Old Reno

The Nevada Club

Until the early 1970's Reno was the largest and most influential gambling capital in the world, bar none. Reno had the largest casino, the most prosperous casinos, hosted the best entertainers, and earned the most money over any other casino city.
Three of the longest lived, greatest, and most innovative casinos in the world, if not just Reno, were established by men seeking refuge in Reno. Two of those men, Harold Smith and Bill Harrah sought sanctuary from the crackdowns on fringe gambling operations in California. Lincoln Fitzgerald of The Nevada Club, Nevada Lodge, and Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino was a fugitive from the Detroit area in Michigan.

Of the three pioneer clubs, Fitzgerald's Nevada Club stood alone as always, from its inception until its destruction over 50 years later, always about gambling. It was a gambling house built by men who knew gambling, for patrons of gambling houses. It was never a Hotel, eating destination, arcade, or sidetracked by other attractions. Fitzgerald and The Nevada Club were all about being a great gaming establishment operated for those who appreciated such. It is doubtful that we will ever see such a place ever again, so this essay will help us to know and appreciate what it was, and a little about the men who built it and its progeny, Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino.

From 1920 to 1933, the 18th Amendment and resulting Prohibition created fertile grounds for gangland activity throughout the United States. So in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed, one of the foremost money makers for gangs raised on illegal alcohol became illegal gambling.

Organized crime of the 1920's was exemplified by the Al Capone gang in Chicago, and the Purple Gang and Chesterfield Syndicate in Detroit.

In the 20's, a syndicate would create and work a profitable craps game, or gambling establishment. A syndicate would be associated with the legitimate political authorities of that particular jurisdiction, which would give them more or less a monopoly to operate in the local area. A place wouldn't operate unless they had the permission of the authorities. Nobody would be foolish enough to open an expensive gambling house knowing that the authorities might find it the next day, just to put them out of business, or just to put the bite on them. You just wouldn't do that.

Competing syndicates might divide up the territory. It is a matter of record in Chicago that they even had conferences between the gangsters to divide the territory. When you get into somebody else's territory, then you are in trouble. For example in Chicago, if you wanted to operate a gambling establishment, you first went to the ward committeeman. You would ask to operate a place at such-and-such an address, and the ward committeeman would say, "All right. I will think it over." The ward committeeman would contact the syndicate's representative. The syndicate's representative in this particular area said either "He can go at that address" or "He can't go." If he can go, the syndicate would get 60 percent of the total profits. They put their own man in the place to make certain they got the 60 percent of the profits. All of the protection, everything, was handled by the syndicate.

Mert Wertheimer was the head of the Chesterfield syndicate, concentrating its activities in Macomb County Michigan, near Detroit. It was once politically powerful in Michigan. Mert Wertheimer was by many accounts part of the Purple Gang of Jewish gangsters, so one could assume that the Chesterfield Syndicate operated at least by permission of the Purple Gang.

Mert Wertheimer had been one of America's biggest gamblers. For a time, he was in partnership in Florida with some of the most notorious gangsters of the Nation, including Joe Adonis, alias Joe Doto, Meyer Lansky, Jake Lansky, Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo, and Frank Erickson, of the Frank Costello mob in New York. These men, together with Wertheimer, operated the Colonial Inn, at that time an elaborate gambling place at Hallandale, Fla.

Next to Wertheimer, Lincoln Fitzgerald was the most powerful member of the Chesterfield syndicate. Other members of the syndicate included Lefty Clark, Red Gorman, Mike Brunton, Al Driscoll, and Daniel Sullivan.

The Chesterfield Club gambling house was operated in Chesterfield Township until 1929 by George "Dutch" Weinbrenner, Danny Sullivan and Linc Fitzgerald, who had moved to the Detroit area in the 20's. Eventually Weinbrenner disagreed with Fitzgerald on club operations, and sold his interest to the other two who operated the club until 1946. Though technically illegal, the Chesterfield Club was a full blown casino with numerous slot machines and table games such as craps and 21. Illegal gaming was very popular in many states in the U.S. through the depression era, and was accepted as a fact of life.

One dollar and five dollar chips from Fitzgerald's illegal Chesterfield Club

By the late 1940's gangland activities were finding fewer and fewer locations in which to operate, thanks to Senate investigation committees, and a populace unwilling to stand by and tacitly support criminal activities in politics and daily lives. For a group of men who had been running gambling houses for around 20 years, it was not surprising that they found themselves moving operations out of the reach of anti-gambling sentiment.

Seeking refuge from legal prosecution in Michigan, on March 22, 1946 Lincoln Fitzgerald, Danny Sullivan, Mert Wertheimer, and Ruby Mathis became partners with Harry and Ed Robbins in "Robbins Nevada Club" in Reno Nevada, shortening the name to simply The Nevada Club. The Robbins' had opened Robbins' Nevada Club in April of 1941 at 224 North Virginia Street.

Lincoln Fitzgerald had been chums with Danny Sullivan and George Weinbrenner since their youth. The three had come from St. Louis to Detroit in the early 20's following the allure of then wide-open Detroit.

After launching the Nevada Club in 1946, Mathis and Wertheimer left the partnership.
By 1949 Mathis and Wertheimer had taken over management of the Riverside Hotel and casino, which they eventually purchased in 1955.
The Wertheimer brothers sold the Riverside in 1958, and both died shortly thereafter.
In 1959 Ruby Mathis bought a portion of the Horseshoe Club across from the Nevada Club, and remained a partner there until it was sold in 1967. Mathis died in Reno in March 1986.

Danny Sullivan, Ed Robbins, and Lincoln Fitzgerald remained partners in the Nevada Club, forming an ownership corporation in 1952. Danny Sullivan died in 1956, and at that time Lincoln Fitzgerald bought out Robbins to become the sole owner of the Nevada Club. Until his death, Danny Sullivan had been the General Manager and Fitzgerald the Casino Manager in the partnership.

George Weinbrenner who grew up with Sullivan and Fitzgerald in St. Louis and went with them to the Detroit area to seek fortune becoming one of the 3 partners in the Chesterfield Club, became the successful owner of the B.C. Wills Company. The B.C. Wills Company was a large gambling supply house, operating in Reno from 1955.
After leaving the Chesterfield partnership with Sullivan and Fitzgerald in 1929, Weinbrenner (known to the Detroit press as "Dutch" Weinbrenner) concentrated on the gambling supplies business. He produced a high quality die and other items for casinos. Funnily enough, the name of the company came from the building Weinbrenner acquired for his business. As "Weinbrenner" was too big for the signs, and it was cheaper to keep those already on the building, Weinbrenner's company acquired the name B.C. Wills. Weinbrenner died in 1949 at age 58, and his son Paul continued to operate the B.C. Wills company after him.

By the late 1940's it seemed that all of the once-illegal gambling machine out of Detroit had relocated to Reno, and become a legitimate operation, free from the harassment of the mob, and the need to pay off the local officials for back-door favors. What it must have been like to finally be in business where a Cop at the door would be more for you and your patron's protection than to put the bite on you.

Fitzgerald had brought with him to Reno many items from the Chesterfield Club, among which were slot machines, tables, and other equipment of the trade such as gambling checks, or chips. These chips with interleaved "CC" on them are highly sought collectibles today, reminders of an interesting past.

When Fitzgerald and Sullivan re-opened the Nevada Club (from the former Robbins Nevada Club) in 1946, they operated about 20 table games and about 400 slot machines.

By April of 1952 the Nevada Club corporation grew by acquiring the Jacobs Building at 230 North Virginia Street, next door to the original Robbins Nevada Club.
The building which had a front footage of 17 feet and extended 140 feet back to Lincoln Alley, was annexed to the Nevada Club.

Lincoln Fitzgerald used the single-zero Roulette wheel instead of the usual double zero wheel. The single zero lowered the house advantage (sometimes called the vig, which represents the house's cut, or profit from which all overhead must be paid) from 5.26% to a meager 2.7%.
This single zero table attracted many roulette players, especially system players. The wheel stayed in use until the Nevada Club was sold to the the Las Vegas based Lincoln Management Group. The idea of offering a better chance to the customer would and still does send uninformed casino managers into fits of rage.

The Nevada Club was one of the first casinos to install a restaurant on its property. Its fine food and reasonable prices, along with its famous pies and desserts, made the Nevada Club a popular place to eat and gamble.

Business continued to grow. By 1955 the Nevada Club operated about 630 slot machines, 20 Blackjack 21 games, and four craps games.
Though the Nevada Club was smaller than Harolds Club or Harrah's, it had more slot machines, and about the same number of table games. Fitzgerald was one of the first casino operators to see the value of the slot machine.

The Nevada Club's famous Jennings slot machines.

The Nevada Club always featured Jennings slot machines, regarded as the Rolls Royce of slot machines by those knowledgeable in the industry. Fitzgerald had brought Jennings machines with him from Detroit. They were the most robust, and also the most expensive machines available. Most all the other clubs used either the Mills or Pace machines, and an occasional Buckley or other re-vamps.

In October 1955 the Nevada Club introduced the new four-reel Jennings Buckaroo slot machines. Many of them were still in use in the Nevada Club when it closed in 1997. They were advertised as the first machines with "no lemons or other blanks." A player could win $5,000 with a $1 bet.

The Nevada Club was also famous for the way it paid jackpots. Slot machines in those days prevented the machines from dropping the total amount of a full jackpot, so the casino change person hand-paid the customer with currency.
At the Nevada Club machines dropped twenty coins when a jackpot hit, and the balance of the payout, in coins, was prepackaged in a brown paper bag bearing the Nevada Club logo and handed to the winner. Naturally, with all those coins instantly available to them, many customers played their winnings right back into the machines.

The Jennings slot machines in the Nevada Club were very popular with local players. During the 1950s and 1960s the Nevada Club had as much local slot play as any casino in town.

The Nevada Club Mystique

Unlike other clubs in Reno, the Nevada Club began in 1946 as a casino, not a saloon, or Bingo parlor. While Harolds Club grew its Western theme and added attractions such as the gun collection, the Nevada Club simply capitalized on the tremendous growth of the post-war boom period.
While Harrah's Club turned the corner from Bingo club, to being an upscale destination with the best amenities, the Nevada Club paid attention to costs, hold, drop, while offering good games with good percentages for the player, and investing where appropriate such as in the Nevada Club restaurant.
While the casino restaurant is commonplace today, the Nevada Club restaurant was among the first inside a casino, and provided excellent food, and was well known for such things as having fresh pastries, a signature item of Fitzgerald's.

Compared to other Reno casinos, the Nevada Club enjoyed keeping many longtime employees. Among the dealers and other casino workers, the Nevada Club was seen as a career destination. Many employees spent 20 or more years at the club. Fitzgerald was known as "Fitz" or "Boss" to his staff and others in the industry. Especially compared to other operations, Fitz was seen as a tough, no-nonsense boss. This however was a requirement for any successfull casino operation, and avoided much of the trouble experienced in more loosely run operations where cash was known to flow outside with less than 100% honest employees.
The casino business is a tough business, and requires a tough hand to manage with success.

A dealer at the Nevada Club was not permitted to leave the club during their shift. Unlike Harolds Club which actually encouraged husband-wife employment on same shift, such familiarization was not permitted at the Nevada Club.

As in all casinos at the time, anyone suspected of violating any rules of employment, or jeopardizing the club's integrity were fired on the spot. On the other hand, Fitzgerald personally interviewed every prospective employee. The Nevada Club had a pay scale which liberally rewarded long-term employees.
Employees were forbidden to tell anyone how much they earned, but it was was well known around the downtown casinos that "Fitz was good pay."

In many respects, Fitzgerald and the Nevada Club were the direct opposite of Bill Harrah and Harrah's Club next door. Where Harrah was absent much of the time, Fitz was onsite every day, being very hands-on in every aspect of the operation.

In contrast to many other smaller clubs in Reno and certainly all over Nevada, Fitzgerald ran a clean and honest operation. Fitz knew too well how sloppy employee relations could bankrupt an operation, and worked very hard to make the Nevada Club one of the most open and honest casino operations in Nevada. Fitzgerald never had any hint of trouble in any regard with the smooth, legal, and above-board operation of his three casinos, which eventually spelled nothing but good for employees and other Reno citizens.

From 1956 until 1983, The Nevada Club and later the Nevada Lodge and Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino were run on a daily basis by Lincoln and Meta Fitzgerald. There was no Board of Directors, partners, or Corporate Staff to help out. Time off and vacations for The Boss were short and infrequent. The dedication and work involved in such an enterprise is a true testament to the Fitzgerald's ethic.

After Lincoln Fitzgerald passed away in 1981 his widow, Meta, along with her brother, Carlton Konarske, operated the Nevada Club. However, it soon became apparent that it would not be feasible for them to operate the Nevada Club, the Nevada Lodge, and Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino alone. Meta had put in many long years, and her health was not good. Despite pleas from employees, Meta contracted out the casino operations in 1983.

Meta stayed on for day-to-day operations from 1983 until the casino was formally closed to change hands from her to the contracted management group, "Lincoln Management" in 1986. At that time she move from her lodgings in the Nevada Club, to a retirement home in Reno.

For those five years from 1981 through 1986, the Nevada Club operated much as it had since 1946.

By December 31, 1986 the Lincoln Management Group headed by Philip Griffith had taken over management of the business, leasing the property with an option to buy. They bought the property, and on January 1, 1987, Lincoln Management closed The Nevada Club.

Two hundred casino employees lost their jobs when the new management took over. Casino employees were told they could pick up their final paychecks from the Nevada Club warehouse, and that they could re-apply for their former jobs, but they'd be in the same line as hundreds of other out-of-work Reno casino employees.

On January 1 1987, the new management group targetted re-opening for February of that year. From 1984 through 1987, Reno casinos had come under a pall. The Mapes and Money Tree had closed in 1984, as had the Gold Dust. The Riverside casino was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Despite the gloom, the new management stated that they were excited about remodeling and revitalizing the Nevada Club. They immediately began upgrading the building according to new safety standards during the slow winter months to mitigate the impact as much as possible.

By 1987, the management group had actually been doing the day-to-day running of the Nevada Club as well as Fitzgerald's for two years. Phil Griffith, the principal in the management group, had also been president of Harold's Club since 1979. The other members of the group were John Metzker, Paul Manske, Max Page, Terry Oliver, and Thomas "Spike" Wilson.

In February of 1987, the re-opening of the Nevada Club was announced. An estimated $1,000,000 were spent on renovations to the club, which tried to avoid disturbing the tradition of simplicity and unpretentious gambling which made the club perenially busy, and justly famous.

They retained the Jennings mechanical slots, including the 4 reel Buckaroo made especially for the Nevada Club in the '50s.

Special attention was paid to researching and renovating uniforms, decor, fixtures and service equipment that were featured at the Nevada Club in the 40's. The new Coffee Shop menu featured old fashioned meals "that came from the kitchen, not the can."

Conspicously missing was the single-zero, Monte Carlo style roulette wheel, which was the first to show up in Reno, with Fitzgerald in 1946.

Decor included a Seeburg juke box, old carpet, new lights to replace burned out bulbs in the slot machines, and re-gassed neon lights. In the Coffee Shop area, the old black and white tiles were discovered under layers of tile, and restored. the menu prices were slashed, and Griffith said "We're talking real mashed potatoes, real chicken-fried steaks and real pastries from the bakery. That's the way Fitz did it."

The near by bar featured a 1940's TV set running black and white videos. Management firmly believed in the marketability. They wanted to appeal to the same customer who visited before the changeover, providing a sense of continuity and comfort.

Within 3 years of re-opening the Nevada Club, Lincoln Management offered both the Nevada Club and Harolds Club for sale. What went wrong?

Philip Griffith, Chairman and CEO of Fitzgerald's Gaming had offered the Nevada Club for sale since 1991 as the club did not fit into the Corporation's long-term planning strategy, according to Griffith. The Nevada Club was still profitable, but Fitzgerald's wanted to focus on its own brand name, again according to the CEO.

Translated from corporate-speak, this meant that the Nevada Club did not generate enough profit for the corporation. Fitzgerald's Corp had its hands full dealing with its plans for global domination via multiple Fitzgerald's casinos across the U.S. Finding these markets difficult, and basically a disaster, management made the decision to soldier on with bad investments rather than support smaller casino operations.

For an individual owner operator, or perhaps a small group, the Nevada Club made money, yes, but for an expanding corporation it simply did not generate enough money to offset its value as real estate.

Also, remember that this management group was never really interested in Reno. From the beginning, Griffith managed from Las Vegas.

The end came in 1994 when the Lincoln Management group was reorganized as Fitzgerald's Gaming Corporation. This permitted consolidation of many properties under one financial roof. The move was made in prepartion for public funding of the groups properties which now included casinos in Black Hawk, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Tunica, and Camp Verde.

The company continued to acquire debt due to the unprofitable properties outside Reno until a public trade offering was approved in 1995. At that time, the company had over $88 million in debt, and had already sold Harolds Club to help service that debt.

The Nevada Club eventually closed in December of 1997 having suffered under the weight of management inattention, and pending sales to prop up the other properties in the group. This closure was to portend the eventual bankruptcy of the Fitzgerald Group in 2000.

The Nevada Club reportedly had 400 slot machines and ten table games and a diner at the time of closing.

Many of the Nevada Club's 90 employees were hired by Fitzgerald's Casino across the street.

Eventually the shuttered Nevada Club was sold to neighbor Harrah's, and demolished in October of 1999 along with Harolds Club.

See our essay on Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino in Reno here: Old Reno: Fitzgerald's

After Danny Sullivan died and Linc Fitzgerald was sole owner of The Nevada Club, in August 1957 Fitzgerald extended to Lake Tahoe when he purchased the Biltmore Club on the North Shore for $421,000 renaming the property the Nevada Lodge.
He also purchased the Monte Carlo and in 1959 bought the New Cal Vada Lodge and the Bal Tabarin. By September of 1960 the only property remaining in operation was the Nevada Lodge, ending a sequence of confusing name-changes for the small operations in Lake Tahoe.
The Nevada Lodge closed in 1986.

Lincoln Fitzgerald was born on October 21st in 1892 in San Francisco, California. Lincoln's father, James Fitzgerald, raised Lincoln and his younger brother Stanton in St. Louis, Missouri after Lincoln's mother died in 1899.
Fitz was in the U.S. Army during World War I, and served in France and Germany before being honorably discharged in 1919.

After moving to the Detroit area, Fitz met and married Meta K. Konarske in 1937, and were happily married for 44 years.
Fitz found himself the subject of newspaper articles more than once in his career as a casino operator.

After having settled in Reno, away from the Detroit syndicates, Danny Sullivan and Lincoln Fitzgerald had one more score to settle in Detroit. In August of 1949 they were extradited to Michigan to face illegal-gambling and bribery-of-public-officials charges.
In the days of the Chesterfield Club, operations were tolerated by the local authorites, but in the late 40's, this sort of activity was no longer tolerated. Many communities sought retribution on formerly overlooked syndicates, and the Chesterfield Club was caught in the net.
This crackdown eventually led to U.S. Senate investigations into organized crime in the early 1950's led by Senator Carey Kefauver, of the famous Kefauver Committee.

In court in Detroit it was alleged that from August 1940 through August of 1946 Fitzgerald and Sullivan took part in running an illegal gambling house (The Chesterfield Club), and bribing public officials. The bribery charges were later dropped, but the two were found guilty of illegal gambling and fined $52,000 before returning to Reno to resume their Nevada Club operation. Sullivan paid court costs of $33,000 and a fine of $700. Fitzgerald's costs ran up to $18,000, and he had to pay only $300 in fines.

This is the home today (2009) in which Fitzgerald settled after coming to Reno. Access to the garage is by an alley in the rear, where Fitzgerald was gunned down in 1949.

Shortly after returning to Reno, Fitzgerald may have met one last time with acquaintances from the old days.
Around midnight on November 18th of 1949 Fitzgerald was leaving his home at 123 Mark Twain Avenue for the Nevada Club. The subject of a suspected mob hit, he was gunned down by both barrels of a sawed-off 12 ga. shotgun blast in his driveway.

Fitzgerald's partner, Danny Sullivan, didn't know "who would even want to shoot Fitz.
"In this world, you never know who hates you, though," he added.

Following the shooting, newspapers reported that two of the individuals under suspicion by the authorities were members of the old Purple Gang of Detroit.

No suspect was ever arrested for the shooting. It is highly likely that the shooting was not the deed of anyone from the Detroit area. One would have to wonder why anyone from that area and time in Fitzgerald's life would attempt such a warning. It simply didn't make any sense. Fitz had travelled to Reno with many of the people he worked with in Detroit, and there was no reason to believe he had any reason to be targetted by them. He simply posed no threat to anyone in that area, especially since having moved all operations to Reno.

What is more likely is a dirty little secret, that is not so much of a secret. It is well known that gangsters and criminal elements ran Las Vegas, and by implication, the casino business in general, being a cash-rich business, attracted its share of the criminal element, even in Reno.

There was a criminal element running casino business in Reno before Fitzgerald came, and for a time that element remained in Reno. It is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that the bad guys already operating in Reno wanted to send a message to potential rivals in town.

Fitzgerald had just confirmed his position in Reno as a casino owner and operator by paying his debt in Detroit, and returning home to Washoe County. In 1949, competition was intense for gambling business in Reno. In that year, the biggest threat to operators who had long been in Reno was Fitzgerald. He was connected with all the syndicate resources, and had been running gambling houses for the past 20 years, unlike the Smiths and Harrah who were basiacally carnival operators.

It is no huge leap of the mind to calculate that the hit on Fitzgerald was perpertrated by a local casino owner who wanted to warn Fitz. He wanted to warn him that this was serious business, and to stay on his side of the street, and out of other people's business.

The dirty little secret is that the hit was done by a Reno local to send a message to the new guy in town.

Fitzgerald's survival was a miracle. Fifty seven years old when shot, he was very close to death and didn't fully recover until over 5 months later. The attack left him with a permanent limp, and damage to his liver and one kidney. The gunmen (man?) was never positively identified, and it was said that Fitzgerald asked for investigations to be curtailed.

Carlton Konarske, wife Edna on left, and Lincoln and Meta Fitzgerald Konarske photo

Fitz's wife Meta came from a close-knit family, and her older brother Carlton joined her and Fitz in Reno upon his discharge from the Army shortly after WW II.
Carlton worked at the Nevada Club, and later moved to Incline Village and helped out at the Nevada Lodge.

After the shooting in 1949, Fitz and Meta moved from their home to apartments above the Nevada Club, from which Fitz rarely strayed. It was only in the last years of his life that he made many appearances outside the Nevada Club. Fitzgerald reportedly was so afraid of another attack that he never allowed his picture to be taken. Photos of the Fitzgerald's are exceedingly rare.

Meta and Fitz were known to be dog lovers, and were often seen in and around the Nevada Club with two or more lovely Terriers. As sole owners of the three casinos (Nevada Club, Nevada Lodge, and Fitzgerald's) Meta and Fitz put in long and hard hours to satisfy onsite requirements.
When friends and family came to visit, mealtimes were just about the only opportunity available to socialize.

Lincoln Fitzgerald died in Washoe Medical Center April 18th 1981 after being hospitalized since March 31st, at age 88. He had been in declining health for some time prior.

After Fitz passed away, many employees wanted Meta to stay on and run the clubs. However Meta was well past retiremnt herself in 1981 at the age of 69 and had been in poor health having postponed major heart surgery for years. Although some employees grumbled about the pension plan, most didn't realize that the Fitzgerald's had set up one of the first pension plans, and a good one, available in the industry.

Carlton Konarske died in 1998 at the age of 88 after the family casino operations had been sold.
After selling the Nevada Club, Nevada Lodge, and Fitzgerald's operations in 1983, Meta took a long-delayed retirement in Reno. In the late 1990's, she moved back to Michigan to be near family, where she died in March of 2004, at the age of 92. She now rests with Fitz and her brother Carlton in Reno.

Throughout their lives in Reno, the Fitzgerald's quietly supported a number of charities, and generously donated funds throughout the community. Today the Student Center at the University of Nevada, Reno is named in their honor. They left a legacy of philanthropy through a $5 million gift to the University as well as many scholarships which are awarded annually, and a large gift to the Stanford Medical Clinic.

Comments from Customers and Employees of the Nevada Club, and Fitzgerald's

To my mind, there is only one honest game in the state of Nevada. That game can be found at the Nevada Club in Reno. It's a single-deck game where all the cards are used. Interestingly enough, the Nevada Club also has a single-zero roulette wheel. These two facts rate this club as number one in the state in my book. Stanley Roberts.

When a dealer applied for a job, Lincoln Fitzgerald did not ask for an application form. Instead, he would ask a question such as "What is 17 times 17?" After giving the correct answer (289) Fitzgerald would raise his hand and signal to his wife, Meta, the signal that you had been hired.

The reason for the question was that in roulette, if the player bets 17 chips on two numbers and wins, the payoff is 289. A dealer who worked at the Nevada Club learned a lot from Lincoln Fitzgerald about business. Fitzgerald was one of the richest men in Nevada and his club had the biggest bankroll in Nevada. The club was small and run-down, but it had the biggest money behind it. It was the only club anywhere in Nevada at the time where a player could bet one thousand dollars on a number. One thousand dollars meant nothing to Lincoln Fitzgerald. His net worth was more than a few million dollars. Other clubs, bigger in size, operated on a shoestring. Yet, every morning he came down from the rooms where he slept inside the club behind the cashier's box and counted the slot machine nickels.

My mother passed away in 1999. She worked at the Nevada Club from 1967 to 1968 and then again from 1982 until it closed. One thing she told me was that the employees were always paid in cash and there was always a $2.00 bill in the envelope. She told me Linc Fitzgerald was a very kind man especially to his employees. He was a very private person after he was shot and lived in an apartment above the club. It had a bullet-proof door. I don't really know much more than that. Linda.

The diner was a great addition to the club. Look around all the newer casinos, and you will see that the diner/coffee shop is always a most popular attraction besides the gaming in the casino. At The Nevada Club, it was no different. Additionally, it was no greasy spoon, and never degraded to Styrofoam and plastic spoons. The Kilroy burger and everything else on the menu was top notch diner food, and the pastries were fresh. What a great place to have fun gambling.

Of course the Jennings slots set themselves apart from the other casinos. They were robust, and had lights and features that the other Mills and Pace machines didn't. In the final years when the mechanicals were being discarded after 1980, the Jennings was a treat to play. They still offered the same fascination as when new, and I'm sure they were still profitable up to a point. It is a pleasure to have them as collectibles today. Many of the double-machines, and the Buckaroo four-reelers were a real hoot. It would be nice to have kept just 100 or so around for fun, though maintenance would be a headache still.

I best remember craps games visible from the street, and slot machines just inside the air curtain. The felt on the tables all seemed to have cigarette burns, and other items looked a little worn too, but it never got to the shabby stage. The bar upstairs had plenty of character and all the plumbing usually worked. What more could a gambler ask for?

Email us with your comments as a patron, employee, or fan of The Nevada Club, Fitzgerald's, The Nevada Lodge or other Fitzgerald stories.

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Much of the information here is from "The Rise of the Biggest Little City: An Encyclopedic History of Reno Gaming 1931 - 1981" by Dwayne Kling. ISBN 087417340X, published by University of Nevada Press, 2000.

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