The wonderful little El Morocco on the Las Vegas Strip was torn down this afternoon.  Located next to the La Concha and the Peppermill Restaurant, the El Morocco opened in 1964.  It was originally a Motel.  The Bank of Las Vegas had a branch in the main building and the lobby was located there as well.  The architecture with its scalloped windows fit right in with the nearby La Concha.  It was briefly called Ash Resnick's El Morocco.  Jack Dennison opened his very popular eatery, Jack Dennison's Copper Cart restaurantt that was known for its steaks and prime rib dinners.  The Copper Cart later became the Carving Cart after Dennison had moved on.

A casino replaced the Bank of Las Vegas in the 1970s.   In addition to the casino there was a coffee shop, cocktail lounge and a full service beauty salon   

The motel stayed in operation through the 1990s.  The casino portion of the main building became a gift shop in 1983. The motel lobby  became the popular Gingseng Korean B-B-Que Restaurant in the 1990s.

By 2000, that restaurant had closed and the entire building became a souvenir store and internet cafe. Part of the motel wing was demolished in October, 2006.

The rest of the motel wing and the main building were slated for demolition and that process began on Friday.

The loss of the El Morocco is sad.  The Strip continues to be overtaken by large faux Tuscan and Mediterranean architecture that is devoid of character.  The El Morocco was a hold-over from the days when the Las Vegas Strip celebrated roadside architecture and signage.   It would have been a wonderful addition to the Neon Museum and joined the La Concha there.  But, sadly, it was not to be.

The Peppermill which also was near the El Morocco is threatened as well.  Though it is a popular eatery, the truth is that the land that Peppermill sits on is very valuable and that could doom the famed eatery and Fireside Lounge to the wrecking ball.

We will keep you posted! 

The El Morocco at night.

 
Pieces of history

Jack Dennison's Copper Cart and the El Morroco 

Special Thanks to RoadsidePictures for letting us use these images. 

Save the Huntridge's Josh Geidel 

We had over 50 people at the first meeting of Save the Huntridge Theater.  Michael Cornwaithe was kind enough to open the Downtown Cocktail Room early  so that we could accomodate the crowd.  There was pizza from Uncle Joe's around the corner on Fremont Street.  We were thrilled to see so many supporters there including Jack LeVine and the VeryVintageVegas crew.

Eli Mizrachi, the owner of the Huntridge property, was also there.  He had given a tour to Paco Alvarez and Josh Geidel earlier in the afternoon.  The interior, as reported earlier, has been completely gutted.  The projection equipment, the screen and all the fixtures, including the chandeleir are missing.  

Mr. Mizrachi told us that all of that had been done prior to him buying the property.  He also told us that it was the previous owner that had received the monies for restoration.  Some of that money was used to replace the roof.

I gave a brief history of the building and the property and Josh and Paco talked of where we go from here.  Mr. Mizrachi said that he loves the building and does not want to tear it down but he needs for a viable business(es) in that space that will be successful.  The theater can accomodate a crowd of 800. He also owns the other two buildings on the property, the former Huntridge Station Post Office and the former bank building where Mizrachi had his Cima Furniture.

The website, savethehuntridge.com, is under construction and we hope to have it up and running by the end of the month.

We are also looking for pictures of the Huntridge Theater in its heyday so if you have any please contact me and let's talk.

Josh and Eli are on K-NPR's State of Nevada with David Berns tomorrow morning so you can call in and ask questions.

Thanks to all who came out and stay tuned for further developments! 

Owner Eli Mizrachi and a Huntridge Supporter

Special Thanks to Allen Sandquist for letting us use these images.