Mizpah Hotel Casino .....Tonapah NV.....Ghost Free.....

......though we did stay on the fifth floor near the haunted room

I was introduced to the Mizpah hotel close to twenty years ago by way of my father in law who would always stop there for pie and ice cream, I had never really thought of staying there, or in Tonapah for that matter. I did enjoy the pie and ice cream and the classic old architecture when we would stop there.

This road trip found me with the missus who is not as enamored of my driving days which are usually in the realm of eight to ten hours. We were on our way from Tahoe ( Harvey's.....el dumpo ) to Vegas, Tonapah is just about dead center at four hours from both so this was the perfect spot to stop.

It is wonderful old hotel, built in 1906 as I recall and has fortyeight rooms, and my guess is they are somewhat different. The lobby is gorgeous, very dark with with prominent stained millwork, columns, and wide carved cove molding all along the ceilings. Exterior windows to the lobby and the bar are satin glass with fairly ornate leaded and beveled glass designs in the centers. Common area seating is Victorian style, with velvet maroon fabric in keeping with the rest of the dark decor.

The hotel rooms follow the lobby's theme in color and design, the rooms are pretty small, the bath rooms are tiny, with the door only missing the front of the commode by about two inches. It's all quite functional, just small. The room floors of the hotel had been mothballed for twelve years, and before that I think only one floor was open for guests. We were on the top floor, five floors in the old hotel, in a corner room. Really nice linens and a very comfy queen sized bed. Quite likely the slowest elevator I have ever had a ride in.......I hopped in on five to go back down to the lobby, the door opened and I went to get out and I had only gone down one floor.

Next to our room was where the ghost, Lady In Red, supposedly still makes occasional appearances ......murdered by a jealous lover as the story goes. We had no such appearances in our room, luckily, as the missus is not a fan of the supernatural.

I talked with a couple of the staff joking about what an undertaking revamping the plumbing must have been, and they both said the plumbing is still a daily challenge. All the staff are really friendly, the woman bartending was really fun, we ate at the bar while playing two of the eight bar top Game Kings. JOB was 8-5, and we didn't do too well. They have a casino just next door, mostly machines but did have a craps table and two BJ tables, none of the table games were staffed the Monday we were there.

The new owners of the Mizpah have seemingly decided to resurrect not only the old hotel but also the city of Tonapah to some extent, saving the hotel, opening the casino, and just for fun opening a brewery and restaurant across the street and up a couple blocks. I guess the brewery has pretty decent food, pub grub and BBQ. I had a bottle of the red ale at the hotel with dinner and it's not bad. I would have liked to see how the IPA was but they are only bottling the red and a hefe.

It was a great stay, staff was very friendly, I would certainly suggest a stay if you find yourself in Tonapah.

 

Now if they could resurrect the Goldfield Hotel that would be something

 

We stopped at the Dinky Diner in Goldfieled for breakfast on the way south to Vegas. Highly recommend a stop.

Great fresh breakfast fare and our server was really in to living in Goldfield and knew all the history of the town, and what was currently going on with the mining. She took the time to bring us a photo album of the town and walk us through some of the pictures, orienting us from the diner.

Amy asked what all the trucks were hauling that we had seen coming out of the desert, she told us it was lithium. Apparnetly Goldfield is home to the world's largest lithium mines and supplies the bulk of the lithium for the battery manufacturers.

In case anyone was interested in that sort of thing

 

Good to know the dinner is decent. I have always wondered what life is like in those living ghost towns.

 

I really enjoyed your post. We make a one trip driving every summer from our home in Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe and we always stop in Tonopah (as you point out midpoint). Last time we stopped just across from the Mizpah at the Pizza Place (if I remember correctly I think it was called Hometown Pizza or something like that). It was great, but slow. We have often thought about staying at the Mizpah on the way up to Lake Tahoe and now I just want to stay more with your post! We have friends in Walker Lake (Hawthorne) and I suspect they would join us for dinner. How was the restaurant at the Mizpah? Also, I noticed there was an old book store right there as well (something that I also like).

 

LG77.....

Amy had breakfast at the restaurant and really enjoyed it, she said it was a bit overstaffed the morning she was there and hoped she had just arrived early. I think they are still working out their staffing versus the occupancy rate/ walk up traffic, but better to build a rep as fast service rather than slow.

Plus they have fresh free coffee every morning on each floor by the elevator......such a treat, no need to figure out the in room machine and those torn packets !

We ate our dinner at the bartops in the lounge ( being degens) , but the meals were from the restaurant and would have been well worth the price for a sit down, we both had the prime rib with fixin's and it was very good. The hotel is more expensive than the others in town but with AAA I think only $40 or so more. As I recall we were $129.00 night. Safe parking, easy access, clean, kind staff.

We didn't see the bookstore...but the back parking lot of the hotel backs to a really nice mining museum, we easily walked up the hill to the museum. The museum grounds have old mining gear outside, ore carts, hoists, jackhammers, and the museum inside is self guided with lots of interesting hands on items, photos, and timelines.

Next time ribs and brews at their brewery across the street !

If you go through Hawthorne and have time check out the Ordnance Museum, our docent was great, and if you have been there but not recently they expanded with a whole new area, lot's of uniforms, and a replica of a WWII printing press office for forward position communication.

Please let me know if you have any other questions

Rusty