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.

 

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.”

 

 

City of Las Vegas asks for Moulin Rouge to be torn down

 

 

Our pal Jeff Burbank is reporting over at the DowntownNews  that the City of Las Vegas has asked that the Moulin Rouge being demolished because it is "a dangerous building."  Seems the city has determined that the building is a threat to public safety and "wants the dilapidated, 53-year-old property demolished, including the former casino facade and adjacent two-story motel.

Meanwhile, the owner of the property, Moulin Rouge Properties, LLC, has filed an appeal to the city’s demolition order."

 

A hearing scheduled for yesterday on the matter was delayed and the matter will be discussed at the March 4th City Council hearing.

 

According to the article:

 

The city’s Neighborhood Services Department, on Dec. 8, sent an official notice and order to the property owner, listing dozens of reasons why the old Moulin Rouge casino building at 840 W. Bonanza Road and the motel at 920 W. Bonanza both qualified as dangerous buildings, including deterioration, the possibility of collapse, serving as a harbor for vagrants and criminals, a severe pest infestation, faulty plumbing and heating and a threat to local property values.

Devon S. Smith, manager of the department’s neighborhood response division, said in the letter that Moulin Rouge had 10 days to file an appeal.

 

In response, Moulin Rouge chief executive Dale L. Scott wrote on Dec. 12 that the company would appeal the notice and order, because it had already contracted with two firms, Phoenix Contractors and the Westmark Group, to demolish the buildings and remove “all associated materials on the parcel in question.”

“As these building are vacant, and all utilities have been disconnected, Moulin Rouge Properties, LLC and its contractors will not have to face delays in order to begin the demolition process,” Scott stated.

The Moulin Rouge, which opened as Las Vegas first integrated casino in 1955 and closed less than a year but operated of and on as a nightclub and motel.

 

The main casino building, with its classic script neon (but non-working) marquee sign, suffered a damaging fire in 2003. Since then, the motel part has served as a home for squatters, who have lived inside some of its many open hotel rooms.

For years since the fire, debris has covered the area behind the old casino’s façade, which is propped up by a series steel rods along Bonanza Road.

 

A year ago, Scott announced plans to develop the site with 700 hotel rooms, a 44,000 square-foot casino, retail stores, four restaurants and a museum. He also said that he would preserve the casino’s famous façade and merge it into the project. However, construction never got started.

 

No word on what would happen to the beautiful neon-script signage that still adorns the front of the building.  It was designed by Betty Willis.  Hopefully it will go to the Neon Museum instead of being destroyed.  Though the cost of moving the giant sign will likely be in the thousands of dollars and does the Museum have space for the large sign?

 

 

 

 

Las Vegas in Postcards: 1905-1965 Publication date set

 

 

 

Just wanted to give everyone an update on our upcoming book.

It will be available as of March 2nd.

 

This is a look at the history of Las Vegas through postcards.  Many came from the private collection of my co-authors as well as the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.  It offers a look at not only the history of Fremont Street and the Strip but of neighborhoods and other important local places of importance such as schools and churches.  Las Vegas has always been much more than just a gaming mecca and this book offers a glimpse into what life was like in 20th Century Las Vegas.

 

So keep an eye out for it in your local bookstores.

Or you can pre-order it on Amazon here:

http://tinyurl.com/bnntom

Or from Arcadia Publishing here:

http://tinyurl.com/dzxg3z

 

Or if you would like an autographed copy, we will have the book for sale here on the blog  in a few weeks.

If you live in Las Vegas we will be doing book signings around the Valley so keep an eye out here for more details on that as well.