Gold Spike (formerly Gold Spike Hotel & Casino) is a bar, lounge, residential building, and former
boutique
A boutique () is a small shop that deals in fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (''apothēkē'') "storehouse".
The term ''boutique'' and also ''d ...
112-room, seven floor hotel. It is connected with the Oasis at the Gold Spike, a 50-room three floor hotel located in
downtown Las Vegas
Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the St ...
. It was owned by entrepreneur
Tony Hsieh
Anthony Hsieh ( ; December 12, 1973November 27, 2020) was an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Prior to joining Zappos, Hs ...
and his Downtown Project, having bought it from
The Siegel Group
The Siegel Group, Inc. is an American diversified company based in Paradise, Nevada and Studio City, California. It owns and operates hotels, hotel casinos, short-stay apartments, office buildings, shopping centers, and land for development.
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; and the casino was operated by
Golden Gaming
Golden Entertainment is an American gaming company based in Enterprise, Nevada that operates casinos, taverns and slot routes. It was formed in 2015 by the merger of Golden Gaming (founded in 2001 by Blake Sartini) and Lakes Entertainment. It is t ...
.
Hsieh closed the casino on April 14, 2013. After a three-week remodel, Gold Spike re-opened the casino as a restaurant and bar on May 6, 2013. The hotel portion of the building was recently converted into permanent and temporary workforce housing for Downtown Project, entrepreneurs, and Zappos; Oasis hotel is a separate building on the same property.
History
Rendezvous (1976-85)
It originally opened in 1976 as the 112-room ''Rendezvous, owned by the 76 Corporation.'' In 1983
Jackie Gaughan
John Davis Gaughan, Sr. (October 24, 1920 – March 12, 2014) was a casino owner and operator from the early 1950s in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had an ownership stake in many casinos throughout his career, but he is best known for his ownership of th ...
purchased the property after it had been closed for several months.
Gold Spike Hotel & Casino (1985-2013)
The Gold Spike, for many years, was known as an inexpensive downtown Las Vegas hotel with decent rooms, limited amenities, and a decent sized casino.
On December 6, 2002, Jackie Gaughan agreed to sell the Gold Spike and three other casinos to Barrick Gaming. This sale, along with several other downtown Las Vegas hotel/casinos, was completed in 2004, for a combined total of about $82 million.
Barrick Gaming Corp was in partnership with
The Siegel Group
The Siegel Group, Inc. is an American diversified company based in Paradise, Nevada and Studio City, California. It owns and operates hotels, hotel casinos, short-stay apartments, office buildings, shopping centers, and land for development.
Hi ...
.
The Siegel Group set out to completely renovate the property and combine it with an old and forgotten 52-room motel located next to the property. As one author wrote, the Gold Spike now has "Quartz walls, tile floors, wood accents, and new everything", making it "a very modern boutique hotel in the heart of downtown". The first floor, containing the gaming floor, the bar, and the restaurant, was completely renovated by February 2009.
By April 2010, all guest floors and the exterior of the hotel has been completely remodeled and renovated. In May 2010, the Oasis Pool opened, giving Gold Spike a swimming pool.
In April 2013, it was reported that the property's debt had been acquired by
Tony Hsieh
Anthony Hsieh ( ; December 12, 1973November 27, 2020) was an American internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He retired as the CEO of the online shoe and clothing company Zappos in August 2020 after 21 years. Prior to joining Zappos, Hs ...
's Downtown Project, a campaign to revitalize downtown Las Vegas.
Casino closure
Siegel then announced that it had sold the Gold Spike to the Downtown Project, and that the casino would close on April 14. Siegel retained rights to the Gold Spike name, and said that the company needed to dispose of smaller properties on its way to owning larger casinos on the Strip. Hsieh was reported to be considering several ideas for the property, including a boutique hotel, specialty retail space, or a club, but ruled out a casino, saying that he was "trying to help build a community". In 2014, Gold Spike reopened the former casino area as a bar and lounge with social games. Gold Spike renovated its top floor into a penthouse suite for the thirty-first season of the
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
television series '' Real World'', '' Real World: Go Big or Go Home''. This suite can now be rented by the public and it is in the Gold Spike property and not The Oasis.
Oasis at The Gold Spike
The adjacent 3-story motel was originally built in 1962 as a 57-room
Travel Inn
Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be ...
Motel. The property was abandoned, becoming a
blight
Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism.
Description
Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organ ...
between the
Fremont Street Experience
The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) is a pedestrian mall and attraction in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The FSE occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street, including the area known for years as "Glitter Gulch", and portions of some ot ...
and
Las Vegas City Hall
Las Vegas City Hall is the center of municipal government for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is located downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultura ...
. The Siegel Group purchased this property in August 2007 for $5 million and started making plans to renovate it and reopen the property. Plans were put on hold when they purchased the neighboring Gold Spike. Finally, by April 2010, the rooms had been completely renovated and renamed "The Oasis at The Gold Spike" and connected to the Gold Spike via an outdoor lounge and walkway. After a reconfiguration of the property, it was left with 50-rooms, which have been modernized and turned into bungalow suites.
The Oasis at the Gold Spike had the distinction of being the only
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
hotel with a Las Vegas Blvd. address. In May 2010, the City of Las Vegas changed the entire Gold Spike property to this address.