Harolds Club downward spiral began with the death of Raymond I.
“Pappy” Smith in 1967. A tearful Harold said he couldn’t run the
club without him. He eventually sold out to the Hughes organization
in 1970 and a series of managers attempted to run the place like a
Vegas operation. I remember they arranged the tables into a pit
formation when they had previously been lined up along the walls.
The last tenant was Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on the second
floor. They had a Silver Strike machine at the entrance and a very
narrow passageway was put through to the Nevada Club next door.
The building was demolished in 1999 and a the seven story tower
was “imploded “ but there was so much concrete in it that it just
fell over. The new building that replaced the Arch Lounge had housed
the famous gun collection on the entire second floor. PCs show
the heyday of Harolds.