{"id":87834,"date":"2024-11-30T22:31:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T22:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/30\/lost-vegas-the-historic-holy-cow-casino\/"},"modified":"2024-11-30T22:31:21","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T22:31:21","slug":"lost-vegas-the-historic-holy-cow-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/30\/lost-vegas-the-historic-holy-cow-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"LOST VEGAS: The Historic Holy Cow Casino"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n Posted on: November 29, 2024, 06:13h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated on: November 30, 2024, 09:39h.\n <\/p>\n

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The building that housed the Holy Cow Casino and Brewery, on the northeast corner of Sahara and the Strip, made Las Vegas history for a couple of big reasons.<\/p>\n

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Tom \u201cBig Dog\u201d Wiesner and his Holy Cow Casino, sometime after the Stratosphere opened down the street in 1996. (Images: urbanphotos.net and Inset: Neenah Joint School District)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1955, five years before the Strip was officially desegrated, the property opened as Foxy\u2019s Deli and became the first restaurant on the Strip to serve Black people. Abe \u201cFoxy\u201d Fox, its Jewish owner from New York, was an early donor to the local NAACP.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an anomaly,\u201d Claytee White, director of UNLV\u2019s Oral History Research Center, told KSNV-TV\/Las Vegas<\/em> in 2017 of Foxy\u2019s, noting that African-Americans at the time \u201ccould have some food in the kitchen area, but to go out to get a sandwich, to get something to eat, Foxy\u2019s was the only location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abe and his son, Jerry, would also deliver food to Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and other Black entertainers who stayed in trailers in back of the Sands, where they performed but weren\u2019t allowed to stay, eat, gamble or swim.<\/p>\n

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A postcard from Foxy\u2019s Deli. (Image: KSNV-TV\/Las Vegas<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The only deli in town, and open 24\/7 to cater to entertainers, Foxy\u2019s became a home away from Shecky Greene, Don Rickles and Liza Minnelli. Liberace often came in with his mother, who loved the stuffed cabbage. Songwriter Paul Williams said he wrote the songs from the 1976 movie \u201cBugsy Malone\u201d in a rear booth.<\/p>\n

In 1975, Fox sold the deli and went into real estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want the unions,\u201d Jerry Fox told KSNV.<\/em> \u201cWe had almost 50 employees. He didn\u2019t want the aggravation. Land was going good. He said \u2018the hell with it,\u2019 and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fox also owned Foxy Dog, a hot-dog joint with slot machines downtown, from 1966 to 1976.<\/p>\n

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Foxy\u2019s Firehouse Casino gets upstaged by Siegfried & Roy. (Image: Neon Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new owners of Foxy\u2019s (Donald S. Gilday, Mike V. Stober. Earl Wilson and Melvin Wolzinger) converted it to Foxy\u2019s Firehouse Casino, a slot parlor with about 100 machines and a half-sized craps table. It operated until 1988.<\/p>\n

Sacred Cow<\/h2>\n

In 1989, former NFL linebacker Tom \u201cBig Dog\u201d Wiesner sold his stake in the Marina Hotel to casino magnate Kirk Kerkorian, who incorporated the Marina into the current MGM Grand.<\/a> Wiesner used the profits to reopen Foxy\u2019s Firehouse as a new casino in 1992.<\/p>\n

Wiesner, who grew up in Wisconsin a fan of the nearby Chicago Cubs, named it Holy Cow. That was what legendary Cubs announcer Harry Carey would scream to emphasize big plays. (One of Wiesner\u2019s childhood dreams was realized the day Carey signed a wall inside with his signature phrase.)<\/p>\n

Wiesner had a 14-foot-tall fiberglass Holstein built and installed on the casino\u2019s roof. She wore sunglasses and was encircled by a neon rainbow. He named her Alphie.<\/p>\n

A year after opening, the Holy Cow made its own history by opening the first legal brewery in Nevada.<\/p>\n

At the time, the Silver State followed a three-tiered system for liquor sales, an archaic law established at the end of Prohibition in 1933. The law required producers of beer to sell their products only to wholesalers, who would then sell to retailers. They couldn\u2019t sell directly to consumers.<\/p>\n

Wiesner, who had served as a Clark County Commissioner from 1970 to 1978, helped lobby for the 1993 state law that allowed him to add the brewpub.<\/p>\n

Udder Disappointment<\/h2>\n

The Holy Cow was successful for nearly a decade, but was forced to close in March 2002. Sadly, it was a victim of the decline in tourism post 9\/11. Only three months later, Wiesner died of leukemia.<\/p>\n

In 2003, the brewery changed its name to Big Dog\u2019s Draft House, in honor of Wiesner\u2019s nickname, and moved to its current location in northwest Las Vegas. Austrian developer Victor Altomare purchased the former Holy Cow site for $1 million in 2004.<\/p>\n

A year later, Altomare reopened the building (briefly) for use as a sales office for The Summit. The $700 million condo project he planned was to have been the tallest habitable residential building west of the Mississippi at 923 feet.<\/p>\n

Altomare renamed it Ivana Las Vegas in 2005, thinking that the involvement of Donald Trump\u2019s ex-wife would stoke more investment.<\/p>\n

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The short-lived Ivana Las Vegas occupies the Holy Cow with visions of a skyscraper that would never be. (Image: flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It didn\u2019t, and the former Holy Cow building sat idle for seven more years. Altomare sold the land for $47 million to Aspen Highlands, a company owned by Arizona real estate developer Steven Johnson, in September 2007.<\/p>\n

Five years later, Aspen Highlands demolished the former Holy Cow to build the two-story Walgreens that stands there today.<\/p>\n

Cow Comes Home<\/h2>\n

Fortunately, Alphie escaped the wrecking ball. The Holy Cow\u2019s longtime roof mascot was sold for $2,200 to Jim Marsh, a Las Vegas casino and car dealership owner who put the cow out to pasture. Alphie now stands sentry just outside the parking lot of Marsh\u2019s Longstreet Inn and Casino, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas on the California state line in Amargosa Valley.<\/p>\n

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Alphie in her new home. (Image: YouTube\/Wonderhussy Adventures)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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