Thanks for the link Kerry, a very worthwhile read. Wilkerson and his Hollywood Reporter were indeed important background for today's LV Strip. Lots of times when I'm explaining chip collecting I'll point out the Bugsy/Flamingo history and chip values and mention Wilkerson also. Most everyone knows the story to some extent and it helps relate to the hobby. However, Bugsy and Wilkerson may have encountered each other long before The Flamingo.

The $10 chip below is from The Clover Club on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. This chip was on the table somewhere around 1934. One of the owners of this establishment which had a lot of Hollywood patrons was Mr. Benjamin Siegel. Bugsy had "gone native" after being sent out to the west coast to ramrod the mob's racing wire service and having ownership in a Hollywood hotspot appealed to the Bugster. Who was the owner of the building after The Clover Club was busted and gone...Billy Wilkerson! He transformed it into Ciro's. You can visit The Comedy Store at this building today. Haven't run into any evidence than W.R. and Ben met up at this time but wouldn't be surprised. The neat thing about Ciro's is that Spencer Tracy could go to Wilkerson's club, get gassed, punch out someone and end up on Wilkerson's Hollywood Reporter's front page the next day!

Dreaming up The Flamingo was a natural for Wilkerson. The guy was a walking idea machine and he had a flair for designing and putting together nightclubs, resturants and the like. Before he came west he'd umm, "been in" the speakeasy business for Jimmy Walker in NYC. With the success of his Hollywood Reporter and entertainment enterprises in LA, Wilkerson was generating millions of dollars of income which he blew spectacularly gambling at California racetracks and the early Vegas gaming resorts. The Vegas visits led to his visionary Flamingo project and his gambling degeneracy led him to lose the construction money he'd borrowed and set the stage for Bugsy to take over.

Whew, how'd this get so long? I've got to go find my cat, feed him and go to work! Anyway, there's a lot of stuff that generally doesn't show up in the usual Wilkerson bios that can be pieced together from here and there. And another interesting character: Greg Bautzer. When reading Wilkerson III's The Man Who Invented Las Vegas we find Bautzer was very important to everything Wilkerson did in LA and LV. When we read Maheu's Next To Hughes we find Greg Bautzer again who was ... very important to everything Maheu and Hughes did in LA and LV! Another day, another story I guess.

And this chip... do you suppose Bugsy had it in his pocket one day or perhaps Betty Davis put it down as a blackjack wager? Come on, talk! you silly little thing!