Entries in Las Vegas Neighborhoods (78)

Thursday nite's Untold Stories: Las Vegas High School, the Wildcat Lair and the Rhythmettes

 

 

Don't miss this wonderful look back at the history of Las Vegas High School with stories by the alumni.  It's a great way to hear history from the people who were there:

During the formative years of the city of Las Vegas, there was only one high school, Las Vegas High.  The school was built because of the determination of one woman, Maude Frazier.  Located on 8th Street, many townspeople believed it was too far out of town and was too large.  Maude and history proved them wrong.

It became a beacon of education for school-age kids not only in Las Vegas but all across the valley.  Students were bussed in from Boulder City and other small towns.

The students had their rituals as all high schools do.  The Wildcat Lair was the teen club where dances were held and in the years following World War II, performers from the Strip would stop by and sing a few tunes or tell a few jokes before heading back to the showrooms.

The Rhythmettes were the idea of Evelyn Stuckey.  A precision drill team made up of young girls to help rally school spirit at athletic games, assemblies, Helldorado Parades and more, she made the name Rhythmettes synonymous with excellence.  Under her tutelage, the drill team performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in the early 1960s.

Join us on Thursday, March 4th for "Untold Stories" as we look back at this wonderful, colorful and lively history. 

Our panelists will include a

Rhythmette Cheryl Purdue and other Las Vegas alumni such as John Ullom, Rollie Gibbs, and that delightful couple, Gail and Donna Andress.

Dennis McBride and Paul Carson from the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas have graciously agreed to bring a number of items related to the school as well.

Thursday, March 4th

Untold Stories

Las Vegas Springs Preserve

Desert Learning Center

6:30 pm

$10

We hope to see you there!



Posted on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 9:03AM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn in , , , , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

Springs Preserve Celebrates Black History Month

Looking for the UPDATED info on the upcoming Las Vegas High School program?  Click here

 

To commemorate the contributions of African-Americans to Southern Nevada's history and culture, the Springs Preserve and Las Vegas Black Image magazine will host a Black History Month Festival at the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd., on Sunday.

The festival will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 5-17, and free for children 4 and younger. Advance tickets are available at Sight and Sound Center, 1000 N. Martin Luther King Blvd.

Visitors will be able to view a special "Historic Black Vegas" photo exhibit.

Entertainment will include a Children's Film Festival, a Greek Step Show, a Children's Hair and Fashion Show, music by 6-year-old DJ "Baby Chino," and other music and dance performances. The event also will feature food sales and access to the preserve's museums and galleries.



Posted on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 10:53AM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn in , , , , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

Dennis McBride talks Las Vegas History and More!

Looking for info on the upcoming Las Vegas High School program?  Click here

 

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.

Posted on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at 10:30AM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn in , , , , , , , , , | Comments1 Comment

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.

 

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 8:18AM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn in , , , , , , , , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

Random Thoughts and Things That Irritate Me

Just some things that irritate me,  make me wonder and really make me mad.  Hey, it's my birthday.  I should get to blog about personal stuff every now and then.

 

1.  The NBC Late-Night Fiasco.  I know there are folks on Team Conan and folks on Team Leno.  But guess what?   There are no people on Team Zucker and that’s the way it should be. 

 Jeff Zucker, the one-time boy genius who was going to make NBC #1 forever and ever, instead, made one of the worst decisions in network history.  Now Zucker is blaming Conan for not delivering a higher audience for the Tonight Show and blaming Jay for not delivering a higher audience for the Jay Leno show.  

Despite the fact, that he, Jeff Zucker, was the architect of this entire fiasco. 

In the old days of corporate America when you screwed up on a scale this grand, you did the right thing by taking the blame and stepping down immediately.  Not Jeff Zucker, he really wants to be the poster boy for everything that we hate about Corporate America today.  That is, instead of admitting your mistakes and taking your punishment, you instead blame the victims and ask all of America to ignore your hand in designing this fiasco and ask that we all just pretend you’re not to blame.  Sorry, Jeff Zucker, there’s a reason the only person on Team Zucker is you.

 

2.  Post-Apocalyptic Movies.   They come around every few years.  Anyone remember “The Postman” with Kevin Costner?  Earlier this winter we had “The Road” with the wonderful Viggo Mortensen and based on the acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy.  Didn’t do well at the box office.  I’m thinking when it comes to post-apocalyptic movies, movie goers want someone forceful, charming and who offers hope.  Kevin Costner in “Postman” not so much, Denzel Washington in “The Book of Eli”, hell yeah!

 

3.  Mel Gibson in “Edge of Darkness”.    With all the problems Mel has had with his fans and his personal life the last few years, is this really the time in his career to start channeling Jack Nicholson?  Doesn’t he realize that Jack is still alive and can probably kick his ass for stealing his act?

 

4.  Smokey Robinson.  Who knew that Smokey was Wayne Newton’s half-brother?  I didn’t .   Did you?  Well, have you seen Smokey lately?  I saw him the other night on an American Masters documentary on Sam Cooke and my jaw dropped to the floor.  There was Smokey, our Smokey, looking like he had gone to Wayne Newton’s plastic surgeon and was proud of it!

 All I could do was hang my head in despair.  Has looking youthful in America sunk so low that someone like Smokey has to chase the fountain of youth to be taken seriously?  For God’s sake, he’s Smokey Robinson!!!!  That should be enough to let him grow old gracefully and still love him!

5.  The Las Vegas Sun.  I read the paper every day on-line.  When I click on News it takes me to a new page where it previews the big Las Vegas news story of the day and has one or two other line items for other news stories.  Underneath it says, More Las Vegas News.  I click on that thinking it will take me to more news stories about what is happening around Las Vegas. 

Instead, it takes me to the weather articles.  Rain in the forecast, not so much.  In the winter, reports of a cooling or cold trend, in the summer, reports of the heat.  I don’t really want to know the weather.  I want to know the More Las Vegas News stories.  Why doesn’t the Sun have a separate weather page?  Or do they really think the weather in Las Vegas changes enough to warrant being the end page for More Las Vegas News?

6. Sheldon Adelson.  He built a new casino in Bethlehem, PA on the grounds of the old US Steel plant.  As part of the deal with the city, he also funded a museum detailing the history of Bethlehem and the importance of US Steel to the community. 

Years before, Shel Adelson built a casino/hotel in Las Vegas called “The Venetian”.  It was built on the site of the famed and beloved Sands Hotel.  We didn’t get a museum detailing the history of Las Vegas or the importance of the Sands Hotel.  The Sands was home to the Rat Pack.  The Sands was one of the first hotels to break the color barrier.  The Sands was the hotel we think of when we think of Classic Las Vegas.  We got squat for all that history.  Thanks, Shel.

 

7. Cell Phones.  If you are shopping in Trader Joe’s, do you really need to be talking on your cell phone?  Do you really think the rest of us care about your conversation, that we care about who is picking up the kids, what’s for dinner, what your plans of the evening are?  News Flash!  We don’t. Trader Joe’s are not large stores.   If your call is that freakin’ important take it outside and let the rest of us shop in peace.  Because you standing in the middle of the aisle talking away while you and your cart block the rest of us from shopping is only making us hate you more.

 

8. Trying to park your car while talking on your cell-phone?  Please get off the phone!  Now!

 

9. The El Cortez.  With all the focus on rehabilitating Downtown, will someone, besides us, please acknowledge that the crew behind the El Cortez ROCKS!  Jackie passed his legacy to a group that understands his legacy.  Thank-You!!!!

 

10, Endangered Buildings.  As the economy starts to rebound more and more buildings and homes will become endangered:

  •  Flora Dungan Humanities Building designed by Zick and Sharp.  One of the last original campus buildings yet, UNLV higher ups want it gone.
  • Valley High School- an impeding update will destroy much of the original Zick and Sharp original architecture.
  • City Hall, another Zick and Sharp late mid-century modern architecture.  Mayor Goodman wants a new City Hall closer to the Smith Center.  If the that happens, the current building will be torn down to make room for a new casino/hotel.
  • East Fremont Motel Auto Courts.  One of the largest and last standing groups of motor auto courts still in existence.  Not to mention the wonderful neon signage still standing.  All are endangered.
  • The Las Vegas High School Historical Neighborhood.  Despite being on the Historical Registry of Historical Places, this neighborhood still does not have City Preservation Protection.  Thus, many of the homes that date back to the 1920s-1930s are being torn down and in there place are rising McMansions.  This is our best example of a Historic District and we are letting it go to waste.
Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 at 12:28AM by Registered CommenterLasVegasLynn in , , , , , , , , , , , , | CommentsPost a Comment
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