But the resort’s real secret ingredient was nace and crumbled into a twisted mass a shady side deal Cornero had cooked up of debris. An investment of over $50,000 with the city. Officials were trying to push perished in the destructive blaze.” Hopseedy Block 16 out of the city and into the ing to save the source of his livelihood, county. They offered Cornero a deal: If the Goldie did his best to try to stave off Corneros opened up a resort just outside the consuming fire — and the fact that city lines, the city would ban prostitution — he lived in the hotel put him in the perthus sending would-be customers straight fect position to do that. A fast-thinking to The Meadows. The Corneros leapt at Goldie tried battling the flames with a the opportunity, buying up land and start- garden hose, a brave but futile effort. ing construction on the project at Fremont He didn’t have much help: Because Street and Charleston Boulevard. The city the property was located in the county, was happy to have the project outside its the city fire department merely stood by boundaries, and the Corneros were happy and watched the fire burn. Adding insult to be on the major road to the dam site. to injury, most of Goldie’s clothes were The Meadows was an evolutionary destroyed in the fire, but he didn’t take leap over the Red Rooster. It boasted the loss too hard. When a hotel staffer a spacious gaming floor, a nightclub, asked whether he had saved his pants restaurant and 50-room hotel — and you — he prized his tailored pants — Goldie could get a cup full of quality Canadian replied, “No, the summer’s over and I whiskey to quench your thirst. Of course, won’t need ’em any more this year.” The paid female companionship was avail- Corneros continued to lease the property able as well. In the nightclub, notable out through the 1930s, finally selling it to stage acts included a young singer named businessman and civic leader Nate Mack, Frances Gumm — later known as Judy who owned it when it caught fire and Garland — and a house band known as burned down in 1943. the Meadow Larks. Meanwhile, back on Highway 91, the After the Red Rooster’s liquor bust, Moe Red Rooster’s fortunes continued to rise … Goldie had been forbidden by the county and fall. In January 1933, the county grantto run the games at the Rooster — but now ed Morris’ Red Rooster what it called a there were other, more promising oppor- dance hall license. And after Prohibition tunities. He took his skills and experience was repealed that year, the county agreed to Louis Cornero at the Meadows. to grant it a license to serve only beer. The Goldie’s luck there, alas, wasn’t much club burned to the ground in July 1933, but better. Six weeks after his arrival, on Sep- it reopened on the day before New Year’s tember 7, 1931, the hotel portion of The Eve in 1933, remaining popular through Meadows resort caught fire. According World War II; in fact, retired Hollywood to The Meadows’ in-house newspaper, “A actress Grace Hayes bought the club, rebeautiful structure became a roaring fur- naming it the Grace Hayes Lodge. How-
Left: The silver spike marked the start of the railroad to Boulder Dam; above, San Souci, neighboring motel to the Red Rooster; right, a matchbook from the Red Rooster
ever, Hayes grew tired of running a nightlife operation, and over the next few years leased it to others. Next door, the San Souci auto court was also feeling the pressure, as major hotels took root nearby. Deals were made, money changed hands, and the Red Rooster and the San Souci were linked, and in 1963, the Castaways was built. (Its most notable purchaser: Howard Hughes.) The Castaways lasted for 25 years before Steve Wynn bought the site and the surrounding land, where he would open the Mirage in 1989. Bridged by nearly six decades, the Red Rooster and the Mirage were both firsts for a city built on the powerful allure of chance. Few would dispute that Wynn was the bold, brash architect of the new Las Vegas. But it was Moe Goldie and Alice “Ma” Morris who set the stage for what would become the Las Vegas Strip. Robert Stoldal is news director of KSNV News 3 Las Vegas.
AUGUST 2014
DesertCompanion.com
55