This is in part a story about the Ellis Island casino, but also it's kind of not. It's a bit of a convoluted story, I suppose. You see, our good friend Epic Beard Louie recently did a show at the Huntridge Tavern where he and Antho got to hang out and reconnect a bit, and it was awesome! Good times. This, perhaps not surprisingly, lead to them wanting to hang out again in the near future as they were reminded of their friendship from yonder-year, back in a previous tense where they worked side by side (or at least in relatively close proximity) for hours and hours every week as colleagues in a call center. They've hit a couple of open mic nights and things over the years, but it's always nice to catch up with a friend you don't get to see too often, isn't it? So, they agreed to get together and meet for a meal and drinks at Ellis Island, a small local casino just off the strip. It may be attracting more of the tourist crowd these days, but for as long as I've known the place it was staunchly a local's haunt with it's cheap on-site brewed beer, old Vegas steak / rib / seafood dinner specials in their steakhouse, and karaoke I never went to (but Antho was a fan). 
I've always enjoyed their cheap beer specials, featuring the beers they brew on-site with their own small brewery. It used to be $2 or $3 for a pint, I believe, but maybe I'm getting senile in my old age (my birthday is coming up and it's making me acutely aware of my mortality, I'm afraid). And maybe in it's heyday, Ellis Island was the most popping place to be if you wanted to rub elbows with the elite...but these days it's a little more rough around the edges. Last time I, personally, set foot on the premises I found the parking lot nearly unnavigable (in my little Volvo box!) and the proximity to what seemed highly indicative of a hooker-motel to be quite a bit skeevy... but it's hard to resist cheap brews and chews, right? And it had been years! So, Antho happily agreed to pop over to Ellis Island with his good buddy. And he had fun. He got some great photographs. Had an overpriced White Russian. But, after delivering my 50/50 burger (half bacon, half beef), he walked Louie back to his car and tried to re-enter the casino premises, he was barked at by a gruff security woman who told him in no uncertain terms he was no longer welcome on premises. 
To be clear, Antho is a charming and friendly young man. He tries very hard to be open and cheerful with most everyone he meets. While he does drink, these days, it's rarely more than a single drink or two and he never gets belligerent in public, so there's no reason to believe he acted poorly or out of line. During his time inside the casino, no one ever approached him to say he had done anything wrong either, and he had spent a fair bit of money on food and beverages during his time there over the course of the evening. The sudden turn around of this woman shouting at him to leave the premises after escorting his pal to his vehicle seemed unfounded, and quite frankly upset Antho a lot. He was perplexed, and we had discussed going to the place together to check it out for nostalgia's sake prior to the security woman telling him to vamoose.
He reached out to Ellis Island via their Facebook page and they got back to him pretty quickly. From there he was able to get ahold of their head of security, who assured him that no papers had been processed that night evicting anyone from the premises permanently and the woman was tossing around her authority without merit. After a brief discussion with the guy, Antho was told he was absolutely welcome back on premises at any time and that if any issues arise to call the head of security directly on his personal cell-phone. So in roughly the course of an hour, hour and a half or so, Antho was unceremoniously told that he was unfairly and unjustly 86'd from the premises of a business he had just given lots of cash, then welcomed back with open arms by the head of security. What a wild ride!
I'm a bit torn on whether we'll be stopping by now... Nostalgia is great and the 50/50 burger was pretty damn delicious, lukewarm, despite my neurotic preference for scalding hot foods or bust... Such blatant abuses of power are not a nice addition to an evening out, and while we were assured by the head of security that we had his backing should we ever want to give them our cash again, we can't feel confident that we won't run into the same woman and have a negative experience or anything. Bummer.
At least Antho got some cool photos along the way!
Until next time!
💙
XOXO,
NAU
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