- About Over50Vegas
- How did Las Vegas become Las Vegas?
- Observations by Charles "Pop" Squires- Las Vegas Pioneer and Publisher
- Books and References Sites
- Las Vegas Phonebook and City Directories of Bars, Casinos and Hospitality Properties
- Casino Collectible Shows & Local Meetings
- Visit the ChipGuide
- Visit the Museum of Gaming History
- Visit the Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc.
- Sitemap by name of property
- Sitemap by address of property
- Click here to request page update notifications
- Contact Over50Vegas
The decades of the 1980's and 1990's saw some very big names in the entertainment business perform at the Four Queens.
Both the contemporary stars of the day and the nostalgic acts of previous years
are shown on the 4Q Entertainment page
Use the navigation buttons below to learn more and explore the history and collectibles of the Four Queens.
January 1969:
Roulette study
“...Tommy Callahan, on behalf of the Four Queens, has donated over $1,400 so far to the Home of Good Shepherd. These are the receipts from the “ Stakes and Odds” study of human judgment being conducted at the Four Queens by Prof. Ward Edwards of U. of Michigan in conjunction with the Oregon Research Institute. A standard type roulette wheel is used in the experiment...” |
(Las Vegas Sun January 21, 1969)
March 1969:
Request to vacate alleyway
“...Planning Commission meeting... will consider, among other items,vacation of the west half of the east-west alley immediately south of the Four Queens Hotel between Fremont Street and Carson Avenue...” |
(Las Vegas Sun March 25, 1969)
May 1969:
Approval to vacate alleyway
“...The city commission also approved a petition by the Four Queens Hotel and Casino yesterday to vacate the west half of the alley behind the club to allow for its expansion... The club plans to build a restaurant over the present Western Union building... Also planned is an extension of the casino to that building...” |
(Western Union was at 113 S. 2nd St.)
(Las Vegas Sun May 8, 1969)
“...The city commission also approved...Jerome Mack’s sale of two shares in the Four Queens to two trust accounts..." |
(Las Vegas Sun May 23, 1969)
Four Queens joins the topless craze!
FOUR QUEENS
The 4 Queens Topless Dancer
Donna Murphy
(Las Vegas Sun May 26, 1969)
July 1969:
Strike delays work on addition
“...Several hundred workers in three trade-craft unions went on strike in Southern Nevada... construction work on the Four Queens addition and several housing tracts plus numerous other small jobs were delayed by the strike...” |
(Las Vegas Sun July 2, 1969)
November 1972
New Owner for the Four Queens
"...Purchase of the Four Queens Hotel in Las Vegas for $17.5 million by a subsidiary of Hyatt Corp. was announced Monday by the hotel chain. |
Hyatt said its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Elsinor Corp., would acquire for cash all stock of Four Queens, Inc., operator of the downtown Las Vegas hotel-casino..." |
Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Nevada) Tue, November 21, 1972
January 1973
Hyatt Approved To Acquire Hotel
"...Nevada Gaming Commission gave final approval Thursday (January 18, 1973) to the sale of the Four Queens Hotel in downtown Las Vegas for $17.5 million to the Hyatt Corp. of Burlingame, Calif. Hyatt, through its wholly owned subsidiary Elsinore Corp., will buy out the present 33 casino owners. Hyatt is a publicly traded corporation.... Before the deal was approved, officials of Hyatt agreed to separate from another corporation, Hyatt International Inc., which has gaming ties in Panama and Puerto Rico. Nevada gaming regulations prohibit state casino owners from having interests in gambling outside the state..." |
Nevada State Journal- January 19, 1973
April 2002
New Owner for the Four Queens
"Terry Caudill, a casino industry veteran who started out as a dice dealer in Reno, was approved Thursday (Apr 18, 2002) as the new owner of the Four Queens hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas.
“It’s nice to see someone who has risen through the ranks,” Nevada Gaming Commissioner Sue Wagner said as the board unanimously approved the license.
Caudill is buying the 690-room property, built in 1966, from Elsinore Corporation for about $21.2 million plus $4 million to $6 million in cash on hand and assumption of about $4 million in liabilities.
He said he has no plans to change the hotel-casino’s 900 employees— including top management — or its name..."
Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Nevada) Fri, Apr 19, 2002
But it wasn't quite that simple or fast... The article above is April 2002 and then in the articles below it's July 2003 before the deal is done and approved.
February 1976
10th Anniversary and expansion plans
“Completion of the $3.5 million.. 32,500 square foot expanded area.. will coincide with the downtown hotel's 10th Birthday (June 2nd) according to President David Hood... The expansion is directly to the east of the existing hotel...Two new restaurants are being built... One will be a fine dining room open from lunch into the late night. The other will be a greatly enlarged 24 hour restaurant, featuring coffee shop services and buffet style dining... The additional hundred feet of frontage of Fremont St will feature an additional air-curtain entrance for visitors. As well the present facade of the hotel will continue along the newly built section.”
(Las Vegas Sun February 29, 1976)
June 1976
Expansion completed
“Combining 19th Century luxury and hospitality with 21st Century convenience, the Four Queens Hotel and Casino has completed its giant $3,500,000 expansion program...
...President David Hood in announcing completion of the expansion, said, it is fitting that we are able to provide all of these new facilities on this the tenth anniversary of the Four Queens... there is a bright new buffeteria restaurant, known as Lucky Louie's, the fabulous Hugo's Rotisserie Dining Room is near completion, an all new card room and keno lounge are ready and the new Royal Lounge is serving up nightly entertainment... there is a brand new King's Bar to compliment the hotel s Queen's Bar... The hotel lobby, located on the second level, has been redecorated and furnished to provide a comfortable respite to a busy day. Lobby visitors are also treated to a fantastic display of replicas of England's Crown Jewels, in a most regal setting... With the additional hundred feet of frontage on Fremont Street, the Four Queens now extends almost a full block between Casino Center Blvd and Third St...Architect for the project was Julius Gargiels & Associates Interior decoration was under the direction of Yater-Silverman... Sierra Construction Co. was the builder...”
(Las Vegas Sun June 15, 1976)
December 1976
“...Leonard Marxen, assistant treasurer and comptroller for the Four Queens Hotel, has been elevated to Nevada regional comptroller for the Hyatt Corporation... Marxen has been at the Four Queens for 12 years... He was earlier associated with the Thunderbird and El Rancho... His relationship with the El Rancho Vegas began in 1941..." |
(Las Vegas Sun December 14, 1976)
Hugo's opens for the first time in 1976 and is still there today as Hugo's Cellar!
June 1977
David Hood, President of the Four Queens, died suddenly and unexpectedly on June 7, 1977.
He was replaced by his wife Jeanne Hood as President of the Four Queens.
In 1985, Jeanne Hood would become president and chief executive officer of Elsinore, a subsidiary of the Hyatt hotel chain that owned the Four Queens and other gaming properties.
She would remain president of the Four Queens until 1993 when she went to work for American Vantage Companies as a director and gaming consultant.
October 1977
Alleyway closed off for new entrance
“One of the last of the downtown alleys is scheduled to become a new hotel entrance.. behind the Four Queens Hotel and Casino... Remodeling of hotel entrances leading from the alley into the casino began Monday as painters applied the first coat of a new slot machine-style motif. The project involves the renovation of two hotel entrances, removal of the existing blacktop alley surface, and resurfacing with new concrete. Additional remodeling of the alley entrances includes plans to tear down Clooney’s Tavern to make room for a hotel customer passenger loading zone...”
(Las Vegas Sun October 25, 1977)
Callahan re-elected
“...The stockholders of the Four Queens reelected Thomas J. Callahan as president of the downtown hotel and casino yesterday... The Four Queens president told the annual meeting of stockholders the hotel is 'well ahead' of its original November target date for the completion of its new 10-story high rise addition. |
Callahan said several floors will be ready for occupancy within the next two months... With the completion of its addition the Four Queens will be 18 stories high and have 325 rooms, making it the second largest hotel in downtown Casino Center...The Four Queens first opened in June of 1966 with eight stories and 115 rooms... Callahan said the expansion program, costing upwards of $2 million, will mean the addition of approximately 100 employes... |
In other action veteran Las Vegas gaming executive Einer Abramson was reelected vice-president of the hotel and three |
other stockholders returned as directors and officers. They are G. William Coulthard, Jerome D. Mack, and Melvin S. Moss... ” |
(Las Vegas Sun July 31, 1969)
September 1969:
Union woes
“...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a charge against the Four Queens and the Horseshoe for their refusal to grant the USION recognition as bargaining agent for security guards..… A spokesman for a Las Vegas guards union charged yesterday that the sudden appearance of two other groups claiming to represent security employees is 'a case of unadulterated pipe dreams'... The other two unions are the Independent Watchman’s Association (IWA), based in New York, and the Federated International Security Guards and Employees Union. (FISGE ). The IWA was organized in Las Vegas less than two weeks ago.... Hank Pesner, consultant for the United Security and Investigative Officers of Nevada (USION), accused the two groups of 'playing games with the future of the union movement with respect to the security guards.'... USION is one of three unions currently attempting to negotiate contracts on behalf of security guards in downtown and Strip casinos. USION has filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board for union election...” |
(Las Vegas Sun September 16, 1969)
December 1969:
Benjamin Tanzman dies
“...Funeral services will be conducted today for Benjamin Tanzman, a long time Las Vegas casino executive... He died Monday (Dec 21, 1969) at a local hospital at the age of 61. Tanzman had lived in Las Vegas 10 years. He was employed as a casino manager at several strip hotels before joining the Four Queens Hotel as an executive in 1965...” |
(Nevada State Journal December 24, 1969)
February 1970:
Casinos Hire More African American Dealers
On February 15, 1970 the Las Vegas Sun had a full page feature article about a dealer school in Las Vegas that was a pioneer in teaching African-American men to be dealers. It seems such a short time ago that such a thing was a novelty.
“...Many of the students are experiencing their first chance for real job training. The eagerness to learn and the regular attendance proves we're on the right track”, said Thomas Byrd a former student and then a dealer at the Fremont... Some of the casinos willing to give these new dealers a chance were the Fremont, Mint, Four Queens, Las Vegas Club, El Cortez, and the Silver Nugget...” |
(Las Vegas Sun February 15, 1970)
1970 also was the year the first female dealer was hired. She was employed by by the Hughes Corporation at the Silver Slipper in August 1970 as reported in the Reno Evening Gazette on October 15, 1970.
February 1970
A clothespin served as the trigger for the bomb which killed a prominent attorney and former FBI agent and state legislator. |
Police said Wednesday the clothespin was attached to the wiring of the car belonging to George William Coulthard, 56. When he started the vehicle to go home Tuesday, (July 25, 1972) it triggered “two to four sticks of dynamite” which had been planted beneath the engine of the vehicle near the steering column... Police said they had no idea what the motive behind the attack was. The blast also shattered light fixtures on the first floor of the Bank of Nevada Building where the parking garage is located...Coulthard was part owner of the property where the Horseshoe Hotel and Casino stands at Second and Fremont and was a corporate officer and stockholder of the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, which is kitty-corner from the Horseshoe at the same intersection. |
(Nevada State Journal- Thursday July 27,1972)
You can read more details in the Las Vegas Sun update on the bombing in 2000.
1972- 1973 New Owner for the Four Queens
“...For the last couple of months, the Four Queens Hotel has presented Alan Grant's Monday Night Jazz Sessions in its French Quarter lounge, using local quartets such as those of Carl Fontana and Carl Saunders to back up such big names as Lew Tabakin, Don Menza, and Joe Farrell. Carl Fontana, of course is a big name on his own, and Carl Saunders is a ferocious player who seems to jolt the last volt from every cell in his body into every bar he plays... |
1982
Alan Grant's Monday Night Jazz Sessions begin in the French Quarter Lounge.
...Now a contract has been signed between the Four Queens and KNPR 89.5 FM under which an hour of each of the sessions will be broadcast live every Monday night at 10 pm. for the next year under the name Jazz Night; live from the Four Queens with Alan Grant. Jazz is here to stay in Las Vegas. Grant, recently voted top jazz DJ in New York, is well known throughout the jazz world, and will bring us the very best. |
Scheduled for coming weeks are the Kenny Burrell Quartet, the return of Joe Farrell with his own exciting new quartet, the Tommy Vig combo, and Richie Cole..." |
Excerpt from an article by Patrick Gaffey in Arts Alive - 1982 no. 3-
1969-2003 Events: More Expansion, Nearby Bombing, New Owners
202 Fremont
Las Vegas, NV
Four Queens
June 2, 1966 to now
Over50Vegas.com by Over50Vegas.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://over50vegas.com/index.html.
This is a non-commercial, educational, hobby site. Images on this site are from our personal collection and from personal collections of fellow enthusiasts who have shared their scans with us. Other images are noted by source with links to the original. If you feel that any image used here has infringed upon fair use of an image you hold the copyright to, please contact us at the links above and it will be credited or removed at your request.
Sources you might want to visit for more information include:
Search for anything on this site. Click "Advanced" to narrow your search.