Old Reno

Harold's Club

Harold and his father Raymond Smith ran semi-legal carnival games at San Francisco beaches and boardwalks to learn the game trade. Getting his fill of the on-off legal status of games operation in California, Harold came to Reno and fully legal gambling in 1935.

Harold Smith used a loan of $500 from his father Pappy (Raymond I.) Smith, and opened his club at 236 North Virginia Street with his brother Raymond A. They had two employees besides themselves; their wives. Raymond was involved in the business end, while Harold was the game operator, thus "Harold's Club". The apostrophe was lost from the name some years later.

Harolds Club started with two slot machines, and one vertical Roulette wheel and occupied floor space 25 feet wide by 150 feet deep. Reported gross income for the first year of operation was $25,000 which resulted in a net loss of $2,000.

By 1939 they were successful enough to have 40 people on the Club payroll, largely due to consistent advertising campaigns. Also by this time, Pappy had been asked to come help run the business with Harold and Raymond A.

Harolds Grows

In 1941, Harolds leased property next door. They now had 26 slot machines, four craps tables, on PM wheel, one poker game, two roulette wheels, and five Blackjack tables.

One unique aspect of Harolds, was that unlike other clubs, Harolds never configured the club into pits until long after the Smith era ended in 1970. Each 21 table was placed in front of a pole, and other tables were distributed about the floor. This configuration made it more difficult for the floor personnel to watch the games, as the Floor Supervisors would be called from table to table to see to customer service issues.

Also during 1941 a bar was added to the club and staff size was up to 80 people.

In the next 3 years, the club grew to a full 28 table games, and increased the slot machine count to 54. In 1945 the original vertical roulette wheel was no longer available in the house.

Expansion happened again in 1947, to the north when Harolds took over the property at 242 North Virginia and opened the Covered Wagon Room. This room had one of Nevada's first escalators, leading up to the Silver Dollar Bar.

Unlike Harrah's and the Nevada Club, Harolds Club was all about the interior attractions and unusual atmosphere. While the two other clubs featured great games and either sophisticated or casino-like atmosphere, Harolds always had a different feel. The club was always a good deal more casual with it's cowboy-type flair than Harrah's, and when the Silver Dollar Bar opened, it diverged from the gambling-centric feel of the Nevada Club. So by 1947 Harolds had established its niche as a casual gaming-plus-novelty club strongly tied to the western theme.

Just off the Roaring Camp Room at Harolds, is Fort Smith. Post card on the right is the Covered Wagon Room.
In the Fort Smith photo, you can see the Pace slot machines, music machines, and guns along the back wall.

The Covered Wagon Room

Harolds Covered Wagon Room established two things that were to always characterize the club: first it's rustic cowboy theme, and second it's flavor of novelty features such as the Silver Dollar Bar. The Silver Dollar Bar was an elaborate, curved bar with 2,141 silver dollars embedded in clear plastic as the bar top. The rail of the bar was an orange plastic and the silver dollars were backlit which gave the bartop a unique visual depth.
At the back of the bar was originally a waterfall of bourbon streaming down rocks and splashing into a pool, all surrounded by rustic scenery. The whiskey was replaced by water as the fumes made the area very unpleasant in short order.

To the left of the bar was a large wall map of Nevada featuring various historical occurrences painted at locations throughout the depiction of the state. Highways were of translucent plastic and from time to time, lights made them a red streak emanating from Reno to each historical point. Farther to the left there were two large photographic slides of Lake Tahoe, measuring 12 feet wide, going from floor to ceiling. Each was backlit to replicate the lighting change for a daily cycle of dusk to dawn, with a storm happening mid-day, ending in a brightly colored sunset. During the evening depiction, moonlight shone on the lake, and the whole cycle was repeated continually.

The carpet was woven with covered wagon designs and Harolds Club hi-way advertising.

The significance of this is that we have the first of the themed casinos that now line the Las Vegas Strip at Harolds Club in Reno.

The mural, built in 1949, consists of 220 40-inch by 48-inch porcelain enamel steel tiles. It depicts a wagon train of pioneers crossing the Great Plains and features a lighted waterfall and flickering campfire.
It adorned the outside of Harolds Club in downtown Reno until the building was torn down to make way for the Harrah’s Plaza.
The mural can now be seen on display at the Reno Livestock Center.

From 1948 to 1970, the Smith Era

With 500 on the payroll, and 210 slot machines, Harolds was the largest casino in Nevada in 1948. In 1949 Harolds bought the Virginia Hotel at 240 North Virginia Street for expansion of the second floor of the club. This second floor allowed further development of the Western Theme of the club with the acquisition and display in the Roaring Camp Room of the Raymond Stagg collection of western memorabilia such as hundreds of guns and rifles, and other various firearms, a Chinese cannon, prairie schooners, stage coaches, amusement devices, music machines, and all other sorts of items relating to the old west and early Nevada. The Stagg collection became available after his casino was ruined by disgruntled patrons who had discovered that the slot machines had been bugged, or rigged to not hit paying combinations. They destroyed the casino which had been heavily western themed as people sat on saddles at the bar and so on.

Many slot players, even those who ought to know better, are convinced that modern slot machines can be manipulated by the casino to cheat the player. While it is certainly true that each casino can employ different microchips to vary the payout percentage of their slot machines, it is not likely that any casino today would cheat the customer. They simply don't have to.

However, in the old days, unscrupulous casino and bar owners would in fact rig the slot machines so that they would not hit certain payouts, such as a jackpot. No large casino would have done this, of course, as the potential bad publicity would far outweigh any profit. But many small time operators in the 1930's and perhaps later would.

Bugs are one way an old mechanical slot would be set to cheat a player.
The old mechanical slots operated with 3 discs, one representing each reel that the player would see through the front of the machine. Each disc spun with the reels when played. Each disc had holes punched in it corresponding to the pictures on the reels. Depending on the level of payout, there would be more holes. For example, one cherry would have one hole. A plum might have two holes, and the Jackpot figure would have four holes. When the holes (and their figures) lined up, a spring loaded finger would penetrate through the holes, and move the payout slides, releasing an appropriate stack of coins.

A dishonest operator would only have to block certain holes in the discs to make the slot machine's payout finger malfunction during a payout. And of course, all machines state "malfunction voids all payouts". A simple bolt in the hole would "bug" a machine. That's one way they did it.

You can see the discs which might be 'bugged' and the spring loaded fingers to the left of the first reel.

Harolds first restaurant opened in 1955 on the third floor, and another level of gaming was offered on the 7th floor along with a bar which featured yet another novelty, a running model railroad train. It was on this floor that big-name entertainers plied their trade in what was called the Fun Room.

Between 1956 and 1962, Harolds club had almost been sold a couple of times, culminating in the actual sale of the property and buildings to a New York firm in 1962. The Smiths then leased back the casino operations, and at this time the business was split amongst the Smiths in 3 un-equal ways: 48 % to Pappy Smith, and 48% to Harold Smith, and 4% to Harold's brother Raymond. Prior to this, the club ownership had been split evenly among the three.

It was this slightly unusual ownership scheme that accounted for the demise of Harolds Club. With the lease-back and split ownership, profits were cut, and clear lines of authority didn't exist. With items of accountability split amongst so many parts, it was impossible for the club to recover from one of the owners deaths and the subsequent disarray.
Had the ownership been better formulated in a more business-like fashion, as Harrah's did, the story of Harolds Club would certainly be different.

Final expansion during this period came in 1964 when Harolds bought the Colony Club located at 254 North Virginia Street. This addition was licensed for 63 slots, one craps table, one roulette table, three blackjack games, and one Keno game.

The beginning of the end of the Smith ownership of Harolds Club came in May of 1967 when Pappy Smith died of cancer at St. Mary's hospital, at 80 years of age. At this time, Harolds Club was the largest casino in Nevada, which meant the largest in the world. Late that year Harolds added two five-dollar slot machines.

Despite the clubs success, it was difficult for the three owners to run, and even more difficult when there were only two. A significant problem was that Harold Smith ran up huge gambling bills that drained the club's profitability. They sold the club to Howard Hughes in 1970, and Jessie Beck who owned the Keno and Poker in the Club sold her lease to Hughes at the same time. Jessie Beck took her $3 million from this sale and bought the Riverside operation in 1971, giving it a new life until sold to Pick Hobson in 1978.

From 1970 to The End

For about $11 million, Howard Hughes had bought the world's largest and the first fully themed casino. While the casino manager at the time continued in his post, changes in personnel, policies and procedures took place. For the first time, table games were arranged into pits, and supervisors wives were fired to prevent collusion. Dealer's tips were now pooled rather than keep- your-own. The children's theater, a popular operation since the 1950's was turned into an amusement arcade in addition to the theater operation. Patrons' of Harolds were encouraged to leave their children there free of charge while it was theater only. The Fun Room was closed and re-opened as a prime-rib house.

In 1972 all the management shake-ups had occurred, and resulted in Phil Griffith being named controller in 1973. Griffith was later named Secretary-Treasurer of Harolds Club in 1975, and in 1979 President.

In 1977 an expansion was sought at the northeast end of the casino, and approved which included a makeover for the Prime-rib club, renamed to the Presidents Car in 1979. The four story expansion accentuated the turn-of-the-century theme. The Silver Dollar bar was closed in 1980.

In 1985 Harold Smith died as the club celebrated its 50th birthday. Smith had spent most of the time since selling the club in something approaching silent destitution and solitude. He had been living from a trust fund, having gambled away most of the money his club had made for him.

By 1985 the club had 1,525 slot machines, 61 table games, three Keno games, two restaurants, five bars, and over 1,500 employees. In 1988 the Club had been taken over by Philip Griffiths Lincoln Management Group, which was comprised partly of former Harolds Club executives. In December of 1994 Phil Griffith sold Harolds Club to Gamma International in New Jersey. This group not being able to secure funds for expansion, closed Harolds Club on March 31, 1995. Other planned sales fell through, and finally in 1999 after having been shuttered for 4 years, Harrah's purchased the club which was razed for an open plaza.

What Was Special About Smith's Harolds Club

* Casino gambling's first national and worldwide advertising campaign placing 2300 billboards featuring a covered wagon and "Harolds Club or Bust." A world map was hung in one of the casino's hallways, sprouting a veritable fur of little red pins representing the location of a Harolds Club or Bust sign.
* They introduced "mouse roulette," with a mouse released into a cage onto a circular board with numbered holes. The mouse would eventually go into one of the holes, and the number on the hole would be the winning number.
It was a true carnival-type attraction, that won much more in publicity, than it's short life on the floor would indicate.
Players found that they could make noises that made the mouse run into the nearest hole.
They also found that mice would eventually follow the scent of previous mice left in a hole, such that the game was really unmanageable and the game was removed.
* They were the first casino to hire women dealers.
* The owners regularly walked the floor, talking and joking with players. It was not uncommon for a losing player to be staked by Harolds to a meal and enough money for a bus ride home. Owners would visit tables and double bets, or "lose" 21 hands on purpose.
* A one-time loan program meant to assure patrons that no one would leave having gambled away the rent money, or other similar circumstances. A losing gambler would be able to take advantage of this "loan" once, but if found back in the casino gambling away the rent, or someone else's money, no further bail-out would be had.
* Dealers were expected to be friendly, and were encouraged to offer gamblers good advice on the games they dealt, especially if the patron was making a dumb bet. Behavior such as this would get a dealer fired at other casinos.
* 10 cent craps, and 25 cent Blackjack.
* The Smiths placed a world class western memorabilia collection on the second floor. This was a non-gambling attraction that drew many non-gamblers into the casino who then left a few coins behind. What Las Vegas casino could operate today without a non-gambling attraction?
* A small entertainment lounge on the 7th floor called the "Fun Room" which hosted top entertainers.

* The Children's theatre, the forerunner of the requisite arcade for player's children.
* Breaking all the rules of attracting and keeping the gambler as long as possible, Harolds had a clock behind the bar. Unheard of.
* A sign was placed near the escalator leading up to the bar with the gun collection meant to attract all the potential gamblers. It read
"Gambling is a game of chance. We advise you to wager no more than you can afford to lose.
The Management."
* Harolds Club was the first of the modern themed casinos. It had non-gaming attractions in the Silver Dollar bar and the gun and western collection. It had a fully Western theme down to dealer's clothing, carpeting, wall murals, photo- type attractions, and the Roaring Camp room.
* From allowing gamblers to track their roulette wheel, to Mouse games, the Smiths knew and embraced advertising promotion like no other casino.

Book cover, showing Harold Smith Sr. dealing.

The Smith's and Harolds Club

Harolds Club was owned and run by Raymond I. Smith (Pappy), his son Harold Smith, and Harold's brother Raymond A. Smith, with other family members having a variety of interests in the operations.
Up until at least the 1960's Harolds Club was the largest casino operation in the world. Bigger than anything in Vegas or Europe.
Pappy Smith was born in 1887 in Vermont, and died in May of 1967.
Harold S. Smith, for whom Harolds Club was named, was born in Denver on February 23 1910, and died in 1985.
In the 1950's and into the 1960's the Smiths were generous supporters of their community. In the days when a home sold for $3,000, the Smiths donated $100,000 or more to the Community Chest, Boy Scouts, and other charitable organizations. They funded a yearly $90,000 scholarship to high-school seniors.
The Reno Day Home, a nursery run by Catholic sisters, is a Smith philanthropy;
the local Methodist Church paid off its mortgage with $5,000 from Smith;
Mormons and members of the Church of the Nazarene have also benefited from their philanthropy.
In 1953 Harolds Club was the biggest business in Reno and the biggest gambling house in the U.S. In 1952 an average of 10,000 customers visited Harolds every day, and bet well over $100 million.
In 1953 Harolds Club grossed an estimated $15 million for a net which outsiders put at $2,000,000. Growth from 1953 in subsequent years would average over 40%, year over year.

Casino success was based more on volume than courting the high-roller clientele.
Slot machines had a payback over 97%, and Harolds employed a Statistician to make sure games and business processes were profitable. Game mix and location were sciences undertaken by Harolds Club.

Harolds Demise -- Harolds Club, the grand-daddy of them all bites the dust in the wee hours of Dec. 15, 1999. The "Bandstand" name on the front refers to Dick Clark's American Bandstand, which had occupied an upper floor of the otherwise dark property during its waning years. Completed in 1955, the Quinn Building was home to the major portions of the venerable Harolds Club, up the block in 1935. Harrah's north and west towers can be seen next door.
(Photo: Debra Reid, the Daily Sparks [Nev.] Tribune)

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Much of the information here is from "The Rise of the Biggest Little City: An Encyclopedic History of Reno Gaming 1931 - 1981" by Dwayne Kling. ISBN 087417340X, published by University of Nevada Press, 2000.

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