The El Dorado Hotel originally was built on the site of the
Humboldt Hotel. It opened in 1912 and enlarged in 1917.
It boasted steam heat and burned in 1918. The Humboldt
opened in 1923 and housed a casino, restaurant, shops,
bus station and bank. It was destroyed by fire in 1975.
I remember staying here for $6 a night and eating in the
grade C restaurant. Once I asked the owner, Gus Knezevich,
about obsolete chips. He was kind of crabby but went in the
basement and got me two old fives. He charged me $10. I
remember he drove a yellow Cadillac with license plates KNEZ.
Carson City coin dealer Frank Roza had all the chips in a large
cardboard box. I always wondered what happened to them.