Crossing over with Sinatra

Standing in the Indian Room at Lake Tahoe's Cal Neva Resort, Spa and Casino with one foot in California, the other in Nevada, the state line runs between my feet. This was quite a useful architectural feature in the good old bad old days when gambling was prohibited in California. "The slots were on wheels so any time the cops raided the joint, the machines were pushed over to the Nevada side," says Karl, a staff member with an interest in mobsters, Marilyn Monroe and the macabre.

Opened in 1926, Cal Neva quickly became the playground for celebrities and socialites who wanted to play away from the public gaze. It also ran the gamut of illegal enterprises, from gangster-era prohibition to its glory days as the most profitable casino in the US when Frank Sinatra owned the place.

Despite Sinatra denying his reported mob connections, he bought the Cal Neva Lodge in 1960 with mob boss Sam Giancana as his silent partner. The licence was his as long as no criminals were allowed on the premises, which is kinda tricky when you're in business with one.

I've walked in Winston Churchill's shadow in Gibraltar's wartime tunnels but never expected to walk in Giancana's. Yet here I am, crammed in a rabbit warren of tunnels under the Cal Neva Casino feeling like Alice in mafia Wonderland. Two trap doors lead from Sinatra's office into tunnels left over from the 1920s prohibition days; the system was foolproof until one night in 1963, Giancana had a fight with the manager of his singer girlfriend, Phyllis McGuire. Someone called the police, the tunnels were discovered and the Nevada Gaming Control Board revoked Sinatra's licence, closing him down.

The Cal Neva was revived in the mid-'80s and is harnessing its heritage by tastefully revamping 200 lake-view rooms, cabins and chalets spread over nine floors; the most popular places to stay, however, are three modest bungalows with unimpeded views of Lake Tahoe.

"Frank's was No. 5 and he had a thing about the colour orange. Even his luggage was orange," Karl says, as we pause outside the clapboard cabin. Members of Sinatra's "Rat Pack" occupied cabin No. 4 while No. 3 was reserved for Monroe.

"One of the tunnels leads to an extra-large wardrobe in Marilyn's cabin, used for nocturnal visits by the Kennedys, who used to stay on the other side," Karl says.

The Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom, where the Rat Pack entertained Hollywood's elite, powerful politicians and babes, was built with a balcony over the stage where Sinatra's mobster mates could watch the show unseen by other diners. Sliding in to one of the plush red velvet booths, Karl gives me the skinny on seances he's held in the room. "The Godfather Part II filmed scenes here and the room's crawling with spirits from the past 80 years," he says. His "evidence" is smudgy outlines of white wraiths photographed on stage in the dead of night and sketchy sound recordings.