Ely is one of my favorite small towns having first visited in 1969.
I remember talking to a guy who lived in the hotel at nearby
Rieptown which is now gone. The PC showing girls at the Pastime
brothel is from there. The Nevada Hotel dates to 1929 (see photo).
Bud Simpson ran the Bank Club and is said to have buried 15
million dollars in the deserts around Ely. I knew his widow, Pinky,
who had the old Mustang Club. She ran a Pan game that used
10 cent and $2 chips that were nearly impossible to get. The
Northern Hotel was built by famous boxing promoter Tex Rickard
and burned in 1964. I got Northern Lounge chips from Louis Dotson
in Wendover whose father ran the games there. I remember
hanging around the Pit bar all afternoon waiting for a guy to get
me a set of the chips out of the basement. Fun times for sure.