George Hardie

With a handbag over a shoulder and a bounce to her step, 47-year-old school psychologist Lisa Klenner bounded through the doors of the small casino in the Mojave Desert. Gerald Morris, the floor man of Diamond Jim's, greeted her with a familiar smile and coaxed her to a table where a game of poker was already underway.

With a handbag over a shoulder and a bounce to her step, 47-year-old school psychologist Lisa Klenner bounded through the doors of the small casino in the Mojave Desert. Gerald Morris, the floor man of Diamond Jim's, greeted her with a familiar smile and coaxed her to a table where a game of poker was already underway.

George Hardie once ran the world's largest card club. In its prime, the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens was a second home to some of the top poker players in the country. It had a reputation for clean games, and folks liked to boast they could go there to vie with legendary card players Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan, as well as celebrities such as Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

George Hardie once ran the world's largest card club. In its prime, the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens was a second home to some of the top poker players in the country. It had a reputation for clean games, and folks liked to boast they could go there to vie with legendary card players Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan, as well as celebrities such as Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, Monday authorized the purchase of additional property in the Central City Project Area near Florence and Eastern avenues. The acquisitions are the latest in a plan by the city to eventually acquire all of the property from Eastern Avenue to the Long Beach Freeway, and from Live Oak to Priory streets, for a city parking lot and other commercial developments, said Claude Booker, city manager.

Willis Martin rubbed his red eyes, grabbed his chips and cigarettes off the table and headed for the bar at the California Bell Club poker casino. "It's almost 5 o'clock--the cocktail hour," Martin announced as he slipped a wad of $5 bills into a pocket-size tissue box, where he keeps his money. "Besides, I haven't won in an hour, and maybe a Scotch will change my luck." The retired grocer spends several days a week in one of the shiny poker casinos that dot southeast Los Angeles County.

For weeks, Stanton Mayor Sal Sapien has wrestled with a dilemma. The city is in dire need of money, and a proposal that could bring it as much as $2.5 million a year without a tax increase is on the table. But the proposal is packed with controversy and already has aroused strong emotions. It's called a card club.

Poker magnate and Bicycle Club general manager George G. Hardie and the partners in his corporation have been cleared by federal authorities of wrongdoing in a racketeering and money laundering scheme in which $12 million in drug profits was invested in the giant card club.

A federal judge has signed an order allowing Bicycle Club general manager George Hardie and the partners in his corporation to begin receiving their share of club profits that have been frozen since the Bell Gardens card casino was seized by federal authorities.

Cathedral City voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a proposal to legalize card room gambling, spoiling Mayor George Hardie's dream of building a card club and resort on land he owns in the desert community. Hardie, co-owner of a casino in Los Angeles County, attributed the outcome in part to residents' "fear of the unknown" and called it "an unfortunate loss" for the city. "The people have spoken and I accept their decision," the mayor said. "I'm going to go on running the city.

Poker magnate and Bicycle Club general manager George G. Hardie and the partners in his corporation have been cleared by federal authorities of wrongdoing in a racketeering and money laundering scheme in which $12 million in drug profits was invested in the giant card club.

For weeks, Stanton Mayor Sal Sapien has wrestled with a dilemma. The city is in dire need of money, and a proposal that could bring it as much as $2.5 million a year without a tax increase is on the table. But the proposal is packed with controversy and already has aroused strong emotions. It's called a card club.

The City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, Monday authorized the purchase of additional property in the Central City Project Area near Florence and Eastern avenues. The acquisitions are the latest in a plan by the city to eventually acquire all of the property from Eastern Avenue to the Long Beach Freeway, and from Live Oak to Priory streets, for a city parking lot and other commercial developments, said Claude Booker, city manager.

Willis Martin rubbed his red eyes, grabbed his chips and cigarettes off the table and headed for the bar at the California Bell Club poker casino. "It's almost 5 o'clock--the cocktail hour," Martin announced as he slipped a wad of $5 bills into a pocket-size tissue box, where he keeps his money. "Besides, I haven't won in an hour, and maybe a Scotch will change my luck." The retired grocer spends several days a week in one of the shiny poker casinos that dot southeast Los Angeles County.

George G. Hardie, longtime general manager of the Bicycle Club Casino, resigned this week to pursue other interests, including a race for county commissioner in Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas. Hardie, a prominent figure in California's card club industry, said he will continue to serve as a consultant to the Bicycle Club, which he has managed since 1984.

The co-owner of the Bicycle Club Casino has agreed to sell his holdings in the business and relinquish his gambling license in a settlement with the state attorney general's office. George Hardie was accused of allowing kickbacks and drug dealing at the casino, among other things, and "willfully circumvented cash reporting requirements to the IRS," the state attorney general's office said in a statement released Tuesday.