Well, the tempature is creeping back up towards 100, so that can only mean there must be lots of activities this weekend.

This afternoon I am giving a tour of Historic Fremont Street to the Big Empire.  Every Joone these lovers of Classic Las Vegas converge in town for their annual Soiree, courtesy of Matt Weatherford.  They are a great bunch and I am looking forward to seeing them again.

Tomorrow in Boulder City is a historic preservation summit.  Many of the historic preservation groups, Friends of Classic Las Vegas, Atomic Age Alliance, VeryVintageVegas, as well as city and county officials will be there.  Heather MacIntosh, from Washington DC, will be there to talk more about her group PreservationAction.org and how we can possibly all work together.

Tomorrow night is dinner with the Big Empire group followed by a party at Dr. Lonnie Hammergren's house where he will be unveiling his new Howard Hughes collection.

I'll report back with all the fun and all the facts.

Earlier this week, the Save the Huntridge Community Group leaders (Brian Paco Alvarez, Parm Hartley, Jack LeVine and myself) met with Huntridge owner, Eli Mizrachil.

Eli took a road trip a few weeks ago to Ventura Blvd in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California.  In Studio City he saw the La Reina theater.  This former S. Charles Lee designed theater closed back in the late 1980s.  It had a beautiful marquee filled with neon and a box office straight out of a movie set.  The theater underwent an adaptive re-use in the early 1990s when it became a Bookstar.  After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, it suffered some damage and had to be retrofitted.  Today it is a major day spa surrounded by various retail stores and restaurants.

I mention all this because seeing the La Reina inspired Eli to think outside the box.  His plans for the Huntridge are amazing.  He ties all three buildings (the former theater, the former bank/mattress store and the former Post Office) quite elegantly.  The lobby of the theater would be the flow-through where people could access the courtyard in the back.  The second story of the theater would become professional office space.  Below would be a mix of retail and restaurants.

The building would be saved, the pylon would be saved and the neon would be restored and relit atop the pylon.

In front, facing Charleston Blvd, would be two pads for a fast-food type place and a Starbucks type place.  Both would be done in the architecture of streamline-moderne to accent the main building.

Eli and his team are hoping to have an unveiling of these plans on First Friday next month.  We will keep you posted about the when and where.

In the meantime, this is, by far, the best idea that we have seen for the Huntridge so far.  It has the power to not only re-energize the building but the entire neighborhood surrounding it.

Here's hoping! 

Okay, here is the line-up for Saturday, May 17th.  Two weeks ago, Jack LeVine and I were joking that May is the busiest month for events and the first weekend in May was a whirlwind of activity.

But this Saturday will definitely be the official winner of cool May events.  It is Cultural History Day and so here is your chance to learn about the different facets of Las Vegas history, learn about preservation, listen to music, see a mini-film festival of documentaries on Las Vegas, take tours of some very cool (and not often open to the public without appointment) places and experience the Helldorado Parade.

Plan to get up early, take plenty of water for driving around the Valley to the various events and settle back later in the evening with a Parade.  It'll be cool (well, probably not the weather), we promise. 

This Saturday, May 17th the line-up is: 

The Neon Museum is going to open their boneyard and offer hourly tours on Saturday, May 17th from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Normally tours are $15 but on this Saturday the tours are only $5 a person.  So get up early and get to the boneyard to see the wonderful signs they have display and perhaps more importantly, the work on the La Concha (they are doing a wonderful job of putting it back together).

The Neon Boneyard is at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd North and McWilliams Street.  Parking is available across the street at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

The very endangered and venerable Huntridge Theater will be open for limited hourly tours from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  Come learn about the history of the building, what you can do to help save it and ensure that the community has a voice in what happens to the building.  And a chance to see the interior of the building for the first time in over five years.  How cool is that?

This event is sponsored by The Friends of Classic Las Vegas and the Save the Huntridge Community Group.  The Huntridge Theater is located at the corner of Maryland Parkway and E. Charleston Blvd.

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is hosting the Cultural History Fair this year.  Admission to the Fair, its music festival and its Las Vegas Film Festival is free.  The Cultural History Fair runs from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Inside the Learning Center there will the various historic preservation groups, museums and archaelogical groups.  The Friends of Classic Las Vegas will be passing out information on preservation, history and lots more.

The Las Vegas Film Festival will offer a variety of documentaries on Las Vegas and Nevada history.  Included in the sceenings is our own "The Story of Classic Las Vegas". 

At 1:40 pm, there is a showing on the history of Helldorado, "Helldorado Through the Years" which features home movies and more of past Helldorado parades.  Directly following that, Dennis McBride offers some very rare home movies of the Las Vegas Strip,  historian and preservationist Bob Stoldal follows with  two short films on Places that Aren't There Anymore.   Our own "Story of Classic Las Vegas" follows Bob at about 3:45.

The Music Festival includes Paiute Pow-Wow dancers and much more.

A great way to experience our history and our culture. 

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is located at the corner of Valley View Blvd and Meadows Lane. 

The Junior League of Las Vegas is going to have the historic Morelli House open for free tours between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm.  If you have never been inside this wonderful mid-century modern house, don't miss this opportunity.  The house was saved by the Junior League from the old Desert Inn Golf Course and Country Club.  Restored with many of its original fixtures, appliances and wonderful interpretative book by our pal Alan Hess, be sure to say "hey" to DeeDee Nave for us!

The Morelli House is located at the corner of Bridger and 9th Street, across the street from the Las Vegas Academy (formerly the original Las Vegas High School).

End the day with us (and everyone else) at the Helldorado Parade!

The Parade is free and goes across 4th Street from Gass to Stewart Street.  It all starts at 7:00 pm and ends at 9:00 pm.  There are floats, cars, musical bands and more.  Get there early to get a good seat.

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas is in the parade with our President, Ben Litivinoff and his classic  pink Cadillac.   Riding with Ben will be former Lt. Governor Lorraine Hunt and her husband Dennis Bono as well as yours truly and some other special guests.

So, plan out your day and don't miss any of these great events. 

 
Two weeks ago, Mr. Mizrachi told the crowd at the Save the Huntridge meeting that he wanted to save the property, find a viable tenant and make the property successful.  

He assured us he did not want to tear down the historic buildings.  He went to Carson City today to ask that the covenants placed on the building by the State be removed.  He offered to pay back the money, $1.5 million, that had been awarded to the previous owners in exchange for the removal.  This would have had damaging repercussions as it would have set a precedent nationally for owners of historic properties.

Word came late this afternoon that Eli Mizrachi's bid to have the state's two covenants on the historic Huntridge Theater overturned was turned down by the State's Cultural Affairs Commission.  They instructed their staff to work with Mr. Mizrachi to find viable tenants for the property. 

They said they would revist the situation when they meet again in September.

We applaud the Cultural Affairs Commission for refusing, at this point, to accept Mr. Mizrachi's offer.  We hope that a new tenant(s) can be found. 

To read our contributing blogger, Brian Paco Alvarez's take on the situation, follow this link:

https://classiclasvegas.squarespace.com/historic-site-of-the-week/ 

Josh Geidel of  Save the Huntridge and owner Eli Mizrachi will be on Jeff Gillan's Las Vegas One broadcast this evening at 9:00 pm.

They will be talking about the efforts to safe the historic property and alternative uses for the building.

We encourage everyone that is interested in helping to preserve this building to tune in this evening.

Channel One

9:00 pm

Wednesday evening, March 12th.

Our pal, Allen Sandquist, uncovered a treasure trove of historical information about the Huntridge Theater yesterday while googling about the venerable theater. 

Did you know:

Ticket prices were 44 cents for adults; 30 cents for students and military personnel; and 14 cents for children under 12.  The phone number was just "86".

On September 1, 1945, the theater was showing "Secrets of the Wasteland" starring western star William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy).  The projectionist stopped the movie so that management could make the announcement that the Japanese had officially surrendered and the War was over.

In December, management had a week-long give-away of "free, nylon stockings".  The promotion paid off as nylon had been a scarce material during the War years.  The material had been commandeered for the manufacture of parachutes during the War. 

By 1951 when Lloyd and Edythe Katz begin managing the theater (along with the Fremont and the Palace-which would be, ultimately, renamed the Guild), admission was now 65 cents for adults. 

Jane Russell and Vincent Price appeared on-stage as part of the premiere for "The Las Vegas Story".  The film had also premiered that evening at the Fremont Theater downtown but due to the overwhelming crowd, the print had to be bicycled between the two theaters to accommodate the crowd.

The phone number was changed to Du-8600.  The DU stood for Dudley, which was the exchange for that neighborhood.  Does anyone know why?

In 1956, Katz courted controversy by screening "And God Created Woman" starring Brigitte Bardot.  The Catholic Church and Legion of Decency railed against the film.  Katz agreed to only show the film in the evening and only for adults over 18. 

In 1957, the Treniers appeared on-stage at the Huntridge as part of a promotion, the Rock-N-Roll-athon.  The promotion was aimed at the growing teenage audience that was frequenting the theater.   "Don't Knock the Rock" , starring famed rock and roll deejay, Alan Freed, was showing and the price of admission was 90 cents.

In December, Katz removed two rows of seats to accommodate the wide-screen sensation sweeping movie theaters across the country.  To kick-off the wide-screen craze Katz showed "Around the World in 80 Days".   The producer, Mike Todd, a good friend of Katz, stopped into the theater to oversee the installation.

On November 23, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was killed while visiting Dallas, Texas. Katz cancelled the afternoon and evening screenings of "Take Her She's Mine".

Throughout the 1960s the Huntridge Theater was the place to see Disney films, both live-action and the animated features.  The children's Saturday matinees were one of the most popular in town.

By the 1970s, the Huntridge was fighting off other neighborhood theaters such as the Parkway and the Boulevard Theaters located near the Boulevard Mall as well as the Red Rock 11 Theaters in Charleston Heights. 

In 1977, Katz announced that owner Irene Dunne would not renew the lease nor would she let him buy the property.  Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure was the last film to play the theater. Katz had run the theater for 32 years.  No other theater in town could boast of a manager as successful as Lloyd Katz.

In 1979, Irene Dunne finally decided to sell the theater to Frank Silvaggio.  The theater was halved and became the Huntridge Twin Theaters in 1981. 

It re-opened as a revival house showing "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Clark Gable and "King Kong" starring Fay Wray.  With the closure of the MGM Grand Hotel's movie theater after the disastrous 1980 fire, the  Huntridge had the corner on revival theaters in Las Vegas.  The new manager was Donald Lesh, a businessman from Portland, Oregon.

Lesh brought the cult-favorite "Rocky Horror Picture Show" to the theater as a midnight movie.  It ran for over a year but by July 1982, Lesh filed for bankruptcy.

During most of the 1980s the theater was run by Robert Garganese who also ran the
Mountain View Theaters on South Jones.

In 1991, the City toyed with the idea of buying the building if Silvaggio would agree to do an asbestos study.  Silvaggio turned them down. 

In 1992, Richard Lenz and the Friends of the Huntridge, a non-profit group, bought the building from Silvaggio for $1.1 million.   The group received $30,000 in grants from the State Cultural Affairs Commission as well as $150,000 from the City's Redevelopment Fund.  The City placed a covenant on the building stating that the building would be used as a performing arts venue for twenty years from the date of purchase.  The covenant expires in 2012. 

Another covenant states the owners "assume the cost of the continued maintenance and repair of said property as to preserve the architectural, historical, cultural integrity of the Huntridge Theater."  This applies to all owners previous and current.  The State also placed a covenant on the building that it could not be torn down.  Both of those convenants are in effect until 2017.

The Friends of the Huntridge ultimately received over $1.5 million in grant money from the State.

Lenz reopened the Huntridge as an alternative Rock venue. Quiet Riot was one of the first acts to play the new Huntridge.  By 1993, the Huntridge was proving to be a success.  Ice-T performed there despite controversy over his single "Cop Killer" and the fact that Metro had refused to send officers to the theater.

In 1993, the Huntridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

In 1995, just hours before the Circle Jerks were to take the stage, the roof collapsed.  According to Michael Toole's account the "bands lead singer Keith Morris would relate years later: "As soon as we got there, we were told that the roof had collapsed and the show was canceled. We didn't have anywhere else to go, so we just set up our equipment in the parking lot and played for the 30 or 40 people who were still there." The result was an impromptu mosh pit that showed endlessly gyrating kids thrashing frantically on the outdoor pavement. Fortunately for us, the moment was captured live on MTV. " 

A year and a half later the theater reopened with a new roof, new seats, remodeled bathrooms, a new recording studio and a new color scheme, teal and orange.  The Toasters rechristened the theater.  Costs for renovation were $525,000.

Beck performed at the theater in 1997 just months before being named Spin Magazine's Artist of the Year.  

It was the home to the first CineVegas Film Festival in 1998.  The Festival showed both experimental and student films.

The Nevada Board of Museums placed the theater on the State's Register of Historic Places.

In 2000, the Friends of the Huntridge received an additional grant of $55,000 from the State's Cultural Affairs Commission amid rumors that the theater was in financial trouble. 

Due to increased competition from the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and the Joint at the Hard Rock, Lenz told reporter Rob Bhat that he had to rent the facility out to churches to keep the doors open. 

In June of that year, the City agreed to another $100,000 grant to help keep the facility open. 

In May, 2001, Richard Lenz resigned as Executive Director of the Friends of the Huntridge and concentrated on the small Sanctuary (the old Huntridge Station Post Office) at the back of the property.  He told Las Vegas City Life reporters that he would open a high-end sound studio there.

On New Year's Day, 2002, the Mizrachi family which owned Cima Furniture (in the old bank building next door) bought the Huntridge for $925,000.   They announced that Eli, then 29 years old, would continue to run the venue as a place for up and coming bands.

Eleven months later, the Huntridge re-opened with a new sound system.  The Damned rechristened the theater. 

On Halloween, 2003, the Rocky Horror Picture Show returned to the Huntridge. Those doing "The Time Warp" include old and young fans alike.

In June of 2004, as part of MTV2's 2Bill Concert Series, the Beastie Boys requested to use the Huntridge.  As the hosting band for the live TV Concert, the theater received lots of attention and promotion.

Six weeks later the theater closed amid promises to reopen after renovations were completed.  The final bands included Guttermouth,  Dimmu Borgir, Bleeding Through and God Forbid.

Almost four years later, the theater is still closed. 

In 2006, the Mizrachi family first raised the idea of paying back the $1.5 million that the State had given the Friends of the Huntridge in exchange for being able to alter or raze the building. 

The Mizrachi family ultimately bought the rest of the property on the Huntridge site.

To recap:

The State gave over $1.5 million in grants to the Friends of the Huntridge to help preserve and restore the building.

The City gave over $250,000 in Redevelopment Funds to the Friends of the Huntridge to help preserve and restore the building.

According to the three main convenants:

The Building must remain a performing arts venue until 2012 (placed by the City).

The Building cannot be torn down until 2017 (placed by the State).

The owners (meaning the Mizrachi's)  "assume the cost of the continued maintenance and repair of said property as to preserve the architectural, historical, cultural integrity," of the Huntridge. (placed we believe by the State).

The Mizrachi's raised the idea of repaying the State the money given to the Friends of the Huntridge once before in 2006.  They also talked of tearing the building down at that time. Nothing came of those talks at that time.

According to what Eli said at the Save the Huntridge meeting on Saturday when the Mizrachi family bought the building in early 2002, the chandelier, the lighting fixtures. decorative fixtures and the projection equipment had all been removed. 

Special thanks to Allen Sandquist and writer Michael Toole. 

Other links of note:

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Jan-06-Sun-2002/news/17702838.html

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=5662635 

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/content/fileadmin/oldsite/2004/10/07/huntridge.html 

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/content/fileadmin/oldsite/2006/01/26/feature.html