Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nevada
- Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nevadaa
- Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nevada Casino
- Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nv
- Sharkey S Casino Gardnerville Nevada
- GARDNERVILLE – A northern Nevada landmark has closed its doors after 43 years in business. Sharkey's Casino in Gardnerville, which opened in 1971 under the ownership of Milos 'Sharkey' Begovich.
- Specialties: Gaming and Hospitality.
- Sharkey's Casino, Gardnerville, Nevada. 934 likes 12 talking about this 3,442 were here. Gardnerville landmark originally named the Golden Bubble. Became Sharkey's when bought by Sharkey's.
Sharkey’s Casino in downtown Gardnerville is a jewel, a jewel in need of a little polishing, but nonetheless a jewel.
Sharkey's Casino Review. Sharley's Casino is still located at 1440 U.S. Highway 395 North in Gardnerville, Nevada. Originally constructed as the Corner Saloon in the 1800's this local landmark was originally named the Golden Bubble when it became a casino in 1945.
“Mr. Holder (owner Hal Holder) always refers to Sharkey’s as a jewel, and as a jewel, it needs to be polished back up,” said new Operations and Marketing Manager Brian Boylan. “Sharkey’s is no longer for sale. Mr. Holder is looking at other acquisitions in Northern Nevada, and this is part of our recommitment to Sharkey’s.”
It’s no secret that casinos have been hit hard during the recession. After putting six casinos through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009, the Holder Group now operates three properties in Northern Nevada: the Sundance in Winnemuca, Joe’s Tavern & Casino in Hawthorne and Sharkey’s.
“The last couple of years, for a lot of different reasons, we have not paid as much attention to Sharkey’s as we should have. Now, we are a smaller company,” Boylan said. “My role is to come in and energize, to bring Sharkey’s back up to speed.”
Previous Manager Ron Terrell will now be working for Holder at the corporate level, Boylan said. He said Terrell left some impressive improvements such as the commissioning of 13 murals in the Rib Room, which depict Western life in Carson Valley.
Boylan, 67, has worked for Holder since 1970. He said he worked on the company’s Costa Rica, West African and Florida properties and investments. He recently moved from Reno to take the helm of Sharkey’s.
“This is our primary focus right now,” he said. “We would like Sharkey’s to be something everyone in the area can be proud of.”
It doesn’t hurt that Boylan has experience as a rancher. He still raises cows and horses on his 100-acre property in Texas. Ranch experience is relevant because of the group’s mission to restore Sharkey’s Western identity, the same identity established by Sharkey Begovich in 1970, which included the likes of Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.
“We’re enhancing our Western identity, that iconic Western identity Sharkey’s was known for,” he said. “We haven’t had entertainment in here for four years.”
That’s changing with regular country Western and country rock performances, Boylan said. It’s changing with a new stage and dance floor.
“We’ve brought back a lot of the Western memorabilia that’s been missing from Sharkey’s for a number of years,” he said.
Other changes include a new Cal-Neva sports books slated for mid-summer depending on state approval, 22 flat-screen TVs, Pay-Per-View and a NFL sports package. Interior modifications include deep cleaning of carpets and walls, painting of ceilings, a new entrance to the restaurant, and reflective tinting on exterior doors.
“We’re upgrading the gaming floor,” Boylan said. “We’ve taken out 26 older machines, and we’re currently working with two major gaming companies to bring new machines in probably in the next two months. We can give customers a nice fresh gaming experience.”
Sharkey’s is still planning to “spruce up the corner” by tearing down the old house adjacent to its parking lot and undertaking landscape improvements with the help of Main Street Gardnerville.
“I think that will be the end of summer, realistically,” Boylan said. “We’re reinvesting in Sharkey’s in both dollars and cents, and in attitude.”
Essential to the Sharkey’s brand, Boylan said, are the familiar faces throughout the casino, whether Restaurant Manager Linda Hurt, who started as a blackjack dealer in 1970, or Casino Floor Manager Kathy Gierke and Restaurant Supervisor Lois Wagner, who each have worked in the building for 37 years.
“I can tell a lot of stories,” said Hurt.
“She’s iconic,” Boylan added.
No-charge space for local service clubs and organizations will continue.
“We’ve always been part of the community, and we want to make sure we remain part of the community,” Boylan said. “Sharkey’s has a reputation for having a good casino, a good bar and a really good restaurant. It’s a place people come to feel comfortable. We’re not a Las Vegas or Tahoe casino, and we know that. What we are is a comfortable casino in which to relax.”
Sharkey’s is located at 1440 Highway 395. Throughout the month of May, the casino will be closed from midnight to 6 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday for deep spring cleaning.
For more information, call 782-3133.
Sierra Lutheran High School, FCA deliver trees for troops
Milos S. “Sharkey” Begovich, the legendary owner of a landmark Gardnerville casino that bears his name, died Friday morning.
Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nevadaa
He was 76.
The exact cause of death was unknown at press time, but Sharkey was known to be battling cancer and had three operations, including a quadruple bypass, in 2001.
Details about Sharkey’s funeral service were unknown late Friday.
Begovich was born Aug. 1, 1926, in Plymouth, Calif.
Sharkey’s Nugget Casino, which he sold last year to Sparks businessman Harold Holder, was famous for its collection of Western memorabilia and an endless array of kitschy collectibles.
For 30 years, the casino hosted a Serbian Christmas, an Eastern Orthodox tradition passed down from Sharkey’s mother who ran a boarding house in Plymouth.
When Sharkey opened the casino in 1971, he decided to continue the tradition.
“I started it (30 years ago) and it naturally started as a small thing, but it’s grown so it’s not even believable to the people who haven’t seen it,” Sharkey said in January 2001 at the last Serbian Christmas. “It just tickles me to be able to do it.”
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., learned of Sharkey’s death during a Friday speech at the Carson Valley Inn.
“Part of Nevada died with Sharkey,” Reid said. “Even though he was a very proud individual, proud of the history, he was very unique.”
Don Bently, owner of Bently Agrowdynamics, and a former member of Carson Valley’s long-standing Sunday morning “breakfast club,” said Friday he’ll miss Sharkey very much.
Another breakfast club member, Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen said the club met weekly and “solved all the problems of the world.”
“Sometimes we got into heated arguments but in most cases, we went home laughing,” Jacobsen said.
Douglas County Commissioner Bernie Curtis, and a Sharkey’s employee said the former casino owner’s death occurred almost 30 years to the day after Curtis met him, Aug. 7, 1972.
“He’s been a pillar of the community a long, long time,” Curtis said. “He was a quiet decent man with wonderful feelings toward the community.”
Curtis said Sharkey essentially put Gardnerville on the international map.
Curtis said for years people from Maui, Hawaii, to Nanaimo, B.C. knew Gardnerville because of Sharkey’s famous prime rib dinners.
When people learn you’re from Gardnerville, Curtis said, they ask if Sharkey still serves his prime rib dinner.
Longtime Carson Valley resident Bill Tomerlin, said he’ll remember Sharkey as a great storyteller.
“He always had news or he would talk about the old days in business,” Tomerlin said. “He was a very interesting character. I am very sorry to hear he died.”
Tomerlin’s wife, Marsha, said she knew Sharkey for 30 years and saw Sharkey him for the final time about two months ago.
“I knew he was going to be called to the big casino in the sky very soon,” she said. “I was surprised how long he held on to life. It was a credit to the man’s stamina.”
Tomerlin also said Sharkey’s daughter, Mashelle Begovich, deserves credit for caring for her father.
“She is an angel from heaven,” she said. “She’s certainly earned her wings this year.”
Foothill Road resident Kenneth Hellwinkel, 74, used to bid on auctioned animals for Sharkey at area livestock shows.
“Sharkey was one who would help out people,” he said. “He contributed to organizations, and helped out people all the time. He was always generous that way.”
Sharkey was not only a legend in Carson Valley, but seemingly much of the entertainment world knew of the Gardnerville casino and its witty owner, as well.
The casino’s walls were adorned with signed photographs of numerous celebrities, including Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and rodeo legend Casey Tibbs.
“People came to him, you can’t explain it,” said Mashelle Begovich earlier this year. For many of those living legends of country music, it was impossible to come by Lake Tahoe or visit Reno without “seeing the Shark.”
“Every day was an adventure, you never knew who was coming in,” said former long-time employee Elaine Agnason during a January interview.
Hellwinkel also told an anecdote about Sharkey’s relationship with pop singer “Jewel.”
Six months ago, Hellwinkel said Jewel visited Sharkey’s to see Sharkey’s saddle collection.
“Sharkey knew her. He had people like that come from all over to see him,” Hellwinkel said.
Holder, the man who bought Sharkey’s Casino in 2001 and took over operations New Year’s Day this year, said the deal was done with a handshake.
“We became very good friends,” Holder said. “I think he will be sorely missed because he’s certainly one of the legends not only in Nevada, but in gaming.”
“Every association I had with him and in every conversation, he was the ultimate gentleman,” Holder said.
“I’m very saddened by it. He fought hard with a number of medical problems. He was a real fighter,” Holder said. “A lesser man would have given up a long time ago, but not Sharkey.”
A memorial is planned at Sharkey’s Casino for next week. The date and time were uncertain as of Friday.
“I think we’ve lost a real friend,” Jacobsen said. “He was a first-class citizen. I don’t think he knew the word ‘no.'”
Sharkey bought the Golden Bubble in 1972. It’s been Sharkey’s ever since.
Holder said the casino will retain the name of its longtime, legendary owner.
Sharkey formerly operated casinos in Jackson, Calif., in the 1950s before moving to Lake Tahoe and beginning a long association with casino owner Bill Harrah.
Mashelle Begovich said earlier this year her father is not just the “king of garage sales.”
Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nevada Casino
Seemingly every antique dealer in the United States would call Sharkey if there was something Sharkey would want. Mashelle said the answer was invariably “yes.”
The old saying, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, was virtually a mantra to her father, Begovich said.
An auction of the memorabilia in February netted about $2.4 million.
In an interview earlier this year, Sharkey gave his philosophy about life.
“Life is about people,” Sharkey said. “You meet some interesting ones.”
After Friday, the world is now minus one of its “interesting ones.”
Sharkey's Casino Gardnerville Nv
n Staff Writer Scott Murphy can be reached via e-mail at murph@swiftnews.com