THE CASINO reality series about the Golden Nugget, Las Vegas

Ever seen this series? It is about the Golden Nugget during that period when it was owned by Tim Poster and Tom Breitling, 2003 - 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBHgyQQacG0
Brings back a lot of memories. I used to stay at the Nugget constantly during this period and earlier, and know all of these guys personally, the dealers, the pit bosses, the cocktail waitresses and of course - the casino owners - who are featured in the series.

In The Casino the top high rollers depicted are staying in the Chairman's suite, but I used to stay in the largest of the Spa Tower suites. The spa tower was built by Steve Wynn and celebrities like Frank Sinatra used to stay there. The spa tower was what propelled the Nugget into the same category as some of the top properties on the Strip.

I haven't stayed at the Nugget since Landry's bought it (I'd say the peak of the Nugget's player friendliness was when Tim and Tom owned it in 2004 - this was during the period when the reality show "The Casino" was being aired), so I know nothing about the Rush Tower (2009), but as far as I know the best suites at the Nugget were always the Spa Tower or what they called the "Chairman's Suite" (they call this the Chairman's Penthouse now) located in the regular tower I believe, which the Chairman's has a hot tub out on its balcony.

I never got a chance to stay in the Chairman's Suite, but I used to stay for very long stretches in their spa tower suites. In the spa tower there are two styles of suites - the two story suites have one bedroom only, upstairs, and then down a very illustrious polished brass balustrade lined stairway is the downstairs living area which has a bar, living room with sort of a long built in couch along the wall that is lined by floor to ceiling windows, and a fairly large round dining table. There is a half bath downstairs, and then upstairs a small couch by the king sized bed, a jacuzzi and a full steam room that will fit four people. The bathroom has a bidet. All of the porcelain fixtures are black. The two story suites have two entrances, one door downstairs that opens into the living room area, and another upstairs that opens to the bedroom.

Because they are two story open design, the ceilings are very high. Floor to ceiling windows line one entire wall, and the drapes and window coverings are motor operated.

All of the two story spa tower suites overlook the pool side of the building. What many don't know is that although all of the two story spa tower suites are identical in design, the ones towards the middle of the building are larger. I always stayed in these larger two story spa suites. I considered these suites to be on par with and and comparably sized to the Renaissance suite (1980 square feet) I'd stay in at the Venetian, or the penthouses (1536 square feet) I'd stay at at the Bellagio.

I was just looking online and the two story Golden Nugget spa tower suites are currently listed as 1200 square feet but again, this might be the smaller ones that are near the ends, I recall the ones I stayed in as being larger than 1200 square feet. Also, I don't see a mention of a steam room - if the spa tower suites of today do not have a full steam room accommodating four people at once, then something has changed. Back then the design was all pastel colors wallpaper and fabric upholstery. It seems like these have been updated to more earth tones, and leather or leatherette furniture, but the glorious brass balustrades remain.

Back then the larger two story spa tower suites towards the middle were only for players. Maybe it is still this way. Cash paying non-players could pay for the smaller two story spa tower suites, but they weren't really getting the full spa tower experience.

When I stayed in the spa tower suites I could order anything we wanted from the restaurants, such as the now closed Lillie Langtry's or Stefano's, and room service would bring it to the room, and if you so specified, set it all up on the dining table along with the bread and accompaniments from the restaurant itself (versus from room service). When you ordered anything from a two story suite you'd have to specify whether they were to bring it to the downstairs door, or upstairs, and sometimes they would get it wrong and be knocking downstairs while you were up. Getting food served in your spa tower room from their restaurants was a real treat. Nowadays, for example, at the Cosmopolitan, you have to be a million dollar player in their top floor suites to get that kind of action from the Cosmo butler service. I was never anywhere near a million dollar player at the Nugget, and yet pretty much everything at the Nugget was available to me.

If you need more than one bedroom, or more privacy between the bedroom and the living area, you'd need to stay at the one story suites on the other side of the spa tower (which face towards downtown). These are more traditional separate room suites, but still very nice. I had friends stay in these single story spa tower suites, so I know their layout pretty well, but I always preferred the two story spa tower ones. When you're staying in one of the larger two story spa tower suites, it's like a private townhome a world apart from the rest of downtown.