T. R. King sold 1600 of these large crown chips in five colors to J. A. Yates, Melrose Hotel, 123 E. Main Street, Barstow, California, in 1952. The Gaming Table (5th Ed.) associates these chips with the Melrose Hotel. Jack Cartright opened a licensed card room there in 1948. License renewed in 1951.
The Staeffler Memorial California Card Room Guide associates these chips with the Goldstone Bar (103 E. Main St.) in Barstow, which was attached to the "105 Club Card Room". They shared an interior door to get around a prohibition on serving alcohol in a card room (see Archive).
Ad detail from 12/22/1955 (Desert Dispatch). |