Question of the Day - 22 July 2025

Full-name Girls of Glitter Gulch was owned by Herb Pastor. 

This long-time strip club on Fremont Street between Main and First, where Circa now sits, comes from a long line of properties on that site. 

The first casino to open at the corner of Fremont and First streets debuted in June 1956. Called the Silver Palace, it was noteworthy for being one of the larger clubs in town, at 16,000 square feet, with 200 slot machines, three dice tables, five 21 tables, one roulette wheel, and keno, and a 70-foot V-shaped bar with live entertainers. Most importantly, it was the first two-level joint in Las Vegas and the escalator connecting the casino with the restaurant was the first in southern Nevada. (In one of the Las Vegas Sun articles about it at the time, the escalator was referred to as "motor stairs.")

Later, the Silver Palace became the Carousel, which was featured in the Bond movie Diamonds are Forever. In 1974 it became the Gamblers Hall of Fame. A few years later, it turned into the Sundance West. And in 1981, it was taken over by Herb Pastor, who renamed it Sassy Sally’s.

Herb Pastor had opened the Golden Goose casino, between the Las Vegas Club on the corner of Fremont and Main, and Sundance West in 1974. He also owned the Coin Castle across the street, which was later renamed La Bayou. He eventually took over the Glitter Gulch casino, next to the Golden Goose. He combined the two casinos and turned them into the Girls of Glitter Gulch topless club in 1991. Sassy Sally’s became Mermaids, known for serving deep-fried Twinkies and Oreos, in 2001.

We tracked down Pastor eight or so years ago when we were getting to the bottom of the name of the neon cowgirl that once graced that side of Fremont Street, with some calling it Sassy Sally, though the real name is Vegas Vickie. He was living in Thailand at the time, long retired from both Las Vegas and the U.S. We tried contacting him again for this answer, but were unable to. As far as we know, he's still alive, doesn't have any other business interests in Las Vegas, and got out of the topless business when he sold Girls of GG.

Finally, yes, he owned the land that he sold to the Stevens brothers. They also bought the Las Vegas Club, which gave them a full city block for the development of Circa.