Moulin Rouge: A Second Chance?

News from around town is that the Moulin Rouge may be rising from the ashes.  Dale Scott, President and CEO of the Moulin Rouge Development Corp, says that within the next 60 days he will begin demolishing the burnt-out and dilapidated buildings on Bonanza Road.  He will also be submitting new plans for a new casino/hotel to the Las Vegas Planning Commission by the end of the year.

The Moulin Rouge was the first integrated hotel in Las Vegas.  It was located on the Westside and catered to the black performers who could not stay on the Strip.  It had a chorus and dance troupe from the famed Cotton Club in Harlem that was highlighted with a cover story in Life Magazine.   For the short while it was open, was the place where Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and other performers from the Strip would head to at the end of their Late Show.   Once there, they would jam with African-American musicians and singers who were performing at the Moulin Rouge.  It was an incredibly popular after-hours joint filled with some of the finest talent in the country at the time.  However, due to financial irregularities, the Moulin Rouge was forced to close its doors less than a year after opening.

Over the years, other groups have tried to revive the Moulin Rouge but with little luck.  In 2003, the main building fell victim to a fire of suspicious nature and was burned almost to the ground.  All that really remains is the massive but beautiful scroll-lettering neon sign that was designed by Betty Willis (who also designed the Fabulous Las Vegas and Blue Angel signs).

Scott, a retired Air Force Master Sergeant, has big plans for the property. (We hope those plans include keeping that sign).  Those plans include a 750 room hotel, 100,000 square foot casino and upscale amenities to attract locals and tourists alike.

It won't be easy.  The Moulin Rouge sits on West Bonanza Road.  It is not a walkable distance from Fremont Street.  The area around the Moulin Rouge is run-down.  Ahern Rentals, which rents cranes and cherry pickers and the Las Vegas Review Journal are the two main businesses on that part of Bonanza Road and neither cater to tourists.

Alan Glover, the Marketing Director for the Moulin Rouge Development Corp, says that the new hotel will be an updated version of its original self. (Perhaps with those wonderful murals that used to be in the showroom and the bar?).  

This is the second revival that Scott and company have tried with the Moulin Rouge.  In 2004,  Scott and company took over the buildings in the wake of the devasting fire.  They had plans at that time for rebuilding that included a 400 room hotel, a 50,000 square foot casino, a Motown Cafe and a community center.  Those plans were scaled back later that year.

The property is now behind decorative fencing with razor wire at the top.  The building's structure is supported by huge girders as the signage is all that really remains intact.

Local Westside historians, preservationists and collectors have all viewed the site over the years and most agree that the location is the hardest stumbling block to overcome.

It will be worth watching to see if the Moulin Rouge has one more life in her.  Stay tuned......

  

Moulin Rouge in the early 1960s 

 A picture of one of the famous murals

 

In the beginning

 

And today, all that really remains is Betty Willis's beautiful signage.

Special thanks to Anna Bailey, UNLV's Special Collections and RoadsidePictures for allowing us to use these photos. 

Preservation Alert: The Huntridge Theater

I was visiting my pal, Ben, at the Town and Country Florist on Monday.  After leaving there I was driving west on Charleston Blvd and discovered that the Mattress Store that was next door to the venerable Huntridge Theater is out of business.  No signage, no more Going Out of Business signs in the parking lot, no signs of a business being in that corner at all.

While I won't miss Cima Mattress, the family that owns the building also owns the Huntridge Theater.  With both buildings now empty, I would hate to think that the both structures might fall victim to the very popular way of dealing with buildings someone no longer wants, a fire of suspicious nature. 

The building that used to house Cima Mattress was once the Huntridge Station Post Office and had wonderful murals inside.  My mother and I used to go there to mail letters and bills when we lived downtown in the early 1960s.

For more on the history of the Huntridge Theater click here 

This could quickly become a preservation issue as the owner does not seem interested in selling either building.

Why Wrong History is Bad History

The Fremont East Entertainment District spent considerable money to install historical markers in the sidewalks of Fremont Street from Fifth to Eighth Street.  These markers form a historical time line of events in Downtown Las Vegas history.  It was hoped that these markers would spur interest in our history as people walk up and down Fremont Street.

We think it was a good idea.  With the coming PostModern Museum at Stewart and Third, the Visitors Center on Fremont Street and Union Park, we believe that there will be renewed interest not only in the history of Fremont Street but in the history of Las Vegas.

There's just one problem with the markers, some of the history is wrong. 

Now this being Las Vegas, where myth trumps most of our real history, some believe it isn't that big of a deal.  But to those of us who believe that the real history of not only Fremont Street but of Las Vegas is much more interesting and much more fascinating than the myths, we believe it is a big deal.

Eighteen bronze medallions were placed in the sidewalks in the Fremont East Entertainment District.  City officials spent $3,600 for each medallion so it is not likely that they will replace the ones with the faulty historical information.

"If people are getting their history from markers in the sidewalk ..." said Las Vegas City Manager Doug Selby.

Well Doug, people tend to think that if a city goes to the effort to chronicle its history either in plaques, sidewalk medallions or signage, that the history they are reading is accurate.  Otherwise, what's the point of spending the money?  What's the point of continuing to perpetrate the misinformation?  Doesn't anyone in the city government care about the real history of our town?

There are plenty of historians here in town they could have reached out to, thus ensuring that the history on the plaques would be interesting and accurate.  Instead, it sounds like those tasked with this mission, got the majority of the "interesting and pithy" historical facts from "intense internet research".  One of the reasons we started our Classic Las Vegas Project and Blog was because we were appalled at the amount of historical misinformation on the Web about Las Vegas.

Mayor Goodman, when first told, had this to say: "I'm going to see what we can do, and I'm going to find out who's responsible for this," he said, adding he would consider tearing up the markers.

The next day however, Goodman had retreated from that statement and issued this one instead:

"It's a fun thing," he said of the markers. "I'm hoping people on the Fremont East are half-lit, and could care less what the markers say."

The fallacy with this thinking is that only drunk people visit Fremont Street. I'm going to go out on limb and say I'm fairly certain sober people visit Fremont Street regularly.  

What about all those folks who will be living in Union Park?  Won't they be taking their out-of-town guests and families for walks down Fremont Street (it will be their closest historical neighborhood after all) and they are not all going to liquored up beyond recognition. 

What about those who tour the PostModern Mob Museum and then want to explore Fremont Street to see some of the historical sites they read about in the Museum?  How many people visit Museums when they are "half-lit"?

Cultural tourism is going to be important on Fremont Street because Fremont Street is one of the few remaining links to our past where people can visit, read and imagine what life was like here in the 20th Century.  By disregarding cultural tourism in his own backyard, Mayor Goodman discounts one of the main reasons for the renaissance that he believes so passionately is coming to Fremont Street. 

If the City of Las Vegas is successful with plans for Union Park, the PostModern, the Smith Center for the Performing Arts and other grand plans, then the demographic of those who visit Fremont Street will grow beyond the current demographic of tourists looking for a deal, locals who love the El Cortez and the homeless and addicted who still populate too much of the Street. 

If you are the main cheerleader for better days are coming to Fremont Street because of gentrification and all your efforts to help spur that renaissance then why do you discount and disregard the cultural tourism that will be a main factor of interest?   Isn't the whole idea of a cultural renaissance coming to Fremont Street is because Fremont Street can not survive without it? 

Regarding his earlier pledge to find out who is responsible for the errors, the mayor joked: "That's when I thought there was one (a medallion) about me. I really could care less."

I know that Mayor Goodman likes to shoot from the lip but the message he is sending not only to the people who live here but to those that visit, is that our history is not important and is not anything we should care about.

Our history is worth caring about and worth discovering because Las Vegas did not spring fully formed from a fever dream of Bugsy Siegel or Benny Binion. 

"Is it necessary to debunk a legend and the mystique that continues to draw 40 million people annually to this part of the desert?" asked Scott Adams, director of the Office of Business Development, in a written statement.

Yes, Scott it is because this isn't a John Ford movie, it's our history.  Do people visit Boston or New York City or San Francisco or Los Angeles or Chicago to soak up the wrong history?  No, the people who go on historical tours of cities do so because they are interested in the real history. 

Las Vegas is here because the men and women who lived here and refused to give up on the town they called home despite the many hard times they endured.  When their faith was finally rewarded during the War years and the Post War era, they continued to believe in their town and continued to help it grow.  This history is much more important than the myths that have sprung up over the years.

For City Officials and the Mayor to denigrate their efforts and their accomplishments because "half-lit" tourists could care less does us all a disservice.

At some point, Las Vegas needs to grow beyond the stereotype of catering to the drunken hordes who only come here because what happens here, stays here. 

If Las Vegas wants to be a place of culture, art and history, it is time we all grew up and realize that by denigrating our own history and the accomplishments of the men and women who made this metropolis possible, we continue to perpetrate the myth that nothing of historical significance happened here.

 

Update on 2007-08-26 06:48 by LasVegasLynn

Jane Ann Morrison at the Review Journal joins our chorus of "Wake Up, Scott!  This is not a John Ford movie" concerning the historical plaques on Fremont East.  Seems that the Historical Preservation Commission was rebuffed earlier this week when they tried to raise the issue that myth is not historical fact.  Read Jane Ann's column here: http://www.lvrj.com/news/9370361.html

For the record, we agree that the plaques in question have to be replaced.  The City of Las Vegas has spent 5.5 million (yeah, you read that right) to date to make the Fremont East Entertainment District more attractive to locals (those locals who don't have crack addictions, drinking addictions or any other addictions and are not homeless) and tourists alike.  If the crowds last night were any indication, they are on the way to turning this part of Fremont Street around.

History is what binds people to their community and helps them call that place home?  The history of Downtown is more than Bugsy Siegel.  Not just for the locals but for the tourists as well. 

Is is too much to ask that they get the history right?  Evidently, Scott Adams thinks it is. 

Let him know he is wrong.  Let the Mayor's Office know he is wrong.

The Friends of Classic Las Vegas

Who knew I was the Relentless Historian?  Though I have to admit, I have felt that way for much of the last couple of years.

I love my hometown, I love its history.  I want to share the real history with others.  Perhaps more importantly, I want the real history documented for the next generation so that the myths stop being prepetuated.  Call me crazy, others have.

Cultural Tourism is important.  Fremont Street is one of the links to our collective past.  Its images are in our DNA.  As Fremont Street evolved from Tent City to the Heart of the Community to Glitter Gulch to today's Fremont Street Experience and the coming Fremont East Entertainment District, the evolution of Las Vegas can be charted by the changes on Fremont Street.

Kristen Peterson of the Las Vegas Sun did an article on our hoped for plans to document the evolution of Fremont Street over the last ten decades.

Read the article here:  http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/do/2007/jun/29/566659472.html 

If you would like to donate to the Friends of Classic Las Vegas or help with our Fremont Street survey,  email me at

Lynn@classiclasvegas.com 

for more information.