Frontier Club at 117 Fremont Las Vegas, NV

117 Fremont

Las Vegas, NV

Frontier Club

May 11, 1939 to 1953

Frontier Turf Club

1943 to 1953

(inside the Frontier Club)

1944 Telephone listing showing both Guy Mcafee and Moe Sedway and their association with the Frontier Club.

Night view postcard from the PGG Collection shows the beautiful neon sign!

During World War II, the Frontier Club advertised war bonds.

To the right of the picture is the entrance to the Mandalay Bar and Lounge.

In this 1949 article it appears that Mo Sedway may have expanded from the race club duties to requesting a license for the whole club.

"...When Guy McAfee came to town and had the Frontier Club, he brought Los Angeles officers up with him to be his special officers.

When I was a policeman I went over at the Boulder Club, and in addition to my regular shift on the police department, I worked as a special officer in the Boulder Club prior to going into the navy..."

{excerpted from UNLV Oral History project of George L. Ullom: Politics and Development in Las Vegas, 1930s-1970s by Jamie Coughtry Published: 1989- UNOHP Catalog #151}

This great postcard from the PGG Collection shows the beautiful neon sign!

During World War II, the Frontier Club advertised war bonds.

While some sources have said the Frontier Club opened in 1935, research into old newspaper articles and biographies of Guy McAfee indicate a more accurate date would be 1939.

McAfee was still in California in 1937 as noted:

“...Guy McAfee, rumored gambling

dictator of Los Angeles...”

(excerpt from:

Berkeley Daily Gazette

March 16, 1937)

Vintage Las Vegas shared a clipping he found from the Las Vegas Review Journal of May 10, 1939 that said:

"...The Frontier Club, one of the most elaborate places in the state will open at 6 o'clock tomorrow evening... Guy McAfee is the president... Fred L. Kreiger is secretary-treasurer... Carl Mancill of the “91 Club” will be night floor manager, and Scotty Stoughten will be day floor manager... A neon sign, said to be the largest of its kind in the state of Nevada, will be placed 26 feet above the top of the building, showing a bucking bronco, and Indian, and the words “Frontier Club.”

(Excerpt from the Las Vegas Review Journal of May 10, 1939)

He also found two more clippings as follows:

"Neon Blvd in Las Vegas" has a photo showing Fremont Street without any Frontier Club.

Las Vegas Review Journal of April 9, 1939)

"...coming to Vegas buying "a night club" south of Las Vegas (Pair O' Dice) and a 2-floor building on Fremont Street..."

(Excerpt from the Las Vegas Review Journal of March 7, 1939)

My research came up with some more interesting tidbits:

“...The announcement of Guy McAfee that he and other gambling big shots have shaken the dust of Los Angeles from their feet and settled permanently in Las Vegas we're gambling is legal is palatable but needs salt. ....McAfee, or somebody like him, will be back...”

Excerpt from the The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California)

June 2, 1939)

“In Los Angeles, not long ago, two high police officials were convicted of high-crimes and misdemeanors, and under the administration of Mayor Bowron, the gambler-in-chief of the city, Guy McAfee, finding his occupation beset with annoyance, rather than encouragement, has departed for pastures more tohis liking. - Our gain is Nevada's loss...”

(Excerpt from San Marino Tribune

June 15, 1939)

A feature story in the September 1950 'Your Host in Las Vegas Magazine' also says he sold his '91 Club' in 1940 and opened up the Frontier Club and the Slot Machine Arcade at First and Fremont.

There is a great

archived article from the LVRJ:

Guy McAfee credited with branding the Strip

Guy McAfee and his associates also opened the Mandalay Bar

next to the Frontier Club at about the same time.

"... He opened the Frontier Club and a swanky bar called the Mandalay Room adjacent to it. The bar also was a stab at appeasing his wife, June, Gaffey said. "June Brewster hated Las Vegas," he said. "She had been a star in a New York in a sexy revue and went to Hollywood. She was really into nightlife and the big city, and even Hollywood was a step down for her from N.Y.C. (Las Vegas) was a dump as far as she was concerned."

Archived article from the LVRJ

The Guy McAfee in this bio seems different than the gambling czar of his early days. He’s a cuddly mobster?

Evidently opening the swanky Manadaly Bar didn't satisfy Mrs. McAfee...

A couple of nice matchcovers from my collection showing the western theme that was so popular in early downtown Las Vegas.

Matchcovers are a great resource for verifying addresses and the games played at the location.

A couple of Frontier Club chips from the 1940's from my collection.