Early Las Vegas Gambling History Still Found at the El Cortez Hotel

  When it comes to finding the history of Las Vegas’s gambling industry, few places reflect that story as well as the El Cortez Hotel in the city’s downtown core.

  In fact, the El Cortez, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is the longest continuously running downtown hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

  Built in 1941, the El Cortez hasn’t changed its appearance much over the decades. In fact, that’s a big reason the hotel is kind of a living historic landmark that offers a glimpse of the era in which it came into being.

  At the time the El Cortez opened, there was no Las Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas was the center of the city.

  Its original owners were Marion Hicks and John C. Grayson, the former a Los Angeles-based developer. The two spent about $325,000 constructing the property, which included 59 rooms, a 125-seat dining room, a casino, a cocktail lounge, bar and a beauty parlor.

  Designed in a Spanish/Colonial Revival/Western influenced architectural style, the hotel, the city’s largest at the time, quickly became known as one of Las Vegas’ finest lodging houses.

  In September 1943, Grayson sold his share of the hotel to Thomas Hull, who earlier had built the Hotel El Rancho on Highway 91 (which eventually became the Las Vegas Strip). Three months later, Hull sold out to Hicks.

  The mid-1940s saw the hotel enter what was perhaps its most fascinating and notorious phase. That’s when Hicks sold it to a syndicate group headed by Edward Berman and Moe Sedway, two figures connected to organized crime organizations. Berman soon relinquished his ownership share and was replaced by another mob figure, Gus Greenbaum. Additionally, it is believed “hidden” ownership of the hotel included gangsters Meyer Lansky and Benjamin Siegel.

  In March 1946, a new deed of trust was executed that identified the owners as Sedway, Raymond Salmon and his wife, and J.Kells Houssels Sr. and his wife. In July 1946, Sedway sold his interest in the hotel to Salmon and Houssels.

  Between late 1946 and 1962, the El Cortez was managed by Houssels, one of the early gaming pioneers in downtown Las Vegas (he owned the Las Vegas Club and was an investor in the Boulder Club). Additionally, Houssels later invested in the Showboat and Tropicana hotel-casinos on the Strip.

  During Houssels’ tenure, the hotel was remodeled into what the Las Vegas Review-Journal described as “Las Vegas Contemporary” that incorporated hidden lighting, more contemporary furnishings, murals and other decorative touches.

  In 1962, Houssels sold the El Cortez to a group headed by gaming industry veteran John “Jackie” Gaughan,

  For the next four decades, Gaughan was the public face of the El Cortez, actually living in a penthouse in the hotel and regularly playing poker at the hotel’s tables. Even after he sold his ownership of the hotel in 2008, he continued to live on site and play poker until his death at the age of 93 in March 2014.

  While the El Cortez’ exterior is mostly the same as it was when it was constructed, the property has been renovated and enlarged over the years. In 1952, the façade was altered to include the property’s now iconic giant neon and metal sign promoting, “El Cortez Hotel, Free Parking.”

  In 1984, the property was greatly expanded with the construction of a 15-story hotel tower adjacent to the original structures.

  Of course, the best way to understand the hotel’s significance to Las Vegas history is to stop in and check it out. Perhaps a little cluttered and old-fashioned compared to the massive mega-resorts of the Las Vegas Strip, the place shouts out its historic roots.

  In the past decade, the hotel unveiled a memorial—inside the casino—honoring longtime owner Jackie Gaughan. The exhibit offers more than 300 gambling artifacts used at properties once owned by Gaughan, including casino chips, dice, keno tickets, matchbooks, ashtrays and menus.

  Over the years, Gaughan owned or had an interest in a number of Las Vegas hotels or casinos including the Gold Spike, Club Bingo, Las Vegas Club and Jackie Gaughan’s Plaza.

Virgin Valley Heritage Museum Explores Mesquite Area's Rich History

Virgin Valley Heritage Museum in Mesquite

 Few Nevada communities have changed as quickly—and grown as fast—as Mesquite. Once a sleepy Southern Nevada farming community, the town has grown enormously since the 1980s—from about 1,100 in 1984 to more than 23,500 today.

  But while Mesquite has been growing and changing, there is one place that has managed to hang on to a few pieces of the former Mormon colony's past: the Virgin Valley Heritage Museum.

  Housed in an historic National Youth Administration building that was constructed in 1941-42, the museum offers an opportunity to catch a glimpse at the rich history of the Virgin Valley region.

  The museum building itself is unique; it is one of only two NYA buildings in the state (the other is in Fallon).  The seven-room stone structure was originally a library then served as a hospital (35 local babies were born here). After a few years as a boy scout lodge, the building was designated as the town museum in 1984 and opened the following year.

  Inside, the cluttered museum is a vault of local history. A large collection of historic black and white photographs shows the evolution of the town as it grew from a few farms to a roadside stop to a burgeoning gaming mecca and retirement community.

  One of the exhibits displays vintage clothing, including a beautiful turn-of-the-century wedding dress, and another shows off the town's first telephone switchboard and phone sets.

  One corner contains 1930s motion picture theater equipment, while nearby is a recreated turn-of-the-century bedroom, complete with period furnishings, and a 1920s-era parlor.

  A display case holds state basketball trophies from 1915 and 1916; the team had to travel by wagon to Moapa in order to catch a train to Reno, where they won the first-ever state tournament. The museum’s docents are extremely helpful, many having lived most of their lives in the valley.

  The Virgin Valley area was first settled in 1880. But the adjacent Virgin River proved too much for these Mormon pioneers—it dried up in the summer and flooded the farms at other times—so they abandoned the area after a few months.

  In 1882, another member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Dudley Leavitt, moved his five wives and 51 children to Mesquite Flats, as it was named. He rebuilt irrigation ditches and, once again, tried farming the area. Another flood, however, destroyed his improvements and he was forced to give up.

  The first sustained settlement was started in 1894 with the arrival of several more families. This time, nature proved more cooperative and the pioneering farmers were able to tame the river by rebuilding and fortifying the dam and canals.

  The town grew gradually during the next three-quarters of a century, then began to sprout with the development of the Mesquite Peppermill in the early 1980s. In 1984, Mesquite incorporated as a formal city.

  Mesquite also holds the distinction of having been part of the Old Spanish Trail.  An historic marker in front of the museum notes that the trail, used from 1829 to 1850, stretched for 130 miles across Clark County and was the first major trading route through the state (it connected Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles).

  The museum, located at 35 West Mesquite Blvd., is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.  For more information go to www.mesquitenv.gov/departments/museum.

National Atomic Testing Museum is a Real Blast

Atomic Testing Museum (Photo courtesy of Travel Nevada/Sydney Martinez)

 Given Las Vegas’ proximity to the Nevada Test Site, it’s appropriate that the National Atomic Testing Museum should be located in the city.

   The Smithsonian-affiliated museum, which opened in 2005, is an 8,000-square-foot facility devoted to educating the public about the nearly 1,000 nuclear explosions detonated at the Test Site between 1951 and 1992.

   Most of the museum’s exhibits are devoted to the Test Site and there is a definite 1950s Cold War vibe to the place, including the sleek, institutional-looking ticket counter. Inside, state-of-the-art displays describe the role that the Test Site, located 65 miles north of Las Vegas, had in the development of nuclear weapons and the impact that "the bomb" had on American life.

   Wandering through the museum, visitors can trace the development of the atomic bomb, including a copy of a letter from Albert Einstein urging President Franklin Roosevelt to investigate the use of atomic technology because the Germans were already researching ways to develop nuclear weapons.

   In "Ground Zero Theater," visitors can sit in a darkened room to watch film about the history of the site and experience a leg-shaking simulation of an atmospheric nuclear test—without the deadly radiation.

   The theater is designed to resemble the concrete bunkers used at the original test site, complete with flashing red lights and long, wooden bench seating.

   Museum docents are often retired test site workers, who earnestly guide visitors through the galleries, which feature audio and video displays, genuine test site artifacts, and items illustrating the public fascination with atomic tests during the 1950s.

   One of the more interesting displays is entitled “Atom Bomb and Pop Culture,” which features artifacts from the time such as a box of Kix cereal promoting the “Kix Atomic Bomb Ring” and an beverage recipe book titled “Atomic Cocktails.”

   Another exhibit allows visitors to use manipulators, which are the mechanical arms used to handle radioactive materials.

   A new addition to the museum is the Spy exhibit, a partnership with the National Security Agency’s (NSA) National Cryptologic Museum in Fort Meade, Maryland. This display highlights the NSA’s gathering of telemetry intelligence, which is using to obtain data on missiles and space-based vessels being tested by foreign governments.

   Nevada’s involvement with nuclear explosions began in 1951 with a test nicknamed “Able.” It involved a B-50D Bomber dropping a nuclear device from an altitude of 19,700-feet onto a barren patch of desert known as “Frenchman Flat.”

   The subsequent explosion generated a brilliant ball of rose-colored fire followed by a blue-purple afterglow for a few seconds and a small, yellow-brown cloud that slowly drifted away until it was dissipated by the winds.

   During the next four decades, the 1,375 square mile test site (larger than Rhode Island and one of the largest restricted areas in the U.S.) hosted hundreds of nuclear detonations. In the early years, the nuclear blasts generated enormous mushroom-shaped clouds that rose high into the sky.

   For a short time, watching the scheduled tests—with their spectacular mushroom clouds—developed into a popular tourist attraction in Las Vegas. After 1962, the tests were moved underground as a result of growing concern about radioactive fallout from the clouds.

   The Atomic Testing Museum is located at 755 East Flamingo Road. Admission to both the museum and the Area 51 exhibit is $29 for adults, $27 for seniors with ID, $27 for military and first responders, $25 for Nevada residents, and $15 for youths aged 7-17. Children under 6 are free. The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

   For more information, go to https://atomicmuseum.vegas/.