We’ve all heard the stories about Frank Sinatra, the Mafia, the secret tunnels, JFK and Marilyn Monroe, as well as the glamour and glitz of the Cal-Neva Casino on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. It all sounds like fantasy and legend, but many of the stories are true. Tahoe was a place for the rich, famous, and infamous in those days and they flocked to North Lake Tahoe’s Cal-Neva Lodge, “The Lady of the Lake”, from all over the world in droves.
The Cal-Neva Lodge was built in 1926 by a rich San Francisco businessman who simply used it to entertain friends and guests. In the 1930s, the lodge was sold to new owners who were able to obtain a Nevada gaming permit. The lodge instantly became a hit with the rich and famous of the 1930s right until the place burned down in 1937. Somehow, they rebuilt the lodge using 500 workers in only 30 days.
Not long before burning down, in 1935, an 11-year-old girl named Frances Gumm performed at the Cal Neva, was discovered and signed by an MGM agent. Frances Gumm changed her named to Judy Garland and became one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th century.
The Cal-Neva Lodge became a hit with big gamblers and mafia types in the 1940s and 50s. The owner of Cal-Neva in the 50s was a good friend of JFK’s father, Joseph Kennedy and the Kennedys were known to frequent the Cal-Neva throughout the 50s and into the 60s.
In 1960, Frank Sinatra bought the Cal-Neva and was determined to turn the place into a world-class casino/resort. Sinatra had an immaculate concert hall built along with a helicopter pad and secret tunnels between the showroom and bungalows behind the hotel on the lake.
The secret tunnels were carpeted and lined with brick. Celebrities and Sinatra himself could easily travel to and fro without being detected by fans, paparazzi, and media. Entrances to the tunnel were in Sinatra’s office, at the heliport, and a closet of one of the lakeside bungalows.
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. all performed at Cal-Neva during Sinatra’s tenure as owner. They also vacationed there and invited their celebrity friends such as Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Will Rogers, Peter Lawford (brother in law of JFK) and more to join them.
Did JFK hook up with Marilyn Monroe at the Cal-Neva as legend would have it? Maybe…
Sinatra’s close friendship with movie star Peter Lawford, the brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy, inspired rumors of furtive exploits in Tahoe by JFK and his younger brother Robert. Legend has it that whenever Jack or Bobby were visiting Sacramento, Sinatra would send his private helicopter for them. One especially juicy nugget suggests that the blonde “sex goddess” Marilyn Monroe and JFK once made love in the Cal Neva tunnel, but a little fact-checking suggests the alleged tryst probably never happened. – TheStormKing.com
Sadly, Marilyn spent her last weekend alive at the Cal-Neva before dying of an overdose in Los Angeles in 1962.
Sinatra’s Cal-Neva was booming after his remodel and parade of celebrities in the early 1960s. By 1963 the Cal-Neva had grown to include 11 cottages and 55 rooms. Sinatra’s only problem was his affinity for the unsavory characters of the 1960s mafia. Sam Gianaca was a friend of Sinatra’s and was discovered by authorities in the Cal-Neva in August 1963. At the time Sam was the top head mob boss of the Chicago mafia, Al Capone’s successor, was suspected to have ordered the murder of over 200 men, had been arrested over 70 times and was referred to as “The Godfather” of the American Mafia.
Upon discovering Sam Gianaca in the Cal-Neva in 1963, the Nevada Gaming Control Board revoked Sinatra’s gaming license and began pressuring him into selling the casino. The pressure became so great that Sinatra gave in and agreed to sell the Cal-Neva on October 7th, 1963 effectively ending the golden age of North Lake Tahoe gambling and entertainment.
The Cal-Neva has changed hands many times and has seen many hard times since those golden days. It was shut down due to lousy business in 2010 but was fortunately renovated in 2013. The Cal-Neva is now a 219-room, 10-story hotel with a 6,000-square-foot casino. The goal of the new renovation was, of course, to try to return the Cal-Neva to that golden era that Frank Sinatra created.
“Our goal is to bring it back to its former glory and to make it what it was like in Sinatra’s day. It has such great soul and character, and it’s needed this redo for many decades.” – Robert Radovan co-owner of Criswell-Radovan told The Associated Press
It is Bert “Wingy” Grober, who owned the hotel in 1959, before Sinatra.
Hi Matt, Interesting comments. I am writing a book on Brockway that includes a history of the Cal-Neva Lodge, and I would be interested in your historical input. Remmer certainly was one of the key players on the Point for a number of years when the Cal-Neva most prospered. I particularly would like to track down who the mobsters were who owned the hotel in the background during his years. All I can find is reference to “Chicago investors.” I am paulnelsonlaw@gmail.com
Marilyn died in Malibu, in a cottage on the beach side of what is now Geoffrey’s Restaurant. Having been heavily drugged, apparently by a doctor with a little black bag, she was then placed in an ambulance that set out toward St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. En route, along PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), the ambulance driver was radio’d and instructed to take her back to her cottage. She was left there to die. All this occurred just after she’d stated that she was going to tell all. The Mob silences its victims.
Stepped off a Grayhound bus from Reno as the sun was coming up across the street from Cal-Neva. I was seventeen and my friend Geno told me about how great his job was as a valet parking cars for the likes of Bill Harrah and others at Cal Neva. So he got me in the door and I started out in the kitchen as a Pearl Diver (dishwasher). Worked my way up to bus boy then server in training then my brake came and got part time valet job. Interesting place to work and saw a lot of crazy stuff. One of the best summers ever!
My great uncle Elmer “Bones” Remmer owned the Cal-Neva in the 30s. He ran the place for the mob. The real reason it was built straddling two states is so the customers could walk over to the other side of the line if they got raided by the state police, and therefore escape their jurisdiction.
While he owned the Cal-Neva, famous gangsters would hang there. In addition, he got into a very public dispute with Clara Bow over a gambling debt. He never collected.
After he gave up ownership, he moved to San Francisco, and wound up taking over Menlo Park for the mob. He ran a casino–perfectly legal–there for many years, and got into a very public dispute with then prosecutor, later governor, Brown.
In the 50s, he was charged by the Feds and, after a lengthy trial, convicted of tax evasion. He was eventually freed on the grounds that the Feds had told the judge, and the prosecuting attorney–but not his attorney–that someone had attempted to corruptly influence a juror. He was released, but at that point his days in the mob were over.
My grandfather briefly gave him a job at my grandfather’s car dealership in Oakland, but he died soon thereafter–shortly before I was born.
He was treated as the black sheep of our family. They never discussed him. I only learned about him when my mother passed away when I was 41, and I discovered newspaper clippings about him in her memorabilia.
I keep waiting for Hollywood to make a movie about him. His life is at least as interesting as many of the lives of mobsters they have made movies about, but it hasn’t happened.
“Unnamed man” in the photo .. you mean Charlie Chaplin.
Who is Bert “Wingy” Grober, Cal-Neva host and owner/operator, picture taken by photographer Don Dondero
I have an original 8 x 10 print of this photo for sale on eBay, which was given to me by Don Dondero in 1998 when I was making the A&E Biography of the Rat Pack…
in 1977 I was 14 and worked with my mother as a maid at the Cal-Neva. We’d moved from L.A. in 1976 and I got extra credit thru a school work program to make up for the semester I lost. I had no idea about any of the colorful history. What I did realize was something sinister was in the basement area. We had to stock our carts down there every morning. The employee cafeteria was there too. I remember big hissing boiler pipes next to the ceiling and going into the laundry area for towels. There was a large white brick den area with a pool table down there, pillars and a fireplace. There were several times it seemed like someone else was down there with me. I remember asking if anyone was there. I’d hurry & pack my cart and tried not to be left alone down there. I didn’t understand it. I just knew it was scary. You could feel that bad things had happened there but I had no idea what. In 2013, my Mother passed away. I had some very strange dreams and experiences during that time. One night I had the most intense dream about that place. It was like an elaborate movie. The story that unfolded was, Marilyn Monroe actually died there and her body was flown home from the pad at the casino. Lots of people were involved, lots of frantic talking went on but I couldn’t hear the the words. Seemed like- Many people knew what happened. Whether it was accidental, or suicide or murder was never revealed. In my own experience- looking back as an older person, there was a lot of residual activity and what felt like violence. Especially on the landing going up the back stairs leading to the paneled pit bosses office. Their high corner office upstairs had a wicked vibe. The round bar with stained glass was gorgeous. I can still see the baby blue teepees on the white coffee cups and flatware. The strange ugly art and the Woman In The Lake poster in the lobby area. I took a brief swim in the very cold pool only once. Put one foot in California and the other in Nevada. I remember cleaning the bungalows and suddenly getting the Willie’s. Nothing made sense there. It would be a sunny day in such a bucolic locale- but, suddenly I’d feel scared for no reason. I couldn’t understand why I felt that way. The Summer of 1977. I was 14 years old. What an inappropriate place for a young girl to be…..
I can,t waite until it reopen,s.
Keith Kritikakos doesn’t contribute to anything when he is loitering up at these places. All talk and no show. Blabber mouth form Bay Area.
Hello, this is Mitchell son of Jerry pit boss and showroom floor host.
I can’t wait to tell you about your father!!!!!!
He was also known as Jerry k, or jk.
This was a great man with an untold story.
I’m crying my eyes out!!!
Would anyone know if there was a gentleman named “Jerry” that worked there as a Pit Boss in 1965? My mother use to work there and apparently she had a relationship with this man. I have been told that he his my father and I Have been looking for him for over 20 years. If anyone has any info, could you please contact me. Thank you so very much.
Hi Belinda my name is Mitchell Ignatich, my father was Jerry what would you like to know about him?
Hello, this is Mitchell son of Jerry pit boss and showroom floor host.
I can’t wait to tell you about your father!!!!!!
My family spent a few days across the street at a hotel just barely inside the California border around 1971. I was eleven or twelve at the time. We were walking around towards the lake just west of the Resort on the California side and I began to have strange feelings. I felt that something bad happened there and I felt like I might have known or been there!!
Pretty sure that photo of the pack in front of calneva sign was photoshopped. The original was them in front of the sands hotel.
Agreed! Same pose and positions of the group.
Marilyn was there with “friends” the last weekend before she died. Reports say she was very beautiful and cheerful during the afternoon, but at night she appeared in the ballroom, where Sinatra had just been singing, alone and apparently drugged. Frank was visibly very upset about the scene and sent a bodyguard off the scene. Shortly before his death, pianist Buddy Greco reported that Frank’s blue eyes looked like two ice cubes. Concerned about the actress, Buddy followed her and found her alone by the pool, her face very pale. “She seemed not to want to be part of this world anymore,” the pianist said. The next day, Sunday morning, Buddy looked for Marilyn, but she was gone. Some biographers say the actress would have been raped by gangsters this weekend. Others say that she mixed the two remedies for the first time five days later: Nembutal with Chloride Hydrate. What strikes me the most is the fact that Marilyn went to the place and didn’t receive any attention from the “friends”, because while everyone was having fun she seems to have forgotten to the point of drugging with pills and continue with the same clothes until night. Marilyn was an excellent singer. Why did not Frank Sinatra give her a chance to sing in such a casino? Why only five days later she would die naked and alone in her bed, victimized by an overdose of drugs?
These men were worse than Harry Weinstein never was ….. so sad about Marilyn…. such a vulnerable woman!!
Got a summer job as a pearl diver in 1970. Then my friend Gino got me on part time as a valet parking cars. Bill Harah wuould show up once in a while from Reno. Good old days!
Worked there as a bus boy when it was Clouds Cal Neva . Lots of great memories of the greats coming thru the place . Lived in one of the bungalows adjacent to it .
Whoa! Tell us a story if you have time: conact@snowbrains.com
thanks,
miles
The “unnamed man” is Wingy Grover, manager of the Cal-Neva at the time.
Want more classic sinatra? Look here! Ring a ding ding… 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/user/soapbxprod
took the tour and live in Carson City now…unbelievable history and unfortunately not for the faint of heart…suffice it to say that evil permeates the place and what went on their would shock most people! not just most but probably all but .5 %
My Uncle was the General Contractor for the rebuilding somewhere along the line. Line used to run down the middle of the front lobby. Been there. Lost some money there. had a good time there. If I were not too old, I would travel from Oklahoma to there again.
SPENT HONEYMOON THERE 30 YRS AGO LOVED IT
James, I hope you are still alive and in good health and that you will still be so when and if the Cal Neva ever opens again
I grew up in Truckee Ca, and new the Cal Neva very well. There was a lot of Mob business back in the day, and there was more that when on, than any of us will ever know.
S Jensah, Care to share stories?? 🙂
Were the cal neva lodge and club cal neva reno ever related in any way?
When is the cal neva going to reopen?
The mafia boss’s name was Sam Giancana, not Gianaca as per the article.
What about Mr. Skitch?
I think I saw Steel Pulse there in 1998? Good times.
Man, I used to get 2 dollar breakfast from the Biltmore across the street, hardly ever went to the CalNeva. I’m guessing no more 2 dollar breakfast at the Biltmore these days?
The Biltmore has $2.22 breakfast every Monday morning still!!!!
Don’t forget that its haunted. Lots of ghosts in that place.
Bob I have some municipal bonds to sell you. Oh, and they’re haunted too