Lights, camera, action

SHORELINE – Shoreline businessman Mark Mitchell, 69, has collected movie star autographs since he was four years old. He’s got Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blain all on one “Guys and Dolls” placard.

“Before there was TV and before actors could do the circuit by appearing on Jay Leno, Good Morning America or the Today Show, the only way to promote their movies was to come to the press club. My dad worked for the paper so on Sundays, family day, I’d get their autographs,” he said. “I’ve met the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, Irving Berlin the songwriter” – and he has the autographs to prove it.

In the past year, he’s spent over $1 million collecting more autographs at auctions and on-line, and today all of those autographs are on display and open to the public to see at Shoreline’s newest and largest mini-casino, Club Hollywood, which will have its grand opening today, Oct. 10.

Walk into the foyer of Mark Mitchell’s new Hollywood Casino and there’s Marilyn Monroe’s limousine, under a chandelier of lights. Surrounding it and beyond is the “walk of fame” and museum of autographs.

“I used to drive my sons’ Little League teams to their games in Marilyn Monroe’s Limo – they loved it,” Mitchell said.

The 20,000 square foot, two-story art-deco building is located on Aurora Avenue North beside Debby’s Drift on Inn (also owned by Mitchell) and features a sushi bar, piano bar, dining room, banquet room and a mini-casino with 15 card tables and three big-screens. It cost about $6.5 million to build. The autograph collection is worth about $3.4 million alone, he said.

“It’s a very classy place,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t want to rely on gambling alone, so we feature good food and drink. The piano bar is a classier entertainment and caters to an older crowd. We have Martin Ross on piano, of the Cloud Room, and lead singer from Paul Revere and the Raiders.”

The new casino replaces the original Blackjack Cafe and four other buildings – which included an adult bookstore and massage parlor.

“By building this classy place, we eliminated four eye-sores – a full-on house of prostitution and a porn movie house,” Mitchell said.

Bobby Mitchell, Mark’s son, is a partner in the business.

“I’m really proud of what he’s done. He put his heart and soul into this place,” Bobby Mitchell said. “It could have been another big box casino but we did much, much more. I’m blown away.”

In 1999 the city of Shoreline passed an ordinance prohibiting new gambling uses from moving into the city. Those gambling establishments here prior to the moratorium were grandfathered in and allowed to expand. Club Hollywood is the last gambling location in Shoreline still grandfathered in.