From Dr. Lonnie:

The END of an ERA

The Liberace Museum is closed and the

 “The Hammargren Home of Nevada History”

WILL NOT

Hold its annual Nevada Day Open House

It is with deep regret that I must cancel my annual Nevada Day event that was planned to be held this year on Sunday, Halloween, October 31^st, 2010.

Although it was a sincere and honorable invite, this cancellation is due to the recent rain & wind, illness in my family and a very complicated legal situation wherein I have been successfully acquitted of inappropriate CRIMINAL charges in the construction and use of my house, which is now currently up to code. Hopefully in the future we will be able to entertain and share my extensive collection of old Nevada memorabilia collected over the past 39 years.

I am proud to be a Nevadan and to be able to experience the changes of this great city and State and to keep the memories alive! We have had fun along the way, whether it is a Halloween spook house, Nevada Days, live nativity scenes at Christmas, political fundraisers, fundraisers for many charitable organizations or Easter egg hunts, I have done it all with the sincere intention of bringing camaraderie and friendship to the general public.

It has been a pleasure entertaining all of you; unfortunately a few of my neighbors do not enjoy life to its fullest and insist that I curtail the enjoyment of my home by Clark County citizens. With all due respect to them; this was a major factor in postponing the Last Nevada Day open house at the “Hammargren Home of Nevada History”. I invite you to visit our website www.nevadadays.org and take your own virtual tour and view videos of past events held at my home.

Over the years, it has been a pleasure serving you all on the Nevada State Board of Education, University Board of Regents, Honorary Consulate to Belize, a renowned neurosurgeon for 35 years and as your Lieutenant Governor to the wonderful State of Nevada. May you all be blessed and be proud to be a part of our great State.

Thank you all,

Lonnie Hammargren, MD

Thank you to everyone who helped make the official second annual Mid-Century Modern weekend such a success!

Recaps to follow!

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas and the Architectural and Decorative Arts Society present:

Mid-Mod Marvels:  A Celebration of Mid-Century Modern Architecture and Design

The Events:

Living the Mid-Mod Lifestyle Party:

The fun begins on Friday evening, Oct. 22nd with a reception at the famed Morelli House.  The Junior League of Las Vegas has graciously agreed to open their doors for a cocktail party to kick off our weekend of Mid-Century Modern madness.

Alan Hess will be there to say a few words about not only the era of Mid-Century Modern but also provide a bit of history about the Morelli House.

The reception starts at 5:30 pm and goes until 7:30 pm.  Tickets are $25.

Mid-Century Modern History and Las Vegas

We kick-off Saturday afternoon, Oct. 23rd at the National Golf Course's (originally the Stardust Golf Course) Clubhouse with two panels on the era and Las Vegas.

The first one:  Mid-Century Modern Architecture, Design and Las Vegas  begins at 1:00 pm:

Panelists include Alan Hess,  architects George Tate, William Krisel and Dr. Robert Tracy talking about the influence of architects such as Welton Beckett, Wayne McAllister and Paul Revere Williams on local architects such as Walter Zick, Harris Sharp, Hugh Taylor and the influence of Mid-Century design on Las Vegas. 

The second one: The Las Vegas Bureau in the Mid-Mod Era begins at 3:00 pm:

The Las Vegas News Bureau helped put Las Vegas on the map in the Mid-Century Modern era.  The photographers captured not only the stars of the era but also the buildings and hotels of the era, most of which are gone or altered way beyond their original design.  Panelists will include:  former News Bureau manager, Don Payne.

In the evening of Oct. 23rd, we will present the Las Vegas premiere of the documentary, "William Krisel, Architect" at 6:30 pm.

The documentary, produced by Design OnScreen and directed by Jake Gorst, looks at the life and the influence of William Krisel.  Known mainly for his Mid-Century Modern architecture in California, Mr. Krisel's influence on the residential architecture of Las Vegas can be seen in the Paradise Palms neighborhood.  Working with developer Irwin Molasky, Mr. Krisel designed the homes in that subdivison.

Following the screening, the will be a Q&A session with Alan Hess about Mr. Krisel's career.

Tickets for Saturday's events are $20.00

Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas Bus Tour:

On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 24th, we will offer a double-decker bus tour highlighting the Mid-Century Modern neighborhoods of Las Vegas.  This will be a different tour route than the one we did last year with new open houses at two Mid-Century modern homes.  Neighborhoods we will glide through include Marycrest, Paradise Palms and the Scotch Eighties.

The tour leaves from the Reed Whipple Cultural Center at noon, include a stop at the Morelli House and will last three hours.  The bus will return to Reed Whipple at the end of the tour.

Please be aware, like last year, seating for the tour is limited.

Tickets are $20.

Now, if you want to save a few dollars, you can buy a three-day pass for $50.  Passes and individual tickets will be available on the ADAS website.  As soon as they have the page up, we will post a link here.

So, start planning your wardrobe and your itinerary, because this is going to be one great weekend you won't want to miss!

Support for this great weekend provided by:

City of Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission

Sponsors for this great weekend are:

The El Cortez

The Junior League of Las Vegas

Metro Arts Council

Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas

Retro Vegas

Terry Wilsey

VeryVintageVegas



Don't forget to buy your tickets for the Mid-Mod Marvels weekend:   www.adas-lv.com

We are pleased to announce that our good friends at Mondo Lounge are bringing the "Swingin' Sixties" back to live at the Palms Hotel the same weekend as our Mid-Mod Marvels.

From the Mondo Lounge website:

"Everything you love in ONE Place and Time: Sophisticated, classy, fun, high-brow, vintage vendors and top notch talent circa 1957-1963. Think of Playboy's Penthouse or or a Blake Edwards movie ala The Party or an awesome party scene from Mad Men."

Please be aware that the Mondo Lounge events are a separate admission price from our Mid-Mod Marvels events and tickets for the Mondo Lounge events are available here: 

 http://www.mondolounge.com/tickets.php

It should be quite the Mid-Century Modern weekend for lovers of history, architecture, good time, parties and more.

It is all coming up and begins Friday, Oct. 22nd.

You won't want to miss it!

And, as always, we hope to see you there!

TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE!!!!!!!!

http://www.adas-lv.com/

Thank you for being so patient!  We've got the preliminary details (with more to follow) but we figured it was best to get rolling on this so that our readers could start making plans!

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas and the Architectural and Decorative Arts Society present:

Mid-Mod Marvels:  A Celebration of Mid-Century Modern Architecture and Design

The Events:

Living the Mid-Mod Lifestyle Party:

The fun begins on Friday evening, Oct. 22nd with a reception at the famed Morelli House.  The Junior League of Las Vegas has graciously agreed to open their doors for a cocktail party to kick off our weekend of Mid-Century Modern madness.

Alan Hess will be there to say a few words about not only the era of Mid-Century Modern but also provide a bit of history about the Morelli House.

The reception starts at 5:30 pm and goes until 7:30 pm.  Tickets are $25.

Mid-Century Modern History and Las Vegas

We kick-off Saturday afternoon, Oct. 23rd at the National Golf Course's (originally the Stardust Golf Course) Clubhouse with two panels on the era and Las Vegas.

The first one:  Mid-Century Modern Architecture, Design and Las Vegas  begins at 1:00 pm:

Panelists include Alan Hess, architect William Krisel, Chris Nichols and Dr. Robert Tracy talking about the influence of architects such as Welton Beckett, Wayne McAllister and Paul Revere Williams on local architects such as Walter Zick, Harris Sharp, Hugh Taylor and the influence of Mid-Century design on Las Vegas.

The second one:  A Look Back at the Las Vegas News Bureau begins at 3:00 pm:

The Las Vegas News Bureau helped put Las Vegas on the map in the Mid-Century Modern era.  The photographers captured not only the stars of the era but also the buildings and hotels of the era, most of which are gone or altered way beyond their original design.  Panelists will include:  former News Bureau manager, Don Payne.

In the evening of Oct. 23rd, we will present the Las Vegas premiere of the documentary, "William Krisel, Architect" at 6:30 pm.

The documentary, produced by Design OnScreen and directed by Jake Gorst, looks at the life and the influence of William Krisel.  Known mainly for his Mid-Century Modern architecture in California, Mr. Krisel's influence on the residential architecture of Las Vegas can be seen in the Paradise Palms neighborhood.  Working with developer Irwin Molasky, Mr. Krisel designed the homes in that subdivison.

Following the screening, the will be a Q&A session with Alan Hess and William Krisel.

Tickets for Saturday's events are $20.00

Mid-Century Modern Las Vegas Bus Tour:

On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 24th, we will offer a double-decker bus tour highlighting the Mid-Century Modern neighborhoods of Las Vegas.  This will be a different tour route than the one we did last year with new open houses at two Mid-Century modern homes.  Neighborhoods we will glide through include Marycrest, Paradise Palms and the Scotch Eighties.

The tour leaves from the Reed Whipple Cultural Center at noon, include a stop at the Morelli House and will last three hours.  The bus will return to Reed Whipple at the end of the tour.

Please be aware, like last year, seating for the tour is limited.

Tickets are $20.

Now, if you want to save a few dollars, you can buy a three-day pass for $50.  Passes and individual tickets will be available on the ADAS website.  As soon as they have the page up, we will post a link here.

So, start planning your wardrobe and your itinerary, because this is going to be one great weekend you won't want to miss!

Support for this great weekend provided by:

City of Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission

Sponsors for this great weekend are:

The El Cortez

The Junior League of Las Vegas

Metro Arts Council

Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas

Retro Vegas

Terry Wilsey

VeryVintageVegas

Details for the second annual FCLV's Mid-Century Modern celebration will be posted in the morning!

In the meantime, we are mourning the passing of one of our dearest interviewees, George Foley, Sr.  When we sat down to interview George a few years back, he regaled us almost two hours with his stories of being a bellhop and a valet, of bring beer to Pearl Bailey and then sitting with her and drinking them, of his life as a lawyer and most of all, of growing up in Las Vegas before World War II.

George passed away a few days ago at the age of 88.  He leaves behind family and friends who will always remember him.

We will, too.