Devil’s Island Blog
For over 70 years, the Simms Family has called Las Vegas home. We love the stories and tales of the city’s notorious past and excited for its future. We started in a city that had a hundred thousand people to almost 3 million.
Chester is correct, you can’t leave Devil’s Island. Once this city gets into your veins, it is there forever. You always come back. We’ve curated Las Vegas stories into articles for you to view and learn about the history of Las Vegas and the Simms family.
Thoughts from Michael Brandt
J. Michael Brandt was the Simms family attorney and wrote this letter in 2006 for Chester’s Star Celebration dedication.
Letter to the Editor
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2001 LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL To the editor: In 1964, I was one of the attendees at the Beatles concert here. How I happened to be there was similar to how I ended up at many headliner shows, such as Bobby Darin, Bill Cosby, Jack Jones,...
Billy Pearson, Chester Simms, and The $64,000 Question
Read an excerpt from “Never Look Back”, the autobiography of jockey Billy Pearson detailing a story about Chester’s amazing character and generosity.
Paul Price Dateline: Las Vegas – Chester Simms
Paul Price wrote a column for the Las Vegas Sun, “Dateline: Las Vegas”, for 25 years until his death in 1985. Below is the touching column he wrote after Chester Simms passed away in 1970.
Shootout at the Simms Las Vegas Home
On February 6, 1970, a burglar entered the Simms home in Las Vegas while they were away on vacation. When he entered, instead of a vacant home, he found police waiting for him! We collected all of the newspaper articles of this amazing story of the Simms Family and Las Vegas history for your reading.