Golden Gate Hotel & Casino

1 Fremont Street

Location:  Downtown

What makes it Special? Vegas’ oldest hotel

Entertainment Attraction: Two bars with no live entertainment

Number of Rooms: 122

Overview:

Founded in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada, this was Sin City’s first hotel. The Golden Gate Hotel owes its current name to its 1955 purchase by a group of San Franciscans, who redesigned it in a ‘30s art-deco style that paid homage to their home town. Recently refurbished, the hotel’s 122 rooms are stylish and surprisingly affordable, though they aren’t spacious.

A self-styled “boutique hotel”, the Golden Gate will be appreciated by guests who don’t equate quantity with quality. The hotel features only one restaurant, the 24-hour diner Du-Par’s, which offers unpretentious food, including their famous shrimp cocktail.

The Golden Gate’s approach to entertainment is as minimalist as their take on dining. There are only two bars and neither offer patrons a live show, apart from bikini-clad barmaids who dance in between serving you drinks. Like most hotels bordering the Fremont Street Experience, the Golden Gate’s management has wagered that the covered mall provides guests with ample live entertainment.

At least the Golden Gate hasn’t also decided to let neighboring hotels handle guests’ gambling needs. There is an in-house casino, though it’s small and dominated by slots, craps and blackjack in the absence of a sports book or poker room. The casino’s limited selection of table games is served by scantily-clad ‘dancing’ dealers, which serves as either an attraction or a deterrent, depending on your sensibilities.

Visitors to Vegas who are interested in seeing where it all began will enjoy the Golden Gate, though the hotel’s intimate approach to dining and entertainment – coupled with their dancing barmaids and dealers – may not be everyone’s idea of a good time.