Las Vegas Historic Preservation Week, Part 2

Okay, here is the line-up for Saturday, May 17th.  Two weeks ago, Jack LeVine and I were joking that May is the busiest month for events and the first weekend in May was a whirlwind of activity.

But this Saturday will definitely be the official winner of cool May events.  It is Cultural History Day and so here is your chance to learn about the different facets of Las Vegas history, learn about preservation, listen to music, see a mini-film festival of documentaries on Las Vegas, take tours of some very cool (and not often open to the public without appointment) places and experience the Helldorado Parade.

Plan to get up early, take plenty of water for driving around the Valley to the various events and settle back later in the evening with a Parade.  It'll be cool (well, probably not the weather), we promise. 

This Saturday, May 17th the line-up is: 

 

The Neon Museum is going to open their boneyard and offer hourly tours on Saturday, May 17th from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Normally tours are $15 but on this Saturday the tours are only $5 a person.  So get up early and get to the boneyard to see the wonderful signs they have display and perhaps more importantly, the work on the La Concha (they are doing a wonderful job of putting it back together).

The Neon Boneyard is at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd North and McWilliams Street.  Parking is available across the street at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

 

The very endangered and venerable Huntridge Theater will be open for limited hourly tours from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Come learn about the history of the building, what you can do to help save it and ensure that the community has a voice in what happens to the building.  And a chance to see the interior of the building for the first time in over five years.  How cool is that?

This event is sponsored by The Friends of Classic Las Vegas and the Save the Huntridge Community Group.  The Huntridge Theater is located at the corner of Maryland Parkway and E. Charleston Blvd.

 

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is hosting the Cultural History Fair this year.  Admission to the Fair, its music festival and its Las Vegas Film Festival is free.  The Cultural History Fair runs from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Inside the Learning Center there will the various historic preservation groups, museums and archaelogical groups.  The Friends of Classic Las Vegas will be passing out information on preservation, history and lots more.

The Las Vegas Film Festival will offer a variety of documentaries on Las Vegas and Nevada history.  Included in the sceenings is our own "The Story of Classic Las Vegas". 

At 1:40 pm, there is a showing on the history of Helldorado, "Helldorado Through the Years" which features home movies and more of past Helldorado parades.  Directly following that, Dennis McBride offers some very rare home movies of the Las Vegas Strip,  historian and preservationist Bob Stoldal follows with  two short films on Places that Aren't There Anymore.   Our own "Story of Classic Las Vegas" follows Bob at about 3:45.

The Music Festival includes Paiute Pow-Wow dancers and much more.

A great way to experience our history and our culture. 

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is located at the corner of Valley View Blvd and Meadows Lane. 

 

The Junior League of Las Vegas is going to have the historic Morelli House open for free tours between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm.  If you have never been inside this wonderful mid-century modern house, don't miss this opportunity.  The house was saved by the Junior League from the old Desert Inn Golf Course and Country Club.  Restored with many of its original fixtures, appliances and wonderful interpretative book by our pal Alan Hess, be sure to say "hey" to DeeDee Nave for us!

The Morelli House is located at the corner of Bridger and 9th Street, across the street from the Las Vegas Academy (formerly the original Las Vegas High School).

 

End the day with us (and everyone else) at the Helldorado Parade!

The Parade is free and goes across 4th Street from Gass to Stewart Street.  It all starts at 7:00 pm and ends at 9:00 pm.  There are floats, cars, musical bands and more.  Get there early to get a good seat.

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas is in the parade with our President, Ben Litivinoff and his classic  pink Cadillac.   Riding with Ben will be former Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt and her husband Dennis Bono as well as yours truly and some other special guests.

So, plan out your day and don't miss any of these great events. 

Las Vegas and the New Deal

The Great Depression is now 70 years gone and its hard, sometimes for us to imagine just how hard those times were. Banks failed and took people’s life savings with them, men and women lined up for food from soup kitchens and in bread lines. Men took to riding the rails in search of jobs. The Dust Bowl swept across the Great Plains instigating the largest migration of people until Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. Those that didn’t flee their homes, ecked out a living filled with roaring winds, dust-filled lungs and dirt in everything from their food to their bed clothes.

In Southern Nevada, the construction of Hoover Dam helped the little railroad town known as Las Vegas to weather the hard times, perhaps a tad better than their counterparts in other parts of the country. Though there are plenty of old timers like George Foley, Sr who still remembers sitting down to Sunday evening dinners and watching his dad worry where next Sunday’s dinner was going to come from. Donna and Gail Andress remember being poor but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal because everyone was poor.

Word that the Dam was going to be built sent a flood of men arriving in town by any means possible, with hopes of finding work. For every job available on the Dam, there were nine or ten men who hoped that job would be his. They camped out on the lawn in front of the old Train Depot, there was a Hooverville down by Woodlawn Cemetery, the Dam offered the one thing that many places around the country couldn’t, the chance to work and earn some much needed cash.

Though Hoover Dam construction began in 1931, with the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 the government began to help the country trapped in the throes of the Great Depression. Over $70 million dollars was sent to Southern Nevada between 1931 and 1939. This money was used to pave roads (especially Fremont Street to Fifth Street), sewers and the $300,000 federal building that would house the Courthouse and the Post Office. Maude Frazier’s dream of a high school would become a reality at the corner of 8th and Bridger.

Southern Nevada Gas spent $175,000 for a new plant and pipes. Southern Nevada Telephone budgeted $400,000 to increase its network and bring long distance calls to town. Southern Nevada Power updated its grid and later hooked into Hoover Dam when the Dam started generating electricity in 1937. Clark County announced plans to build a new hospital on West Charleston that would cost $100,000 (Today's UMC Hospital).  Federal officials promised to build a highway connecting the Dam construction area with Las Vegas.

With the closing of Rockwell Field (at the corner of Sahara and Paradise), there was no air service. Pop Simon built a new facility seven miles north of the city (Nellis Air Force Base today) and began tri-weekly service to Reno. Western Air Express regained its federal airmail subsidy and they leased the field from Simon and then bought it. When city fathers sought New Deal money to buy the field back, Western Air Express refused to cooperate.

The New Deal also brought unions to Las Vegas in a big way and with unions come labor organizing. Since it had been a railroad town originally, workers in Las Vegas formed the Central Labor Council and hundreds joined.

By 1938, the hotel workers formed the Culinary Union.

Senator Key Pittman and Pat McCarran made sure that Southern Nevada received its share of federal dollars. The War Memorial Building was built, streets were paved throughout the community, City Park’s athletic fields were completed, a new grammar school, the Fifth Street School, was built, a municipal golf course and a $60,000 fish hatchery at Lake Mead were all completed with New Deal money.

In anticipation of the Dam, the State of California had paved Highway 91 to Stateline, Nevada. With New Deal funds, the highway was widened and paved all the way into town.

The construction of the Dam, the tourism that came to watch the Dam go up and those that visited to see the modern engineering marvel of its day and the New Deal all helped Las Vegas and Southern Nevada to weather the Great Depression.

With the coming of World War II, Las Vegas would become a focal point with the building of Basic Magnesium and the Gunnery School that trained pilots for the war effort.

Join us Wednesday evening as we talk more about the Depression, the New Deal and Las Vegas at our Classic Las Vegas Roadshow event at the Nevada State Museum.

5:00 pm Reception

6:15 pm Roundtable Discussion

Panelists include:

Historians Dennis McBride and Peter Gough as well as long-time residents Mike and Johnny Pinjuv and Bonnie Rams.

It will be a great evening of history, memories and fun. 

Las Vegas Historic Preservation Week, Part 1

Stop laughing. 

It's true.   In fact, May is Historic Preservation Month in Nevada.  This week is Historic Preservation Week in Las Vegas.

We have two Classic Las Vegas Roadshow events this week and on Saturday we are part of Cultural History Day.  We will post the activities for Saturday later this week and they may make your head explode, there is just so much going on.

So, if you are interested in history and Las Vegas come to our Roadshow Events this week:

 

The Las Vegas News Bureau, the Friends of Classic Las Vegas and Clark County Parks and Recreation present:

The History of Helldorado 

If you are new to town and wonder why there is a Helldorado Celebration (which is coming on May 17th) or if you remember fondly sitting on the curb on Fremont Street watching those beautiful floats go by, come on around and here the stories of how and why Helldorado got started and what it was like. 

At one point in the 1950s, it rivaled the Rose Parade in terms of attendance and beautiful floats.

A great evening of history and fun that you won't want to miss!

The History of Helldorado

Tuesday, May 13th

Clark County Museum

1830 S. Boulder Highway 

7:00 PM   (Please note new START TIME)

Panelists include:

Emmett Sullivan, the son of co-founder Mark Sullivan

Tim Cashman, the grandson of co-founder, Big Jim Cashman

Don Payne, former Manager of the Las Vegas News Bureau

 

CCC workers take a lunch

(Image courtesy of the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association) 

As part of Historic Preservation Month, the Friends of Classic Las Vegas and the Classic Las Vegas Roadshow are proud to announce our upcoming panel on Southern Nevada and the New Deal.

Hosted by the Nevada State Museum and Friends of Classic Las Vegas, this informative Roadshow event will delve into the history of how in the depths of the Great Depression, the New Deal's effect not only on the country but on Southern Nevada specifically.

Please join us to hear Historians Dennis McBride and Peter Gough and long-time residents Mike Pinjuv, Johnny Pinjuv and Bonnie Rams as they discuss the Las Vegas that they knew and what the New Deal meant for the Valley.

It will be a wonderful evening of history, stories and memories and you don't want to miss it!

Wednesday, May 14th

Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas

700 Twin Lakes Dr

Lorenzi Park

5:00 - 6:00 pm  Reception

6:15 - 8:15 pm  Roundtable Discussion

Refreshments will be served.

And stay tuned for the upcoming events on Saturday that include tours of the Huntridge Theater, the Neon Boneyard, the Morelli House and more.

It's going to be a great week to celebrate Las Vegas History.  So come on out and join the fun! 

Jackie Gaughan sort of retires

Jackie Gaughan, the last of the old-school casino owners, has officially retired.  He sold his shares in his beloved El Cortez this week.  As many of our readers know, thanks to our History of Fremont Street, Gaughan has been a fixture on the downtown gaming scene for over 50 years.  He has owned the El Cortez since 1963.  He helped build the Union Plaza and at one time he owned the Las Vegas Club, the Plaza, the Gold Spike, the Showboat and the El Cortez.

But age was catching up with Jackie and a few years ago he sold his gaming properties except for the El Cortez.  While the new owner of the Plaza and the Las Vegas Club struggle to keep the properties viable and the new owner of the Gold Spike, the Siegel Group, move forward with plans to renovate and upgrade the Gold Spike, the El Cortez quietly changed hands this week.

But for the crowd at CheapoVegas and the Big Empire and all lovers of Downtown Las Vegas, not to fear.  Jackie kept the El Cortez in the family so to speak.  Kenny Epstein, one of Jackie's partners since the 1950s, his son and Jackie's nephew Mike Nolan are now the official owners of the venerable downtown casino and hotel.  The Epsteins are the majority share holders.

Jackie will continue to live in his suite at the El Cortez and will continue to greet patrons and make his appearances at the gaming tables.  So while the hotel quietly changed hands, the ambassador and creator of  the famous Fun Books, will continue to be the local face of the El Cortez.

The El Cortez continues to be the best performing gaming place on Fremont Street.  That comes as no surprise as they are following in the tradition of Gaughan and Benny Binion, of giving the customers good values on meals and drinks and making them feel like winners.  

The new owners want to maintain that tradition while making the hotel viable for the new tourism that is coming to Fremont Street in the next five years with the opening of Union Park, the Ruvo Brain Institute, the Smith Performing Arts Complex and the Mob Museum. 

Other news is that the Ogden House, also owned by the El Cortez, is undergoing a renovation.  It will be renamed the El Cortez Cabana  Suites and will lose its 1940s weeping mortar front.  That facade will be replaced by a 1950s mid-century modern look.  Mike Nolan is quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal saying that the renovation will cost $6.4 million or $100,000 a room.

"We like the history value of it," Nolan said. "But we are continuing to modernize it."

 

Jackie Gaughan

 Special thanks to RoadsidePictures for letting us use his image of the El Cortez and Special Thanks to the Review Journal for letting us use the image of Jackie Gaughan.