La Bayou was a

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

located on the

Fremont Street Experience The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of som ...

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The casino had of gaming space with 125

slot machines A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

. By the time of its closing, La Bayou was one of the few casinos in Las Vegas where slot machines paid out in coins, rather than vouchers.

History

Northern Club: 1920-43

The business opened in 1913 as the Las Vegas Coffee House. In 1920 Mayme Stocker renamed it the Northern Club, offering liquor and gambling when both were illegal, during the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

. "Northern" was a well-known

code word Code word may refer to: * Code word (communication), an element of a standardized code or protocol * Code word (figure of speech), designed to convey a predetermined meaning to a receptive audience, while remaining inconspicuous to others ** Proce ...

among railroad workers for an establishment serving alcohol. On March 20, 1931, the Northern Club received the first Nevada gaming license. This was also the first gaming license issued to a woman, Mayme Stocker. By 1941,

Bugsy Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (; February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American gangster, mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was influential within the Jewish-American organized crime, Jewish Mo ...

and Dave Stearns were operating the club.

Turf Club, Monte Carlo Club, 1940s-1960s

In 1943, Turf Club replaced Northern Club. It ran only until 1945 when

Wilbur Clark Wilbur Clark (December 27, 1908 – August 27, 1965) was an American casino owner and land developer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early life Wilbur Clark was born on December 27, 1908, in Keyesport, Illinois. His parents were Shirley and Lulu Clark. Ca ...

leased the club, renaming it the Monte Carlo Club. The Stockers continued to run the Northern Hotel on the second floor until 1949. Monte Carlo Club would close in 1956, but remain in business as a bar until the 1960s. The original building was razed after 1965. A new building was erected, where a

Denny's Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some locations' signage) is an American table service diner-style restaurant chain. It operates over 1,400 Restaurant, restaurants in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and several other internationa ...

diner opened c. 1967–1968, followed by Sam's Roast Beef c. 1968–1969.

Coin Castle: 1970-99

By 1970, the site was operating as the Coin Castle. Herb Pastor was approved to take over the Coin Castle and the nearby Golden Goose casino in 1977. Pastor would later also own the nearby

Sassy Sally's Mermaids Casino was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The casino's only gaming options were slot and video poker machines. History Silver Palace (1956-64) When the Silver Palace casino opened in t ...

casino and the Girls of Glitter Gulch strip club.

La Bayou: 1999-2016

Pastor decided in 1999 to move ahead with a renovation plan to transform the Coin Castle and Sassy Sally's into La Bayou and Mermaids, respectively, for a total of $6 million. In 2006, Pastor's son, Steve Burnstine, purchased the two casinos and the strip club.

Closing: 2016

In April 2016, Derek and Greg Stevens, owners of the neighboring

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

and

Las Vegas Club Las Vegas Club was a hotel and casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas Club opened in 1930, joining the Las Vegas Hotel which had opened in 1908. The Las Vegas Club was relocated across the str ...

casinos, purchased the three properties, and announced that the businesses would close on June 27. It was razed soon after. The Golden Gate's expansion into the former space opened at noon on August 25, 2017.

References

{{coord, 36.1712, N, 115.1460, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:US, display=title Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley Downtown Las Vegas Buildings and structures in Las Vegas 1931 establishments in Nevada 2016 disestablishments in Nevada Buildings and structures demolished in 2017 Demolished buildings and structures in Nevada