Are they still going to open or is it just history? As old as the park was, it had some newer rides and one brand new one and when it closed, they said the land was sold even though they'd just renewed the lease. Was that true?

Your recent story on Jackie Gaughan and the El Cortez reminded me of our first trip to LV in 1968. Dad told us to stay there and ask Jackie about his old buddy, Bert Quinn of Club Bingo. Whatever happened to Club Bingo and Mr. Quinn?

With all the casino sales you read about, are there any casinos –- downtown or on the Strip –- that are still owned by their original owners?

LVA sold a Las Vegas Daily 2005 image-a-day historical calendar several years back. The June 3 image featured a beautiful enormous Old-West-style bar in 1908 and said that "The Arizona Club ... had inside the most outstanding feature ... the massive $23,000 red-mahogany main bar, made by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company of Chicago ... The bar will end up in the Horn Room of the Last Frontier after the club closes in 1941." Does anyone know if the bar was salvaged from the Last Frontier, or was it lost in the demolition?

Walking down the street, between Bally's and Bill's (on the way to Ellis Island), we noticed on the sidewalk in front of an empty lot, all these great jazz artists names in the sidewalk in gold lettering. What was there? This has been bothering me for about a year.

In the June issue of the Las Vegas Advisor, you say that the name of the Joe Pesci character in the movie Casino was Tommy DeVito. I haven't seen the movie in a while, but I could have sworn that Joe Pesci's character was named Nicky Santoro.

With gold worth so much these days, is Nevada a lot richer from taxes on the gold mining there?