My KNPR Interview with John L Smith
I'm going to be on K-NPR tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 10:00 am with John L. Smith as part of the "State of Nevada" series.
I'll be talking about Las Vegas history with John L. as well as the inspiration behind my work (special shout-out to my hubby, Jon), growing up in Las Vegas as well as "Untold Stories" at the Springs Preserve, our upcoming "Beyond the Mint: The Mid-Century Modern Architecture of Walter Zick" program and finally, the book, "Las Vegas: 1905- 1965" so tune in as John L Smith and talk about things near and dear to our hearts!
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Fremont Street, Las Vegas History, Las Vegas Strip, Memories, Mid-Century Modern, Neon, Preservation Issues, Roadside Architecture, Untold Stories
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Untold Stories - Celebrating Three Years of History!
Next Thursday evening our discussion on "Mining in Southern Nevada" will also be our third anniversary of "Untold Stories" at the Springs Preserve.
Each month, we focus on a different topic about Las Vegas in the 20th Century and I put together a panel of long-time residents and historians to can bring insight and memories about the subject.
When I first began this venture with the Springs Preserve, I was doing similar programming regularly at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas and the Clark County Museum in Henderson.
Now due to budget cuts and dwindling budgets it is harder to do that type of programming at the museums. But to its credit, the Springs Preserve has not waivered in its support of "Untold Stories".
Marcel Parent and the educational staff at the Springs understand how important this series is. No where else in Southern Nevada can you go each month to hear old-timers talk about the history they witnessed and the history they made.
Over the last three years we have covered a wide range of popular topics like the history of Fremont Street and the Early Strip as well as "The MGM Grand Fire", "Above Ground Atomic Testing", "The Mob and Las Vegas", "World War II and Las Vegas" "Growing up in Early Las Vegas".
We have a dedicated group of participants that come out each month to hear the speakers and participate in the discussion. Some are residents that have lived here for many, many years and some are relative newcomers interested in learning more about the new place they call home.
Regardless of how long you have lived in Las Vegas, we invite you to join us the first Thursday of each month (dark in January) to explore both the well-known history of our town as well as the lesser-known. Our speakers love to share their stories and their memories.
Major thanks to the Springs Preserve and Nevada Humanities for providing the funding that keeps this living history series going.
I am thrilled to be celebrating our third anniversary together and look forward to more wonderful years of bringing history alive with "Untold Stories".
This Thursday we are focusing on "Mining in Southern Nevada". Long before the casinos, miners came to the Las Vegas Valley seeking their fame and fortune. From El Dorado Canyon to Goodsprings to Mt. Potosi, some struck it rich and others eeked out a meager existence.
Join us along with:
Tony Werly, current owner and historian of the famed Techatticup Mine in El Dorado Canyon. Tony offers daily tours of the mine and has a small museum that includes pictures of steamships on the Colorado River.
Don Blake, local historian with a focus on the mining in Goodsprings.
Dr. Elizabeth Warren, local historian with a focus on mining in the Valley.
In the months ahead we will be focusing on:
October 1st : The History of the Moulin Rouge
November 5th: Howard Hughes and Las Vegas
Decemeber 3rd: The Las Vegas You Don't Know
So, make a habit of joining us the first Thursday of every month and support this wonderful series.
Thursday, Sept. 3rd
Las Vegas Springs Preserve
Desert Learning Center
6:30 pm
Admission $12
Techatticup Mine
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Las Vegas History, Untold Stories
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UNLV's First Building-Frazier Hall- designed by Walter Zick!
For more information on our tribute to Walter Zick on October 3rd, click here.
University of Nevada Professor James R. Dickinson arrived from Reno in September 1951 to start extension classes at Las Vegas High School.
Meeting for the first time in Las Vegas in 1954, University Regents expressed support for a Southern Nevada campus while warning that most of the funding was needed in the north.
Clark County School Superintendent R. Guild Gray took up the challenge. Assisted by Assemblywoman Maude Frazier, who was a former school superintendent, the Porchlight Campaign began.
High school and college students going door to door raised more than $135,000, enough to construct the first building. Eighty acres of desert was donated on remote Maryland Parkway in unincorporated Clark County.
The Legislature, impressed with the local fundraising and the donated land, provided $200,000. When the first building was completed in 1957, it was named Maude Frazier Hall.
In 1969, Nevada Southern University became the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, putting it on equal footing with the northern campus. Ten years later, UNLV's enrollment surpassed Reno's.
UNLV now has more than 100 buildings and 1,000 faculty members teaching 28,000 students, as well as more than 220 accredited undergraduate, masters and doctoral degree programs. This historical photo is one in a continuing series commemorating the 100th anniversary of Clark County.
Photo Courtesy of Nevada State Museum
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Las Vegas History
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Las Vegas Summer of Love Labor Day Concerts
As the summer is winding down in other parts of the country (but not in Las Vegas where a heat advisory is in effect and temps are supposed to reach 110), Labor Day weekend looms on the horizon. The Fremont Street Experience is hosting it's End of Summer- What a Bummer bash.
If you are going to be in town for the holiday weekend, here's the schedule:
"Labor Day Weekend: End of Summer, What a Bummer Bash" will close the summer concert series the weekend of Friday, September 4 through Monday, September 7. Highlighting the weekend will be concerts by Canned Heat on Saturday, Sept. 5, and Three Dog Night on Sunday, Sept. 6.
All 10 Fremont Street Experience properties (Binion´s Gambling Hall and Hotel, The California, Fitz Casino and Hotel, Four Queens Hotel & Casino, Fremont Hotel & Casino, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, Golden Nugget, Main Street Station Casino, Brewery & Hotel, Plaza Hotel & Casino and Vegas Club Hotel & Casino) will take part in the "Summer of ´69: Vegas or Bust" with specially themed promotions and outdoor food and drink specials. Retail shops and kiosks will also feature custom "Summer of ‘69" merchandise.
All events are free and open to the public.
LasVegasLynn
in Cultural Tourism, Current Day, Fremont Street
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Mayor Goodman calls Chicago reporter "a moron"
For information on our upcoming Tribute to Walter Zick and Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas and bus tour click here.
Believing that any publicity is good publicity, Mayor Oscar Goodman lambasted a Chicago reporter earlier today and called him a "moron".
Why? Over the Mob Museum, what else. Yes, he really is the Mayor. And yes, he can go 0 to Over the Top in less than 60 seconds.
According to the R-J:
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman lambasted a Chicago television reporter as a "moron" today for casting aspersions on the city's planned Mob Museum and an artifact held up as a main attraction — part of the bullet-ridden wall from the St. Valentine's Day massacre. The report on WLS-TV claimed that Las Vegas was overstating how much of the wall it had, and — because of a miscommunication between the city's public relations staff and the reporter — mixed up a photograph of the wall section the city is getting and a fake wall that Goodman and former Nevada Sen. Richard Bryan pretended to knock down at an event marking the beginning of the museum's interior remodeling and construction. "We never said we're buying it all!" Goodman shouted at his Thursday morning press conference. "That's what's wrong with members of the media who aren't honest. They put out a very untrue message. "First of all, he called Sen. Bryan the senator from Arizona, this moron. And then he said ... what we busted into was not the St. Valentine's Day wall. We never pretended that it was." Actually, the story said Bryan is the former governor of Arizona. He is not. He was once the governor of Nevada. A nonprofit group that's administering the museum project paid about $300,000 for the section of the wall from a Chicago warehouse that was the scene of a brutal gang murder on Feb. 14, 1929. Coverage of the murders cemented the event as a symbol of the violence of organized crime of that era. The collection once belonged to Canadian business George Patey, who originally had about 400 bricks but sold many off to collectors over the years. The museum has 331 of those bricks, said city spokesman David Riggleman. Any story about the Mob Museum, formally known as the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, generates widespread interest, and this one is no different, Goodman crowed. "Morons get punished," he said. "And this guy's getting punished now. You know why? Because the phone is ringing off the hook now by people who heard the moron's story, or read the moron's story, who want to give us things for the Mob Museum." I feel bad for the bad for the poor reporter. But maybe next time, he'll learn to fact check his story and I bet he never makes the mistake again of mis-identifying Arizona and Nevada.
