Question of the Day - 17 June 2022

Used to eat there.
As I recall, the buffet was cheap enough that two people with coupons could eat there for under $5, total.
The only thing memorable about the food was that they did have a tasty baked white fish of undetermined species.

The Maxim had good single-deck blackjack -- good rules, good pen and a super cute waitress. They did not seem to sweat low stakes card counters. The facilities were very nice. Airline crews stayed there.

After the Maxim closed and re-opened under new management and a new name with a small sweaty casino, it became just another grind joint.

The Maxim and the new casino was on the convention bus route, so it was a source of free parking.

I still have a Maxim coffee cup.

I remember it as a small, dumpy casino with lousy games and paytables. I think I ate there once, and didn't die or throw up.

When they named it "Causarina," my reaction was, really, that's the best name they could come up with? It sounds like an intestinal parasitic inflammation (treatable with antibiotics).

This reminds me of the endless name changes the casino currently called OYO has gone thru since the early 1970's. Howard Johnson, Paradise, the Treasury, Pacifica, San Remo, Hooters and finally OYO. Some places seem to run out of steam, not enough customers to make it worthwhile to stay in business. Then another owner comes along, thinks they can be the one to make the casino profitable. Give it a new name and advertise how great things are. But owning a casino is not a license to make easy money these days. It takes a lot more than installing a bunch of slot machines and serving free small watered-down drinks to sustain a healthy business.

Small but not bad.  Can't speak to pay tables, I never play any machines.  But table games were good, dealers were friendly, cocktail waitresses top notch.  

Wasn't there some weird issue with the renovation in the early 2000s?

I heard a story that they added a bunch of heavy tile that turned out to be a structural issue because it caused the weight to exceed design specs.

Anybody have details?

So there's a casino named OYO now?  What does that even mean? I'd be more prone to go there if it were named YOLO than OYO. 

From what I remember around 1980 the Maxim was considered a higher end fancy casino. Then all the mega resorts started to come in and it was too small to compete with them  and went down hill after that. It was a real nice place in its  early  years. 

loved the Maxim. we would come in in the afternoon and it was the only buffet still open. the had great slot tournaments. 

Back then it was nice to wander off the strip down Flamingo.  Stop at the Maxim, stop at Bourbon Street.  Stop in the Stage Door (always interesting "characters" and cheap beer).  Then go further down to La Mirage (now gone) and the Continental (now Silver Sevens). 

It wasn't too bad in the early 80's from what I remember. Not that I was even old enough to gamble yet, but I stayed there with family friends and someone was a high roller there and the rooms were nice and the casino was definitely busy.

OYO was Hooters before OYO.  That's as far back as I go.  Went there once when it was Hooters just to see it.  Very small pool and courtyard (wouldn't actually rate it a "courtyard"), nothing fancy but lots of folks seemed to like it.  Tiny casino/bar with a tropical, straw hat, hula skirt theme, friendly staff.  Surely down-scale (as opposed to upscale), if still open.

Candy

One of the first places I stayed when I began going to Vegas in the early 90s. Was clean, won alot on the slots and the food wasnt bad. I would go backm

What did OYO (2019) replace: Hooters (2006 - 2019); Hotel San Remo (1989 - 2006); Polynesian (1985 - 1989); Pacifica (1985); The Treasury (1978 - 1985); 20th Century Hotel (1976 - 1977); (Ho Jo) Paradise (1975 - 1976); Howard Johnson Hotel (1973 - 1975)

I have only good memories of the Maxim from the very early 90s. I always found a good blackjack game there and the slots were ok,too. This was just before all hell broke loose with the mega resorts and I remember eavesdropping on a couple pit bosses who were worried about it's future. Loved their coffee shop.

with top banana Bob Mitchell of Palomino Club fame, and the legendary Angelique Pettyjohn (1943-1992) [1]. I saw it a couple of times; and later another that I absolutely can't remember anything about.
Ms. Pettyjohn worked in several of the strip "feather shows" in that period and also did a number of movies; but she is perhaps best known as Captain Kirk's love interest Shahna in "Star Trek: Gamesters of Triskelion" (1968). 
When they remodeled the Maxim into the Westin, they stripped the building down to the bare concrete, and (I think) knocked out some interior walls to turn some rooms into larger rooms or even suites. I remember driving by in that period, and it looked like the back side of an array of post office boxes.
At least it was spared the fate of Bourbon Street just a few doors down.
Maxim/Westin was also the site of the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996 [2].
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelique_Pettyjohn
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_Las_Vegas

I stayed at Hooters a few times and liked until it went downhill very suddenly. My car was broken into in the garage. Adios. Someone from the hotel called me at home to ask why I stopped coming, I told them and they had no more questions.

used to go there many years ago for "the best $1.99 prime rib in vegas."  Actually pretty good as I recall