Of all the various Boyd Corporation properties in Las Vegas, which include Sam's Town , the Stardust , and the Fremont , the California Hotel probably has the lowest profile. Stretching between Main and First streets a block north of Fremont Street, and connected by a mezzanine-level footbridge with the neighboring Main Street Station - also Boyd-owned - it was, however, the first member of the group.
Sam Boyd, who had previously managed the now-vanished Mint on Fremont Street and held a stake in the Plaza , constructed the California in 1975. He named it in the understandable belief that most of its clientele would be Californian, but after initial occupancy levels proved disappointing he turned his attention to Hawaii, where he had spent five years running bingo games in his youth. Amazingly enough, sixty years on from that sojourn in paradise, the casino remains dominated by Hawaiian customers. It advertises itself with the slogan "whether you are from Hawaii or just homesick for her aloha spirit," and the majority of its eight hundred guestrooms tend to be taken by Hawaiian tour groups. Hawaiian menu items are prominent in the bars and restaurants, and there are even slot machines labeled in Hawaiian. All that makes for quite a pleasant atmosphere, though there's no real reason for non-guests to pass this way.
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