Searchlight, Nevada, has a wild and crazy reputation. It was founded as a mining town in 1897, after miner George Colton discovered a vast amount of gold there. By 1907, 5,000 people were reported living in the area.
Respectable businesses were thriving, with women of ill repute quickly setting up shop, along with shady characters of all kinds trying to cash in on the action. Crime, as it always is with boom towns, was close at hand.
When a massive flood destroyed the railroad to Searchlight and gold and silver ceased to be pulled from the ground, by 1927, only 50 people still resided there. It was as close to being a ghost town as it could get.
When Lenora Wyatt wrote her 21-year-old son, Danny, on April 14, 1957, a short note on a picture postcard purchased from Searchlight, she didn’t tell him that the club where they ate that morning was also a brothel.
It’s probable, Thornton and Lenora Wyatt didn’t know it, as the El Rey Club in Searchlight, Nevada, owned by William “Willie” Martello, didn’t advertise the fact. Local residents knew, including those desperate men in need of such activity.
Lenora only mentions in the postcard that they dined there, but most likely they also stayed the night unless they were pulling a camper. Searchlight was a good 50 miles from the next closest communities, Boulder City. That’s where the card was mailed.
Whether or not the couple gambled was taken to their graves, but most folks walking through a casino cannot resist the urge to pull a slot machine handle, at least once. I see that on the same gambling level as buying a lotto ticket twice a year.
Willie Martello, a somewhat shady character himself, opened his El Rey Club shortly after World War II, in 1947. It quickly became a success, especially when he started flying people in for free from Las Vegas and Palm Springs.
Entrepreneur Robert McCulloch Sr. used this same marketing tactic in bringing prospective buyers of property to Lake Havasu City. It worked for him because these days, there’s hardly any vacant building lots to be had.
Willie Marcello raised the ire of East Coast mobsters with his gambling establishment, as well as the Nevada Gaming Board. Several complaints of rigged slot machines were reported, and Marcello was investigated for such. Mobsters were said to have harassed Willie Martello on occasion.
Hollywood elite came to Searchlight to gamble and party, with money rolling in hand over fist from the party crowd. This all came to a screeching halt 5 years after the Wyatts visited, when a fire on January 20, 1962, completely destroyed the El Rey Club.
It was rebuilt across the street, but unfortunately, Willie Martell didn’t get to enjoy the gala opening for very long. He died of a heart attack while playing golf on January 3, 1968.
On the positive side of this story, all seems to have turned out well for the Wyatts. Danny Wyatt wed Glenda Rose Batson in 1956, one year before getting his mom’s card. They remained married until he died in 2004.
Glenda passed away in 2024, with her obituary mentioning that she had 5 children, 78 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.
As far as the two Wyatt parents visiting Searchlight in 1957, Thornton Wyatt died on March 6, 2004, with Lenora passing away exactly 20 years later on March 6, 2024. The loving couple shares the same month and day, as if God intended things that way.
Searchlight now appears to be booming and is likely to remain that way for a long time. With new asphalt and a widened Highway 95 leading to and from the old mining community, traffic through town is reduced to 25 MPH. On average, I drive this direction three times a year, only stopping at McDonald’s for a Coke and to use their restroom.
For those folks still wanting to gamble, Terrible Herbst has a sizable casino. Food and fuel are also available, including approximately 50 motel rooms to spend the night. Where brothels are concerned, I wouldn’t know.
I like to write junk... 