16 CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | October November December 2004

The latest of four tokens issued bySonnys Saloon appeared just prior tothe CC&GTCC Convention in June,2004. Struck in a hi-security alloy byRoger Williams Mint anddistributed by the Green ValleyGaming slot route company, will thisbe the last (i.e. final) bar token?Probably not, but only time will tell.

But it could very well be the lasttoken with Sonnys name on it.Clifton Carl Sonny Morris died inhis sleep this past July 31. Accordingto his obituary in the Las VegasReview Journal of August 3, 2004, hewas born May 21, 1925 in EnidOklahoma. At the age of 13, the 11thof 12 children came to Las Vegaswith his younger brother William tostay with one of their sisters. Theorphaned boys arrived in Las Vegasin the middle of the citys worst

SSoonnnnyyss SSaalloooonnTThhee LLaasstt BBaarr TTookkeenn??

snowstorm in history, when a record18 inches covered the Las VegasValley. At the age of 18 he volun-teered for the U.S. Navy and becamea member of the famous Sea Bees.After discharge in 1945, he settled inSan Diego and worked for WilburClark, associated with several restau-rants and lounges. Returning to LasVegas in his 20s, the colorftilSonny worked at the Aqua Lounge,and later owned several lounges.Also, his brother Bill WildcatMorris became part owner of theLandmark Casino.

The first Sonnys Saloon was atthe location of the Sneak Joint Casinoat 2358 Spring Mountain Road.(Chips from this small casino, whichclosed in 1980, are very hard tofind). This bar was a popular hangout.According to the obituary: Sonnyswas a home-away-from-home foreveryone from judges to casino work-ers and the average working person.Morris had a smile and a joke foreveryone and his understandingnature and big heart made him a truesounding board for those in need.

The first Sonnys Saloon tokencame from the ill-fated AmericanCoin Enterprises slot route companyin 1987. This token became obsoletein 1989 when American Coincheating was exposed. (See TheGreat American Coin Gaff in CasinoChip and Token News, Volume 17,#2, pp 70-73.)

The second, and last, token used atthe Spring Mountain locationappeared at the end of 1994. The newslot route company was B.W. Corp.and the mint was Casino Tokens(CT). This was the start of a new

by Vince Mowery

CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | October November December 2004 17

design with doubled letters of thename and a martini glass with olivelogo. These tokens became obsoletewhen the building was demolishedto make way for an overpass andmajor interchange on an interstatehighway.

Sonnys Saloon reappeared at 3449South Industrial Road. Thats ourExplorer in the parking lot. The largered sign over the side entrance isvaguely similar to the one at theoriginal location. Again, the buildingis shared by a Chinese restaurant.

Looking southeast from the frontof the building toward the back of theMirage, shows how close the saloonis to the strip - one block behind theFashion Show Mall. The largeoverpass across Industrial Road andfarther west solved some of the worsttraffic jams in Las Vegas. And thesign advertising BONUS VIDEOPOKER is typical of many bars,lounges, saloons, etc. in Nevada.

The first token at this new locationappeared May, 1997, in the samemetallic alloy and from the same slot

route company. However, the tokenswere minted by Green Duck Corp.(GDC) with their mint mark appear-ing on the obverse. During this time.Casino Tokens (CT) was getting outof the business of manufacturinggaming tokens, and the NevadaGaming Control Board granted per-mission for slot route companies tocontinue using existing reverse dies.As a result, these tokens have a GDCmint mark on the obverse and a CTmint mark on the reverse, an anomalyshared by only a few route companytokens.

Well the question remains: Willthe token introduced at the beginningof this article be the last Nevada bar

token? As far as we know, bar,lounge, saloon, restaurant, etc. tokensare unique to the state of Nevada.When a bartender at Sonnys Saloonwas asked why they did not changeover to the newer coinless machines,his response was that Sonny feltthe old machines were just fine andhe saw no need to replace or modifythem. Apparently, that sentiment isshared by some bar owners through-out Nevada, since at least a fewdozen are still using tokens.

W e wish to thank Phil Jensen formany knowledgeable discussions ofLas Vegas history and Janice ONealfor meticulous record keeping ofNevada bar tokens.