As the summer begins to wind down and the fall television season (and the premiere of Vegas) looms on the horizon, we thought it would be nice to look back at 1960s Las Vegas. This is the Las Vegas that Sheriff Ralph Lamb presided over and kept safe.

The Boulevard Mall opened which changed the way Las Vegans shopped. No longer did we have to go downtown for our shopping needs. Developed by Irwin Molasky (who also developed the neighborhood around the mall including the mid-century modern residential area known as Paradise Palms.) with partners that included Moe Dalitz.

Our beloved "flying saucer" Convention Center. At night, the rim of the Convention Center glowed neon green. With the empty Landmark Hotel (in all it's Space Needle glory) located across the street, this corner of Paradise Road and Desert Inn was filled with space age enthusiasm. Anything was possible in those days. The Convention Center hosted boxing (Cassius Clay, Floyd Patterson, etc), the Beatles, Martin Luther King, holiday events and numerous high school graduations.

 Our Cinerama Theater, located just south of the Convention Center. It was one of the popular movie theaters located outside of downtown (along with the Huntridge and the Fox at the Charleston Plaza Mall). I saw Gone With the Wind there during its reissue run in 1967.

Aerial shot of the Alarmco building near Las Vegas Blvd South and St. Louis. The building was owned by Desert Inn one-time owner, Wilbur Clark.

Caesars Palace which opened in August, 1966. Built by Jay Sarno, Caesars was a direct departure from other hotels on the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Fremont Street in the early 1960s.

Denny's Restaurant. There were various locations - including on the famed Strip (one still stands) and this one just north of Fremont Street.

Here's a promo for the new show, Vegas, starring Dennis Quaid as Sheriff Ralph Lamb and Michael Chiklis as gangster Vincent Savino. (Here's hoping that is just a highway sign for the Stardust and they don't have the Stardust and the Sahara on the same side of the street, next to one another.)

The Aladdin sign in 1971 with Jethro Tull in concert at the Performing Arts Center

The Alpine Village- they had the best chicken soup

The Blue Angel motel in 1957- bet that pool looks inviting when the heat hits triple digits

The brochure promoting Caesars Palace in 1966

Brochure promoting Downtown- 1960s

Dunes Hotel matchbook

When I was a kid, movie theaters were my home away from home.  In the heat of the summer, they offered air conditioned splendor and big screen excitement.  Drive-ins allowed my family to bundle us up on a Friday or Saturday night and see a movie from the comfort of our car.  Here are some of my homes away from home:

The Cinerama Theater -there weren't very many of them but we had one.  Located on Viking Road just off Paradise, this was a  terrific theater.  I dragged my friends there to see many a film, including "Fantasia", "The Hindenburg" and "The Three Musketeers".

The Fox theater located in the Charleston Plaza Mall.  This was a large and elegant theater located in the first mall in Las Vegas.  On East Charleston, just south of downtown, this theater had a sign that could be seen for miles.  We saw "The Sound of Music", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "The Hot Rock" and on New Year's Eve, "The Poseidon Adventure".

The Stardust Drive-In located behind the hotel.  We saw "Viva Las Vegas" there.  My parents were big Elvis fans and my dad was working at the Golden Gate when they were filming the movie and stepped outside of the casino to watch the filming of the race.

The SkyWay Drive-In.  After the Stardust Drive-In closed, we used to drive out Boulder Highway to this great Drive-In.  My dad bundled us all up and took us to see "Night of the Living Dead" after my mother brought home a Reader's Digest that had an article, "The film you don't want your kids to see".  My dad had a wicked sense of humor. 

The Huntridge Theater at East Charleston and Maryland Parkway was the closest theater we had to an old fashioned movie palace.  Complete with soundproof "cry room" for unruly babies, the theater was home to Disney films and Saturday afternoons the theater was filled with kids.  In addition to the Disney films, my friend Alan and I saw "Kelly's Heroes" and "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" there.

Other theaters I loved were the long-gone MGM Grand Theater in the original MGM Grand Hotel (now Bally's).  This theater had plush love-sets and a cocktail waitress that brought your drink order to you.  You ordered just by pressing a button on the cocktail table in front of you.  They only ran classic MGM films but I was already a big film buff by the time the hotel opened and they changed the bill every week.  You got a handout with a synopsis of the film and the cast listing.  They showed a cartoon, newsreel and then the film.  It was old-fashioned and it was beyond great.

The Red Rock Theaters on West Charleston.  We lived in Charleston Heights and this was the theater closest to us.  Started as a a dual screened theater, it ultimately expanded to 11 theaters.  The theaters in the back were placed around an old-time Main Street like square.  We lived at this place, it seemed, when I was in high school.  Between this and the MGM Grand theater, my weekends were spent at the movies.  We saw "The Sting", "Billy Jack", "The Godfather" and every  major (and minor) film that came out in the 1970s.

The Guild Theater, the El Portal and the Fremont Theaters were all located downtown.  The Guild was more an art house back then.  I saw "Next Stop, Greenwich Village", "The Passenger" and other art films of the 1970s there.

The Parkway Theaters across the street from the Boulevard Mall.  The Parkway was a dual screen theater.  We saw "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars" there.

How about you, which theater was your favorite?

Hard to believe that the El Cortez is 70 years old but the venerable hotel/casino is still going strong and celebrating all year long.

 Opened by J.Kell Houssels in 1941, it was considered to be too far down Fremont Street.  But from the beginning it was successful.  Ben Siegel came to town to muscle in on the race wire at the hotel and with Meyer Lansky, Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway  bought the casino from Houssels in the mid-1940s for $600,000.  They didn't hang on to it for long as Siegel was already working on his dream project on the Las Vegas Strip, the Flamingo.  They sold it back to Houssels in 1946 for $766,000.  Houssels bought in famed Los Angeles architect, Wayne McAllister, to do a remodel on the hotel.

In 1963, young Jackie Gaughan, who had come to Las Vegas in 1943 when he was stationed at the old Air Base (that would become Nellis).  He moved his wife Roberta and two sons, Michael and Jackie, jr to Las Vegas in 1951.  He bought a small 3% of the Boulder Club and 3% of the Flamingo with partner Eddie Barrick.  Jackie had a knack for sports books and handicapping.  In 1961, he and partner Mel Exber bought the Las Vegas Club and in 1963, they bought the El Cortez.  Gaughan hired Wayne McAllister to oversee the design and construction of a new room tower.

Fremont Street back then was the center of town.  The telephone company and Sears were located across the street, JC Penny's was nearby as was Woolworth's and Skaggs.  People came downtown not only to gamble but to shop.  From the beginning the El Cortez was a hit with not only the tourists but locals as well.

Jackie invented the Fun Book, filled with coupons for free drinks, free slot pulls and two for one dinners.  Like Benny Binion, he had a knack for understanding and treating his customers like kings.

Jackie had his ties in downtown real estate from the beginning.  With Kell Houssels, Sam Boyd and others, they opened the Union Plaza.  Throughout the 1970s and 1980s while the neighborhood around the El Cortez changed and the local businesses that catered to local shopping moved out to the suburbs, the El Cortez never waivered. 

Jackie sold the El Cortez to family members a few years ago but he still lives in the hotel and can still be seen walking through the casino.  The last few years, the hotel has undergone renovation and upgrades from a new air ventilation/filteration system to the Cabana Suites with its great mid-century modern flair, across the street.

As part of the 70 year celebration, the Flame Restaurant is offering Oysters Rockefeller and Hearts of Palms every Tuesday through Thursday for the rest of the year.

So go downtown and help the El Cortez celebrate 70 years of history and enjoy a taste of classic Las Vegas.

Just in time for Halloween, the Vegas Vampire will appear tonight, Saturday, Oct. 29th at the Skyline Casino in Henderson.

There will a costume contest, some reminiscing about the his days on Channnel 5 as the weekend late night horror film host and Mr. Parker wants all his fans to know that this a "tribute to them.  For forty years they have been there for me and I salute them."

He'll be signing autographs and encourages fans to bring cameras to take pictures.

I got a chance to spend a few minutes talking to Jim this morning and wanted to share with all of you.

Where did the idea of the Vegas Vampire come from?

"I always liked horror-comedy films and alliteration.  And Vegas Vampire sounds cool.  I had difficulty getting it on the air.  I was working at KORK (the NBC radio and broadcast affiliate for Las Vegas) and was told "you can't do that, you're a news man."  But Al Cohen was about to start managing Channel 5 (KVVU, an independent channel back then) and he offered me the opportunity.

"I had the idea from back when I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin.  I taught other kids acting on my back porch.  I was always into horror.  I love the old classic horror movies.  And Tarzan.  I would go to the movies on Saturday afternoons to see Tarzan."

"When I was doing the Vegas Vampire show, who was at Caesars Palace, Tarzan! (Johnny Weismuller, the actor who played Tarzan in a number of MGM movies was the official greeter at Caesars in the late 1960s.)  We became good friends and he would always hurry home to watch the show."

What are some of your memories of the show?

"When we first went on the air, it was all done live.  Entertainers would want to be on the show and we would tell them "drive out the Boulder Highway until your car smells like it's on fire, we're on the left." 

"Sammy loved the show but he was always so busy so he arranged for us to come to him for a remote shoot.  Mel Torme was another.  He had to do the show because he loved horror comedy.  Frank Sinatra, Jr. and Lee Greenwood were big fans."

"When it was live we never knew who would show up.  Strange people would show up in costume at the door to be part of the audience.  You never knew who was going to call in.  It was so much fun.  I miss that spirit of fun.

"Using a little political satire and pie-in-the-face slapstick comedy we had a large audience that ranged from kids to senior citizens.  We got temporarily cancelled because we insulted then President, Richard Nixon.  We did over  a 1,000 shows from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s..  We were on Channel 5 and then on Channel 13."

What do you miss of those days and Las Vegas?

"I miss the fun.  When they blew up the Sands, that should have been a museum."

He hopes to bring the Vegas Vampire character back to life.  He would like to do a documentary on comedy in Las Vegas during the classic days as well.  In the meantime, you can catch up with Jim tonight.