A little bit of revisionist history going on there, maybe not even a little bit, sometimes a lot of revisionist history going on. But the director and writer, Drew Goddard, was playing with the way things were, kind of like Tarantino does currently with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and especially with Inglourious Basterds. Again, Reno was not considered for the movie, and if you know sets and things like that, you look at the casino used and-not quite. It was a little bit different this takes place in the 1960’s, so a woman traveling alone without an entourage, some of the other aspects of it would be a bit different, but lounge singing, yes. Do you think there's a certain statement they make in that film about how lounge singing works and how it’s operated over the years? That was a scene from the film where Jeff Bridges ask’s Cynthia Erivo why she’s staying at the El Royale. The El Royale, again, revisionist or creative writing by the director and writer, wrote that there were actually windows to look into the rooms so you could see Cynthia singing her songs or you could see other things that were interesting or you could film illicit acts going on, then blackmail somebody about them. They were just underground tunnels cooler than the rest of the place in terms of temperature to walk around. There weren't windows or anything like that. The tunnels I have been in, and I have been in them, were dirt and rock walls. Frank Sinatra used them so that he could get in and out without being seen, without having to cross the casino, and not because he was being sneaky or anything but because as Frank Sinatra, it was hard for him to take a step without being mobbed. The main correlation that I’m aware of is, yes, there were tunnels. Do you see any correlation between the two?

I did some research that Frank Sinatra built a bunch of underground tunnels in the Cal Neva when he owned it, and in the movie Bad Times at the El Royale, there's a bunch of tunnels where people can look into the rooms and stuff happening in the movie. If you went swimming in the pool, there was a line through the pool that divided the state, so that concept, absolutely. There was a line through what they called the Indian Room, the state border, so you could have your picture taken on the state line. So, you walked into the Cal Neva when it was open and to your west was California and to the east was Nevada. Yes, absolutely, in the sense that this is a hotel that straddles state borders. There are little bases being touched about it. A side by side comparison of Lake Tahoe’s Cal Neva Lodge and The El Royale Hotel.

El royale casino