Golden Nugget

The Golden Nugget appears in Andy Warhol’s diary as an Atlantic City casino where gambling, entertainment, and conspicuous period styling were organized into a single destination. A January 1983 visit with Diana Ross reveals both the venue’s scale and its practical calculation: its rooms were designed not only to stage performances, but also to draw gamblers and reward high rollers.

Ownership and the Atlantic City Visit

Diana Ross had signed a contract to perform at the Golden Nugget and wanted to see the room before taking the engagement. She had never played a small room before. Andy Warhol accompanied her on her first trip to Atlantic City to see Frank Sinatra’s show, bringing a print of the portrait he had made of Ross for the casino’s owner. The visit thus joined a prospective performance, an existing portrait commission, and the casino’s entertainment program in one trip.

The party was met by a man Edmund Gaultney had previously brought to the office. Warhol learned that the man’s brother, Steve Wynn, owned the Golden Nugget. Wynn was there with his wife and children, whom Warhol described as a good-looking American family; he could not tell whether they were Italian or Jewish. The brief introduction places family presence alongside the business relationships surrounding Ross’s contract and Warhol’s portrait.

Rooms, Design, and Scale

Ross hesitated between two outfits. Warhol offered to act as her hairdresser and choose, but could not make up his mind either. She first put on a skimpy white dress, then changed into tight black pants and a top. While there, Warhol toured the Golden Nugget and found eighteen restaurants, with Victorian styling throughout. When he asked why the casino had chosen that look, he was told that people did not gamble if a place looked modern. The explanation presents decoration as a deliberate part of the gambling business, not simply a matter of taste.

The tour also included an escalator that rose five stories. The casino’s scale was conveyed through both the number of restaurants and the vertical sweep of the building, details that made the visit an occasion in itself for Warhol. Yet his access had a limit: staff said they would send a plane for him whenever he wanted, but withdrew the offer when he said he was not a gambler. Ross, by contrast, was a big gambler, though she had not yet gambled at the Golden Nugget.

Showroom and Audience

The party attended Sinatra’s performance in a room of about 500 seats. According to Warhol’s account, 200 seats were sold and the remaining 300 were given to high rollers. The division shows how the showroom served two audiences at once: ticket buyers and favored casino customers. Sinatra performed all his songs and came on time, making the evening a polished attraction within the casino’s broader operation.

Sinatra then introduced Ross and Warhol to the audience as two famous people from different fields, one an artist and one a singer. Barbara Sinatra sat between them. Warhol, unsure what to say to her, asked whether her son was still dating Barbara Allen, although he knew that relationship had ended. The episode closes the visit on a small social awkwardness, while placing celebrity recognition inside the Golden Nugget’s carefully arranged mix of performance, high-roller hospitality, and public display.