Dennis McBride talks Las Vegas History and More!

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Aside from being one of the early inspirations for the Classic Las Vegas Historic Collection, Dennis McBride is one of the leading authorities on the history of Southern Nevada, especially the history of the building of Boulder (Hoover) Dam and Boulder City.

He has spent his life collecting stories and memories of Southern Nevada in the 20th Century.  As a native Nevadan, he has had a front row seat to the changing landscape of the Valley over the course of his life.

He is the Curator of History at the Nevada State Museum in Lorenzi Park and he was kind enough to share his thoughts on the history he has collected and much more:

As a native of Southern Nevada, how has Las Vegas changed since you were younger?  How do you feel about the changes.

Of course, the most noticeable change in Las Vegas has been the explosive growth of its population--it's hard to believe that 2 million people live in Clark County, and most of those live in Las Vegas. I feel two ways about this.

On the one hand, I hate the traffic, the crowds, the inflation in our cost of living, the disregard for our environment, and the endless blocks of boring, overpriced houses and elitist high-rises.

On the other hand, I can remember when B. Dalton Bookseller was the only bookstore in town, and the cultural and social resources were few and far between. I like the great variety of restaurants, nightclubs, arts events and art galleries we have now. What I dislike the most--and I think this is at the very bottom of our problems--is the complete corporate control of state and local government that long ago separated Las Vegas citizens from their city.

 

You conducted a number of interviews with men who worked on Boulder (Hoover) Dam and many of the people who helped establish Boulder City.  How did you get interested in preserving their stories and their history?

Growing up in Boulder City, I listened intently to the stories told about construction of Hoover Dam told by the men and women who were there. It's not often someone young has the opportunity to hear first-hand accounts of a transformative historical event. I didn't waste that opportunity; when I was old enough to know what's what and what to do about it, I started recording the stories and collecting the material to document construction of the dam, of Boulder City, and of lower Colorado River development that made such places as Las Vegas viable. I just always knew that this was the niche I had to fill.

 

What was the biggest obstacle to starting the collection that became the basis for the Boulder Dam Museum?

One of the greatest opportunities I had in my "career" as a Hoover Dam historian was helping build the library and archive for the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association. As I noted earlier, I'd begun recording and collecting around the time I was a teenager, and in college began doing research and writing on the subject in earnest.

But I have to admit there really were no obstacles in my pursuit. Having been born in Boulder City and raised there, I was friends with all the people who told me their stories and gave me their stuff--I had a significant role in the tribe, so to speak. I was trusted and I worked very hard to impress on these people how important their lives were, how important it was that their stories be saved, and how important it was that their artifacts be preserved and made available.

So, by the time the Association asked me to work for them in June 1997, everything was in place to make the archive happen. I donated everything I'd collected, and obtained many large and important collections from such Boulder City/Hoover Dam boosters as Elton Garrett, Teddy Fenton, Esther Shipp, descendents of Hoover Dam medic "Doc" Jensen and Bureau of Reclamation office engineer John Page, and many, many others. I gave them all a sense they were themselves helping to build this important archive, that it was a joint project, and not just something I was doing myself.

Eventually, the library and archive at the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, became the go-to resource for anything to do with construction of Hoover Dam and Boulder City, and development activities on the lower Colorado River. The Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service came to us; researchers, documentary filmmakers, students, people looking for ancestors who worked on the dam came to us. I was very proud of what we did and that we were able to help so many people with their work.

 

As the current Curator of History at the Nevada State Museum, what do you find most interesting in the collection?

I left Boulder City in 2007 to assume a new job as Curator of History and Collections at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas [NSMLV]. The collections here are focused more widely than the collections in Boulder City.

What interests me most is the photograph collection. When I was negotiating for this job, working with the photo collection was an issue I was adamant about; in fact, if I had not been assured of my work with the photographs, I likely would not have taken the job. NSMLV's photo collection has not been very accessible and needs a tremendous amount of work in making it available and publicizing it. There's some absolutely amazing stuff in there.

One collection in particular comes from photographer Jay Florian Mitchell. There are thousands of images that document every aspect of life in Las Vegas from the mid-1950s through the early 1970s. I've been working to publicize that collection and am getting more successful as public interest increases. An upcoming documentary on the history of the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino is using dozens of images from the Mitchell Collection. Mitchell's photos have been used in a couple of museum events on Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas, and I'm working toward getting these photos out there in several other venues.

We also have Cliff Segerblom's collection here--another couple of thousand images of Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, the Colorado River, and other sites throughout the state. Cliff was best known as an artist--many are familiar with his painting, his "fine art," but not his photography. There are some gorgeous images in that collection; there's an upcoming event at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve--March 15, I think, but check--to exhibit Cliff's photos, all of which are taken from the collection at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.

Aside from those two large collections, we're quietly building an impressive archive of photographs of Helen J. Stewart and her family, of the Las Vegas Ranch, etc. Reaching out to descendents, making them feel they're helping to build something important for the future. It's so important to make people feel welcome and involved, and to convince them that before they toss something in the garbage because they don't believe it's important--PLEASE!--give us a chance to save it. Call me! 1-702-486-5205, x224

 

What part of Southern Nevada history intriques you the most?

 

These days, the part of Southern Nevada history that intrigues me most is the development of the gay community. I've been working in that field since about 1975, have built a solid archive [deposited in the Special Collections Department of the UNLV library], conducted dozens of oral history interviews, and have been producing articles for many years, nearly all of them in the state's gay press.

BUT--the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly [Summer 2009 issue, just released] has published "Stonewall Park," an article I wrote about efforts in the 1980s to establish a gay town in Nevada. Gay studies has been a "legitimate" field of scholarly research for decades, eveywhere--except in Nevada. This article in the Quarterly breaks that barrier, so it will be interesting to see where it leads.

When will you begin moving over to the new building at the Springs?  When do you expect it to open?  Will the exhibits be different and if so, how?

When will we be moving over to our new building at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve? The new building--and it's beautiful!--has been finished for several months, and construction of the permanent exhibits should commence in February.

That ought to take about another year, during which we'll be moving collections over from the Lorenzi Park building into the new place. It's hard to say at this point whether there will be staff and funds to run the new museum, or to operate and maintain the building.

The Division of Museums and History took a 20% cut during the last legislative session, and with a special session looming in February during which deeper cuts to state budgets will be made, none of us knows what might happen. The new state museum in Las Vegas has the potential to become a cultural jewel--but whether there's the political will and economic means to make that happen remains to be seen.

A Conversation with Alan Hess

As readers here know, Alan Hess is the go-to guy for Mid-Century Modern architecture and the automobile culture that surrounded it.  He was one of the guests at our Salute to Walter Zick last fall.  In addition to being the go-to guy, he is an author of a variety of work on the various aspects of the era.  From "Googie" his look at the coffee shop and diners to "Palm Springs Weekend" celebrating the joys of that Mid-Mod mecca to "The Ranch House".  But for Las Vegas Mid-Mod fans, we all love "Viva Las Vegas: After Hours Architecture".  If you haven't read this book yet, get thee to the library or better yet, his website.

I talked with Alan a few days ago about Mid-Mod and Las Vegas:

      What is mid-century modern architecture and why is it important?

After World War II, America found itself on the threshold of a promising future. After the Great Depression, people finally had money and jobs. New technologies offered amazing possibilities: television, automatic transmissions, washing machines in your home – all brought a new, easier way of life. Mid-century Modern architecture mirrored those changes. It created new shapes and used new materials (such as steel, glass, plastic, and concrete) to give people a sense that they were living in a new era.

       What is roadside architecture?  Why was neon so important to Fremont Street and the Strip?

The automobile made the twentieth century unique. Cities grew in size because of it. People suddenly had great personal mobility. And the American city took on a new shape in response to these changes. A key element of these changes was a new kind of architecture suited to the car. Drive-in markets, drive-in movies, drive-in restaurants, drive-in banks, gas stations, car washes, and many other types of buildings along the roadside served the way people were living now that they had cars. A big part of this architecture was signage, and neon (a new technology in the 1920s) proved ideal in creating large, vivid signs that could be seen from blocks away. Beginning in the 1930s, Fremont St. became one of the most innovators for neon signs, and neon urbanism, in the nation. This exploration continued on the Strip in the 1950s.

      Which classic Las Vegas neon sign do you miss the most?  Favorite classic Las Vegas casino/hotel?

The pinnacle of Las Vegas neon was reached in the 1960s. Those signs are mostly gone now, but they remain one of the highpoints of American art. The Dunes, the Aladdin, the Stardust, the Frontier, the Riviera, the Sahara were all great. The Stardust was one of my favorites, with a scintillating cloud of light, as if falling from the heavens. The Aladdin was a true and original phantasmagoria, evoking veils, jewels, and a Thousand and One Nights. I have the fondest memories of the Dunes because of the shear power of its animation, shooting light into the night sky like a rocket, but completely silently.

 You did a lot of research for your book, "Viva Las Vegas: After-Hours Architecture." What was some of the information that surprised you?  Will there be an updated version of the book?

Most of the information in the book was a surprise to me. I had questions about who had designed these hotels and signs since reading Learning From Las Vegas by Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour in 1975. Who had designed these buildings? Which came first? How did they evolve, and influence each other? Where did they come from? The most illuminating fact was that most of the original architects, who set the standards and models, were from Los Angeles, and had honed their startlingly new conception of auto Modernism while designing the drive-ins and Googie coffee shops there. I would like to do an update of Viva Las Vegas, which was published in 1993, but have no current plans.

 What was it about Las Vegas that brought so many well-known architects like Welton Becket, Paul R. Williams, Wayne McAllister and many others to Las Vegas to design buildings and hotels?

As Venturi, Scott Brown and Izenour said, Los Angeles was the Rome, and Las Vegas was the Florence of this type of Modern architecture. There were strong economic and personal links between the two cities that made it natural for those LA architects to work in Las Vegas.

 What can we learn from the mid-century modern and roadside architecture of classic Las Vegas?

The innovations of this Modern architecture are still refreshing. Especially in a new city like Las Vegas, the traditions of the past held no power. The architectural problems could be solved directly and imaginatively, and the budgets and recreational purposes of the architecture allowed experimentation. These days, the pendulum reacting against car-oriented architecture has swung too far. It needs to swing back a ways, and the purposefulness and creativity of these buildings help show the strengths in this kind of architecture.

  What do you think of CityCenter and the modern Las Vegas Strip?  Will City Center be the direction of the future for Las Vegas?

Las Vegas and the Strip continue to press the boundaries. That freedom allowed it to create the great architecture of the past. Back then as now, it also produces a lot of junk. City Center is an interesting piece of design, but it is largely disconnected from the course and concepts of Las Vegas architecture and urbanism. Its architects and developers have neither understood nor appreciated that history. More interesting innovations are going on in the creation of interesting public spaces along the Strip. Las Vegas signage was once the best in the world. It’s lost that position to places like Times Square, but there are occasional glimpses of Las Vegas regaining its footing and creating new electrographic architecture as great as its old architecture.

Tours of Neon Boneyard suspended while work goes on

Up until now, tours of the Neon Boneyard were available by appointment.  But beginning this week, tours have been suspended as the signs are temporarily moved so that work can begin on a park that will be part of the Neon Museum.

From the R-J:

Cranes took up position at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and McWilliams Avenue on Monday to start the delicate work of relocating vintage neon signs, the first stage in remaking the corner known as the Neon Boneyard.

The relocation, to the Cashman Center parking lot next door, will be temporary while a half-acre park is built by Las Vegas.

The Neon Museum, meanwhile, is moving forward with plans for a visitors center and a more organized exhibit of the accumulated neon treasures, including a walking path and a fence that is not made of chain link and barbed wire.

"We don't want to lose the raw experience of the boneyard, but we do have to have a plan," said Danielle Kelly, the museum's operations manager. "The goal is for the whole boneyard to be open to general admission."

Until now, tours of the signs were guided and by appointment only. Those tours are suspended for the duration of construction, which is expected to take 10 months.

The museum is home to more than 150 neon signs from Las Vegas' past. There are huge ones, such as the Stardust sign, which is in nine pieces, or the Treasure Island skull that grins up at the sky (check it out on Google Maps).

There are small ones, like the dancing shirt sign from Steiner's Cleaners or the leftover G, A, M, L and I from a "gambling hall" sign possibly dating from the 1930s.

Their conditions vary. Some, like those lining parts of Las Vegas Boulevard north of Bonanza Road, have been painstakingly restored. Others have suffered from the elements and have cracked and peeling paint, rust spots and missing bulbs.

Eventually, more of the signs might be restored, Kelly said. Some may just have the lighting fixed, however, leaving the wear and tear of history as is, and some will simply stay as they are.

"We really honor the way they wear their history," Kelly said. "The peeling paint and the patina on them -- we think it's very beautiful.

"It's about the story, really. ... The city is young. These things are historic, yet they're within the realm of our memory."

The park is a $1.9 million project funded by the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, which sets aside money from public land sales to pay for parks and trails projects. Work on the museum's improvements is provided by grant funds and donations.

The sign for Neon Boneyard Park will feature re-created letters from some of Las Vegas' most famous signs: N's from the Desert Inn and the Golden Nugget, an E from Caesars Palace and an O from Binion's.



City of Las Vegas breaks ground for new park for Neon Museum

The Neon Museum is about to get a big boost from the City of Las Vegas.

From the La Vegas Sun:

Spread over two lots in downtown Las Vegas, gated behind chain-link fences, sit more than 150 pieces of vintage Vegas. The relics belong to the Neon Museum, which has been collecting old signs since 1996 and showcasing them throughout the city and at its Neon Boneyard.

But with no place to adequately display its vast collection, the Neon Museum for years has been forced to operate on an appointment-only basis.

That will change with construction of the Neon Boneyard Park, which gets under way on Monday.

The park will be located on the corner of McWilliams Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard and will back up to what is now part of the Neon Boneyard. The project has been nearly five years in the making, Public Works Project Manager Gina Venglass said.

The $1.9 million improvement project will include development of the half-acre park and paving part of the Neon Boneyard for a parking lot. The Bureau of Land Management funding the project.

When the park is completed, Venglass said, visitors will find landscaping, benches, picnic tables, a stage and informational kiosks.

A sign made up of replicas of old neon letters will welcome visitors to the new park.

The company building the sign, Federal Heath, chose iconic letters from the old Horseshoe, Desert Inn, Caesars Palace and Golden Nugget signs to spell out the word “neon” in LED lighting.

“It’s not going to be a park that visitors drive across town to use. It’s really supposed to work hand-in-hand with the Neon Museum for visitors to use,” Venglass said.

The park will be located along the section of Las Vegas Boulevard that was recently designated a National Scenic Byway and is at the heart of the Las Vegas cultural corridor.

The corridor includes a concentration of the city’s cultural institutions such as the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

“I think it’s a great example of how supportive the city is of the Neon Museum project and the cultural development of the downtown area,” Neon Museum Director of Operations Danielle Kelly said.

Because the city is resurfacing parts of the Neon Boneyard and moving signs in the process, it gave the museum the opportunity to bring its signs to the future fully-functioning museum, Kelly said.

The Neon Boneyard will move across McWilliams Avenue, behind the restored La Concha Motel lobby, which will serve as the visitor center.

The change will allow the Neon Museum to better serve visitors, expand public hours and operate under a general admission format, rather than visitors making appointments for tours, Kelly said.

In light of the construction, the Boneyard is closed to the public temporarily but will reopen in the spring for modified tours. The new facility should be up and running by the summer.

“So many great things are happening down here in the cultural corridor and downtown. We hope that the park is part of that,” Kelly said. “It’s is all a part of continuing to put energy into this area for people in the whole community to get some here and get to know their museums.”