The Friends of Classic Las Vegas will be having their monthly General meeting on Sunday, January 11th.

We would like to invite everyone to join us to help us put together our presevation plans for 2009. We encourage you to bring a friend as well!

Our guest this Sunday will be Ky Plaskon who has written a book, "Silent Heroes of the Cold War", which is about the plane crash on Mt. Charleston that occurred in the late 1950s and was classified top secret for over forty years.

Sunday, January 11th

2:00 pm

Nevada State Museum

Auditorium

700 Twin Lakes Dr

Lorenzi Park

Refreshments will be served!

We hope to see you there!

He was the King in my family.  Even as a small child, I knew my parents loved Elvis.  My mother not given to swooning, would swoon at the sight of him.

My dad bundled us into the old Ford station wagon and took us to the Stardust Drive-In to see Viva Las Vegas.  He worked downtown at the Golden Gate as a Keno writer and when the cast and crew were shooting the race scenes on Fremont Street, he stepped outside and watched Elvis drive by in his sport car.

Just a few years later, my dad picked my mom up after her shift as a waitress in the showroom at Caesars Palace.  It was still early in the night and they didn't want to go straight home.  Fats Domino was playing in the lounge at the Flamingo.  Right across the street.  Perfect, said mom, let's go.

They hung a U-turn on Flamingo Road (you could in those days) and drove over to the Flamingo hotel.  In no time they were seated at the bar listening to Fats Domino.  The place was pretty lively filled with Fats fans.

Because he was with my mom (quite a striking woman in her hey-day) my dad scoped out the bar.  Near my parents was a guy who had probably been drinking since the early evening.

Everyone in the lounge was enjoying Fats' set except that guy.  He was from the south and didn't appreciate Fats' music, Fats' talent and most of all the color of Fats' skin.

As the set played on, the guy started to get loud and belligerent about the fact that he didn't like Fats Domino.  Most of all he concentrated on the fact that Fats was black.

My dad told him a few times to shut up.   They were big Fats Domino fans from way back and wanted to enjoy the show.   Another guy at the end of the bar also told him to shut up.  The loud mouth continued his bigoted remarks.  My mom and dad had had enough.  So had the man at the end of the bar.  My dad told my mom to order another drink and he'd be back.

He approached the bigot and noticed that the man at the end of the bar did was doing the same.  They grabbed the man and words were exchanged.  I should note that my dad was in great shape.  He was a well-known West Coast Judo champ at the time and took that training seriously.  The other man grabbing the bigot was in good shape too.

Before my mother knew what had happened, the bigot was silenced, security was called and my dad and his new friend re-joined my mother.  My mother almost fainted when she realized who the other man was.  When he said "Hello ma'am" she just about lost it.  Elvis bought the next round.  When Fats Domino finished his set he came over to them and joined them.  They drank together until the early hours of the morning sharing stories.

I have two cocktail napkins from that night with their autographs that I cherish.

In 1969, it was announced that Elvis was coming to the International Hotel in August.  My mother's birthday was in August and he wanted to surprise her.  He worked two jobs and saved all the extra cash he could.

He did good.  We went to see Elvis Presley at  the International Hotel in August that year.  It was the dinner show and my dad tipped the maitre'd so that we could sit in one of those old fashioned plushy booths center stage.

My mother was in heaven.  Somewhere we still the menu from that night.

In 1977, my folks were in vacation in Utah.  They stopped in at a small general store and my mom heard something about Elvis on the radio in the store but not enough to understand.  She went to the pay phone and called me to find out why they were talking about Elvis on the radio.

I had to tell her that Elvis had died.

It was the first building on the campus of Nevada Southern University.  It was designed by famed Las Vegas architects Zick and Sharp.  It was named for a woman who made education her cause, Maude Frazier.  She is beloved by the many people who knew her, were influenced by her education first cause and who had better lives for coming under her tutelage.

For the last year and a half, preservationists have been trying to save Maude Frazier Hall from the wrecking ball.  The majority of colleges around the country usually save the first building that was built on their campus.  Many see it as a timeline and a yard stick for how far a college has come from its humble beginnings.  Whether small or large, well-known or not, colleges usually take pride in preserving and utilizing their first campus building.

Well, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (formerly Nevada Southern University) is not in that league.  They are in a league of their own.  Word has just come from FCLV member Dennis McBride that UNLV is in the process of tearing down Frazier Hall.  Dennis says that the majority of students and employees on campus had no idea the demolition was taking place today.

FCLV member Mary Martinez, Anthropology instructor Heidi Swank, the Atomic Age Alliance, Thalia Dondero, Jack LeVine, Donna Andress and the alumni of Las Vegas High are all to be commended for their efforts in trying to save this important building.

I 'd be willing to bet there is no joy in Las Vegas preservation circles this afternoon.

Maude Frazier Hall

1957 to 2009

R.I.P.

Special thanks to UNLV Special Collections and Joel Rosales at Leavinglv.net for letting us use this images.