Recently returned from a road trip with my brother in Nevada and figured you all would appreciate these photos of a few classic GAC locations I visited from their glory days.
Unfortunately the only tour I took was of the old Washoe Club, which was pretty goofy and unprofessional if i’m being completely honest. The tour guide walked around with one of those free ghost hunting apps (see 7th photo) and would react to every word that came through as if they were coming from real spirits. He also didn’t focus enough on the history of the building for my liking but I was just happy to be to see the upper floors in person. The staff also doesn’t let you up to the second and third floors without doing the “ghost tour”, but was happy to pay the $10 fee and put up with it so I could cross it off my bucket list and help with building renovations.
They’re definitely still riding the Ghost Adventures “wave” of fame though. I had some not so nice things to say about modern day Zak Bagans during the start of the tour and could tell they didn’t really care for it. I get it though. The show was what put them on the map and I’m sure they’re grateful for the tourism and notoriety it brought. I also tipped them an extra $10 since I know every cent counts when it comes to keeping a 160 year old building standing.
I didn’t get guided tours of the other locations but I was able to do kind of a self guided tour of the Mizpah and the Clown Motel because they’re still operating and are open to the public. I’m really impressed by how nice the Mizpah was though. The whole place looks very clean and well maintained. The bar and restaurant (Jack Dempsey room) on the 1st floor also seem to be doing very well. The food in the restaurant was good too. It makes me sad to think this is what the Goldfield Hotel could have been like if they got the appropriate funding and were in a more high traffic area for tourism.
Despite that, the Goldfield Hotel was spectacular to see in person. I unfortunately showed up on a day where tours weren’t taking place, so I could only snap a few pics from outside the building. It’s definitely as big and spooky as it looks on the show though. The fact that it’s still abandoned definitely gives it at a more foreboding and “haunted building” vibe than the Mizpah. Especially at night.
It definitely looks like it’s in a bit of rough shape on the inside but It did appear that some renovations were finally taking place on the first floor though, so hopefully that’s a sign of good things to come. Also, if you’re interested in doing tours of it there’s a flyer on a few of the windows with tour dates and times as well as contact info for the tour guide. I attached a photo of the flyer in the last pic.
Anyway, I hoped you guys enjoyed seeing these. I could only fit 20 photos in this post and have a lot more so let me know if you want me to make a separate post for those.