Help Save Las Vegas History

 Photo courtesy of Jack LeVine and VeryVintageVegas.com

 

You get involved in historical preservation because you believe that you can help make a difference, because you believe that our history is more than Bugsy Siegel and the Mob, because you believe that our history matters, because you know that cultural tourism matters and without historic homes there is no cultural tourism.

But most of all you get involved because you know that the continued destruction of our early 20th Century history means that we as Las Vegans hold the real history of our town in such little regard that the continued destruction of it for more McOffices is not only wrong but offensive.

If you believe that our history matters, if you believe that our pioneer families should be celebrated (because without them this metropolis of the 21st Century that we have become would not exist), if you believe that cultural tourism is important  to the fabric of our community then now is the time to stand up.  Think of every town and city you have ever visited and what do they have common?  An old town, a historic district, tours and an understanding of the pioneering roots that made that town matter.

History is what binds us to our community.  The majority of people who now live in Las Vegas have come from out-town, from someplace else.  Home is always going to be where they are from until we give them a reason to invest in our community.  History is what helps them invest in our community.  It shows that while we may be a young town we value the contributions and the sacrifices of the families who carved a community out of a unforgiving desert.

If we, as natives and long-time residents, don't value our history how can we expect new arrivals to do so.

We have a chance as a community to come together and tell the City of Las Vegas that our history matters.

On Nov. 5th, the City of Las Vegas will decide the fate of the Charles "Pop" and Delphine "Mom" Squires home.  Who were the Squires?

Charles "Pop" Squires arrived before the land auction and set about starting a bank and a hotel in anticipation of both being needed by the time the land auction would happen.

After the success of the land auction, he sent for his wife and family to join him.  He started the first newspaper, "The Las Vegas Age".  His wife, Delphine, was a founder of the womens civic organization, The Mesquite Club.  For over 50 years the Squires were an important family in the fabric of Las Vegas.

Their house still stands in the historic district near the original Las Vegas High School.  But developers want to bulldoze it and build what else, a McOffice, on the site and adjoining property.

Now is the time to stand up and say "ENOUGH!' to the continued destruction of our history, our neighborhoods and our community.

Write or call Mayor Oscar Goodman and the members of the Las Vegas City Council:  Gary Reese, Lois Tarkanian, Steve Wolfson, Ricky Barlow, Larry Brown and Steve Ross and tell them that you don't want the Squires home to be torn down.

The City Council meets on November 5th to vote on the matter.

Las Vegas City Council
City Hall, Tenth Floor
400 Stewart Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 229-6405
Fax: (702) 382-8558

Business Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The developers are open to the idea of moving the house but only if someone else will pay for it.  The bottom line is that the house should not be moved nor should it be destroyed.  It should remain in the historic Las Vegas High School neighborhood where it can be appreciated for years to come by residents and tourists alike as part of the history of Las Vegas.

Clark County Museum: Saving Historical Buildings

From our good pal Kristen Peterson at the Las Vegas Sun:



In the Las Vegas Valley, saving historic buildings and artifacts often involves moving them

Image

Tiffany Brown

Motor Court Cabin, left, originally in Las Vegas, is now on Heritage Street at the Clark County Museum, which features rescued historic houses from throughout the area.

Thu, Oct 2, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Las Vegas is always about the next big thing — and a move-it-or-lose-it attitude that pummels the city’s past.

Sometimes we move it. Sometimes we lose it. What’s interesting is when “moving it” means creating another themed attraction by extracting our past from the present and sequestering it.

If preservationists had any sense, they would require developers to replicate today’s buildings and place the doppelganger on the outskirts of town, saving time and money on future historical rescue operations.

A lot of money has been spent on saving the significant works sitting in the popular Neon Boneyard. The rescue of the Stardust sign cost $200,000. Moving the La Concha lobby, one of Las Vegas’ most famous pieces of Googie architecture, from the Strip cost $1.4 million.

Then there is Heritage Street, a tidy tree-lined stretch of gravel road outside the Clark County Museum on Boulder Highway that includes houses and notable buildings from the Las Vegas Valley’s past. Rescued by groups desperate to save Southern Nevada’s disappearing history, the buildings were plunked down in Henderson, restored, decorated and opened to the public. Moving and restoring the homes has come at a hefty price.

The permanent exhibit is a brilliant slice of 20th-century American life, a nice getaway for anyone lamenting the Mediterranean-themed, master-planned communities sprawling across the valley. You can sit on a bench outside the print shop or on the front porch of the Beckley House, a California bungalow built in 1912 for the Beckley family, which owned a clothing store in downtown Las Vegas.

These aren’t replicas. They’re the real deal — filled with authentic furniture, dishes, wall hangings, knickknacks, historical tidbits and recorded music. Each is its own period piece. There is a motor court cabin from the 1930s and the Boulder City Railroad Depot.

Call it a nod to creative preservation in a progressive area.

Themed attractions have made Las Vegas famous. Just when we wondered what would be next, MGM Mirage decides to build the biggest “theme” of all: an urban core on the Strip, an attraction you might say only simulates high-rise living with grocery stores within walking distanced. Eventually, we might tear down CityCenter and replace it with something else, leaving only a whisper of the Stripside urban condo community.

Heritage Street, by comparison, has no such glamour. It doesn’t even have a casino. But it’s a collection that shows where we were and how far we’ve come.

The Neon Boneyard has international fame, but visitors still drive down East Fremont Street to look at the dilapidated auto court motels, many of which have been pillaged.

We lost one of our legendary wedding chapels on the Strip, but the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is helping fund the restoration, along with the State Cultural Commission. Next year is Clark County’s centennial. The chapel and the Railroad Cottage, both on the county museum property, are expected to be restored and displayed by the end of the year.

The Townsite homes, built in the 1940s in Henderson, were meant as temporary housing for war workers. On the other hand, Myron Martin, president of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, says the Smith Center for the Performing Arts is being designed and built to last 300 years. Whew. That’s something, at least.

In 20 years preservationists might be concerned with the Eiffel Tower that stood outside Paris Las Vegas during the heyday of hyperthemed casinos.

Preservationist and historian Bob Stoldal says he’s stood before the Bellagio and asked himself, “What is this going to be in 50 years?”

FIRST HISTORIC MODERN HOME TOUR IN LAS VEGAS


Fom our friends at the
Atomic Age Alliance:

We encourage all of our readers to attend!

Celebrating Mid-Century Design and Architecture

FIRST HISTORIC MODERN HOME TOUR IN LAS VEGAS
Paradise Palms is the Undiscovered Treasure of Clark County

Atomic Age Alliance is proud to present the first tour of its kind in Las Vegas, the self-driving tour “Paradise Palms Open House Day,” on Sunday, October 5, 2008.

Paradise Palms is a historic Mid Century Modern neighborhood built by Irwin Molasky Homes and the architectural team of Daniel Palmer and William (Bill) Krisel of Palmer & Krisel from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. This particular tract was the first planned community in Las Vegas. It won the American Builder Magazine Award for being one of the best planned communities in the U.S. The neighborhood is growing as a Mid-Mod preservationist Mecca in terms of restorable P&K homes still at relatively affordable prices. While other communities such as Scottsdale, AZ and Los Angeles and the Bay Area, CA, have embrace Modernism and make money from it, Las Vegas has been slow to catch on. Ten years ago in Palm Springs, CA, Palmer & Krisel homes went for 100-200k. Now properly restored MidMod “P&K” homes sell from 400-800k and more... A brand new custom Mod home by Bill Krisel recently sold for over one million. The tour hopes to open eyes to this undiscovered treasure that lies right in the heart of Las Vegas.

The Atomic Age Alliance is a 501(c)3 non profit organization dedicated to celebrating historic Mid Century Modernism and Atomic Age design, signage, architecture, culture and business through ongoing community advocacy, activism and educational programs.

Mid-Century Modern (MCM) is a period in the middle of the 20th Century where architectural design reached a peak in terms of aesthetics, engineering and exuberance. The dates are 1945 to 1965, although the era is sometimes extended to the 1930s through the 1970s. Because it centers on the period after World War II it is also known as Post War. The term may also be shortened as Mid-Mod.

The homes of Paradise Palms feature unique Modern rooflines, floating cantilevered fireplaces, open floor plans, sunken tubs, decorative stone screens, post and beam construction, two-tone paint, idiosyncratic decorative elements, spun fiberglass panels, walls of glass, clerestory windows, and quintessential desert indoor/outdoor living.

Paradise Palms began in 1961 as the neighborhood surrounding the Las Vegas National Golf Club. The course has enjoyed an illustrious past beginning as the Stardust Country Club designed by Bert Stamps in 1961.  Arnold Palmer set the course record of 63 in 1967 and held that record for 28 years. Over the years it has hosted LPGA Championship Events and PGA Tournament of Champions.  However the current owners have announced plans to replace the course with hundred of homes despite their claim on their own website (www.lasvegasnational.com), “The Las Vegas National Golf Club is a true Las Vegas landmark... Steeped in a rich history and tradition.” It now has community wide support of keeping the course as a course. (www.savethecourse.com)

Fifteen homes are shown as examples of original or restorable condition and five private homes are open to tour attendees. Additionally some real estate agents with homes for sale in the neighborhood will have open houses this same day. The tour is free and open to the public, but onsite registration is required at the first stop of the day.

Please check in at 1536 Commanche Drive just off Spencer drive in the heart of Paradise Palms between 11AM and 1PM. Last house closes at 2PM.

WHEN:   OCTOBER 5, 2008
                 Sunday
                 CHECK-IN 11AM to 1PM

MORE INFO:  info@atomicage.org
                 www.atomicage.org

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The History of Mt. Charleston


From the beginning of Las Vegas, Mt. Charleston has played an important role in the history of the town.  Located (now) only 40 minutes away, Mt. Charleston has been a get-away for families hoping to escape the heat of the summer before air-conditioning was invented, has played host to Summer Camps for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, provided wood and timber for many a building in young Las  Vegas and a winter wonderland for those of us who want to enjoy the snow but not live in the snow.  In addition, for almost 50 years people have lived on the mountain.  We will also talk about the Cold War and the secret mission that crashed on the mountain.

This Thursday evening, Oct. 2nd, we will explore the history, the romance and the beauty of the mountain as part of our "Untold Stories" series at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve.

Joining us will be:

Richard Taylor, long time resident of Mt. Charleston and its local historian

Thalia Dondero, long time resident of both Mt. Charleston and Las Vegas as well as past president of the Girl Scouts of America when they had a lodge and summer camp on the mountain.

Don Payne, long time resident of Las Vegas and former manager of the Las Vegas News Bureau.

Join us Thursday, Oct. 2nd

7:00 pm

Las Vegas Springs Preserve

and learn more about this natural wonder and its relationship with Las Vegas.

Admission is $12