{{Short description|American businessman (1888–1960)}} {{Infobox person | name = Guy McAfee | image = Guy McAfee breaks ground on the 91 Club in Las Vegas.jpg | caption = Guy McAfee in 1939 | birth_name = | birth_date = August 19, 1888 | birth_place = Winfield, Kansas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1960|2|20|1888|8|19}} | death_place = Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = Policeman, businessman | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = 3, including June Brewster | children = 2 daughters | parents = | relatives = }} '''Guy Alexander McAfee''' (August 19, 1888 – February 20, 1960) was an American law enforcement officer and businessman. Born in Kansas and orphaned in early childhood, he became a firefighter in Los Angeles, California, and later served as the head of the vice squad of the Los Angeles Police Department. He was the owner of brothels and gambling saloons, with ties to organized crime in the 1930s. He co-founded casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the 1940s and 1950s. He is credited as the first person to refer to Las Vegas Boulevard as the Las Vegas Strip, after Los Angeles's Sunset Strip.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lillisview|first1=Maggie|title=Guy McAfee credited with branding the Strip|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/uncategorized/guy-mcafee-credited-with-branding-the-strip/|accessdate=9 May 2018|agency=Las Vegas Review Journal|date=6 June 2011}}</ref>
==Early life== Guy McAfee was born on August 19, 1888, in Winfield, Kansas.<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon">{{cite web|title=Las Vegas: An Uncontentional History. People & Events: Guy McAfee (1888-1960)|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lasvegas-mcafee/|website=PBS|access-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref><ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith">{{cite news|last1=Lillisview|first1=Maggie|title=Guy McAfee credited with branding the Strip|url=http://www.reviewjournal.com/life/las-vegas-history/guy-mcafee-credited-branding-strip|accessdate=March 3, 2016|work=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=June 7, 2011}}</ref> He became an orphan in childhood.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> He was described as a "thin, wing-earred, likable chap, who had come to Los Angeles from the wheat belt".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Liberty Magazine |url=http://archive.org/details/1939-1111-liberty-magazine-lid-off-los-angeles |title=The Lid Off Los Angeles |date=1939-11-11}}</ref>
==Career== McAfee began his career as a firefighter in Los Angeles, California.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> He subsequently served as the head of the vice squad of the Los Angeles Police Department.<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/> At the same time, he was the owner of gambling "saloons and brothels and had ties to organized crime."<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/> He was also the manager of the Clover Club, an upmarket club on the Sunset Strip.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> His nicknames were "Slats," for his height and build, and "the Whistler," because when he was on what was then called the purity squad, he would warn vice dens by calling them up and whistling a certain tune while feigning for his police compatriots that there was no answer.<ref name=":0" /> Reformers called him the "Capone of LA".<ref name="therecallofviehe">{{cite journal|last1=Viehe|first1=Fred W.|title=The Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw: A Revision|journal=California History|date=Winter 1980|volume=59|issue=4|page=291|doi=10.2307/25158002|jstor=25158002}}</ref> His associates included Charlie Crawford, slot-machine king Bob Gans, political fixer Kent Parrot, Zeke Caress, Tutor Scherer, Farmer Page, Charles Cradick, Chuck Addison, and Tony Cornero.<ref>{{cite news |last=Babcock |first=John R. |date=1989-05-12 |title=When Los Angeles Was a World-Class City of Corruption |url=https://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/16/523864.pdf |newspaper=Los Angeles Herald-Examiner |page=A-19 |via=Los Angeles Public Library California Index DB}}</ref> When Judge Fletcher Bowron was elected as the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles on a platform to rid Los Angeles of prostitution, gambling and narcotics in 1938,<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/> McAfee moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, within a year.<ref name="gamblingmogulmakesnevada">{{cite news|title=Gambling Mogul Makes Nevada Headquarters. Guy McAfee Doing Business at Las Vegas; Los Angeles Not To His Liking Currently|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/48947146/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 5, 2016|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=June 2, 1939|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=5}}</ref><ref name="resortcityinthesunbelt">{{cite book|last1=Moehring|first1=Eugene P.|title=Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930-2000|date=2000|publisher=University of Nevada Press|location=Reno, Las Vegas|isbn=9780874171471|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jojgQ2zz50EC&q=Guy+McAfee&pg=PA42|oclc=19739921}}</ref>
thumb|right|The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1939, McAfee acquired the Pair O'Dice Club on Highway 91 (the future Las Vegas Boulevard) and renamed it the 91 Club,<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> and the Frontier Club,<ref>{{cite news|author=Staff writer(s)|title=Film Star's Wife, Lured by Sunshine, Sports, Scenic Wonders Seen As Pied Piper for Nation's Top-Flight Divorce Colony|newspaper=Evening Review-Journal|location=Las Vegas|date=7 March 1939}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Staff writer(s)|title=New Frontier Club To Open Tomorrow |newspaper=Evening Review-Journal|location=Las Vegas|date=10 May 1939}}</ref> downtown Las Vegas. Meanwhile, with Milton B. Page, McAfee managed the El Rancho, another casino.<ref name="latimesrulerofanlagamblingempire">{{cite news|last1=Harnisch|first1=Larry|title=Ruler of an L.A. gambling empire had a softer side|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-apr-11-la-me-harnisch-20120411-story.html|access-date=March 5, 2016|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=April 11, 2012|quote=In the 1940s, apparently weary of the continual police attention, Page left for Nevada, running El Rancho Vegas, the first major casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip, with longtime Los Angeles gambling figure Guy McAfee. "He was a strange guy," Milton says of the former LAPD vice officer turned casino executive.}}</ref> He was a co-founder of the Pioneer Club in 1942. Three years later he announced plans to build the Golden Nugget, downtown Las Vegas, which opened in 1946. McAfee was president of Golden Nugget from 1952 until his retirement in 1960.<ref>{{cite press release |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Las Vegas Golden Years|url=http://www.goldennugget.com/downloads/Timeline.pdf |publisher=Golden Nugget |access-date=2016-08-27}}</ref>
McAfee was also a real estate investor in California. For example, he was the co-proprietor of the Chapman Building in Fullerton, California, alongside N. Morty Bernstein in 1949, which he leased to the American Red Cross.<ref name="fullertontenantsbee">{{cite news|title=Fullerton Tenants Get Free Rent In Freeze|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/25750162/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 5, 2016|work=The Fresno Bee|date=January 25, 1949|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=4|location=Fresno, California}}</ref>
With Jake Kozloff and Beldon Katleman, McAfee acquired the Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in 1951.<ref name="augustreno">{{cite news|title=Major News Events in Nevada in 1951 Listed in Summary: August|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/38492668/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 4, 2016|work=Reno Gazette|date=January 1, 1952|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=7|location=Reno, Nevada|quote=Guy McAfee, Jake Kozloff and Belton Katelman bought the Last Frontier hotel on the Las Vegas strip.}}</ref><ref name="bernardinohotelsold">{{cite news|title=Hotel Last Frontier In Las Vegas Sold|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/50446037/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 4, 2016|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=August 24, 1951|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |location=San Bernardino, California|page=9|quote=The state tax commission has approved transfer of the license to Guy McAfee, Jake Kozloff, both major stockholders of the Golden Nugget casino, and Beldon Katelman, owner of the hotel El Rancho Vegas.}}</ref> They acquired it from Bill Moore for US$5.5 million.<ref name="nevadayesterdays">{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Frank|title=Nevada Yesterdays: Short Looks at Las Vegas History|date=2005|publisher=Stephens Press|location=Las Vegas, Nevada|isbn=9781932173277|oclc=60708529|page=104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VD0e59nXb6MC&q=Jake+Kozloff&pg=PA104}}</ref>
McAfee named the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas after the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/><ref name="acenturylater">{{cite news|title=A Century Later, Vegas Looks Back|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1130432/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 4, 2016|work=Ukiah Daily Journal|date=May 15, 2005|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=3|location=Ukiah, California}}</ref><ref name="theplayersthemenwhomade">{{cite book|last1=Sheehan|first1=Jack|title=The Players: The Men who Made Las Vegas|date=1997|publisher=University of Nevada Press|location=Reno, Nevada|isbn=9780874174557|page=[https://archive.org/details/playersmenwhomad00shee/page/25 25]|url=https://archive.org/details/playersmenwhomad00shee|url-access=registration|quote=Tutor Scherer.|oclc=45732264}}</ref>
McAfee was a co-founder of the unincorporated place of Paradise, Nevada, near Las Vegas.<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/> It was established as a tax shelter for casinos.<ref name="pbslasvegasanuncon"/>
==Personal life== McAfee resided at the Biltmore Hotel, a luxury hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.<ref name="therecallofviehe"/> He was married three times.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> With his first wife Eva, he had a daughter, Alice.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> He married his second wife, June Brewster, in 1936.<ref name="nebraskajunebrewstertosue">{{cite news|title=June Brewster to sue|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/42105567/?terms=%22june%2Bbrewster%22%2Bmcafee|accessdate=March 5, 2016|work=The Nebraska State Journal|date=May 22, 1941|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=7|location=Lincoln, Nebraska}}</ref><ref name="monroenewsstarjunebrewsterand">{{cite news|title=June Brewster and Guy M'Afee Part|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/84856304/?terms=%22june%2Bbrewster%22%2Bmcafee|accessdate=March 5, 2016|work=The Monroe News-Star|date=May 21, 1941|location=Monroe, Louisiana|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=12}}</ref> She filed for divorce in 1941.<ref name="nebraskajunebrewstertosue"/><ref name="monroenewsstarjunebrewsterand"/> His third wife, Kathleen, was the owner of a brothel in Los Angeles.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> He adopted her daughter, Kathleen Elizabeth McAfee.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/> They resided in Beverly Hills, California.<ref name="firedestroyssanbernar">{{cite news|title=Fire Destroys Gambler's Home. Mrs McAfee Injured Rescuing Daughter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/49509167/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 5, 2016|work=The San Bernardino County Sun}}</ref> In 1950, their house burned down; the fire was not deemed suspicious.<ref name="firedestroyssanbernar"/>
==Death== McAfee died in January 1960 after a surgery at the Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center.<ref name="guymcafeecreditedwith"/><ref name="santacruzlasvegasgambling">{{cite news|title=Las Vegas Gambling Figure Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/51997038/?terms=%22Guy%2BMcAfee%22|accessdate=March 4, 2016|work=Santa Cruz Sentinel|location=Santa Cruz, California|date=February 22, 1960|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=11}}</ref> He was 71.<ref name="santacruzlasvegasgambling"/>
==Further reading== Patrick Jenning, ''The Long Winding Road of Harry Raymond: A Detective's Journey Down the Mean Streets of Pre-War Los Angeles'', Bay City Press (2021)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McAfee, Guy}} Category:1888 births Category:1960 deaths Category:People from Winfield, Kansas Category:Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles Category:Businesspeople from Las Vegas Category:Los Angeles Police Department officers Category:American businesspeople in the casino industry Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Organized crime in Los Angeles