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Las Vegas day 187 
() For those who want to dig a little deeper, I asked Chat GPT to create a profile of Red Rooster with its history, links to pictures, etc. For reference the below was generated in about 4-5 minutes.
Ironically one of the references it cites is a CCA article by.....Pam G!
Here is the result, happy digging!
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RED ROOSTER NIGHT CLUB, LAS VEGAS
Historical profile • Research completed October 5, 2026
This profile covers the historic Red Rooster that later operated as Grace Hayes Lodge. It brings together the available historical accounts, oral histories, photographs and archival descriptions. Unresolved ownership and date questions are identified rather than presented as settled facts.
Location and original address
Original address, as supplied for this profile:
3201 S. 5th St.
Las Vegas
South Fifth Street is today named Las Vegas Boulevard. This location is on the stretch commonly called “the Strip.” The road was also known as U.S. Highway 91, “Hiway 91,” and the “L.A. Highway” or Los Angeles Highway. The historic club was south of downtown, not a Fremont Street nightclub. The old Fifth Street address should therefore not be interpreted as placing it in today’s downtown district.
The collector history below identifies the later address as 3201 Las Vegas Boulevard South. A contemporary June 1942 telephone directory independently lists the business on “LA Hwy,” telephone 1177. I did not locate an original document displaying the exact Fifth Street address supplied above.
https://www.ccgtcc-ccn.com/As%20Time%20Goes%20By%201.pdf
https://over50vegas.com/1942_Las_Vegas_Telephone_Classifieds.html
UNLV places the later Grace Hayes Lodge near the former Mirage’s southern entrance. References to the Mirage in historical sources are location markers; they do not mean that the original nightclub survived into the Mirage era.
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/f18s9x
Opening and early purpose
Historian Robert Stoldal dates the opening to November 26, 1930, under Alice “Ma” Morris. The club offered dining and dancing to a community about to grow rapidly with the Boulder/Hoover Dam project. It predates the large hotel-casinos that later defined the Strip. Stoldal records all-girl bands, dance marathons and a promotional appearance involving a blindfolded race-car driver.
https://knpr.org/magazine-desert-companion/2014-08-01/ace-of-clubs
Some summaries give 1931 as the opening year, apparently merging the nightclub’s beginning with its licensed gambling phase. For this profile, November 1930 is the better-supported nightclub opening; 1931 marks the introduction of licensed gaming.
Owners, lessees and operators
The distinction matters: a person running the club or its games was not necessarily the owner of the land. Available sources do not establish a complete deed-by-deed ownership chain.
Alice Wilson “Ma” Morris and George Morris: the founding operators in 1930. Alice was the principal proprietor identified in historical accounts. George is identified with her in the newspaper-based timeline below.
Morris “Moe” Goldie: the gambling operator in 1931. Stoldal describes an arrangement with Alice Morris to establish gaming and share its profits. This is evidence of an operating partnership, not proof that Goldie owned the real estate.
https://knpr.org/magazine-desert-companion/2014-08-01/ace-of-clubs
Later operators recorded by Vintage Las Vegas: D. S. Nickolich, possibly a lessee in 1940; W. Butterly, possibly a lessee in 1942; W. “Woody” Cole, buyer or lessee by December 1945. The archive identifies Claudy Smith in a November 24, 1930 newspaper notice. It dates the first Grace Hayes Lodge naming to early 1947, following a late-1946 purchase or lease, and finds Woody Cole’s Red Rooster name again later in 1947. These entries preserve uncertainty about sale versus lease.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/767990614838165504/1934
Grace Hayes: Clark County’s biography identifies her purchase in 1947 and the renaming to Grace Hayes Lodge. Hayes was an experienced singer, actor and nightclub proprietor, with Broadway, radio and film work; she had previously owned a club of the same name in Los Angeles. She performed at Las Vegas resorts before becoming a local club owner. Poor health eventually contributed to her giving up the nightclub.
Willie Martello: associated with the club in 1949. A September 1949 photograph is captioned as his Red Rooster. Casino.org describes him taking over a lease and restoring the familiar name. Calling him an operator or lessee is safer than assuming that this transaction conveyed all of the land.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/168455165654/red-rooster-1949
https://www.casino.org/news/remembering-the-las-vegas-strips-founding-mother/
Grace Hayes remained associated with the property after other operators and names intervened. The available evidence does not support a simple, uninterrupted 1947–1957 management tenure.
Interior and exterior appearance
The collector history describes a single-story building with a stage accommodating a singer and orchestra, a dance floor and a restaurant. It was a relatively small supper-and-dancing venue, rather than a vast casino showroom. In their 1978 oral history, John and Mabel Dillingham remembered a little dance floor and live weekend music. Helen Early’s 1979 interview similarly remembered a small nightclub and bar, then considered far out in the country.
https://www.ccgtcc-ccn.com/As%20Time%20Goes%20By%201.pdf
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/d1br8mr4t
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/d1zk55w5f
The building’s appearance changed. Vintage Las Vegas describes the old structure as Mission style. During the Patio period, a façade with pillars and gates concealed that older building. A roadside rooster sign survived into the early Grace Hayes Lodge period. Exterior photographs from different decades should not be treated as showing one unchanged façade.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/185408932439/1954
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/150616433659/early-neon-on-the-las-vegas-strip-1947-grace
I could not establish the original seating capacity, precise floor plan, wall colors, upholstery, lighting fixtures or arrangement of the bar. The surviving descriptions support the features above, but not a detailed reconstruction of the décor.
Entertainment, food and clientele
The documented entertainment combined live singers and instrumental music, social dancing, all-girl bands, dance marathons and occasional publicity stunts. Claudy Smith is an early named entertainer in the newspaper-based timeline; the retrieved sources do not provide a complete performer roster or specify that act’s format. Weekend live music is independently remembered in the Dillingham interview.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/767990614838165504/1934
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/d1br8mr4t
Casino.org reports early chicken dinners at $1. In its Grace Hayes period the venue attracted prominent patrons: the same article cites Hayes’s 1981 recollection that Howard Hughes visited at least three times weekly. These are retrospective accounts, not a complete menu or attendance register. Hayes’s professional background should not be mistaken for proof that every famous entertainer associated with her performed at this particular club.
https://www.casino.org/news/remembering-the-las-vegas-strips-founding-mother/
Did it have gambling?
Yes. In spring 1931 it was licensed for one blackjack/21 table and three slot machines. It is widely described as the first licensed gambling establishment on the future Strip. That is different from being the first licensed casino anywhere in Las Vegas or Nevada.
The collector history dates the license to April 1, 1931. The Mob Museum’s overview places the Red Rooster among eight businesses licensed by the county on April 2. The precise day is inconsistent across these accounts; the equipment and spring-1931 gaming operation are well supported.
https://www.ccgtcc-ccn.com/As%20Time%20Goes%20By%201.pdf
https://themobmuseum.org/blog/nevada-marks-90th-anniversary-of-legal-gambling/
Nevada’s legalization of gambling did not end federal Prohibition. Stoldal dates a liquor raid to May 18, 1931, followed by convictions, probation and a $500 fine. In July the county refused to renew Goldie’s gaming license because of the liquor-law violation. The collector account instead places the raid in July, so the raid and licensing action should not be casually assigned the same date.
The club later received a dance-hall license and, after repeal of Prohibition, permission to serve beer. I found no continuous later gaming-license record sufficient to claim that it operated as a casino throughout its remaining life, or that its later names had the same table-game operation.
https://knpr.org/magazine-desert-companion/2014-08-01/ace-of-clubs
Fire, later names and closure
The club burned in July 1933 and reopened December 30, 1933. Its identity subsequently shifted between Red Rooster and Grace Hayes Lodge. The newspaper-based timeline records a move back from the highway during road widening in 1952, the Hi Ho Club name in 1953 and the Patio reopening in 1954. It returned to Grace Hayes Lodge later that year.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/767990614838165504/1934
The later Lodge closed in 1957. Standard Oil demolished the club in 1959 and built a service station on leased frontage. Hayes continued to live in a ranch house behind it. Peter Lind Hayes’s account, reproduced by Vintage Las Vegas, dates Steve Wynn’s acquisition of her home and gas station to 1987 and reports a price exceeding $2 million.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/102101055349/1956
The adjoining Sans Souci and later Castaways belong to the broader site’s history. They should not be described as proof that the original Red Rooster building remained intact under those casino names.
Photograph links: outside, signs and people
1. Red Rooster, 1934. Alice W. Morris appears at right; the man is unidentified in the archive caption. Credit: Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. The page also provides the newspaper-based chronology.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/767990614838165504/1934
2. Red Rooster promotional photograph, circa 1946. Caption identifies Woody Cole at far right and the rooster sign behind the group. Source: Nevada Life magazine, June 1946.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/101759138059/1946
3. Grace Hayes Lodge exterior, approximately 1940–1949. UNLV digital ID pho030391, physical identifier 0292_0207. The catalog provides a high-resolution TIFF download.
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/d1t43jd76
4. Early neon, January 1947. Jon Brenneis photographs for LIFE show the Lodge and its inherited Red Rooster sign.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/150616433659/early-neon-on-the-las-vegas-strip-1947-grace
5. Red Rooster, September 1949. Photograph associated with Willie Martello’s operation; credited to Sharon Richardson via Andy Martello.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/168455165654/red-rooster-1949
6. The Patio, grand opening May 4, 1954. Useful for the remodeled façade. Credit: Ned V. Bearden Sr. Photograph Collection, UNLV.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/185408932439/1954
7. Grace Hayes Lodge, circa 1956. Later façade and an account of the closure and property sale.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/post/102101055349/1956
8. Combined photograph index for the Red Rooster and Grace Hayes Lodge, including wider Strip views.
https://vintagelasvegas.com/tagged/Red%20Rooster
Interior photograph: located in an archive, not verified as an online image
UNLV’s Grace Hayes Photograph Collection, PH-00292, explicitly states that it contains a photograph of a performance inside the Grace Hayes Lodge. This is the strongest interior-picture lead found. I located the collection record, but not a separately identified, publicly viewable scan of that photograph. The links below are collection descriptions, not direct interior image links.
https://special.library.unlv.edu/ark:/62930/f18s9x
https://special.library.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/finding-aids/PH-00292.pdf
Source conflicts and remaining gaps
The UNLV collection biography says Hayes sold the property to Wynn in 1960. That conflicts with the 1987 acquisition described in her son’s account and the other histories, and should not be repeated as settled chronology. Its archival inventory is nevertheless valuable: the Grace Hayes Papers, MS-00271, list a Standard Oil plat map, lease and correspondence (box 4, folder 17); Lodge inventory and licenses (box 4, folder 20); and a 1954 past-due letter to the Patio Company (box 4, folder 23). These descriptions were consulted; the underlying documents were not examined.
https://special.library.unlv.edu/sites/default/files/finding-aids/MS-00271.pdf
A definitive ownership chain, complete performer list, exact interior layout and all later gaming permissions would require examining the underlying deeds, licenses, business papers and newspaper issues. This profile represents the supported findings available from the sources linked here. It does not merge this historic club with the later Las Vegas swingers club or other unrelated Red Rooster businesses
Las Vegas day 187
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