Old Reno

Club Cal Neva

The primary owner of the Club Cal Neva was Sanford Adler, who also owned the Cal Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe. Adler had put up over $500,000 for the renovation of the former Club Fortune. The club opened with 3 21 games, 3 craps games, 2 roulette wheels, 1 Keno game, and 126 slot machines, as well as featuring top line entertainers. Actually getting his start at the Cal Neva in January of 1949 was Liberace, who re-appeared several times thereafter.

The Club courted trouble when in 1951 it declared that it would be closing from December through May due to the winter slowdown in business. This put about 100 people out of work for that time period. After complaints from the Reno City Council, Adler opened briefly in January but did not pay full license fees for all his operations. This action resulted in the Council passing legislation requiring casinos to remain open during the slow winter months.

By 1955, the Reno City Council had reason to ask Adler to show cause as to why the Club should be re-licensed, after having placed Morris Brodsky on the paperwork as the Club licensee. His placement as licensee was done becuase of fear that Adler would not be re-licensed after the winter closure fiasco. In 1955 it was rumored that Adler had allowed hidden interests to buy-in to the casino operations.

Finally in November of 1955, the IRS shut down the Club Cal Neva as the owners got behind in tax payments. Adler was called to appear before the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and failed to appear, and was never again licensed to operate a casino in the state.

Ownership of the Club Cal Neva was transferred to group of 6 men and the Club re-opened in December of 1955, about a month after the closure.

In 1957 the Club installed wall-to-wall carpeting, and had increased the games offered, but by 1961 the Club was closed again in September over a dispute concerning rent payments to the property owners. The Club did not re-open again until April of 1962 despite threats from the City Council.

When re-opened it was under the ownership of the Sierra Development Corporation. Prior to re-opening, the Gaming Commision recommended that to avoid any further troubles with previous owners, the operating corporation should buy the buildings and property from the current owners, which they did. In April of 1962 the Club Cal Neva was owned by Ad Tolen, Jack Douglass, John Cavanaugh, Leon Nightingale, Howard Farris, Warren Nelson, and Doug Busey. Douglass, Cavanaugh and Nightingale owning over 60%.

Leon Nightingale had been part of the previous ownership group since 1955, providing ownership continuity from one group to the other. Jack Douglass the holder of the longest continual gaming license in the state, had been investing in Reno real estate with John Cavanaugh since 1959. Douglass sold his interests in the Cal Neva in the 1980's due to some conflicts arising out of his partial ownership with other Cal Neva owners in the Comstock. Farris had been co-owner with Nelson in the Waldorf Club. Ad Tolen had been in Reno since 1938 when his first job was as a roulette dealer at the Club Fortune, and he later worked at the Palace Club as well as the Primadonna. Tolen became part owner in the Bonanza Club, the Tahoe Palace, Cal Neva, Tahoe Cal Neva, and the Comstock.

In 1970 the parent Club Cal Neva in Lake Tahoe was sold to a group from Ohio.

Still owned by the Sierra Development Company, the Club Cal Neva has undergone several expansions from adding 3,200 square feet in 1972, and a 1969 multi-million dollar construction which added a larger restaurant, a bar and snack bar. Final expansion in 1979 through 1980 focused on the corner of Second and Virginia Street, and resulted in a payroll of over 1,400 people. Opening ceremonies in 1980 were attended by thousands, including the Governor, and presided over by the casino president Leon Nightingale.

What's Different About The Cal Neva

* Always a main attraction at the Cal Neva is an inexpensive meal. This hallowed tradition of gambling should not be missed, and has served the club well these many years.
* No Credit. No credit department. No playing on the house money, play with what you brought. Saves money for the club. Nothing wrong with that.
* The Lake Tahoe Cal Neva was owned by the Reno group before being sold in 1970. In the first 3 months of operation, the new group managed to lose $3 million. The Reno group probably knows what they are doing.
* Marketing is largely driven by word of mouth. The employees and the players are treated fairly and well, and this seems to go a long way in player and employee retention, especially as seen in the high percentage of local players in the Club.
* Operating largely without a hotel for most of it's life, this casino shows how to draw repeat customers over the long haul.

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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.

_{Copyright © 2005, Sunzeri Consultants. All rights reserved. Photos and text may not be reproduced or otherwise distributed without the author's expressed permission.}