Golden Goose: Herb Pastor's Small Fremont Street Gamble

Buying a closed slot business

Pastor recalled answering a Wall Street Journal advertisement in late 1974 and buying the closed Mecca Slots location from Sylvia Sirotta. The storefront had earlier cafe and gaming uses, including Buckley's Jackpot Club and Starlite Slots.

In his later interview, Pastor described obtaining a license in May 1975 after investigation and a hearing. He said regulators required an experienced slot manager, whom he soon dismissed before temporarily closing and redesigning the business. This is firsthand recollection recorded decades later, not a complete license file.

The bird and the flood

The Golden Goose opened in June, with June 4 given in specialist chronology. Pastor recalled the newly installed rooftop bird falling onto a parked car the next day, fortunately without injuries.

After the temporary reconfiguration, he remembered reopening over the July Fourth weekend during a severe monsoon flood, with sandbags at the entrance. These stories capture an unusually difficult start, but should remain attributed to his account.

The mascot itself looked like a duck despite the casino's name. The conspicuous bird became the business's most memorable identifier in a street already crowded with signs.

Slots, one table and promotions

Slots were the core activity. A specialist account places one blackjack table in operation for only a few months from late 1976 into early 1977. That short experiment helps explain why surviving Golden Goose chips became notable to collectors.

A rare five-dollar chip's later sale price reflects scarcity and collecting demand, not the casino's original betting scale. Promotions such as golden-egg drawings and personalized key fobs offered inexpensive ways to give passing customers a reason to stop.

Later cross-property promotional material connected Golden Goose with Pastor's other downtown businesses. The storefront participated in a small casino network rather than an isolated gaming island.

A changing business and a surviving sign

Later use of the Golden Goose name overlaps with adult-entertainment redevelopment, particularly a 1991 connection with neighboring Glitter Gulch premises. Those dates do not prove that the original slot-and-blackjack format continued unchanged.

The related buildings closed and were demolished in the 2016-18 period for Circa. The golden bird survived as a restored sign displayed elsewhere downtown according to later local reporting.

Golden Goose illustrates how a small casino can leave a disproportionately vivid memory. Its unusual sign, owner's recollections and rare chips outlasted a changing storefront business, each preserving a different part of the story.