History repeats itself in Vegas, just bulldoze down one piece of history (or implode it) and build another one, and today is no different. Nevada Palace has seen its last day. It closes tomorrow night – the 29th – at 11 p.m. and if you ain’t there by early evening, you will miss it all…the smell of stale cigarettes/beer, the old slots, the remainder of the staff – the pit was closed down about two months ago according to the report Wayne and I got last night as we went in for one last meal in the coffee shop and to pick up a few chips.

Interesting that I played a multi-game way keno ticket and normally play it as an 8 spot with six fours, four sixes, and four twos, and they wouldn’t let me play anything over a six spot. I play for 50c a way and my guess is that if I did hit all 8 spots – of course hell would open up and swallow the whole establishment, but that aside – the ticket would probably be worth about $20K, maybe a little less. Wayne and I both think they just don’t want to take a big cash hit before closing.

Nevada Palace is a part of my history. When I first hit town to deal the Grand Prix tournament at the Golden Nugget, back in ’87, I played a poker tournament there. It was a scary looking place then – still scary looking but it grows on you. It’s also the first place I parked and lived in when getting settled in the coach. It was such a great deal that if they hadn’t evicted all the RV’ers, I’d still be there. Like $320 a month for rent and they paid electric and water. Wow! How can you beat that? Plus the casino was right outside the door. UGH! Not a good thing for a machine addict and I wasn’t but I did find myself there playing machines way too often.

Nevada Palace also had parking for long haul rigs and truck driving sis, Vickie, and beau parked there when they had a layover, we ate brekkie, more than once during their champagne brunch buffet deal. Vickie might have ran them out of champagne…perhaps that’s why they are closing. Just kidding! And we played machines and hung out…sometimes at my digs, sometimes in the casino.

That was then this is now: The Cannery will replace the Nevada Palace casino. I live about 2.5 miles from there. I’ve watched the tower being built (hotel rooms) over the last seven or eight months, and the place I used to park the coach in was closed long ago – that’s why we were all evicted. And that’s why when I lived there, I was routed out of my normal space so Nevada Power could move the power lines that ran across the whole section and reroute the lines along the edge of the property. What a frigging nightmare that was…back in the days when I worked at night, tried to sleep during the day, and the jacks on the coach were still in ‘jack hell’. No rest for the wicked weary as they say. This is a shot of the new tower – using a light gathering setting on my camera.

There are a lot of structures going in behind the old casino and on the side where I used to park the coach, but I really have no idea what they are and haven’t been snooping it out…sorry…it’s really not one of those fascinating projects to me.

This is the entrance to the casino closest to the coffee shop, facing SE with Boulder Highway on my right, Harmon at my back. There are some old railroad storage cars – still have the rail wheels underneath them – on the left behind the casino. I have wondered how long they’ve been there and what is actually stored in them – if anything, and if they were purchased outright or were leased all this time. That’s the kind of trivia that makes me a lunatic in the long run. Like WTF difference does it make anyway? It doesn’t. In another post there’s a fenced off section that had a variety of objects, an old camper shell, a broken down RV, an old sail boat, a classic VW, and more, and I couldn’t keep from wondering why/how/where this stuff was going when they closed. Was it auctioned off? I must not have cared enough to find out…but still, it tugs at my brain.

This is a sign that adorns the hallway which enters the casino – the hallway is about 20 feet long and on the left is the coffee shop, the right a wall with a park bench along it, leaving the hallway brings one to the casino. And this sign is scary – Howard Hughes would be clutching a sanitary hand wipe, while he reached for a can of Lysol, and face mask if he saw this sign. DIRTY!! The picture – on the right – is the casino as I enter from the hallway. Immediately after I stepped into the casino area, I was tagged by security. I did not use a flash, and I hadn’t taken a picture after leaving the hallway. Fortunately the guard that talked to me was a young, open minded sort and didn’t mind pictures as long as I was discreet and didn’t take pictures of the cashier or the live keno. No flash.

I met Wayne at the slot club – right next to registration. If you sign up for a new Cannery slot card, you had a choice of gifts – and they also transfer all of your Nevada Palace points to your Cannery card and the points double. We both chose the slot coin they offered…it’s a collector’s item.

The lady in the slot booth said they gave these coins out at past VIP functions. Sorry, I can’t seem to manage a connection between VIP and Nevada Palace.

Fine dining – we contemplated whether or not we would eat first or play keno/slots, Wayne’s plan was to put in $1 and play it to 1c so he could print Nevada Palace 1c payout tickets for his collection of casino memorabilia. Good thing he opted for food first. We got to the coffee shop about 9:50 and she acted like she didn’t want to serve us…after all, they were closing in 10 minutes. Well Holy Crapolie! We weren’t rushed to eat and our waiter explained that they no longer had a graveyard shift in the kitchen. OK! I became a criminal – I just didn’t get caught. I stole a menu for Wayne’s collection, sliding it up under my shirt in the back and I had a loose sweat top on and no edges showed across my back. I told him if I had to go to jail for stealing a Nevada Palace Menu, I’d just go kill myself. *laughter*

We finished our meal and hit the parking lot in front of the casino – to dump the damn menu, goof nut – and photo the front of the place with Wayne being the tourist.

I can’t even write this with a straight face – imagine my brain as it twists through casino Sports Books and bathrooms in casinos that are bigger than the average house in America – keep in mind Nevada Palace is about the size of Bellagio’s Sports Book/Sports Book Bar…OK throw the poker room into the mix, but it ain’t very damn big. And this is the Nevada Palace Sports Book…ain’t it cutely quaint? “Hey, Honey, where you going in such a rush?”

“Gotta get to Nevada Palace to place a bet on a game! I’ll be back afterwards though because there’s no place to watch the game there.”

All the time the Pan Game played Vegas, we talked about playing places that were going to shut down and how we had to play there before they did. Unfortunately, we never made it Nevada Palace. Their poker room was still standing when we were there but apparently they only run daily tournaments, they start earlier than I care to be out and about. The glass windowed wall on the left of this picture is the champagne buffet brunch room. Several times while Vickie and Monte and I had breakfast there, I watched the heads of the poker players. The first time I saw them I couldn’t figure out what was going on in that area – after standing up and looking over the wall, I was like, “Wow! They really do play poker here!” because ever time I ever went in and out of Nevada Palace, all I saw was empty tables, like broken bottles of good beer drinking days gone by.

A security guard that allowed a photo of him in the ‘security station’, and a vintage slot machine (Wayne knows about these things – I don’t), and a really kewl $2.50 chip.

Wayne gave me the chip – or maybe I begged it off of him, not sure. It’s a cutie. We played machines, gabbed, went our own way for the night. Nice! Goodbye Nevada Palace!