State tourism award honors Bob Lutes
Lutes Casino owner recognized for great customer service
“You haven’t been to Yuma if you haven’t been to Lutes.” Yumans have long known this.
Now the rest of the state knows it as well.
Longtime Yuma icon Bob Lutes of Lutes Casino, 221 Main St., was surprised with the Spirit of Service Award at the Arizona Governor’s Conference on Tourism on Tuesday. The Arizona Office of Tourism presents the annual award to an individual who best exemplifies the Arizona tourism industry’s commitment to exceptional customer service.
Bob accepted “a nice, big plaque” before an audience of 400, and the whole Lutes clan — including daughter Kelly Barone from Miami Beach, Florida, and Bob’s cousin from San Diego, California — arrived for the awards ceremony in Tucson.
Bob didn’t know he would be receiving the award. He knew that Visit Yuma had nominated him, and Linda Morgan, the agency’s executive director, convinced him to go to the conference by telling him that it was good for Yuma tourism and good for the restaurant.
“It’s an honor,” Bob told the Yuma Sun on Wednesday. “It’s great. I didn’t expect it.”
Before receiving the award, Bob sat through a presentation about tourism in Arizona. Not a word was said about Yuma. Afterwards an irked Lutes scolded the presenter for leaving Yuma out. He had no idea that a whole video about Lutes Casino and Yuma would be shown when he received the award.
A lot of people came up to him afterward, and he told them the story about Lutes Casino. “They said for sure they would stop next time they were in Yuma,” Bob said.
After 78 years, Lutes Casino continues to be a tourist draw, not to mention a favorite of residents. The family-owned restaurant is known locally as the place “where the elite meet and Yuma eats.”
Asked why it’s still so popular, Bob points out that it’s different from all the chain restaurants out there.
“It’s not so plastic. People come and they feel at home. They feel welcome. It’s a good feeling. It is something different,” he said.
Always wearing a hat, Bob, at the age of 83, still goes to the restaurant every day for the lunch rush.
“I would go crazy if I didn’t,” he said, adding that it helps him cope with the loss of Frances, his wife of 55 years, who passed away last year.
He enjoys talking to the customers. “If you don’t enjoy going to your business, it won’t be a success,” Bob said, noting that business owners need to be there to “hear” what the business says. “The business will talk to you.”
Bob (R.H. Lutes II) and Bill Lutes, the sons of R.H., are the present owners. “I’m proud of it. The whole family is,” Bob said. “When Billy and I took it over, it was a dirty old pool hall.”
While it has been called Lutes Casino for many years, there has never been gambling in the business. Lutes Casino dates back to 1920, more than two decades before the family patriarch R.H. Lutes took it over. Then owners W.E. McCaw and later Walter Weatherford sold it to Clark “Cocky” Powers.
R.H. Lutes loaned Powers $10,000 so he could buy the business. When Powers, a gambler, was unable to pay his debt, he gave R.H. the business. The pool hall and bar was in a state of dilapidation.
Bob and Bill took over as business owners after R.H. died in 1962. Bob, Bill and their sister Nancy Lutes became owners of the Lutes Casino building in 1989 after many years of leasing.
With time, Lutes Casino doubled in size. Although today it’s mostly a restaurant and bar, there are still a couple of pool tables.
The Especial burger, a cheeseburger topped with a sliced hot dog, continues to be a favorite. Eclectic memorabilia reflecting Yuma’s history, including posters of Hollywood stars who have passed through Lutes Casino, including Clark Gable, John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, plaster the walls and hang from the ceiling.
Bob’s sons, Mike and Bobby Lutes (R.H. Lutes III), now run the day-to-day business operations.
“They’re doing a good job managing it,” Bob said.