Downtown Mob Walk
Themed tour 20 discoveries Audio narration
Four Queens’ hotel tower, vertical sign and casino frontage on May 14, 2013.
Four Queens opened its casino on June 2, 1966, at Fremont Street and Casino Center Boulevard. Its first hotel rooms followed that summer. The project began with an eight-story hotel of 115 rooms and suites, then grew through later additions into the larger Downtown hotel seen today.
The four daughters behind the name
Founder Ben Goffstein named the property for his four daughters, linking each to a playing-card queen: Michele to spades, Benita to clubs, Faith to hearts and Hope to diamonds. The name made a family association part of the casino’s public identity. Opening promotions were extravagant, with prizes that included a house and a diamond ring; the Nevada State Museum also preserves a later giveaway of stockings.
Changes in leadership
Goffstein died the year after the opening, and partner Tom Callahan took over. A later leadership change brought Jeanne Hood to the presidency after her husband David died in 1977. The museum identifies her as one of the relatively few women then leading a Las Vegas hotel and casino.
The Elsinore era
The early 1970s brought the Elsinore corporate era. Originally part of Hyatt, Elsinore became independent in 1979 and kept its headquarters at Four Queens. UNLV’s history describes bankruptcies in 1985 and 1995 as the company struggled with wider investments and debt. The hotel’s ownership story was therefore part of a larger corporate gambling business, extending beyond Fremont Street.
TLC and a Downtown sister property
Terry Caudill agreed to buy the property in 2003. Nevada’s licensing record marks TLC Casino Enterprises and Caudill’s ownership from October 10 that year. Four Queens remains under TLC, which also owns Binion’s across Fremont Street. They are sister properties at separate sites.
Renovating the North Tower
The hotel continues to change within that established identity. In August 2025, general manager Tim Lager reported completion of a $24 million North Tower renovation. The operator now describes rebuilt rooms with new plumbing and air conditioning, expanded bathrooms and sound-dampening windows. This was a renovation of the existing hotel, continuing the long-running Four Queens name at 202 Fremont Street.
Read the full historySources and context
Nevada State Museum: Four Queens origins and its namesakes
June 2, 2021 museum account: June 2, 1966 casino opening; Ben Goffstein’s four daughters and card suits; 115-room/eight-story beginnings, promotion artifacts, Goffstein’s death, Callahan and Jeanne Hood succeeding David in 1977. Museum combines casino/hotel opening; contemporary room-opening transcription below distinguishes stages. Exact late-1960s expansion year not adopted.
Over50Vegas: transcribed contemporary 1966 Four Queens reports
August 2 and August 12, 1966 Las Vegas Sun reports transcribed in the collector’s research page: casino operating for two months, first 115 hotel rooms opening in August. Transcription read; original newspaper pages not directly inspected. Body uses summer, not an exact hotel opening day. No reuse of copyrighted scans.
UNLV: Elsinore Corporation records
Historical background, pages 3–4 (PDF indices 2–3): Hyatt subsidiary, headquarters at Four Queens, independent in 1979; 1985 and 1995 bankruptcies, 2003 proposed Caudill purchase. Early ownership year1972 differs from1973 licensing start; body uses early1970s and does not treat an agreement as a completed sale.
Nevada Gaming Control Board: Four Queens ownership record
March 3, 2015 report, PDF indices231–232: 202 Fremont Street; Elsinore ownership entry from April 1,1973 removed October 10,2003; TLC Casino Enterprises and Terry Lee Caudill added October 10,2003. Ownership/licensing dates distinguished from original1966 opening and earlier management appointments.
Four Queens: completed North Tower room renovation
Current operator page read October19,2026: newly renovated North Tower rooms, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, expanded bathrooms and sound-dampening windows. Supports completed work/current offering, not merely2024 plans. No price, availability, fee or soundproofing guarantee republished.
Four Queens general manager: North Tower work completed in 2025
August 1,2025 David Danzis reporting: indexed excerpt directly attributes completed $24million North Tower work to general manager Tim Lager. Indexed excerpt read; full-page reader returned403 and was not bypassed. Completion independently confirmed by current operator page; no wider article details adopted.
Four Queens: current operator and sister property
Operator website read October19,2026 confirms operating hotel/casino at202Fremont and TLC ownership of FourQueens/Binion’s. Common ownership/across-street position does not establish a shared historical site.
OpenStreetMap: current Four Queens building
Way206291994 version7 fullgeometry inspected October19,2026. Existingpoint36.1700567,-115.1435776 inside117×111metre mappedbuilding; name/Q1051604 matches operator202Fremontaddress. Representative current area, not original1966 outline or entrance. OSMdata ©contributors,ODbL.
Wikimedia Commons: Doug Kerr’s Four Queens photograph
Doug Kerr (Flickr Dougtone), photograph captured May 14, 2013; Flickr 8772605057. Commons review April 23, 2020 confirmed CC BY-SA 2.0. Selected Commons upright 1920×2560 rendition, 1151468 bytes; original has EXIF orientation8. Both files visually inspected; native selected bytes and dimensions verified.
June 2, 1966 is the casino opening. Transcribed contemporary reports place the first hotel rooms later that summer; no exact hotel opening day is asserted here.
Museum and archival accounts use 1972 for the early Elsinore era; the regulator records an April 1973 ownership/licensing start. These milestones are not silently collapsed into one exact acquisition date.
The retained historical 2013 photograph predates the North Tower’s later room renovation. It is a dated view, not a promise that every detail remains unchanged.
The historical photo’s raw pixel orientation differs from its displayed portrait dimensions. The selected Commons upright resized rendition and exact stored bytes are explicitly documented.
The main illustration is based on an undated user-supplied postcard and interpreted in daylight; it does not establish the current facade or access.
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