Club Black Magic originally opened on the corner of Bond, now known as Tropicana Ave & Paradise Rds. (4817 Paradise Road to be exact) on August 18, 1954 and would remain until 1968, when Camille Castro, “a stylish and flamboyant European Lesbian,” would purchase the club and rename it Le Bistro.
For most of the 1950s, it became the most popular jazz club in Las Vegas.According to this great article about the history of the Black Magic:
When musicians got off work on the Strip they gathered at the Black Magic for all-night jam sessions. This night-stalker ambiance attracted show kids from the Strip, and people who lived on ranches in Paradise Valley rode their horses through the desert to the Black Magic and tied them to hitching posts out front.
Information other than that article isn’t easy to come by and I would essentially just be quoting that entire article, so instead of me doing that, I implore you check out the article linked above to read about the fascinating history this place that would be known as Club Black Magic, Le Bistro French and ultimately Le Cafe and its importance to the Gay History of Las Vegas.
