The oldest hotel in Las Vegas reached a rare milestone this week, as the Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, which opened on January 13, 1906, as the Hotel Nevada, celebrated its 120th anniversary.
Friday night’s anniversary party in downtown Las Vegas will feature giveaways, free birthday photos and commemorative items, all to celebrate the Golden Gate’s place as the city’s first permanent hotel.
“This is, literally, the birthplace of hotel tourism and casino as we know it today in Las Vegas,” Jeff Victor, vice president of operations for Circa Hospitality Group, said Thursday morning.
Even as the property has expanded, the Golden Gate still bears physical imprints of its earliest days. Victor noted the building’s original footprint at the corner of Fremont and Main streets, evidence of which is still visible today in seven narrow windows on the second floor along Fremont Street and 11 more on the Main Street side.
These windows once belonged to the earliest guest rooms, including “Original 10,” which remains part of the hotel’s room inventory.
Much of the property’s preserved history came into focus after the 2006 purchase by brothers Derek and Greg Stevens, who now operate the Golden Gate along with The D and Circa hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas.
Derek Stevens said one of the reasons he and his brother bought the Golden Gate was that “no one else would be able to copy it,” an unusual advantage in a city built on imitation and reinvention.
“From a product and brand differentiation perspective, (we thought) if this worked well, this was a good launch pad for us coming to Las Vegas,” he said.
The age of the Golden Gate shows itself in surprising ways. After the 2006 acquisition, construction crews revealed a small hidden kitchen space on the Main Street side. Evidence of the kitchen, which was among the first additions to the original hotel, remains today in the form of several aesthetically pleasing arches and exposed brick on display.
“The fact that (the Golden Gate) still exists is part miracle, I guess,” Victor said. “When you think about all the souls that have passed through here and all the things that this building has seen, and to have it reveal itself in little bits here and there again, is terribly exciting.”
Elsewhere, today’s electronic gaming pit was once an open-air courtyard that hotel guests could look down into. When it eventually closed, the casino’s earliest “eye in the sky” was simply a worker lying prone on a rolling mattress and peering through a glass pane to monitor the action below.
The Golden Gate is also significant in Las Vegas’ neon history. As the Hotel Nevada, it was home to the second downtown neon sign, behind only the long-demolished Overland Hotel.
Even as it leans into its past, Golden Gate hasn’t shied away from operational changes.
The casino is where Stevens first introduced the concept of dancing dealers, a feature that has since become a signature element of The D and Circa.
Last year, Golden Gate removed all live dealer table games and replaced them with electronic table games across the pit. The shift reflects broader customer preferences, Stevens said at the time of the change.
In addition, Golden Gate recently launched a nightly “Night Starts Here” promotion, which features a daily happy hour offering free bar drinks from 6 to 7 p.m. to kick-start the evening crowd.
To mark the 120th anniversary, the Golden Gate will celebrate on Friday beginning at 6 p.m.
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@ theplayerlounge.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.
