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Extravagant living on a secret base

Just because the 2,000 or so civilian and military personnel working at Groom Lake were fighting the Cold War didn't mean they couldn't enjoy a cold one.

A favorite watering hole was Building 170, the hangar-size centerpiece of the base's recreational complex. It is listed in one base directory as Sam's Place, a bar named after a Central Intelligence Agency official who once ran the base, said a source involved in base operations during the 1980s.

Sam's Place was a dark, fully carpeted night club with large padded chairs and a bar ringed with stools that rivaled the largest ones in Las Vegas, the source said. The bar and many of the facilities probably still exist, he said.

The club had four pool tables, dart boards and a big screen where pornographic movies were shown "until a few ladies on the base complained," he said.

The recreational complex was complete with an eight-lane bowling alley, a heated, indoor pool, four racquetball courts, a basketball gymnasium with a wooden floor, tennis courts, saunas and a snack bar. At one time, a golf course and lighted softball field existed.

Supplies for the base were flown in from Hill Air Force Base in Utah aboard C-130s.

"Sometimes people would chip in and buy big ice boxes of shrimp that were flown specially to the base from Florida in 20 to 30 big Styrofoam coolers," he said. The planes stopped at the base only long enough to offload the shrimp, he said.

Some colonels, he said, "had very extravagant tastes," including one who had grapefruits flown in from Israel at $25 apiece and requested deliveries of canned tuna from South America that he estimates cost the government $26 per can.

In the dining hall, prime rib was offered every Wednesday afternoon and New York steaks were often on the lunch menu. "They used to serve frog legs, king crab and filet mignon at no charge," he said.

"They drank bottled water to the tune of $50,000 a month," he said comparing the lifestyles of some base inhabitants to high rollers in Las Vegas at the government's expense.