Look closely at the photo above. That pile of twisted steel and concrete used to be the Eastside Cannery Casino & Hotel.
For years it stood along Boulder Highway – a neighborhood casino, a workplace, a gathering spot, a paycheck for hundreds of families.
Today it’s rubble.
And if Nevada voters forget how it got that way, philosopher George Santayana warned us exactly what will happen next:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
That quote should be printed on a billboard at the site of the Cannery. Because the story of that demolished casino is really the story of Nevada during the COVID shutdowns.
And it’s a story voters need to remember before the next governor’s race.
When the Engine of Nevada Was Shut Off
In March of 2020, Governor Steve Sisolak ordered the shutdown of casinos across Nevada.
Think about that for a second.
Nevada’s economy is built around tourism and hospitality. Shut down casinos and you’re not just closing businesses – you’re turning off the economic engine of the entire state.
And that’s exactly what happened. The result?
Nevada’s unemployment rate exploded to about 30 percent. Not just the highest in the country. One of the highest unemployment rates in modern American history.
Hundreds of thousands of Nevadans suddenly found themselves without work. Cocktail servers. Dealers. Housekeepers. Security guards. Restaurant workers. Valets.
The people who make Las Vegas run.
The Collapse
Once the casinos went dark, the dominoes started falling.
Tourism to Las Vegas collapsed by about 55 percent in 2020. Think about that. More than half the visitors disappeared.
Then came another hit.
Convention attendance – the business travelers who fill hotel rooms during the week and spend serious money – fell roughly 70 to 75 percent.
Without those visitors, the ripple effects spread everywhere.
Restaurants. Retail stores. Entertainment venues. Transportation companies. Small businesses that depended on tourist traffic.
And the numbers tell the story better than any politician ever could.
Nevada’s tourism economy shrank from roughly $63 billion to about $30 billion in a single year.
That’s more than $30 billion in economic activity wiped out almost overnight.
Some Businesses Never Came Back
Many casinos reopened once the shutdowns ended. But not all of them.
Some properties simply never recovered from the economic shock. The Eastside Cannery was one of them.
For years it sat there dark – a silent monument to the shutdown era. And now it’s gone entirely. Demolished.
A casino that survived the Great Recession, but not the shutdown policies of 2020.
The Man Defending Those Policies
At the time those decisions were being made, Aaron Ford was Nevada’s attorney general. Today, he’s running for governor.
Now, to be fair, Ford didn’t issue the shutdown orders. That was Governor Sisolak.
But Ford played a critical role in something just as important: He defended those policies in court.
When businesses challenged the shutdowns. When churches challenged the restrictions. When lawsuits questioned the governor’s sweeping emergency powers.
Ford’s office argued that those powers were legal and justified.
In case after case, the attorney general’s office stood behind the shutdown policies that devastated Nevada’s economy.
A Convenient Memory Loss
Fast forward to today.
Ford is now campaigning to replace Joe Lombardo as governor. And in campaign speeches he often tries to tie Lombardo to President Donald Trump.
But there’s something missing from Ford’s campaign message: Nevada’s own recent history.
Because while Ford wants voters thinking about Washington politics, Nevada voters remember something closer to home.
They remember empty casinos. Closed restaurants. Friends and family suddenly out of work.
They remember the unemployment lines. And they remember what happened to businesses that never came back.
The Lesson in the Rubble
The demolished Eastside Cannery is more than just a torn-down casino.
It’s a warning.
A reminder of what happens when government policies collide with the fragile ecosystem of a tourism economy.
Hundreds of jobs disappeared with that building. So did opportunity.
And if Nevada voters forget how we got there, Santayana’s warning becomes more than a quote. It becomes prophecy.
Because the question facing Nevada voters isn’t just who should be governor next. The real question is simpler:
Do we remember the policies that led to the rubble on Boulder Highway? Or are we about to repeat them?
Because once a casino is demolished, you don’t get it back. And once a state forgets its own history, it risks reliving it.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
