Dennis and me at Jack LeVine's Christmas party at Frankie's Tiki Room

I just wanted to send Birthday wishes to my brother in spirit, Dennis McBride.  Dennis was one of the main inspirations behind my getting interested in preserving 20th Century Las Vegas history.  His oral histories with the men who worked on the building of Boulder/Hoover Dam and the women who helped build Boulder City into more than just a Federal reservation were key to inspiring me.  His pioneering work at the Boulder Dam Museum as well as his work in chronicling the history of the Gay and Lesbian movement in the Las Vegas Valley serve as inspirations to us all.

He is currently the Curator of History at the Nevada State Museum and he is a member of the Friends of Classic Las Vegas.

History buffs and preservationists around the valley owe a debt of thanks to Dennis and that is why we are wishing him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Dennis, may all your birthday wishes come true!

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.

I guess it depended upon your view as to whether or not you enjoyed the Firework shows that ushered in the New Year.  Usually for fireworks, you don't have to worry about being in the "right" spot.  But from the complaints we have received, this year was all about securing the right vantage point.

If you weren't as happy as you thought you would be from the sounds of things you weren't alone.  From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

New Year's Eve revelers had varied opinions about the fireworks show on the Strip, and their vantage points tended to sway their viewpoints.

"If you were in the right spot on the Strip, you saw a great show," said Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events. "If you weren't, you saw a somewhat-obstructed show."

Organizers of the $600,000 exhibit tried something new: shooting off fireworks from parking lots and garages instead of resort rooftops.

The decision was made after Clark County adopted new rules requiring a fire safety engineering inspection before pyrotechnics could be launched from a roof. Organizers decided the studies would be too time-consuming and costly.

Christenson said they will spend the next two months evaluating the show before determining whether to devote the time and money necessary to return the display to its old heights.

"We did our best to alert everyone about the show, and we'll just have to see to what extent people did or didn't enjoy it," he said.

Christenson already has heard the complaints from Las Vegas area residents who had no view of the New Year's Eve exhibit.

"Obviously, from the community they were disappointed in that there was no show for them," he said.

Courtney Scherer, 25, falls into that category. She and her fiance recently moved into a new home in the Henderson community of Seven Hills.

"We stayed home purposely because our house has an amazing view of the Strip," Scherer said Friday while standing outside the Fashion Show mall.

They invited another couple to fly out from Connecticut to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks with them.

"We could not see anything," Scherer lamented.

Scherer, who grew up in New York, said "it's always Times Square and Las Vegas" on New Year's Eve, but this celebration did not live up to her expectations.

Friend Tanya Dighello, 25, likened it to "an empty present."

Scherer said she hopes the next show will spring from the Strip resorts' rooftops again.

"I just think when it's this particular city, they should be spending the money on that," she said.

A group of Canadians also expressed disappointment in the New Year's Eve show as they stood outside a Strip gelato stand Friday.

Diane Schendel, 58, and her husband celebrated their sixth New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. This time, they brought along another couple, who experienced the event for the first time.

As the four watched outside the Flamingo Las Vegas, they could see only portions of the fireworks.

"The experience of celebrating New Year's in Las Vegas -- it's supposed to be the best place to go," said friend Diane Cross, 57.

Her husband, Laurin, also 57, said the changes in the show wouldn't stop the couple from returning. "It just diminishes the evening," he said.

Another Canadian, Brenda Rowe, spent her first New Year's Eve in Las Vegas and said it will be her last. But the decision had nothing to do with the fireworks.

Rowe, 47, and her live-in boyfriend, 44-year-old Andrew Hutchison, watched the display from their suite on the 21st floor of Bally's.

"I don't know if you could have gotten a better view than what we had," Hutchison said Friday as he shopped for souvenirs outside the Fashion Show mall.

Rowe said she won't come back because of all the smut that was flashed in front of her as she walked down the Strip.

"I was offended," she said.

Kevin Sproston, 25, and girlfriend Sophie Slater, 28, traveled from England to spend their first New Year's Eve in Las Vegas. They each paid $200 to celebrate at New York-New York's Rok nightclub but exited before midnight to experience the event at street level.

Both said they had a good view of the fireworks, although Slater "thought they could have gone on longer," and both thought higher would have been better.

Sproston said he enjoyed the fact that he witnessed the show for free.

"It's not uncommon to pay for fireworks in England," Slater explained.

Christenson, who watched the show from the Las Vegas Events command center atop the Rio, said the best vantage points were in front of the seven firing stations: Mandalay Bay, Luxor, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, Treasure Island, the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Stratosphere.

"I think I saw a piece of every one of the displays," he said.

Christenson said money for the show came from the hotel tax, and because of that, "The first priority is the experience on the Strip."

He estimated that it would cost about $200,000 to complete the studies necessary to return the show to resort rooftops.

Christenson acknowledged that the lower display "wasn't nearly as dramatic as we've had in the past" for television viewers -- a fact that could hurt the "America's Party" brand.

"On the other hand, I think people give the fireworks too much credit for that," he added.