Preservation Month in Las Vegas

It's hard to believe that is May again!  Seems like just last week we were all together celebrating Helldorado and now it's time to do it all again!  Woo-Hoo!

As most of you know, May is Preservation Month and, as always, we have many fun things to do and we invite all of you to join us!

Here are some dates and Events worth remembering:

Thursday, May 8th

Untold Stories: Cultural Tourism:  Can it work for Las Vegas?  Panelists include Brian "Paco" Alvarez, Courtney Mooney, Aaron Micallef and Marilyn Gillespie.

Las Vegas Springs Preserve

Desert Learning Center

6:30 pm

Admission is $12

For more information about the panel and panelists:

http://classiclasvegas.squarespace.com/2009-friends-of-classic-las-ve/

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Friday, May 8th

Booksigning and Discussion

Our friends at the Nevada State Museum will be hosting a book signing for my new book, Las Vegas in Postcards: 1905-1965 on Friday evening, May 8th.

My co-author Carey Burke will be there as well.

The book-signing reception begins at 5:30 pm

At 6:30 that evening, Dennis McBride will moderate a talk with us on how the book came about.

We hope you will join us for a fun-filled evening!

Nevada State Museum

700 Twin Lakes Dr

Lorenzi Park

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Saturday, May 9th

Cultural History Fair

Las Vegas Springs Preserve

10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Free

We have a booth and some cool displays, so drop by and say "Hey"

Morelli House Open House

The Junior League is hosting an Open House at the famed Morelli House.

Tours will be given as well.

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Free

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Wednesday, May 13
Helldorado Roundup Party

Fremont Street Experience
6 to10 p.m.
First Street Stage - Randy Anderson, 8 to 11 p.m.
Third Street Stage - Third Town, 8 to 10 p.m.
Food, drinks and entertainment

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Thursday, May 14
Carnival Midway opens 5 to 11 p.m.

Kids & Kowboys Locals Rodeo, 7 to 9 p.m.

Downtown Rodeo Grounds

Featuring mutton busting, media events, bull riding and local barrel racers
First Street Stage - Scotty Alexander Band, 8 to 11 p.m.
Third Street Stage - Third Town, 8 to 11 p.m.

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Friday, May 15th
Whiskerino Contest Finale 4:45 p.m.

Fremont Street Experience, 3rd street stage

$10 entry fee

Preservation Association of Clark County Yearly Event

PACC is once again holding their annual event.  This year it is taking place at the historic 5th Street School.  Stoney Douglas from the City of Las Vegas will be giving tours and a brief presentation about the restoration of the building.

6:30 pm

5th Street School

401 S. 4th Street

Admission is free but RSVPs are required.

RSVP to Corinne Escobar at CorinneEscobar@pacc.info

Light Refreshments will be served.

Carnival 5 p.m.to midnight
PRCA Rodeo 7to 9 p.m.
Downtown Rodeo Grounds

First Street Stage - John Encino Band, 8 to 11 p.m.
Third Street Stage - T.J. Weaver Band, 8 to 11 p.m.

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Saturday, May 16th

Helldorado Hold’em Texas Hold ‘em Poker Tournament
Binion’s Horseshoe Hotel & Casino, 9 a.m.

Helldorado Parade

Once again we are joining forces with Jack LeVine at VeryVintageVegas and Dr. Lonnie Hammagren to celebrate Helldorado!  We will be using Dr. Lonnie's truck float filled with some cool Las Vegas historical artifacts.

If you would like to join us along with the parade route and help out, contact me or Jack.  Last year we finished the parade and celebrated at Micky Finnz.  Look for us to do something similar this year!

7:00 - 9:00 pm

Fourth Street (between Charleston and Ogden)

Fireworks Show, 9 p.m.

Carnival

noon to midnight
PRCA Rodeo 9 to11 p.m.
Downtown Rodeo Grounds

First Street Stage - John Encino Band, 8 to 11 p.m.
Third Street Stage - T.J. Weaver Band, 8 to 11 p.m.

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Sunday, May 17
Carnival

Noon to11 p.m.
PRCA Rodeo7to9 p.m.
Downtown Rodeo Grounds

Third Street Stage - Hazard County Rebels, 8 to 11 p.m.

Rodeo tickets  available from noon to 6 p.m:

Elk's Lodge, 4100 W. Charleston Blvd.
http://www.elkshelldorado.com/

 
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Saturday, May 23rd

Clark County Centennial Day

Clark County Museum

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Carey Burke and I will be there selling and autographing copies of "Las Vegas Postcard History: 1905-1965"

If you live out of state or can't make the book-signings but would still like an inscribed and autographed copy of "Las Vegas Postcard History: 1905-1965", here's the link for you:

www.classiclasvegas.com/coolstuff/coolstuff.htm

So there is plenty going on!  We hope you will join us in celebrating all month long!  Check back for added events as the month goes on!

Architecture and Neon in Clark County - May 1st - Tonight!

The original Aladdin neon signage designed by Yesco. Brian "Buzz" Leming was part of the design team

Origina Caesar's Palace neon signage designed by Yesco. Brian "Buzz" Leming was part of the design team.

Neon sign designed by Brian "Buzz" Leming

Architecture and Neon in Clark County is the topic of the May 1 panel discussion at 6 pm at the Clark County Government Center. This month we throw the spotlight on the neon and the architecture that made mid-century Las Vegas famous.

Panelists include

Brian “Buzz” Leming, long-time sign designer who mentored under Betty Willis, worked with some of the great sign designers at YESCO and is still designing signs today for Federal Heath.

Helga Watkins, Associate Professor, UNLV Art Dept.,

architect Eric Strain

Dr. David Schwartz, UNLV Library Special Collections.

Friday, May 1st

Clark County Government Center

Clark County Commisioner Chambers

6:00 pm

The discussion, which is free to the public, is part of the ongoing First Friday series “Centennial Stories: Examing Our Past” commemorating 2009 Clark County’s Centennial. The discussion will be broadcast live on CCTV 4. Audience members are encouraged to ask questions

Las Vegas: 1905-1965 Available Here!

We've got copies!

Discover the real history of Las Vegas!

It's finally available! Yep, the book I wrote on the history of Las Vegas with lots of postcards, some rare and one of kind.

We cover the history of Las Vegas from 1905 to 1965 and besides lots of interesting history about the Strip and the various original hotels, there's lots of history on the Roadside Architecture, the Motels, the Post-War era,and most of all, the Community.

Discover the real history of Las Vegas!

It's a fun-filled book packed with info and lots of images of the Las Vegas you love and miss.

I've got copies of the book for sale on my website and I'll autograph them as well!

http://www.classiclasvegas.com/coolstuff/coolstuff.htm

So, head on over and order your copy today!

A portion of the sales goes toward maintaining this blog and our historical preservation work so it's for a worthy cause!

"Las Vegas in Postcards" makes the news!

Our good friend, Kristen Petersen, over at the Las Vegas Sun has a write-up about our new book, "Las Vegas in Postcards:  1905-1965".

We will have the book for sale on the website within the next two weeks for anyone interested in buying autographed copies.

Local historians and preservationists have the not so glamorous job of debunking Las Vegas myths. The lies are perpetuated in documentaries, on Web sites and in books. Even a downtown placard has it all wrong.

That this happens is fascinating, but not entirely shocking. Las Vegas history, for years, has been swept under the rug and replaced by sexy stories as dazzling as the facades on the Strip.

Maybe it’s because the Old Stewart Ranch doesn’t have nearly as much juice as the fictional stories of Bugsy Siegel “creating” the Strip by “building” the Flamingo. Or that old churches and schools built by early settlers and families aren’t as blood-pumping as tales of prostitution, mobsters and gambling in what would become the land of sprawl.

Maybe the pace of rampant growth created an environment ripe for unchecked storytelling.

Lynn Zook, a preservationist who founded the history Web site classiclasvegas.com, has made it her mission to document the truth. Foar seven years she’s been collecting oral histories from early Las Vegas residents and working with historians to tell the mostly new community about early Las Vegas as it really happened.

“Our real history is just as compelling as our mythology,” she says.

A new book, “Las Vegas 1905-1965,” gives her the chance to spell it out.

Published by Arcadia Publishing, the 128-page book dedicated to the city’s history in postcards isn’t a decorative coffee table presentation focused on design and eye candy. This is history told in unique photos printed in black and white and accompanied by text with an agenda:

“These postcards stand as a historical reminder that Las Vegas did not spring fully formed from the mind of Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel while gripped by a feverish dream. They show that, from the beginning, Las Vegas was a town inhabited by people dedicated to carving a community out of the harsh desert climate.”

The book is part of Arcadia’s Postcard History Series, which includes Austin, Texas; Boston; Birmingham, Ala.; and New York cities. The nearly 200 postcards in “Las Vegas” are mostly from the collection of longtime resident Carey Burke, whose memorabilia also includes gaming chips, menus and ashtrays. Dennis McBride from the Nevada State Museum and photographer Allen Sandquist contributed others.

The book is divided into seven chapters: Early Days, Fremont Street, Community, Motels, Roadside Architecture, Postwar and Las Vegas Strip. Before legalized gambling, Fremont Street looked like a typical Main Street with a Western Union office, ice cream shop, doctor’s office and drug and clothing stores.

Sunrise Hospital was a stylish building in 1958. The War Memorial Building (where Sen. Joseph McCarthy unleashed an anti-communist rant) was torn down in the 1970s to make way for City Hall. Giant camel sculptures once stood outside the Sahara and a 60-foot-high pineapple water fountain was in front of the Tropicana.

Even the Thunderbird Downs horse track, which closed in the 1960s and is now the Las Vegas Country Club, has a postcard. Churches, schools, cottonwood trees and homes dominating the landscape are heavily featured in the beginning.

Other postcards show the changing signage and buildings that are covered or replaced until Fremont Street is glowing with neon. Downtown was shared equally by tourists and locals. Then came El Rancho, the Last Frontier and eventually the Flamingo, each flanking Highway 91, which would become the Strip — a well-lit candy land that would define Las Vegas to the world.

“One of the reasons we wanted to do it is to shine a spotlight on Las Vegas,” Zook says. “Most people think it begins and ends with Bugsy. People have done a good job of not putting a spotlight on the truth. The biggest myth is that Bugsy built the first motel.

“For a long time one of the biggest myths is that people didn’t live here — as if everybody just flies in to take care of the tourists and just flies home.”

A big issue with preservationists is trying to get people to save a past when they don’t even realize there is one.

Zook went to kindergarten downtown at the historic Fifth Street School. Her mom was a showroom waitress, then a real estate agent. Her dad ran keno and worked in the titanium factory before becoming a slot mechanic. Until the Boulevard mall opened, Fremont Street was the commercial and social hub. Downtown and Strip landmarks were community landmarks.

Zook’s first heartache came when Steve Wynn tore down the Dunes sign, which is featured in the book. “That was always supposed to be there,” she says. “I couldn’t imagine it not being there.”

A film background led her to doing oral histories with Las Vegas old-timers. At first she thought she’d talk to 20 people and then she’d be done. But it turned into 130.

“The people who came here and started this town and helped it to grow, their contribution should not be ignored,” she says.

While other cities evolve over time, Las Vegas was mostly replaced overnight. “Las Vegas 1905-1965” gives you a great opportunity to watch it happen at your own pace.

On May 8 Zook and Burke will sign books and discuss the project at the Nevada State Museum.

Thanks to Carey Burke and Allen Sandquist for the images