Given the fact that Bill Graham and Jim McKay’s Cal-Neva Lodge had just burned to ground on May 17th, it is very possible that McKay licensed to the Ta-Neva-Ho for gaming while construction was under way at the Cal-Neva Lodge. A 1937 article in the Nevada State Journal states that the building includes the Club Fortune, however Washoe County gaming records do not show any licensing under this name but does list the Ta-Neva-Ho as having been licensed for roulette, craps, 21 and 9 slot machines. Jim McKay and his Reno associates are reported to have been the first gaming operators at the Ta-Neva-Ho at the time of its opening. These included over the years a bank, drug store, bakery,several bars, furniture store and other gaming operations. Seven businesses other than gaming were located in the block along the Ta-Neva-Ho gaming area. In the early 1930’s with the Cal-Neva Lodge and the Cal-Vada Lodge opening operating on the North Shore, the growing community was in need of business services. This building became the Cal-Neva lodge in 1929 and hosted gaming even before it became legal in Nevada in 1931. In the 1920’s developer Norman Biltz constructed a building that served as a land sales office. Long before the upscale development of Incline Village, the finger of land that juts into the North Shore of Lake Taho at the state line between California and Nevada developed first. The Ta-Neva-Ho began as a conglomeration of businesses that were intended to serve the rapidly developing community on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe.

A small article in the Reno Evening Gazette noted a development being built that has lasted to this day. With the May 17th fire at the Cal Neva Lodge and its frantic rebuilding underway, another casino and business area was hardly making headlines. In the summer of 1937 the North Shore of Lake Tahoe was a busy place for construction and business activity.

History History of the Crystal Bay Casino

The first casino in the world