California Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas C-E
California Hotel & Casino
12 Ogden Avenue,
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101-2992,
United States
Phone: (702) 385-1222
Website: thecal.com
About the Casino
The California is an easily overlooked Downtown property with a very specific niche market. Despite the name, The Cal, as it is affectionately known has a Hawaiian theme, going back to the days when Sam Boyd ran the joint and brought some of the flair from his favorite state to the Las Vegas desert. A marketing effort was born and today many of the people who stay here are from Hawaii.
The overlooked part comes mainly from location. Since it’s not right on the Fremont Street Experience people tend to forget it’s there, which is too bad because walk one block and you’ll find a well-tended, unique property that can provide plenty of bargains in just about every category.
The bulk of the hotel got a makeover in 2016 and 2017, which makes it a little bit more competitive with some of the newer places in Vegas. It’s nice, but still not the kind of hotel that you’re going to take pictures of to send back to your friends at home in order to make them jealous.
The casino is small but well laid out, with all the latest machines making their arrivals to keep the place up to date - more than 1,100 of them total. They also have all of the standard table games, a keno lounge, and a small sports book. It's all done in a very bold Hawaiian theme, at least in terms of the colors, but the overall affect is more subtle than you might expect. The atmosphere as a whole is quieter than at many casinos so this may be a good place to keep in mind if you need to gamble without all of the din usually associated with such a space.
There are two towers offering a total of 781 rooms, all of which fall into the "nice" but not luxurious category, with cozy furnishings, comfortable beds, and all of the basic amenities you could want (although fancier stuff like robes and high-end amenities are not offered). As far as décor it's more of the tropical motif but very, very subtle here - to the point that you kind of have to strain to see it, but that's ultimately a good thing as far as I'm concerned. So if what you wind up with is a bit on the bland side, it's better than garish colors keeping you awake all night. The plantation shutters on the windows are a nice touch, similar to the very nice rooms at sister property Main Street Staion just across the street.
See full review of The California courtesy of Rick Garman's Vegas4Visitors.com
