Published on: September 19, 2025, 07:21h.
Updated on: September 18, 2025, 09:13h.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” is published every Monday, with a special edition on Flashback Friday. Today’s article in our continuing series first appeared on July 1, 2024.
The label “Est. 1958” is prominently displayed on the signage, menu, and all promotional materials of the Golden Steer Steakhouse.
This date is significant to the restaurant’s allure, as it asserts connections to the iconic Rat Pack during its prime. The Golden Steer features booths named after Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Joey Bishop, claiming they correspond to where these legendary entertainers dined.
However, thanks to some incredible research by the Facebook group Vintage Las Vegas, we now know that the shopping center housing the steakhouse — originally known as the Lucky Shopping Center — didn’t open its doors until late 1960.
And at that time, the Golden Steer was nowhere to be found.
Misdirection in History
In reality, the Golden Steer opened its doors in January 1962. Prior to that, from 1960 to 1961, the space was home to a kosher restaurant named Valentino’s. No other steakhouse named Golden Steer ever operated anywhere else in Las Vegas.
Interestingly, Valentino’s reportedly contributed to some of the ambiance that the Golden Steer now claims.
“It took seven full months to create what many consider one of the most beautiful rooms in Las Vegas,” stated a November 10, 1960, article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, describing the restaurant’s décor as “copper chandeliers, oak walls, wrought iron furniture … solid oak doors, and window frames against a backdrop of exquisite rock.”
The January 1962 opening date of the Golden Steer was confirmed in comments on the Vintage Las Vegas Facebook post by Alexandra Roe, the granddaughter of co-founder Rex Littleton, who started the steakhouse with partner Chuck Hensley.)
Vintage Las Vegas further corroborated this with a reference to the “newly opened Golden Steer Restaurant” in a Review-Journal article from January 10, 1962.
According to Vintage Las Vegas, the Golden Steer adopted its 1958 establishment year for a Valentine’s Day celebration in 1998, marking what they claimed was its 40th anniversary. At that time, the establishment was under the ownership of Joe Kludjian, who passed away in 2006.
Dissecting Other Assertions
This four-year discrepancy does not necessarily negate the Golden Steer’s Rat Pack associations but raises questions.
The official narrative, as noted by tastingtable.com, mentions that Davis introduced Sinatra and Martin to the restaurant “because it was one of the few places where they could relax before performances — particularly before the Sands and other venues on the Strip were segregated.”
Nonetheless, the Strip achieved desegregation on March 25, 1960, a full two years before the Golden Steer had even opened its doors.
It’s important to note that the absence of photos capturing Rat Pack members during their dining experiences doesn’t definitively prove they did not dine there, as restaurant management often prohibited professional cameras to protect their celebrity patrons from unwanted attention.
The Summit performed at the Sands up until at least 1963, with each member continuing to have successful solo acts on the Strip well into the 1970s.
The Golden Steer’s claim that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, the quintessential celebrity couple of the 1950s, frequented the establishment, “always enjoying her preferred drink, chilled champagne,” is misleading.
Monroe finalized her divorce from DiMaggio in October 1954, which was eight years prior to the Golden Steer’s opening. Although DiMaggio did reconnect with Monroe post her third marriage to Arthur Miller in 1961 — even reportedly proposing to her again — they kept their re-established relationship very discreet. Dining in public could have easily attracted unwanted media attention.
While this four-year revision doesn’t alter the Golden Steer’s status as the oldest steakhouse in Las Vegas,
it must be noted that it never claimed to be so; the Golden Steer maintains that it is the oldest continuously operating steakhouse.
Yet our own investigation reveals that the Golden Steer may not hold strong claims to this title either.
What About Bob Taylor?
The title of the oldest steakhouse in Las Vegas belongs to Bob Taylor’s Original Ranch House, which has been located at 6250 Rio Vista St. for 69 years.
Opened in September 1955 by Bob and Ila Taylor, the restaurant began as part of their skeet-shooting ranch, thanks to the enthusiastic feedback from guests who enjoyed Bob’s expertly grilled steaks at the end of the shooting day.
With a whiskey in hand, Taylor would grill steaks, seasoning them with ice dropped onto the hot coals.
Many celebrities such as Elvis Presley and Sinatra would make the trip to the remote location for the unique dining experience. (The skeet-shooting sequence in the 1964 film ‘Viva Las Vegas’ was filmed at the ranch, with Taylor himself shooting targets off-camera.)
Taylor lived until March 2010, just days shy of his 88th birthday. However, he sold his steakhouse in 1983 to Bob Ratner, who has little information available online.
Ratner ran the establishment until August 1997, when road construction nearby drastically cut his customer base from around 250 patrons per night to just 50.
A month later, Ratner sold the now-closed restaurant to its present owner, Jeffrey Special. As per the Las Vegas Sun, Special reopened it in October 1997 alongside a former business partner.
The closure of Bob Taylor’s Original Ranch House lasted only about 90 days.
Thus, it cannot accurately assert itself as the oldest continuously operating steakhouse in Las Vegas, much like its claim to have opened four years earlier than it factually did.
Messages left for Michael Signorelli, the owner of the Golden Steer since 2001, went unanswered prior to publishing this article.
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