Opened on November 28, 1941, by Mayme Stocker and her husband John, the El Cortez is the oldest casino still operating in Las Vegas. Tucked away on Fremont Street, far from the Strip’s flashy neon, this pioneer watched the gambling city come to life. Back then, Vegas was just dusty desert with a few illegal speakeasies. With its 11 blackjack tables and 9 roulette wheels, the El Cortez legalized the American dream under the spotlight.
But behind its relic facade, the story gets juicy: The El Cortez proudly claims to have installed the first telephone in a Vegas casino in 1942 — a high-tech symbol at the time.
Here’s the problem: the neighboring Golden Gate, opened in 1906 as a saloon, fires back with its own legend — a clandestine phone during Prohibition to coordinate bootleg liquor deliveries. This harmless feud hides fierce rivalries. In 1945, mobster Guy McAfee, former sheriff of Los Angeles, bought the property and turned this little gem into a mob cash machine. Bugsy Siegel himself is said to have played there before launching his Flamingo.
Renovated in 2024 with 90 modernized rooms starting at $99/night, El Cortez remains an outlier: vintage slots, $10 steaks, and a full retro vibe.
Have you ever been to El Cortez? Tell me what you thought of it.