For information on our upcoming Mid-Century Modern Salute to Walter Zick, click here.

The patriach of the Fertitta family has passed away.

From our pal, Mary Manning, at the Las Vegas Sun:

Frank Fertitta Jr., the patriarch of Station Casinos, died today after heart surgery in a California hospital.

Fertitta, 70, who had been ill for some time, died at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, sources close to the family said.

Fertitta came to Las Vegas from Texas at 21 years old. He started working as a bellman, then a blackjack dealer and worked his way into management.

He believed that Las Vegas needed a casino where locals could visit and where casino workers could come after work.

The Station Casinos empire started in 1976 when Fertitta opened The Casino off the Las Vegas Strip. The name was changed to Bingo Palace and ultimately was renamed Palace Station in 1983.

In the 1990s, Station opened Boulder Station in 1994, then Texas Station in 1995, Barley's in 1996 and Sunset Station in 1997.

Station purchased the King 8 in 1998, renaming it The Wild, Wild West.

Then Station acquired the Santa Fe and Fiesta, which opened in 1995, as well as the Reserve in 1998 in the southeast valley.

Station Casino has grown to 19 properties and has been voted among "the best companies to work for," in Fortune magazine.

His sons, Frank III and Lorenzo, took over the company in 1993.

The Fertitta family has been known for its philanthropy in the Las Vegas community for decades.

From the R-J:

Station Casinos founder Frank Fertitta Jr. died this morning in Los Angeles, sources confirmed.

Fertitta, 71, one of the gaming industry’s pioneers who came to Las Vegas in 1960, founded the company’s original Bingo Palace that was transformed into the Palace Station. He also bought the Boulder Highway land that would eventually accommodate Boulder Station.

Fertitta left the company in 1993 when Station Casinos had its initial public offering, turning the business over to his sons.

After leaving the company, Fertitta privately financed the building of the Texas Station on Rancho Road in 1994, but sold the property at cost to Station Casinos before its opening in 1995.

For information on our upcoming Mid-Century Modern Salute to Walter Zick, click here.

The Wilbur Clark/Alarmco Building near the Stratosphere

Bank of Nevada

Parkway Plaza (now Amall) at Sahara and Maryland Parkway

Vegas Village across from Parkway Plaza with the beginnings of Commercial Center behind it.

The carousel is out front.

Special thanks to Dennis McBride and the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas for letting us use these images from the Jay Florian Mitchell collection.

If all Walter Zick and partner Harris Sharpe ever designed was the Mint Hotel and it's beautiful neon sign that would be enough.

But Walter Zick designed much more than just the most beloved, lost neon sign of Las Vegas.  He designed a variety of commercial buildings, mainly banks, schools and residential homes.

A lot of his architecture is still standing which is really amazing considering the reputation Las Vegas has with preserving history.

As noted here earlier this year, we became much more aware of Walter Zick's architectural contribution to the Las Vegas Valley when we got a disc from Jack LeVine over at VeryVintageVegas that had been put together by Zick's daughters in hopes of having a school in the Valley named after their father.

While the School District turned down the daughters, we came up with an idea and working with the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas and Nevada Humanities, we received a grant to do a program centered around Walter Zick and his mid-century architecture.

On October 3rd we will have a panel discussion at the State Museum on the work of Walter Zick.  Confirmed panelists include our favorite mid-century author and historian, Alan Hess, Assemblage Studios' architect, Eric Strain, Karen Zick Goff and her sister, Claire and neon designer, Brian "Buzz" Leming.

Following the discussion, there will be an afternoon bus tour of some of Zick's still-standing architecture.  The final stop on the tour will be the Morelli House.  Though Zick did not design the Morelli House, it's mid-century architecture makes it a perfect place to have a small reception before returning to the State Museum.

We are currently working out the bus route, which we hope will include a few stops so that we can see the interiors of some of the buildings.  Once we have all the details worked out, we will post them here.

Seating for the bus tour is limited and reservations will be necessary.  Once we have the reservation number working, we will post that as well.

So, subscribe to this blog because you are not going to want to miss this.  If you ever wondered what happened to mid-century modern Las Vegas or how it came to be, this is the program for you.  If, like me, you've always appreciated how modern our Valley truly was, you won't want to miss this program.

It's going to be historic, fact-filled and lots of fun.

So, stay tuned.

This program made possible by Nevada Humanities and the Nevada State Museum and the generous donations of VeryVintageVegas, the Friends of Classic Las Vegas, Brian "Paco" Alvarez and the Junior League of Las Vegas.