Marilyn Monroe and Las Vegas

Okay all you Las Vegas history buffs.  Time to put on your thinking caps.  We have a reader who has been reading a book about Marilyn by Adam Victors.  According to the book, Marilyn (then Norma Jean) lived in Las Vegas in 1946.

The house was at 604 S. 3rd Street.  Today, the plot of land is a parking lot.  Our reader was wondering when the house was destroyed.

Also, he is looking for information about the old Las Vegas Hospital at Ogden and 8th.  The hospital construction was spearheaded by Dr. Roy Martin in the early 1930s.

"He told the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal that he had retained architect A.L. Warwick to design the hospital, which would be "a two-story structure, built of gypsum blocks, stuccoed outside, finished in white with a red tiled roof, in the typical Spanish style so well adapted for this country." Total cost would be about $100,000. The Las Vegas Hospital was a state-of-the art, 35-bed facility. It had laboratories, maternity ward, an X-Ray machine, five treatment rooms, a tilting operating table, and an advanced lighting system in the operating room. "  (The First 100)

The building stood long after it was abandoned as a hospital.  It burned due to a fire of suspicious nature (too often the case to buildings preservationists are trying to save, it seems) but I can't remember the year.  Can you?

Anyone got any other Marilyn in Las Vegas stories to share?

 

The Union Plaza: A Look Back to the Beginning, Part 2

This has been such a popular series (thank you to everyone who has emailed me about how much they love the pictures).

To all of you, here are some more:

 

 

 

 

The Union Plaza site with Von Tobel Lumber in the foreground.  Looking north,  you can see the Train Depot and tracks and Cashman Auto Dealership in the background.  That is Main Street with cars on it.

 

What used to be Union Park and all the trees are gone, the Train Depot still sits in the back of the property.  The Golden Gate and the Las Vegas Club sit in the foreground.

 

The Union Plaza begins to be built.

 

1969, the Train Depot has been torn down.  Three different depots have sat on this property, the first one built in 1905.  But, in 1969, that was all history.  Train service to Las Vegas continued until the late 1980s via Amtrack's Desert Wind.  The far south end of the Union Plaza handled trains, Greyhound buses and in the 1970s was the main hub for local buses as well.  I spent many a Saturday afternoon/evening waiting for the bus that would take to me to the Huntridge Theater or the Charleston Plaza Mall's Fox Theater to see a double bill.  After a day at the movies, I had to wait at the Plaza for the bus to take me back to Charleston Heights.

"Diamonds Are Forever" starring Sean Connery as Bond, James Bond was shot on location while the Union Plaza was under construction.  You can't see much since most of the action on Fremont Street takes place at night, but the film is a wonderful time capsule of 1970's Las Vegas with a number of locales and signs that are no longer there.

 

The Union Plaza: A Look Back to the Beginning

We've had a couple of emails from people asking about the Union Plaza and wanting to see more pictures about the Train Depot, Union Park and what was there before the Union Plaza was built.

Thanks to our good friend, Dennis McBride, at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas we can do just that.

 

 

 

This is an aerial shot of Union Park with the Train Depot sitting in the background with the train tracks behind the Depot.  In the foreground, you get a glimpse of the Las Vegas Club neon sign and roof line and a small glimpse of the Golden Gate neon sign on the left.

 

This is the Train Depot looking east.  Union Park is front with the Las Vegas Club across the street.  To the left of the Depot is part of the Cashman Dealership.

 

 

This is looking just south of Union Park and the Train Depot.  In the foreground is the Golden Gate.  Across Main Street is the Greyhound Bus Terminal and Von Tobel Lumber.

 

Rendering of the Union Plaza Hotel.  Though the rendering credits Stanley J. How and Associates in Omaha, Nebraska, the local firm of Walter Zick and Harris Sharp were involved as well.

 

Construction begins on the Union Plaza.  The Las Vegas Club and the Golden Gate are in the foreground.  The Train Depot has yet to be torn down.

 

More coming!!!!!