Why Is It Called Terrible’s?

The story behind one of Las Vegas’ most recognizable names

Drive around Las Vegas and you’ll eventually spot the familiar red-and-white signs of Terrible’s, complete with the mustachioed cowboy. It’s one of Southern Nevada’s most recognizable business names and one that naturally raises a question: why would a company call itself Terrible’s?

The story traces back to Ed Herbst, a businessman who entered the competitive oil business in 1938. His unconventional approach to marketing helped establish a name that would eventually become familiar across Nevada.

Here’s how the name originated, how the Herbst family built the business, and how Terrible’s became part of the Las Vegas landscape.

It Started With Ed Herbst

In 1938, Ed Herbst opened an oil company in Chicago.

He entered a fiercely competitive business and developed a reputation for doing things differently. He used aggressive pricing and attention-grabbing promotions to bring customers to his stations.

His customers apparently liked what he was doing.

His competitors were another matter.

“Here Comes That Terrible Herbst”

Years later, Ed’s son Jerry Herbst told the Las Vegas Review-Journal how the unusual name originated.

According to Jerry, whenever his father opened another service station in Chicago, competitors would complain Here comes that terrible Herbst

Instead of running away from the insult, the Herbst family embraced it.

Terrible Herbst became the name.

The story has been retold in different forms over the years, but it leads to the same wonderfully unlikely place: the word “terrible” became part of the Herbst identity.

And eventually, one of the most recognizable names in Las Vegas.

Then Came Las Vegas

The Herbst family’s Las Vegas chapter began in 1959, when Jerry Herbst came to Southern Nevada after graduating from the University of Southern California and helped expand the family business here.

Over the decades, Terrible Herbst became part of the Las Vegas landscape.

And eventually another familiar character appeared.

Mr. Terrible.

The cowboy with the enormous handlebar mustache wasn’t there from the beginning.

According to Terrible’s director of marketing, who spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mr. Terrible emerged in advertising in the mid-1970s. Jerry Herbst’s business partner Jerry Moffitt sketched the cowboy, drawing partly on the Wild West imagery associated with Las Vegas.

Before the Cowboy, There Was a Whale

And this may be our favorite part.

Before Mr. Terrible became the familiar face of the company, Terrible Herbst experimented with a very different advertising idea.

A cartoon whale.

The company used the slogan “A Whale of a Buy,” and Review-Journal newspaper archives show the whale campaign appearing as early as 1966.

The whale wasn’t actually the company’s mascot, according to Terrible’s marketing director. It was an advertising gimmick.

Eventually, the cowboy came along.

The whale disappeared.

The bad guy stayed.

An Insult That Became an Identity

Today, it’s easy to drive past a Terrible’s without giving the name a second thought.

That’s what happens when something becomes part of a city.

But behind that familiar sign is a wonderfully strange piece of business history.

A man entered the gasoline business.

He competed hard.

His customers liked what he was doing.

His competitors called him terrible.

And instead of running away from the name, the Herbst family put it on the sign.

More than eight decades after Ed Herbst entered the gasoline business, we’re still saying it.

Terrible’s.

Sometimes the best Las Vegas stories are hiding in plain sight.

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A street name you’ve always wondered about?

A building with a strange history?

A neighborhood landmark everybody recognizes, but nobody seems to know much about?

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Sources & Further Reading

The historical reporting about the Herbst family, the origin of the Terrible’s name, Mr. Terrible and the earlier whale advertising campaign comes from reporting and newspaper archives published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.