Saturday, April 03, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
JANE ANN MORRISON: Horseshoe customers hope new owners have some of Benny Binion's touch
When Binion's Horseshoe reopened Thursday, and thousands of people poured in looking for their memories and $1 beer, some visitors scurried to a spot toward the back of the casino.
"I think it was right here," a puzzled man told his friends, looking at an empty area near the garage entrance.
He wanted his picture taken in front of the $1 million display, 100 $10,000 bills framed by a horseshoe, which for 40 years had been a photo opportunity unique to Binion's.
But that display isn't coming back. The rare $10,000 bills were sold by Benny Binion's daughter to a collector late in 1999 for a price described only as "less than $10 million."
When Becky Behnen eliminated the free photos just after Christmas in 1998, it was one of the early signs that money was tight. When she sold the collection a year later, another red flag popped up. But it took until Jan. 9 for the Horseshoe to be involuntarily closed because Behnen was drowning in debt.
Tom Moilanen had been one of the photographers between 1994 and 1998. Playful and outgoing, he agreed Thursday to visit the casino on the first day it was open under the management of Harrah's Entertainment.
"Well, it's smoky as usual," Moilanen laughed.
The customers looked the same, and many were the same.
Some hobbled in on canes, and the ambulatory ones dodged plenty of wheelchairs and tried not to cut off anyone's oxygen tank lines. This was not a crowd transplanted from the Palms or the Bellagio and few qualified as hotties, but they were true gamblers, packing the slots, the blackjack tables and the poker room.
There were small differences Moilanen noticed, bright areas of carpet where banks of slot machines had been removed showing less worn areas of the original carpet of a golden horseshoe with red roses. (Martha Stewart was not consulted.)
But he saw many of the same dealers, bartenders and cocktail waitresses. And yes, those over-50 cocktail waitresses were hired back, despite their earlier fears that their age would work against them.
"The 'Shoe had the reputation for having some of the oldest cocktail waitresses in town," Moilanen laughed.
The famous $2 steak dinner wasn't being advertised, but a $1.95 breakfast was. So was an $8.95 steak and lobster dinner at the coffee shop.
The Steak House atop the old Mint tower still has great beef and a stirring view of the city. Where else does a woman feel comfortable wearing a white cowboy hat to an upscale dinner when it's not National Finals Rodeo time?
Moilanen loved his years at the Horseshoe and has no bitterness.
"I had a ball here. I can't say a bad thing about it. I just had a blast," he said. "I would love to shoot eight hours worth of photos right now. As casinos go, it was the best in town."
He and co-worker Lucy Bianchi had laughed at and with the 400 people a day who posed and postured for their free souvenir.
Yet, much like the Binion's Horseshoe property has moved on, so has he.
Moilanen, 42, went to college after he lost his job, studying communications at UNLV. He bought Price Video from the retiring owners and is now working toward his master's degree with plans to teach. He writes a video preview column for the Las Vegas Bugle called "Peeping with Tom."
Benny Binion, who started his casino in 1951 and died in 1989, had a number of secrets, but one of his secrets of success was that he "not only took care of the big bettors, he took care of the nickel players," Moilanen said.
Binion's daughter lost their loyalty when she took away the comps players big and small felt they deserved. Even the loss of the free photos made people grumble.
"I hope they make it," Moilanen said about the new ownership and management.
So does Tom Hilbing of Quincy, Ill., who pointed to the table where he played his first game of blackjack in 1972. He was just 23 and didn't know exactly what he was doing. When he was done playing, Benny Binion came over and told him he could go get a free steak dinner at the coffee shop, making him a customer for life.
Like the rest of us, Hilbing was there chasing memories and hoping for the property's success.
Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at
jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.
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