Hi dbb1:
Congratulations on that hit . . and while holding only two Aces!
FAB
[QUOTE=mickeycrimm;78938] Depending on how early in the 90's, we were probably sitting at the same counter at the same time. I was not even 21 at the time and I'm not sure if you were supposed to get that deal if you were under 21.
I lived within walking distance of EC and lived on their breakfast food for about year. It was actually fairly good. I didn't/don't drink coffee, I can't recall if I had to pay for soda or not. I remember they had good pumpkin pie.
Dinner time at the gold spike since they had cheap specials with generous portions. I used the free token tickets at the 4 Queens(their version of free play) to fund my dinners at GP. I rarely ever got carded.
You could also find GN Steak breakfast buffet chips occasionally.
In those days my slumming was the Riviera and the Stardust with a little El Morocco. And don't forget Mr. Cy's.
"More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ
I ate the one pound hot dog for a buck at Westward Ho on many a day too.
"More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ
I'm not a big fan of hot dogs (Ill leave those to KJ ).
1992 would be about the time I was eating at the EC often(still not even 21 at that time). Do they still have cheap breakfast food nowadays? I seem to remember it went up to 1.99 at some point.
IIRC I was making $8 an hour at that time working shipping and receiving, I had a 2nd job making $5 an hour. I got around on a bike.
I made some extra money buying baseball cards dirt cheap and then selling them for beckett prices(that was fun)
I remember those!
Count me in also for the Gold Spike. They had some ridiculous specials. I think if you stayed there, you got 2-for-1, so I'd lug both back to my room, which was usually a corner room with a big canopy bed. Of course, you had to get a phone at the front desk to take back to the room with you. Guests must have made off with too many phones?
Back when I was 24 or 25, I stayed at the Downtowner for a couple months. A bit rough, but they gave you breakfast coupons every day. I don't remember if the coupons were for the El Cortez or the Gold Spike. I ate often enough at both places that I don't have a clear memory of where I used those coupons.
You guys are bringing back a lot of old memories. Even though I was on the street in those days I was eating very well. It was extremely cheap if you knew how to work it. There were a couple of things going on at the Western. There were five bingo sessions a day where it cost $1 to play, 8AM, 11AM, 2PM, 7PM, 9PM. There 10 bingo games where they gave away $10 to $20 per game except for 2 games where they gave away El Cortez Fun Books. The Funbooks had 2 breakfasts at the El Cortez, this was the $1 breakfast, 2 dinners at Roberta's, also in the El Cortez, and 2 comps for a burger and fries at the Plaza.
The bingo was a Jackie Gaughan loss leader to get people in playing video poker. No one could dominate. You were restricted to 6 cards every session. So everyone had an equal chance. There were usually 40 to 50 people per session. It was the same old regulars so everybody knew everybody. And we partnered up to smooth out the variance. Backpack Phil was my partner. We paid a dollar each and split whatever we won. By the math we figured to hit a bingo about every two sessions with a cost of $4. It was my first advantage play, albeit it a meager one.
"More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ
Phil and I won our share of El Cortez Funbooks to. There was an old black guy named Ben that lived across the street from the Western in an old fleabag called the 9th Street Hotel. He was the comp broker on lower Fremont. You could sell the Funbooks to him for $5 or buy them from him for $6. And he had another racket going on. At the Western you got a meal comp for two for hitting a $50 or higher jackpot at video poker. At 8/5 Bonus Poker for quarters you got the comp for small quads, 4 Aces, SF, RF. The slot attendent would just pull one out of his shirt pocket and hand it to you when you called him over.
Of course, I didn't have a lot of money for playing video poker in those days. Ben was buying the comps from the slot attendents for $2 and selling them to the regulars for $3. The comp was good for the daily special. So two guys would pool a buck fifty each and buy the comp from Ben. The special was an entree, mashed potatoes, vegetable, bread and butter, drink and dessert....for two. The meal normally cost about $6 for 1 person.
The Western Restaurant was always packed during the day. You had to grab a number, then grab a seat and wait your turn. You rarely ever seen the servers open the till and deposit money. Everyone was using comps. Jackie Gaughan was feeding all the riff raff on lower Fremont Street for next to nothing, thanks to Ben.
And the El Cortez Funbooks had tip stubbs attached to them. Like the $1 breakfast comp. It had a 15 cent tip stubb attached to it. So you didn't even have to tip. And we ate steaks at Roberta's, all on Jackie Gaughan.
"More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ
"More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ
I can't vouch much for The Western (ate there a couple of times), but the food at the El Cortez and Gold Spike was actually pretty good. The Gold Spike had a hot turkey sandwich special or something that was very good.
The worst food back then, in my opinion, were buffets at a couple of strip casinos -- Circus-Circus and the one up on the right where Monte Carlo is now.
Regnis,
Do you remember the Convention Center Lodge on Convention Center Drive across from the Stardust? I stayed there two or three football seasons back then. It was a decent place with a lot of older guys from New York and Chicago. The office was in a big round, glass-enclosed room with a view of the strip. They always had cats in the office.
I am drawing a blank on that one.
How about the warehouse buffet at stardust--2.49 breakfast.
This is Barney,
Back in day the LID, to conserve gambling bankroll, use to take supper and liquid sleeping pill at westward ho for less than three bucks a day for food bill while on Las Vegas roadtrip.
Now days in yearly visit he goes to the "ins and the outs burger" joint where they fix him the craps player special burger for only $4.99. This provides him food for his entire two week visit.
Started with $30 free play, got AAAA on 25-cent 8/5 Bonus, moved to $1 8/5 Bonus, hit some quads quickly then this. All on same machine. Quads included 8888 twice and Jacks twice within minutes.
Last edited by Alan Mendelson; 01-16-2019 at 10:46 AM.
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