Las Vegas News Bureau Opens the Vaults!

From the Los Angeles Times:

Sammy Davis, Jr and Loray White celebrate following their marriage in 1958

In a city that's always on the go, there's never a lack of photo opportunities. For more than 60 years, photographers from the Las Vegas News Bureau have been capturing every conceivably newsworthy activity -- as diverse as the atomic bomb and Elton John -- to both document and publicize this ever-evolving city. They've probably shot a million pictures, maybe more.

"We're guesstimating," says Lisa Jacob, senior manager of the news bureau, an arm of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "The more drawers we open, the more we find."

As curator Brian Alvarez, hired two years ago to archive the images, continues sorting them, he's stumbling across pictures nobody remembered. One such image shows President Kennedy visiting troops at the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Vegas, where atomic bombs were detonated during the 1950s and '60s.

Where to see 'From the Vault'

SCHEDULE

March 31-May 19: Whitney Library

June 2-July 28: Enterprise Library

Aug. 4-Oct. 11: Clark County Library

Oct. 13-Nov. 30: Centennial Hills Library

Dec. 1-Jan. 12: West Charleston Library

For library hours and locations, visit www.lvccld.org.

Deciding that the photos have been hidden far too long, Alvarez and Jacob are putting a sampling on public display. An exhibit, "From the Vault," will tour local libraries for nine months beginning March 31.

Of course, the showbiz legends that have played the showrooms of Sin City -- Elvis, Liberace and Sinatra, among them -- are well represented. But the show also depicts marketers' early efforts to promote Las Vegas as a tourist destination.

There's a curious photo of a guy dubbed "Mr. Atomic Bomb," who's naked except for a mushroom cloud made of cotton. The picture was part of a campaign to encourage visitors to come and watch the huge explosions. In another picture, two average tourists are shown having fun along Fremont Street in 1953.

"It's an adventure every time we go up to the vault," Jacob says. She adds that, as more hidden treasures are revealed, additional public displays of the photographs will be discussed.

 

Helldorado Days in the 1950s when the parade rivaled the Rose Parade for attendance and floats

 

Elmo Ellsworth and Dee Dee Lees, two out-town visitors, on Fremont Street in 1953

 

Special thanks to Brian "Paco" Alvarez and the Las Vegas News Bureau for permission to use these photos.

 

"Las Vegas in Postcards" in Bookstores Now!

I was on K-DWN radio yesterday morning promoting my new book, "Las Vegas in Postcards: 1905-1965".

As many of you know, Carey Burke, Allen Sandquist and I spent a long time working on this book last year and our hardwork paid off.  The book looks great.  It is filled with historic postcards that depict the real history of Las Vegas and focus not only on the well-known iconic side of Las Vegas but also the little known residential history of the town.

We owe a big debt of thanks to Dennis McBride, the Curator of History, at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas for letting us use some early postcards from their collection.  Mostly, the postcards came from Carey and Allen's extensive collections.  Many are rare and rarely seen postcards.

So, if you want to know about the Roadside Architecture of Las Vegas, the gaming, the neighborhood churches and schools,  real history of the motels (some of which still exist on East Fremont Street) as well as the real history of the buildings and businesses on Fremont Street and the Strip, then be sure t to get a copy of this book.

On Friday evening, May 8th, Carey Burke and I will be doing a book-signing and program (moderated by Dennis McBride) at the Nevada State Museum.  Stay tuned for more details as that date draws closer.

Also, we are preparing a companion video to go with the book.  Both the companion video and autographed copies of the book will be available for sale here in the weeks to come.  So, keep an eye out here for more details!

Of course, if you find you just can't wait, the book is available in most local to Las Vegas Barnes and Noble and Borders bookstores.  You can also buy copies of the book at the Gift Shop in the Nevada State Museum.

Two Historical Discussion Panels this week!

We have two historical panel discussions this week that we hope you will join us for:

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, March 5th join us as we look back at Early Families of Las Vegas.

We will shine a spotlight on the families that helped build and nuture Las Vegas from 1905 through the Great Depression.

It will be a great night of history and memories so we hope you will join us and our panelists:

Paul Carson - local historian with a great deal of knowledge on the family of Helen J. Stewart.

June Eddins - her family had a business on Fremont Street

Bill Gildner -his family arrived in the throes of the Great Depression

Don Payne - local historian

Las Vegas Springs Preserve

Desert Learning Center

7:00 pm

$12 admission

We hope to see you there!

 

And on Friday, March 6th as part of the Clark County Centennial monthly celebration we have organized another great panel for Mark Hall-Patton to moderate:

 

The women of Clark County are the focus of the next panel discussion about local history set for Friday, March 6 at 6 p.m.

The 90-minute roundtable discussion, called “Centennial Stories: Examining Our Past,” is timed to coincide with Women’s History Month and includes an opportunity for those who attend the free event to ask questions of the panelists of pioneers and historians.

The event takes place in the County Government Center Commission Chambers, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, and is aired live and later replayed on Clark County Television (CCTV) Channel 4 and viewers are able to call in with questions. All Channel 4 programming also may be viewed live on the county Web site at www.accessclarkcounty.com.

The roundtable will feature Sue Kim-Bonifazio of the famed Kim Sisters; Dr. Joanne Goodwin, associate professor of history at UNLV and director of the UNLV Women’s Research Institute; Thalia Dondero, a former university regent and former county commissioner; and Hannah Brown, a former Delta Airlines executive and longtime resident. Moderating is county Museum Administrator Mark Hall-Patton.

Panel discussions about Clark County’s history are set for every First Friday in 2009, except in July when the event will be held Wednesday, July 1, and kicked off last month with a discussion of the history of segregation in Las Vegas.

“One of the goals of the county’s year-long commemoration of our centennial is to engage the community and celebrate our common heritage,” said Commission Chairman Rory Reid. “These monthly roundtables are a great way to do that.” 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Clark County, and the county is commemorating the event with a year of activities.

Roundtable discussions slated for later in the year are April 3, Clark County’s Mining History; May 1, “Architecture and Neon in Clark County”: June 5, “The History of the Strip: The Early Years”; July 1, a Wednesday, “The History of the Strip: Howard Hughes and Beyond”; August 7, “The Mob and Las Vegas”; Sept. 4, “Hispanics in Clark County”; Oct. 2, “Entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip”; Nov. 6, “Military History in Clark County”; and Dec. 4, “Marketing Las Vegas.”

 

 

Charleston Heights - Looking Back

My family moved into Charleston Heights in April of 1964.  Up till then, we had been living in a small rental house in North Town, just off the old Salt Lake Highway (Las Vegas Blvd. North).

But, with my mom pregnant with my little brother, she and dad decided that we needed a big home.  Sproul was a popular builder of homes back then, especially in the west end of town.  Our house sat at the end of Bristol Street and the surrounding streets were named Bourbon, Brandwine, Burgundy and Evergreen.  It was what was called a 988er meaning it had 988 square feet.  That included three bedrooms, one and three-quarter baths, a living room, kitchen, as well as the single car garage.

It cost $16, 450 and that was a lot of money in 1964.  The elementary school was brand new and located on Torrey Pines, Rose Warren.  It was so new that grass had yet to be planted on the school yard and the jungle gym equipment was amid rock and gravel (and would be that way for a few more years).


I transferred from Quannah S. McCall to Rose Warren just before the end of second grade.  The kids in the class all lived in the neighborhood and I can still drive those streets and point out where they lived.

Sproul Homes built almost all single story planned houses.  They did have one tri-level plan with the rumpus room/sewing room downstairs.  According to my mother, most homes were frame and asbestos siding with either a composition shingle roof or a tropical roof.

They ranged in price.  The smallest home had two bedrooms, one bath and a swamp cooler.  It sold for $14,900.  The other models came with air-conditioning.  The tri-level sold for $19,950 and had 1650 square feet along with the single car garage.

Many of the models were named after Indian tribes such as the Aprapho.  There was one territorial style model as well.

The neighborhood stretched from Charleston and Torrey Pines to just west of Alta across from Garside Jr. High and from just west of Torrey Pines down to Decatur.  Along Decatur, the boundary went all the way to Washington Blvd.

We were literally the last house on Bristol and after us it was desert all the way to Calico Basin, except for a small bar about half way between us and Red Rock Canyon. 

Today it is all housing.  There used to be a large expanse of desert on the other side of Alta between and Garside and that is all housing now.

We lived there until 1973 when we moved to a bit further to the Southwest to Spring Valley.

Charleston Rainbow subdivision was built in the late 1960s and the large earthen berm that had served as flood control was finally torn down.  About that same time, more houses were added to our street and the surrounding streets as well.

You can drive through the neighborhood and chart the changes in the designs.

Our neighborhood was quite diverse.  We had a large family as our next door neighbors for many years.  It was mainly a family of girls and they introduced me to the Beatles and we introduced them to Elvis.  When they moved a Mormon family took their place.

Across the street was the Delahuerta family and two doors down from them the Mendoza family.  In between was a couple who, like my parents, worked in the hotels.

It was while we were living in Charleston Heights that my dad gave up working on Fremont Street and went to work at the Titanium Factory in Henderson.  He bought a motorcycle for the commute.

As with generations past, you could hear us playing in the twilight during the summer months and as it got dark you would hear the mom's calling their kids to come in.

We rode our bikes all over the sub-division and all over the desert.  The ice-cream truck, with soft-serve ice cream, came through the neighborhood every evening.

Anderson Diary delivered fresh milk to our door a couple of times a week.  There was a bakery truck for awhile that delivered fresh bread from the Holsum Bakery on East Charleston.

It was a different time and place than the neighborhoods today but then, Las Vegas is no longer just a small city in the sun-belt either.  Though I've grown up and moved away, I can still drive around the neighborhood and hear us out there playing "Red Rover" and hide and seek in the twilight of the evening.

 

Charleston Heights - A Look Back