Friend of Classic Las Vegas Monthly Meeting

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas will be having their monthly General meeting on Sunday, January 11th.

We would like to invite everyone to join us to help us put together our presevation plans for 2009. We encourage you to bring a friend as well!

Our guest this Sunday will be Ky Plaskon who has written a book, "Silent Heroes of the Cold War", which is about the plane crash on Mt. Charleston that occurred in the late 1950s and was classified top secret for over forty years.

Sunday, January 11th

2:00 pm

Nevada State Museum

Auditorium

700 Twin Lakes Dr

Lorenzi Park

Refreshments will be served!

We hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday , Elvis

He was the King in my family.  Even as a small child, I knew my parents loved Elvis.  My mother not given to swooning, would swoon at the sight of him.

My dad bundled us into the old Ford station wagon and took us to the Stardust Drive-In to see Viva Las Vegas.  He worked downtown at the Golden Gate as a Keno writer and when the cast and crew were shooting the race scenes on Fremont Street, he stepped outside and watched Elvis drive by in his sport car.

Just a few years later, my dad picked my mom up after her shift as a waitress in the showroom at Caesars Palace.  It was still early in the night and they didn't want to go straight home.  Fats Domino was playing in the lounge at the Flamingo.  Right across the street.  Perfect, said mom, let's go.

They hung a U-turn on Flamingo Road (you could in those days) and drove over to the Flamingo hotel.  In no time they were seated at the bar listening to Fats Domino.  The place was pretty lively filled with Fats fans.

Because he was with my mom (quite a striking woman in her hey-day) my dad scoped out the bar.  Near my parents was a guy who had probably been drinking since the early evening.

Everyone in the lounge was enjoying Fats' set except that guy.  He was from the south and didn't appreciate Fats' music, Fats' talent and most of all the color of Fats' skin.

As the set played on, the guy started to get loud and belligerent about the fact that he didn't like Fats Domino.  Most of all he concentrated on the fact that Fats was black.

My dad told him a few times to shut up.   They were big Fats Domino fans from way back and wanted to enjoy the show.   Another guy at the end of the bar also told him to shut up.  The loud mouth continued his bigoted remarks.  My mom and dad had had enough.  So had the man at the end of the bar.  My dad told my mom to order another drink and he'd be back.

He approached the bigot and noticed that the man at the end of the bar did was doing the same.  They grabbed the man and words were exchanged.  I should note that my dad was in great shape.  He was a well-known West Coast Judo champ at the time and took that training seriously.  The other man grabbing the bigot was in good shape too.

Before my mother knew what had happened, the bigot was silenced, security was called and my dad and his new friend re-joined my mother.  My mother almost fainted when she realized who the other man was.  When he said "Hello ma'am" she just about lost it.  Elvis bought the next round.  When Fats Domino finished his set he came over to them and joined them.  They drank together until the early hours of the morning sharing stories.

I have two cocktail napkins from that night with their autographs that I cherish.

In 1969, it was announced that Elvis was coming to the International Hotel in August.  My mother's birthday was in August and he wanted to surprise her.  He worked two jobs and saved all the extra cash he could.

He did good.  We went to see Elvis Presley at  the International Hotel in August that year.  It was the dinner show and my dad tipped the maitre'd so that we could sit in one of those old fashioned plushy booths center stage.

My mother was in heaven.  Somewhere we still the menu from that night.

In 1977, my folks were in vacation in Utah.  They stopped in at a small general store and my mom heard something about Elvis on the radio in the store but not enough to understand.  She went to the pay phone and called me to find out why they were talking about Elvis on the radio.

I had to tell her that Elvis had died.

Frazier Hall has been destroyed

It was the first building on the campus of Nevada Southern University.  It was designed by famed Las Vegas architects Zick and Sharp.  It was named for a woman who made education her cause, Maude Frazier.  She is beloved by the many people who knew her, were influenced by her education first cause and who had better lives for coming under her tutelage.

For the last year and a half, preservationists have been trying to save Maude Frazier Hall from the wrecking ball.  The majority of colleges around the country usually save the first building that was built on their campus.  Many see it as a timeline and a yard stick for how far a college has come from its humble beginnings.  Whether small or large, well-known or not, colleges usually take pride in preserving and utilizing their first campus building.

Well, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (formerly Nevada Southern University) is not in that league.  They are in a league of their own.  Word has just come from FCLV member Dennis McBride that UNLV is in the process of tearing down Frazier Hall.  Dennis says that the majority of students and employees on campus had no idea the demolition was taking place today.

FCLV member Mary Martinez, Anthropology instructor Heidi Swank, the Atomic Age Alliance, Thalia Dondero, Jack LeVine, Donna Andress and the alumni of Las Vegas High are all to be commended for their efforts in trying to save this important building.

I 'd be willing to bet there is no joy in Las Vegas preservation circles this afternoon.

Maude Frazier Hall

1957 to 2009

R.I.P.

Special thanks to UNLV Special Collections and Joel Rosales at Leavinglv.net for letting us use this images.

Las Vegas, New Year's Eve Fireworks and Robbie Knievel

This year’s New Year’s Eve theme for “America’s Party,” as organizers have dubbed Las Vegas’ celebration, is “Takin’ It To The Streets.”

And they mean it literally.

Because of a regulatory change sparked by a fire at the Monte Carlo resort earlier this year, the massive New Year’s fireworks show will be launched from parking lots and parking garages, not the roofs of towering casino-resorts on the Strip.

“The issue with us changing the location was the new regulations that were put on firing the show from the rooftops,” said Michael Mack, director of marketing for Las Vegas Events.

In January, workers using a torch to cut corrugated steel started a fire on the roof of the Monte Carlo resort that ignited a type of decorative foam that’s found on several other Strip casinos. The fire forced the evacuation of the hotel’s guests and damaged rooms on the hotel’s top five floors.

Following that, Clark County officials “took another look at our policies and procedures to make sure everything was as it should be,” said county spokesman Dan Kulin.

That resulted in a new rule: “To have a fireworks launching site on a rooftop, they would have to hire a fire safety engineering firm to inspect the area,” he said. “It still is allowed. There’s just another step that they have to take.”

Event organizers did not mention the regulatory change at an event announcing New Year’s Eve plans Tuesday. Instead, they played up the fact that the fireworks will be closer to the audience.

“If you’re on the Strip in the right locations, you’re going to get a much better view of the individual fireworks than you have in the past,” said Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events.

Felix J. Grucci, vice president and CFO of Fireworks by Grucci, put it this way: “When they’re on top of the roofs, they’re spectacular and it’s a wonderful panoramic view ... But this year we said, 'Maybe it’s time we brought the fireworks closer to the people so that we can make it part of the Strip, part of where the action is happening.’ ”

Viewing locations have been mapped out for the launch locations, which are the Mandalay Bay convention center lot, the Luxor’s parking lot, the parking garages at the MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, the Stratosphere and Treasure Island, and the Gold parking lot at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

There will also be a fireworks show under the canopy of the Fremont Street Experience downtown.

About 250,000 people are expected to ring in the New Year on the Strip, with another 30,000 flocking to Fremont Street’s stages and light shows.

“People are yearning for the opportunity to escape and to have a fantasy, and what better place to come to than Las Vegas, and what better time than New Year’s Eve?” said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.

“I believe that this is going to be the start of a great year for Las Vegas. I believe that this is going to be the start of a comeback, as far as our economy is concerned.”

Vince Alberta of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ticked off a list of entertainers lined up for New Year’s Eve, including Kid Rock, Pink, Stone Temple Pilots, Carmen Electra, Usher, New Kids on the Block, the Kardashian sisters and Fergie.

There will be motorcycle stunts too — Robbie Knievel is set to attempt to jump the refurbished volcano at the Mirage, and Robbie Maddison will attempt to land his bike on top of the 96-foot-high L’Arc de Triomphe replica at Paris Las Vegas.

At the Rio, meanwhile, motorsports star Rhys Millen will attempt to be the first person to backflip a trophy truck — a goal that was derailed last year by a training injury.

The Fremont Street Experience is featuring a host of tribute groups on New Year’s Eve, including acts dedicated to the music of the Eagles, Billy Joel, David Bowie, KISS, Queen, the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.

Admission is free for people 21 and older with a valid Nevada ID. Otherwise, tickets are $20.