What's now the Golden Gate is unique for Las Vegas in being genuinely old, rather than simply themed to look old. The city's most venerable establishment, it has occupied its prime position at the west end of Fremont Street since 1906, when Las Vegas itself was just a year old. It started out as the Nevada Hotel , catering to travelers who arrived at the railroad station opposite, and was styled on the grand hotels of San Francisco, many of which were destroyed in that year's earthquake. As the first hotel in southern Nevada, it boasted a distinguished phone number: 1. It later became first the Sal Sagev (Las Vegas spelled backwards), and then, in 1955, the Golden Gate . Having barely grown since it added its third story in 1931, it's now so small that it thinks of itself as a B&B, and its casino area is tiny and unexciting. Many repeat Las Vegas visitors, however, make a special pilgrimage to its San Francisco Shrimp Bar and Deli , which claims to have originated the 99¢ shrimp cocktail in 1959 and to have served more than 25 million of them since then. Although the 99¢ price-tag remains in place, for more than the merest hint of shrimp you'll need to opt instead for a $2.99 "Big" cocktail.
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