The dreams aren't broken down here... they're just walkin' with a limp - Tom Waits
Cotton Club - 500 West Jackson St - 1944-1957
Sarann Knight Preddy (1920 - )
Sarann Knight migrated to Las Vegas in 1942, settling with her husband in the Westside African American community. Preddy first sought employment on Jackson Street, the black business district, and soon became a Keno writer in the
Cotton Club. Preddy moved to Hawthorne, Nevada when her husband and purchased her first gaming venture a nightclub for blacks offered to her for $600.00. Borrowing the money from her father, Preddy renamed the enterprise the
Tonga Club (588 E Street), and operated it for seven years. With club ownership she became the first black woman to own a gaming license in Nevada.
Sarann returned to Las Vegas in 1955 and one year later went to work at
Jerry’s Nugget
(1821 Las Vegas Boulevard. N.) as an experiment. The NAACP had been told that Jerry’s Nugget would hire a black dealer if they could send in a qualified person. Sarann accepted the challenge intending to work at the North Las Vegas casino for six months. She stayed there for seven years.
Preddy went back into business for herself as the owner and operator of
The People’s Choice Casino (805
West Owens). She
then purchased the famed Moulin Rouge
(900 West Bonanza Road). Since its 1955 opening and closing, the resort had passed through several owners never realizing the success that it had enjoyed in its heyday. The problems continued despite Preddy’s best efforts. The Rouge was closed in the late 1990s. The famed hotel casino burned to the ground in 2003.
Preddy also ran for the Las Vegas City Council, served on the local NAACP Executive Board, organized the Women's Auxiliary to the local NAACP branch, and became a founding member of the Las Vegas Barbara Jordan Democratic Club. She was a key leader in the business sorority, Gamma Phi Delta. Preddy still resides in Las Vegas and is currently working with a group of black women to organize the Las Vegas Black Historical Society.
Source: Claytee D. White, An Interview with Sarann Preddy. Las Vegas Women in Gaming and Entertainment Oral History Project, 1998.
Many thanks to Jack (U-Bet) moderator of Perry's Place.
Picture Credits:
Chip scans courtesy of Ross Poppel
Photos from the James Campiglia Collection
Ashtray from the Nevada Casino Ashtray Project
Sarann Knight migrated to Las Vegas in 1942, settling with her husband in the Westside African American community. Preddy first sought employment on Jackson Street, the black business district, and soon became a Keno writer in the
