Kristen Peterson of the Las Vegas Sun had a great article about the lack of Cultural Tourism in Las Vegas.  According to one poll, Las Vegas ranks almost last in yet another field.  It's not bad enough that we rank at the bottom of the list for education, health services and more.  It seems we aspire to be the worst at everything.  Which is unfathomable to me why the people who live here don't rise up and scream bloody murder. 

The City and County officials have done a wonderful job of marketing Las Vegas as the Gaming Capital, the Entertainment Capital of the World and the city where what happens stays here.  They seem to think no one comes to Las Vegas to do anything but gamble, drink and do whatever naughty things you don't feel like you can do at home. 

Which would all be fine if that was all people really came to Las Vegas for.  But, with a population of almost 2 million people there are many reasons for coming to visit Las Vegas that don't include maxxing out your credit card, getting roaring drunk or waking up wondering what you did last night.

People come to visit relatives here, they accompany their spouses on conventions, they come to visit friends who were crazy enough to move here or have lived here all these lives.  They come to visit the Lake Mead Recreation Area, the Dam, Red Rock Canyon and the Valley of Fire.

But because no one markets it, they don't come here to visit our museums, do our walking or driving tours or to visit our cultural sites because the majority of them have no idea that these options exist.

Las Vegas is a city guaranteed to break your heart if you love history.  The town that seems to shed its skin and become something new every few years has the reputation (very deserved) of not preserving its past.  Despite some heroic efforts by preservationists, the City, County and the majority of officials (and perhaps residents) don't understand the basics of cultural tourism.

What do you do when you visit another city?  If you are anything like my husband, Jon and me, you spend time exploring that city's history.  We are not world travelers but every place we have gone from Hawaii to New York City to Nevada City and beyond, we have spent time exploring museums, the walking tours and visiting the historical sites.

You can do that here in Las Vegas but you have to almost have an inside track to be able to find them here because no one makes it easy. 

Add to that, the fact that we keep destroying our historical neighborhoods in the name of progress.  These are the neighborhoods where our pioneer families lived.  They may not have lived in Victorian mansions but that doesn't make their homes any less important or less valuable. 

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, the World Furniture Market, Union Park, the Post Office Museum and Fremont East are all going to change the face of Downtown forever.  City officials want the old Post Office to become a Mob Museum.  They want it to be a world class museum in the manner of the Spy Museum in Washington DC. 

I'm willing to bet that the majority of people coming to visit Downtown in the years ahead will be include a different kind of tourist than Las Vegas is used to.  They will be coming to visit family and friends at the Ruvo Brain Institute, family and friends living in the Condos not only in Union Park but in the surrounding area, they will be interested not so much in gambling and drinking as they will be in exploring one of the very places that is a link to our past:  Downtown and the surrounding area.

And what will they find?  Well, it doesn't look too good these days that will be finding many links to our past or our pioneering families because the City seems hell bent on letting developers and businesses destroy the homes our pioneers built and lived in.

If the people of Las Vegas (both those who live in the City portion and the County portion) don't take their past seriously, then why should their officials.  And why should anyone outside of Las Vegas care about our history if we don't.

As long as we stand idly by and do or say nothing, this destruction will continue.  Everyone complains, "I have no place to take my friends when they come to visit because they don't gamble".

Well, yes, you do have some place to take them.  You just have to realize the culture that this city has to offer is much more than magician's and impressionists playing the Strip.  You have to be willing to do some homework to find it.

The problem is, you shouldn't have to do that homework.

A city that wants to be taken seriously by the nation and the world promotes itself through cultural tourism.  That way both residents and visitors know that from the top down, cultural tourism is important.

Until that happens, Las Vegas may think it is a world class city, but it is only kidding itself. 

When I was a kid growing up in Las Vegas, the area around the original Las Vegas High School was rife with houses built in the teens, the '20s and the '30s.  These were some of the oldest homes in the Valley.  Across Charleston Blvd, where the Walgreens sits today, on the corner that intersects with Las Vegas Blvd. South, were some beautiful Tudor homes that were built by some of the pioneering families that had found and made their fortunes here.  They were all beautiful homes.

In the early 1970s, the Tudor homes on that sat on that corner were all torn down in the name of progress.  There was some outcry but not enough to save those homes.  For years that corner was a parking lot among other things.  The Nevada State Bar bought the old Cyril Wengert home and saved it.  It is still standing today.  UNLV moved the Kell Houssels home to their campus in an effort to save it.

The forces of progress moved towards the original Las Vegas High neighborhood.  Lawyers, hoping to save the homes, bought the homes in an effort to save them.  They were appplauded for their efforts.  The High School outgrew its 1930s building and moved to a newer facility.  Instead of tearing down the old High School, it became the Performing Arts Academy.

The Morelli House was saved from the destruction of the Desert Inn Country Club and moved across the street at 8th and Bridger.  A historical tour of the neighborhood was created by Dorothy and Frank Wright that highlighted many of the different architecture styles of the homes.  It was printed and distributed by the City of Las Vegas.  A book called Wildcat Country that included more homes and history than the walking tour brochure was published.

But that was twenty five years ago and much has changed in attitudes since then it seems.

A drive around the Downtown area will reveal just how little we care about our history.  On the street where the oldest house in Las Vegas once stood, there is an empty lot.  That little house was built in 1915.  Now before you start sharpening your pencils and telling me that the house is not old, I would remind you that Las Vegas was founded in 1905.  So, this house qualified as old.  Especially since we have torn down all the houses built between 1905 and 1915.  On the corner of 1st and Garces where the brick building that housed the first Harley Davidson company in the 1930s stood until just a few weeks ago, now there is a dirt lot.

The homes around the original High School, which are on the National Registry of Landmarked Places, the houses are being destroyed by a new wave of attorneys and business owners who feel that nothing says Confidence in your Lawyer like a McMansion Office.   I don't know how to break it to them but that doesn't say Confidence to me.  I would prefer a lawyer like Richard Segerblom or Amy Chelini who have their offices in old homes and don't feel the need to upgrade.

But that's just me.  I'm a history buff and I love Las Vegas history.  I'm just sad that there will be less and less of it to share with others as the years go on.

                                                              This house was built in 1915

                                                                That house as of 10/20/07

 

 Harley Davidson Building circa 1930s

 Same place as of 10/20/07

This is a great example of the size and architecture of the homes in this historic neighborhood.

The Law Office of Tomorrow 

This is an example of the size and type of business that is replacing our historic homes.

You have a voice!  Tired of seeing the continued destruction of our past?  Join the Friends of Classic Las Vegas today and help save our history! 

Thanks to RoadsidePictures for allowing us to use his photos! 

It was announced earlier this evening that singer/actor Robert Goulet passed away earlier today at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.  Goulet was there awaiting a lung transplant.  He had recently been diagonised with pulmonary fibrosis.

He made his debut in the legendary Lerner and Loewe Broadway musical "Camelot" along side Richard Burton and Julie Andrews.  His rendition of "If Ever Would I Leave You" caused not only many a teenage girl and their mothers to wear out the Original Cast recording but likely some young men as well.

His many credits include: Sunshine Town, Thunder Rock, The Optimist, Dreamgirl, Carousel, Finian’s Rainbow, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Pajama Game, Beggars Opera, Bells Are Ringing, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Happy Time, I Do, I Do, On A Clear Day, Kiss Me Kate, The Fantasticks, South Pacific, Camelot (as King Arthur), Moon Over Buffalo, and  Man Of La Mancha, La Cage aux Folles”

He recorded over 60 albums during his career.

He was born in Lawrence, Mass, the only son of French Canadian parents.  He began singing early in his life.  By the age of 5 he was singing for family members and doing imitations of Al Jolson.  He suffered from stage fright for many years until, the story goes, he received his father's blessing to pursue a singing career.

He was introduced to Alan Jay Lerner and  Frederick Loewe in 1959 as they were casting for their musical play "Camelot" based on the Arthurian legend of King Arthur, Queen Guenevere and Lancelot.  Richard Burton and Julie Andrews were already cast.  Lerner and Loewe thought Goulet, with that wonderful rich baritone voice,  would make a perfect Lancelot.

The play opened in Toronto in 1960, ran for four weeks in Boston and took Broadway by storm.

He married Carol Lawrence, another Broadway phenom of the era and they had two children, Christopher and Michael.

He began playing the Las Vegas Strip in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s was a major showroom draw.

In 1982, long divorced from Carol Lawrence, he married Vera Novack in Las Vegas.  They made Las Vegas their primary home living in a home near Sunset Park that Goulet had purchased in 1974.

He was hospitalized a month ago and doctor's discovered he had a rare case of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.   He was transferred to Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he was awaiting a lung transplant.