Searchlight, Nevada and The King of Casinos

Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Searchlight, Nevada. It’s a small town with a rich history that makes it worth exploring. It’s an unincorporated town, 13 miles square, somehow holding 500 hearty souls. Ah, well, it’s a dot, that’s all.

Really, if you are accidentally in Needles or Blyth, California, you might drift off towards US 95, but more likely, you already found Laughlin and did some gambling. That’s cool, but if Las Vegas calls, you need to backtrack to US 95 and take a 100-mile trip that passes nothing but sand, sage, and other cars. This is, unless you miss the stoplight in Searchlight. Bummer.

As you pass through town, you’ll notice the Searchlight Nugget just closed after 40 years. This reflects Searchlight’s rich history. The town once hosted the famous Willie Martello’s El Rey Club and Bordello, which opened in 1946 and closed after a fire in 1962, adding to its intriguing past.

Along the way, Willie tried his best to grow the club and make a dream in the desert come true, no matter the cost or the consequences. By that, I mean sure, there were prostitutes, and yes, he did get his gambling license revoked, but that happens to all small club owners, right? Maybe not.

At any rate, while Willie wasn’t the man who actually started the club, he made it the King of Casinos in Searchlight. To discover more about Willie, check out Andy Martello’s book, The King of Casinos, which has 64 reviews on Amazon with 95% 5-star ratings-an impressive testament to its quality.

Believe me, this is a great read. Don’t just take my word-check out the 64 reviews on Amazon, with 95% giving 5 stars. Andy’s story about Searchlight and Willie Martello is truly captivating and worth exploring.

Thanks for reading – Al W Moe