When I was younger, I was fascinated by the Thunderbird signage.  A big beautiful neon encrusted Thunderbird, that at one time I'm told, also bellowed smoke.  Unfortunately the upkeep and the need for natural gas to produce the smoke soon brought the majestic bird's days of smoking to an end.  Still, at night it was one of the most beautiful signs ever created for the Classic Las Vegas Strip.

The Thunderbird began life as a dream shared by two good friends, local attorney Cliff Jones and general contractor,  Marion Hicks.  In 1946, they had bid on a Reno hotel in hopes of getting in the gaming business.  Unfortunately, they were outbid.  They returned to Las Vegas still determined to become resort owners.  On the trip home they discussed their possibilities and both agreed that building a hotel on the LA Highway (Highway 91) would be the best idea.  There were already two hotels, the El Rancho Vegas and the Hotel Last Frontier that were doing good business.  The Fabulous Flamingo was beset with building delays due to shortages created by the just ended War. 

Deciding to wait until building supplies were more easily attainable, they set out to find the right piece of property.  The land they wanted was owned by Guy McAfee, then owner of the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street.  The three men negotiated a deal (and wouldn't you have wanted to be a fly on the wall listening to that!)  The property fronted on 1,100 feet of the Highway.  They also bought a piece of land along Paradise Road.

In October 1947, building code restrictions were finally loosened and a small groundbreaking ceremony took place on the property fronting the Highway.  Hicks had the reputation for building sturdy structures.  The Thunderbird, like the El Cortez (which Hicks had also built) utilized "weeping mortar" giving it a very Southwestern look to the building.  The two partners decided on the name Thunderbird which was based on a Navajo legend.  The interiors, also designed by Hicks, carried this theme throughout the hotel.  Warm, earthen colors were used and the walls were decorated with Indian portraits.  The Wigwam Room, the Navajo Room and others also contributed to the Southwestern feeling.

While Siegel was going broke making the Fabulous Flamingo the first carpet joint in town, Jones and Hicks went in another direction.  They chose to make the Thunderbird's interior intimate and home-like.  There were three major fireplaces in the main public area which lent itself to a feeling of coziness. 

On Labor Day, 1948, the hotel opened.  Jake Katleman of the El Rancho Vegas and Farmer Paige of the Pioneer Club were among the invited guests.  During the grand opening, following in the footsteps of the other hotels, Jones and Hicks had "complimentary play".  According to publicist Jack Melvin this was a gesture of good will by established hotel owners as well as an attempt to stimulate opening night action at the tables by encouraging gamblers to bet more.

However, Jones and Hicks soon found themselves in a rather precarious situation.  Katelman, Paige and several other well-known owners won so much at the tables that evening that they literally won the hotel away from Jones and Hicks.  Luckily for the two  owners, a compromise was negotiated that allowed them to keep the hotel. 

The Thunderbird immediately made a splash.  It had the first porte cochere.  It helped that McCarran Airport opened that same year.  The Airport had an adobe style front as well.  The broad sloping roof, Alan Hess reminds us, had the simple gable of an overgrown bunkhouse but the lines supporting that porte cochere were crisp and modern.  In a throwback to its western roots, a small white rail fence edged the leading southern edge of the property.

The room wings mimicked the Flamingo's style with a central three-story section raised above the two-story wings.  In front of it was the pool with a high dive, palm trees and lawn.  The desert seemed to surround it all.

And it had that beautiful neon Thunderbird.  The giant neon bird sat atop the observation tower with its giant talons seeming to grip the top of the tower.  The neon bird was all the colors of the rainbow and made a fitting mate for the nearby neon Flamingo.  The Thunderbird was flanked by two smaller birds.  The signage was created by Graham Neon Sign company.  With a nearby Mobile station and its neon Pegasus and the neon windmill atop the El Rancho Vegas, the Las Vegas Strip seemed to be built for the automobile traveler.

It was also very successful.  Part of that success was due to the loyal and courteous staff that Jones and Hicks had hired.  Former boxer, "Gentleman" Gene Delmont was the casino host and Hicks recruited some of his best chefs from the El Cortez.

Not wanting to get over-extended too quickly (which was to plague many owners after them), Jones and Hicks assembled a weathered team of investors and partners that helped insure smooth and prosperous times for everyone.  Joe Wells, the owner of Wells Cargo and the namesake of the very popular (and fondly remembered) Joe's Oyster Bar; Victor Sayer, owner of the Commercial Electric Company; Jack Lane, President of American Pipe and Steel and Paul Wagoner, a land and mining expert were all in the top echelon of investors and partners.  Locals were tapped as well and included Guy McAfee, Jake Kozloff, Harry Badger, Bill Deer, "Tutor" Scherer and "Buck" Blaine all added their knowledge of Nevada gaming to the pot.

All this expertise did not, however, keep the Thunderbird from having its license suspended in 1955.  The Nevada Tax Commission, which was the authority for state gaming.  The Commission alleged that Jones and Hicks had not reported substantial investments by three underworld figures:  Jake and Meyer Lansky and George Saldo.  An injunction allowed the hotel to continue operating while the case went through the court system.  After prolonged litigation, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Thunderbird, clearing the owners of all charges and revoking the suspension order. 

Entertainment-wise, Jones and Hicks, like the other resort owners, wanted top-of-the-line performers.  Luckily, in that era, there were plenty of top notch acts to fill the bill.  Hicks hired show producer Hal Braudis away from the Hotel Last Frontier to become the Entertainment, Publicity and Advertising Director at the Thunderbird.  Braudis brought with him his assistant, Barney Rawlings.

"Hal Braudis was a brillant innovator and entertainment pioneer." remembered Rawlings in a 1976 interview.  "He produced 'Minature Musicals' which were cameos of current Broadway shows.  He also did salutes to other Las Vegas hotels as well as introducing scenery sets to the otherwise rectangular dance floor.  He also introduced a pharse that was to become a trademark fo the hotel for many years: "Remember, you saw it first at the Thunderbird.".

Braudis hired Rosemary Clooney and as her opening act, Harry Belafonte.  He hired the Mills Brothers, Patti Page, Burl Ives and George Gobel.  Opera stars such as James Melton and Dorothy Warrensjold also graced the showroom stage.  The Dinner Show cost $4 back then.  The Late Show had a two drink minimum with drinks under a $1.

Rex Allen and the Sons of the Pioneers made history one night.  Allen performed with his horse "Coco".  On this particular night, Coco violated the rule of all animal acts- all over the stage.  Barney Rawlings recalled in an interview with George Stamos, Jr "that the stage was table-top height and the incident occurred during the dinner show.  The Lighting Director, Bob Ogle, quickly killed the stage lights and threw a spot on Rawlings.  While pianist Fritz Becker began to play, stage hands frantically tried to clean the mess up.  Becker went into the arpeggio for "Tenderly", a popular love song of the day.  So with the air conditioning circulating the barnyard aroma, I sang 'the evening breeze caressed the trees tenderly' which brought the house down.  After the laughter subsided, we got on with the show and I said "Remember, folks, you saw it first at the Thunderbird!"  The audience roared with laughter. 

Fritz Becker remained at the Thunderbird for the next 14 years.  The Thunderbird was also the host for the Branding Iron dinners.  This dinner was held annual by the Las Vegas Press Club and offered a riotous evening of lampooning everyone from the governor to local officials

Rose Marie, who often played the Thunderbird, remembers lounging in the pool at the Thunderbird and marveling at all the empty desert for as far as the eye could see. 

In 1955, the owners expanded the casino moving it out toward the road.  They built a second floor that was framed with a rectangular box.  A new porte cochere was added as well as a taller sign pole with three pennant signboards attached. 

In the early 1960s, Joe Wells built a racetrack behind the hotel, aptly called Thunderbird Downs. The five-eighths of a mile race track hosted both thoroughbreds and quarter horses. It had pari-mutual betting and temporary bleachers.

The Lounge at the Thunderbird was the Pow-Wow Room and boasted a small stage, bar and fireplace making for an intimate place to enjoy some great music.  Senator Pat McCarran became a regular at the hotel and Hicks had a four room bungalow built for him.  Howard Hughes was often spotted in the showroom, usually arriving after the show had started.  Wilbur and Toni Clark spent many evenings there while the Desert Inn was under construction.

The Thunderbird had the first Convention Sales Manager and hosted what was likely the first convention on the Strip, a gathering of air-conditioning specialists.  Much of their time was spent on Lake Mead.  Chef Jack Collins improvised a bar-b-que for them, legend has it, by welding two automobile axles together and roasting a steer. 

Nat King Cole began performing there in 1948.  Unlike other hotels, where the performers had to go through the kitchen to reach the stage, the Thunderbird was designed so that the performers didn't have to take such a circuitous route. Abe Fox, the owner of Foxy's Deli, remembered delivering meals to Cole at a trailer the performer had next to the hotel.  This was during the time of segregation and Cole could not stay in the hotel.  Rather than commute each night after his shows, to the Westside, Cole stayed in the trailer.  When Jack Entratter stole Cole away to perform at the Sands, the trailer went with him.

The Thunderbird also had the first semi-nude Ice Show on the Strip. George Arnold, a well-known skater, was tapped to produce the show.  "When I was asked to come out here from New York adn produce the Ice Show, I had never seen a nude ice show before." he recalled in a 1979 interview. "I actually had to ask my father and mother for permission to produce the show, Ectasy on Ice.  The show ran for over three years.  It even made the cover of Time magazine."

Marion Hicks died in 1961.  He had retired to Palm Springs leaving his nephew Marty, Cliff Jones and Joe Wells to run the hotel. 

In 1963, producer Monte Proser announced that he had exclusive rights from Rogers and Hammerstein to produce their musicals in Las Vegas.  He opened with a Flower Drum Song starring Jack Soo.  It was the first time an abridged version of the musical had been produced.  It was deemed a success and South Pacific with Mitzi Gaynor was produced later.

In 1964, the owners sold the hotel to Del Webb for approximately $9.5 million (yeah, you read that right). 

Webb leased the hotel to a corporation headed by Herbert Lodge.  Lodge was a Miami businessman and former owner of the Golden Nugget in Miami Beach.  The new management brought in Jerry Schafer who pioneered afternoon entertainment. 

In 1965. the Thunderbird was remodeled.  The new front facade included the longest sign constructed at that time.  It was a free-standing billboard that had letters that stood out on a bed of gold light, echoing the Shell sign across the street.  According to Betty Willis (designer of the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign among others) the new Thunderbird sign was the first in the modernatization of neon that began in the mid-1960s.  It was designed by Ad-Art and it was the company's first foyer into designing signage in Las Vegas.  The massive, pulsating display was the longest, continous length sign in the world.  It measured over 700 feet long and included 37,000 sparkling light bulbs.  Eight miles of neon tubing and over 140, 000 feet of wiring were used in the construction.  Special power lines had to be brought in to accomodate the drain on electrical lines.  The free standing pylon was kept and the original Thunderbird.  The signage was designed by Bill Clarke and cost nearly $250,000 and about 10,000 man-hours to construct. 

At night, the sparkling facade proclaimed the Thunderbird's title by sequentially flashing the neon letters and then silhouetting the letters with the thousands of bulbs that formed the backdrop. 

However, even with that beautiful sign, the monthly lease of $19,000 kept the hotel from keeping pace with the rapidly changing and growing Strip.  Webb finally foreclosed on the group in December, 1967. 

In 1972, the Thunderbird changed hands again.  Though hopes were high on Halloween Night, representatives from Caesars World which owned both Caesars and the Thunderbird came into the casino and confiscated all the chips.  Caesars executives revealed plans for the Thunderbird to be demolished (sound familiar?) to make room for a twin towered hotel called the Marc Antony.

Perhaps luckily, the Marc Antony was never built.  Soon after realizing that the Thunderbird was a drain on their bottom line, Caesars World sold the hotel to a group of local investors headed by Bank of Las Vegas legend, Perry Thomas.  Thomas and his group bought it for $9 million, four million less than what Caesars World had paid for it. 

Thomas and his group ran the hotel, now very down on its luck, until January 1st, 1977 when Major Riddle (owner of the Dunes) bought the hotel.  Riddle had the reputation, somewhat deservedly, of being a miracle worker with older properties. 

Special thanks to Allen Sandquist (RoadsidePictures), Eric Lynxwiler and UNLV's Special Collections for allowing us to use these images and special thanks to Alan Hess.