Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Old Vegas sighting

Well, finally, an ‘old Vegas’ sighting. Last Sunday we took our daughter and husband to the Golden Steer restaurant to celebrate their anniversary (yes, we took E along). We first visited the Golden Steer a few months ago, and I thought it looked like an old Las Vegas style restaurant. It is filled with red leather booths and some tables, and staffed by waiters that have worked there for twenty or thirty years. The Maître de was proud to point out the booths that Elvis and the Rat Pack liked, along with describing a number of celebrities that kept coming back.

My wife had the filet again, and I tried the prime rib – both were very good. Our daughter had some baked salmon, which E shared, which was reported as being quite fine as well. There was an assortment of desserts, with E going for the chocolate cake (with icing), all of which disappeared quite quickly.

The restaurant was almost empty- there was only one other table occupied, so we were wondering about the health of the restaurant, but hoped the small crowd was due to the holiday crowds staying home. As we were about to leave our waiter asked if we wanted to meet someone that had just came in – Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. The waiter said they had been regulars for quite a while. I recognized the names but it took me a second to think of who they were. Steve and Eydie were regulars on a variety of entertainment programs back in the early ‘60s, and had a Vegas lounge act back then as well. (look, I said old Vegas, who did you expect at a place like this, Justin Beiber?)

The waiter pulled us over to meet them as we were leaving, so I said hello and talked for a while. They were with another woman that was very friendly, and as we left the waiter said she was Lorraine Hunt, Nevada’s lieutenant governor who is also the owner of the Bootlegger Bistro, another old Vegas hangout (also on my list to go to). I had to look them up on Wiki when I came home, yes, Steve and Eydie married in Las Vegas in 1957 – over fifty years together, which in itself is pretty good. No major records together, but back in 1963 Eydie had a hit with this one


About the same time Steve had


So –probably not even familiar names to most of you, but hey, at least now I can say I did meet somebody famous on my Vegas travels.

5 comments:

will said...

It's kinda sad ... but expected ... old places cannot compete with the bigger, brighter (and not necessarily better) "new".

Steve and Eydie ... definitely symbols of old Las Vegas and variety show TV.

Steve Skinner said...

Boy, I must be older than dirt because I knew right away who you were talking about!

Rob said...

I not only remember Eydie Gorme, I did a post on BIOTBN just a few weeks ago. I am SO jealous of you for getting to meet her!

That Janie Girl said...

How cool is that? I remember them from TV when I was a youngster - they were some of my mom's favorites!

We'll have to go to that restaurant when we next come to the Vegas town!

Thanks for coming by my blog!

carmilevy said...

My parents were huge fans, and as such Steve and Eydie were commonly known in our family. Great talent, and great people, clearly.

I like how you shed light on a city we don't often see. Sure, we see the glitz of the strip because that's the image Vegas wants to present to the world. You show us so much more, and I think that's neat.