Entries from September 21, 2008 - September 27, 2008
Huntridge Theater goes to Planning Commission
A friendly reminder from Jack LeVine over at VeryVintageVegas that the Huntridge Theater Redevelopment goes before the Planning Commission this evening. If you love this theater and are in favor of the re-adaptive use plans please attend and voice your support:
We’re hoping for a big turnout of supporters for the adaptive re-use plan that will be presented to the City of Las Vegas Planning Commission Tomorrow Evening.
The meeting will be at 6pm in the City Council Chambers at 400 E. Stewart.
The Save The Huntridge committee is endorsing the plan. We certainly recognize that there are those of you who hoped that the building could remain a theater, but it’s just not possible.
We’ve gladly compromised to allow that at least the building, and the name marquee and the tower will be saved. Under the current economic conditions, and the enormous competition that exists in Las Vegas with the abundance of casino owned venues, it just isn’t possible to keep it as a theater.
The plan should foster a new life for the corner of Charleston and Maryland Parkway. Most everyone I have spoken with is excited about this renovation and we have an opportunity to go before the City in support of this project. If you can attend, we’d be happy to see you there.
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Historical, Huntridge Theater
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Fabulous Las Vegas Sign soon to be 50!
From our friend Kristen Petersen at the Las Vegas Sun:
Tourists from all over the world pose for photos under the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.
The iconic image of mid-20th century Las Vegas, designed to greet visitors driving into town from California, has been reproduced on, well, nearly everything.
It turns 50 next year.
To show that it has become far more than a clever marketing tool, Clark County officials are working to have the sign listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The mostly honorary title would link it to other listed relics and sites in Clark County, including Hoover Dam, the Huntridge Theatre, the Spanish Trail and the Las Vegas Mormon Fort.
The listing wouldn’t protect the sign, which is owned by Young Electric Sign Co., but it would bring attention to one of the city’s greatest cultural heritages: neon.
“It’s a good way to make people aware of historic resources in this town, especially signs, which are so few and so precious,” says Dorothy Wright, program administrator for the county’s parks and recreation department, who is heading the project.
In some cases, she says, they are the only physical evidence of our past.
Wright says paperwork for the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, designed in 1959 by Betty Willis, will be submitted next month to the State Historic Preservation Office.
Staff members at that office will look over the submission, then send it to the National Park Service, which oversees the program that recognizes sites, structures and other elements of historical, architectural, archaeological or cultural significance.
“It certainly has national, if not international significance,” Wright says of the sign.
Owners of structures listed as national historic sites are not required to preserve them. Green Shack — the area’s oldest restaurant when it closed in 1999 — was listed when it was demolished. Moulin Rouge, also listed, was never restored and preserved.
Young Electric Sign, however, ardently maintains the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, and the county is building a small parking lot on the median to allow for safer photo shoots.
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Historical, Neon, Roadside Architecture
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