GOLDEN NUGGET — Oldest Vegas Casino 80 Years

🎰 80 Years on Fremont Street. The Oldest Casino in Vegas.

A corrupt cop on the run built Vegas' largest casino — and accidentally created an American icon.

In August 1946, Guy McAfee — former LAPD Vice Squad captain, crime syndicate operative, and the man who coined the term "The Strip" — opened the Golden Nugget with $1 million. It was the largest gambling house in Las Vegas, four months BEFORE Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo.

79 years later, it's still glowing on Fremont Street. The Golden Nugget isn't nostalgia — it's proof that America's most authentic art was never in museums. It was selling you a dream from the desert highway.

🚔 The Dirty Cop Who Built a Dream

GUY McAFEE (1888-1960)
While heading the LAPD Vice Squad in the 1920s-30s, McAfee simultaneously ran illegal gambling houses, saloons, and brothels. He owned the Clover Club on Sunset Boulevard — Hollywood's hottest speakeasy.

When reform mayor Fletcher Bowron cracked down in 1938, McAfee fled to Nevada with his fortune. He named Highway 91 "The Strip" — after LA's Sunset Strip.

The man who invented Vegas was running from the law.

📚 "Learning from Las Vegas" — The Decorated Shed

In 1972, architects Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi published Learning from Las Vegas. The Golden Nugget's 1956 wrap-around design became their textbook example of the "decorated shed" — a building where signage IS the architecture.

The Golden Nugget proved that commercial vernacular was worthy of serious study. Pop Art for architecture.

⏳ The Evolution of an Icon

• 1946 — Guy McAfee opens Golden Nugget ($1 million investment)
• 1950 — Hermon Boernge (YESCO) designs "gilded age gingerbread" sign
• 1956 — Kermit Wayne's iconic wrap-around neon spectacular
• 1972 — Steve Wynn (age 30) buys controlling stake
• 1982 — Wynn convinces Frank Sinatra to perform downtown
• Today — Still operating, 79 years later

📊 The Numbers

• August 30, 1946 — Opening day
• 79 years still operating
• $1 million — McAfee's original investment
• 4 months — Before Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo
• Only 3 — Neon benders left at YESCO

📊 EDITION STRUCTURE

After Early Access, remaining editions will be available exclusively through international gallery partners at gallery prices (+50-60%).

🖼️  Museum-Quality Mounting

• Archival pigment print on museum-grade photographic paper
• Face-mounted to optical acrylic with aluminum composite backing
  
• Professional hanging system included
• Strictly limited edition, signed and numbered by the artist
• Certificate of Authenticity included
• Produced by certified fine art laboratories
• Production time: 7-12 business days

🤝 Social Impact

10-15% of each sale supports The Neon Museum Las Vegas Sign Conservation Fund — preserving endangered neon craftsmanship for future generations.

📜 Certificate of Authenticity

Each artwork includes:

• Numbered certificate signed by the artist
• Historical documentation: Guy McAfee, YESCO designers, Learning from Las Vegas legacy
• Edition number and total (e.g., 3/30)

Photographs from The Neon Museum, Las Vegas collection.