Gambling on a Dream Presentation and Book Signing: Dec. 8th

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If you live in Las Vegas or visiting there, I am happy to announce that I will be doing a presentation and book signing for my newly published book, Gambling on a Dream: The Classic Las Vegas Strip 1930-1955 on Saturday, December 8th at the Nevada State Museum (at the Springs Preserve).

I’ll be talking about the early days of the Las Vegas Strip when it was better known as a pot-holed. two-lane highway that connected the small town to southern California, how it began and how it grew.

It all begins at 2:00 pm and I hope to see you there!

Lost Vegas: The Mint

It was a majestic mid-century modern piece of architecture sitting right there on Fremont Street amid the western motif of the Golden Nugget and the western flavor of Benny Binion's Horseshoe Club.

The Mint, all pink and adorned in a necklace of chaser lights and neon, is the one hotel on Fremont Street that to this day, when Hollywood set designers want to reference that era and Las Vegas, the Mint is the go-to choice. With its pylon sign and the chaser lights rising into the night sky to light the neon star at the top of the pylon, the Mint gloried in its mid-century modern finery.

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How I learned to love Mid-Century Modern

 

 

I have a personal piece up on The Walt Disney Family Museum's blog, Storyboard. about where I first learned about Mid-Century Modern architecture and design on a trip to Disneyland when I was only ten.

Alan Hess is quoted as well and there are some great images both from Disneyland and the New York's World Fair.

So come learn how Disney artists like Mary Blair, architects like Welton Becket and those vintage Disneyland posters captured my imagination and sparked my love of mid-century modern architecture and design;

www.wdfmuseum.squarespace.com

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Mid-Mod Marvels Recap!

Our buddy Dennis McBride, the Curator of History at the Nevada State Museum not only saved our Saturday programs with his canny foresight but he also wrote up this wonderful recap of all the events:

A Successful Weekend

On October 22-24, the Friends of Classic Las Vegas hosted its second annual Mid-Century Modern event. Co-sponsored this year by the Architectural and Decorative Arts Society, the El Cortez Hotel, Retro Vegas, VeryVintageVegas.com, the Metro Arts Council of Southern Nevada, and RAFI Planning, Architecture, and Urban Design, Mid Mod Marvels proved once more the enduring popularity of mid-century modern living.

The weekend started with a swank affair Friday night at the Morelli House, maybe the best known Mid-Century Modern landmark in Las Vegas, owned and restored by the Junior League. League members dressed in period clothing, provided tours of the house, and hosted a meet-and-greet reception for Mid-Century aficionados. The Nevada State Museum supplied a series of photographs of mid-century Las Vegas from the Jay Florian Mitchell Collection to round out the evening. With plenty of wine and nibbly things, the evening gave a hint of the fun yet to come.

 

Saturday included two panel discussions and the Las Vegas premier of the film, William Krisel, Architect, a documentary detailing the career of famed mid-century architect Bill Krisel. The Las Vegas National Golf Club on Desert Inn Road, around which Krisel and his partner, Dan Palmer, built their iconic Paradise Palms residential development, hosted Saturday’s events.

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