Harold's Club casino was established in 1935 by Harold S. Smith Sr. (1910–1985) and his brother, Raymond A. Smith. Soon afterwards, their father, Raymond I. ("Pappy") Smith (1887–1967), was appointed general manager and became the public face of the casino. The casino expanded by buying adjacent Virginia Street properties. Harold's Club constructed a seven-story building as part of the casino, but never had a hotel on the property. Pappy Smith developed a marketing campaign that made the casino famous, using more than two thousand billboards across the United States advertising "Harold's Club or Bust", often written on a
Conestoga wagon. (By the 1970s, most of the billboards had been taken down because of the
Highway Beautification Act.) Harold's Club was sold to
Howard Hughes's
Summa Corporation in 1970 for $11.5 million. In December 1994, the casino was sold to Gamma International Ltd. and closed three months later. The casino was then sold to
Harrah's Reno in 1999 and demolished. The property is now an outdoor plaza for concerts and special events. The casino building had an
American Bandstand restaurant and nightclub for 8 years during the 1990s. Harold's Club was the target of a casino heist in the 1955 feature film
5 Against the House. A large mural of Old West pioneer settlers that was in front of the casino is now on display at the Reno Livestock Events Center, about from the old casino location. The mural was designed by Theodore McFallon and constructed by
Sargent Claude Johnson. ==References==