Kenny Epstein and the El Cortez hotel-casino both turn 85 this year, a milestone the owner describes in deeply personal terms. "It’s a family-owned business," Epstein said during an interview at the recently opened Alex Prime steakhouse, named for his late daughter, Alexandra Epstein-Gudai. "It’s part of myself; it’s part of my psyche. The El Cortez is me. What can I say? It means everything to me."
Opened in 1941 by John Kell "JK" Houssels Sr., the property at Fremont Street and 6th Street passed through organized crime figures and the Houssels family before Jackie Gaughan acquired it in 1963. Epstein became a partner years later and bought the casino outright in 2008. UNLV historian Michael Green said the property’s survival reflects an unusual continuity of ownership and a resistance to remaking the casino to fit passing trends. "One of the reasons it has relevance (today) is that it’s still there and partly in its original form," Green said.
Green noted that contemporaries like the El Rancho Vegas and Hotel Last Frontier are gone, but the building alone does not explain El Cortez’s staying power. "What is overlooked is the shrewdness or wisdom, or both, of the people who have run it," he said. Epstein credits Gaughan, his mentor, with teaching him to take care of every customer regardless of how much they spend. "Because if you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business," Epstein said. "You might spend more time with somebody who’s a big player. But you have to take care of everybody."
Vice President and General Manager Adam Wiesberg, who started as a dealer 12 years ago, said Epstein remains at the property six days a week and treats it first as his home, then as a business. That approach drives reinvestment and a focus on guest experience. "It’s the people inside the building," Wiesberg said, describing what makes El Cortez distinctive.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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