Advertisements from the Past

I thought it might be fun to put up some old ads from Las Vegas magazines and newspapers.  Bonanza Village is a historic Las Vegas neighborhood located off Bonanza Avenue near Clarkway.  Sounds like quite a bargain in these days, doesn't it?  Note the line, every protective restriction.  You know what that means, right?

 

Big Jim Cashman sold all makes and models it seems.  I remember his dealership as mainly the Cadillac dealer.  He was one of the most civic minded boosters the town has ever had.

 

I want to be able to buy Chicken, Rum and  Flour at these prices.

I want my S&H green stamps, my Blue Chip and my Orange Stamps as well.

But most of all, I want to know why bacon used to come in a can?

 

I never realized that Pabst Blue Ribbon (my dad's favorite beer) was blended that much.  Did you?

 

 Ed Von Tobel, Sr was a very practical man.  One of the pioneers of Las Vegas, he and his sons

had the best Lumber and Hardware store in town.

 

How cool is that?

 

We had a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant and a 7-Up Bottling Plant.

Not bad for a small town.

Tomorrow I'll post some ads from the swanky 1950s and 1960s.  You might be surprised at how swanky and elegant the folks in Las Vegas were back then. 

Freddie Bell, Lounge Pioneer, has died

Our In Memoriam list, unfortunately, keeps growing.

Latest addition, Lounge Pioneer Freddie Bell.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Freddie back in 2004 about his life and career in Las Vegas.  Though he hailed from Philadelphia, he loved Las Vegas.  He and his group, The Bellboys, had come to Las Vegas in the early 1950s and were one of the early lounge acts that helped put Las Vegas on the radar of visitors from around the world.  Today, most people remember Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera and maybe the Mary Kaye Trio.  But groups like Freddie Bell and the Bellboys and the Treniers were staples in the Lounges of the Las Vegas Strip for more years than many of us can remember.

Freddie and the Bellboys recorded "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" and "Hound Dog".  A young Elvis Presley, appearing at the Frontier Hotel in 1956, caught Freddie's lounge act and heard him sing "Hound Dog".  He approached Bell about the song and Bell basically said "If you want it, it's yours".  Freddie was that kind of guy.   He did a killer impersonation of Presley and Elvis would often drop in to watch Bell's act and then laugh the loudest at the impersonation.

Freddie was pals with the Rat Pack in the glorious 1950s and was headlining the lounge at the Sands thanks to Jack Entratter who hoped by employing the energetic singer he could control his gambling habit.  Bell was one of the lucky ones chosen to join the Rat Pack in the fabled Steam Room at the Sands prior to them taking the stage for the legendary Summit in 1960. 

He married another lounge stalwart, Roberta Sherwood, in the early 1960s and they often alternated on a lounge double bill in throughout the early 1960s. 

When Sonny King passed away a few years back, Freddie Bell took his place anchoring the late-night party at the Bootlegger Bistro.

He entered Valley Hospital earlier this month due to complications from lung cancer.  He passed away earlier today at the age of 76.

We will miss him and his wonderful sense of humor.  He had a strong sense of the entertainment history of the Las Vegas Strip and his role in defining the lounge scene.  He was a true pioneer. 

The Past Resurfaces

 

As the Lake continues to drop dramatically, all sorts of artifacts that have long been underwater are popping up in the mud and dirt of where the Lake once was.

One such place is St. Thomas.  Once a small Mormon farming community, St. Thomas was established in 1865.  It was near where the Muddy River flowed into the mighty Colorado.  Many of the Mormon families left St. Thomas in 1871 when a re-alignment of the state line placed St. Thomas in Nevada instead of Utah.    Some families stayed and others moved there.  St. Thomas thrived and became a well-known community on the edge of the Moapa Valley. 

The building of Boulder Dam, however, doomed the community.  In anticipation of Lake Mead rising behind the Dam, the federal government bought out the homeowners in St. Thomas beginning in the mid-1930s.  Some families tore down their homesteads that had been in their family for generations.  Others walked away with what they could carry leaving behind their possessions that were too large or burdensome to take.

On June 11th, 1938 the last resident, Hugh Lord, rowed away from St. Thomas forever.   Lake Mead soon engulfed and covered over St. Thomas.  The town became but a memory that old-timers talked about.  When a drought in the mid-1960s caused the Lake to drop, some of St. Thomas briefly reappeared.  But the drought soon ended, the snows returned to the Rockies and St. Thomas soon slipped back under the blue water of the Lake.

Today, the Lake has dropped so dramatically that St. Thomas has resurfaced completely.  Guided tours can be arranged through the National Park Service for those interested in exploring this wonderful piece of Southern Nevada history.

One of these days, the snows will return to the Rockies and the drought will end and the Lake will once again reclaim this fascinating piece of history. 

 Special thanks to RoadsidePictures for letting us use that photo. 

Tribute to my Dad

 

"Superman doesn't just die does he?"  Billy Rundel

Yes, unfortunately he does.

This is probaby the hardest entry I will write here. 

My dad died on Nov.28tn.  Three weeks later I am still having a hard time with it.

He was one part John Wayne.  I will never be able to watch  "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" again without tearing up when Nathan Brittles accepts the "shiny gold watch" that says "Lest We Forget".

My Dad was one part John Wayne and one part Atticus Finch. 

My Dad taught me right from wrong.  

I grew up during an era where Westerns were the mainstay of American media, both on the big screen and television and my Dad loved westerns.  So, westerns (and The Untouchables) were always playing in the background at our house in those pre-VCR days.

But in the middle to late sixties, with the entire Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King and Vietnam, the idea of right and wrong, the idea  of standing tall for what you believed in became important.

And my Dad taught me what was important.  We didn't always agree on the any of the issues of the day back then, in fact we agreed on very little.  But my Dad taught me how to argue, how to debate without insulting the other person. 

As I wrote in the Healthcare blog, he was not my bio-dad but it didn't matter.  He adopted me after marrying my mother and raised me as if I was his own.  He loved me and I loved him back.

He was a judo champion, an avid outsdoorman and he loved to read. We had been through so much with his health crisis this summer but he fought hard to stay with us.  Unfortunately, that generous heart of his could not keep fighting. 

My Dad taught me about life and how in the face of adversity to soldier on, that your word was your bond and many other important life lessons.

As long as I practise those life lessons my Dad will always be with me and his spirit will live on.