Harold's Club
{{Short description|Casino in Downtown Reno, Nevada}}
{{Infobox casino
|name = Harold's Club
|logo =
|image = Barajas Bee del Harold's Club (1935 - 1995) de Reno Nevada - (2014) 2014-03-24 00-34.jpg
|caption = Harold's Club cards
|address = 236 North Virginia Street
|location = Reno, Nevada, U.S.
|date_opened = {{Start date and age|1935}}
|date_closed = {{End date and age|1995}}
|theme = Cowboy
|rooms =
|space_gaming =
|shows =
|attractions =
|notable_restaurants =
|owner = {{ubl|Harold Smith|Raymond Smith}}
|architect =
|names_pre =
|renovations =
|coordinates = {{Coord|39.527522|-119.813472|display=inline,title}}
}}
Harold's Club, also spelled Harolds Club, was a casino in Downtown Reno, Nevada that was established in 1935. The casino closed in 1995 and the building was demolished in 1999. Harold's Club was the set for the 1955 movie 5 Against the House. An Ocean's 11 predecessor set in Reno, the movie provides the best view of Harold's Club casino.
History
Harold's Club casino was established in 1935 by Harold S. Smith Sr. (1910–1985) and his brother, Raymond A. Smith. Soon afterwards, their father, Raymond I. ("Pappy") Smith (1887–1967), was appointed general manager and became the public face of the casino.{{cite magazine |title=Harold's Club |first=Roger |last=Butterfield |magazine=Life |date=October 15, 1945 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sUsEAAAAMBAJ&q=Harold%27s+Club |issn=0024-3019}} The casino expanded by buying adjacent Virginia Street properties. Harold's Club constructed a seven-story building as part of the casino, but never had a hotel on the property. Pappy Smith developed a marketing campaign that made the casino famous, using more than two thousand billboards across the United States advertising "Harold's Club or Bust", often written on a Conestoga wagon.{{cite book|title=The rise of the biggest little city: an encyclopedic history of Reno gaming 1931–1981|last=Kling|first=Dwayne|year=2000|publisher=University of Nevada Press|location=Reno, Nevada|isbn=0-87417-340-X|pages=61–70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HLPovnU9HlwC|access-date=October 25, 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://onlinenevada.org/articles/harolds-club |title=Harolds Club |website=Online Nevada Encyclopedia |access-date=January 8, 2018 |archive-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109121911/http://onlinenevada.org/articles/harolds-club |url-status=dead }} (By the 1970s, most of the billboards had been taken down because of the Highway Beautification Act."Harolds Club or Bust" signs vanish. The Southeast Missourian July 28, 1974)
Harold's Club was sold to Howard Hughes's Summa Corporation in 1970 for $11.5 million. In December 1994, the casino was sold to Gamma International Ltd. and closed three months later. The casino was then sold to Harrah's Reno in 1999 and demolished.{{cite news |last=Vogel |first=Ed |title=Page From Past |url=http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1999/Dec-13-Mon-1999/news/12503797.html |work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |date=December 13, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001003075613/http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/1999/Dec-13-Mon-1999/news/12503797.html |archive-date=October 3, 2000}} The property is now an outdoor plaza for concerts and special events.
The casino building had an American Bandstand restaurant and nightclub for 8 years during the 1990s.{{cite news |url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/1999/jan/04/brief-american-bandstand-club-closes/ |title=Brief: American Bandstand club closes |newspaper=Las Vegas Sun |date=January 4, 1999}}
Harold's Club was the target of a casino heist in the 1955 feature film 5 Against the House.
A large {{convert|70|by|35|ft|adj=on}} mural of Old West pioneer settlers that was in front of the casino is now on display at the Reno Livestock Events Center, about {{convert|2|mi}} from the old casino location. The mural was designed by Theodore McFallon and constructed by Sargent Claude Johnson.{{cite web |url=http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/harolds-club-mural |title=Harolds Club Mural |website=Online Nevada Encyclopedia |access-date=January 8, 2018 |archive-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109121923/http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/harolds-club-mural |url-status=dead }}
References
File:Harolds Club Neon Sign 1955.ogv
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Harold S. Sr. |last2=Noble |first2=John Wesley |title=I Want To Quit Winners |url=https://archive.org/details/iwanttoquitwinne00smit |url-access=registration |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1961 |asin=B000NWLINI}}
- {{cite book |last=Noble |first=John Wesley |title=Harold's Club or Bust |publisher=Nevada Historical Society |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-9728773-0-5}}
- {{cite book |last=King |first=R.T. |title=A Family Affair: Harolds Club and the Smiths Remembered |publisher=University of Nevada Oral History Program |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56475-381-6}}[https://library.unr.edu/DigiColl/Item/unohp/4585]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
External links
- {{YouTube|id=LyISWZP6Qew|title="The Rise and Fall of Harold's Club"}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150426191953/http://www.oldreno.net/harolds.htm Harold's Club] at Old Reno
{{Reno Casinos}}
Category:1935 establishments in Nevada
Category:1995 disestablishments in Nevada
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1935
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1999