Very Vintage Vegas

Worst MLS Photo Of The Day

July 9th, 2010 Categories: Congratulations, Worst MLS Photo

Might as well bring them back. If you’re a fairly new reader, you might want to check out the HUNDREDS of them that I published in a long series. The last one was just over a year ago on July 3^rd, 2009.

I’ve been totally slammed since before the holiday weekend. I truly thought I could take 2 days off last Sunday and Monday, but the world just wouldn’t let me. It also left me no time or energy to blog some more as I’d promised. This way at least I get something posted to keep you interested.

Back when we were running this series, there were only 8 photo slots for the MLS. Often there weren’t any pictures at all being shown. Then they changed the rules and required at least one. Then we often got ONE and ONLY one. Then they upped it to 16 available picture slots, and eventually to 25. Now we have 3 times the opportunity to find bad pictures. This might be fun again.

Let’s start out with an easily identifiable KRISEL design home in Paradise Palms. It’s a Model 8, on the golf course. It’s for sale for 225,000. AND it’s not a SHORT SALE or an REO.

The man in the picture isn’t as easily recognizable. I still haven’t decided if he’s taking picture into a mirror, or if he merely stepped in front of the shot while someone else was taking the picture.

People in the pictures is just one of the dozen categories of things agents do wrong. A better angle would have been from about 5 feet to right. Then it would show that it’s a peninsula fireplace separating the living room from the dining room, and would show more of the “wall of glass” with the view out to the golf course.

 

The only thing worse than a bad picture is no pictures at all.

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 3 Comments »

Uncle Jack Says: (Finally, and I Hope You’ll Agree)

June 29th, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

There’s all kinds of slumps. Batting Slumps, Pitching Slumps, Career Slumps, Income Slumps (if you’re in sales you know what I mean), Oil Clean-up Slumps and Political Capital Slumps (ask the President – he knows).

There’s also a new one. IT’S A BLOGGING SLUMP. There’s any number of things that can lead up to it. Just not enough hours in a day. Burn Out (the big one), Exhaustion. Depression. Arthritis. As I geared myself up to write this today, I got curious and googled “blogging slump” and lo and behold: I’m not the only one.

The Blog Herald describes it best as to what I’ve been thru recently:

When you start out blogging, you’re full of energy and ideas, and it’s hard to imagine that enthusiasm ever waning, but ask almost everyone who’s been blogging for a long time, and they’ll tell you that it does. Suddenly, where you once had seemingly endless articles waiting to be written, you feel like you have nothing to post about and not much interest in writing anyway. What do you do when you hit one of these blogging slumps?

I really screwed up by not knowing this piece of their advice was out there:

2. Take a break. Sometimes, when you’re burnt out on blogging, a break will help re-energize you. Tell your readers up front that you are taking a hiatus, and let them know how long you’ll be gone. For most readers, this will be no problem at all as long as you let them know before you stop posting for a period. It’s very important to make them aware up front. If you don’t, they will think you’ve just disappeared and may unsubscribe and stop visiting all together,

AND, it was just plain rude of me to drop off without even letting you know. I apologize.

THE GOOD NEWS: I’m back and anxious to blog again.

One reason I’m anxious to blog again, is so that all the KIND READERS who have emailed me, run into me at an event, or called me TO GET OFF OF MY BACK.  I yelled that in caps to have an excuse to use a smiley face, which I’d sworn I’d never do. I really appreciate all the concern, and even all the expressed anxiety that I was done blogging for good. NOT SO!

For 3 and half years, I was, I believe, one of the most prodigious real estate bloggers in the country. Don’t believe me? Try reading it backwards all the way to the beginning. There’s well over 1000 posts. It put me dead at the top of the any google search that contained any of following terms along with the words Las Vegas: mid century modern, MCM, historic, vintage, retro, urban etc etc. I may have lost some of my “google juice” during the slump, but I’ll get it back.

It’s worked wonders in establishing me in the minds of so many of you as “the” go-to guy on any of those subjects. It hasn’t lost it’s power, and I won’t/can’t let it, either. Thankfully, my past prodigiousness kept my phone ringing all thru the slump.

I still, amusingly get several calls or emails a week from people around the country who want to buy this pattern or that pattern of the Decorative Concrete Blocks. People call and email asking for contractors and handymen. New buyers are calling me all time. I work with some of them and not with others. I talk to buyers who HAVE to use their boss’s cousin’s girlfiend as an agent. Even the Boss’s Cousin’s Girlfriend calls me for advice because “she’s clueless” about old houses and historic neighborhoods. I talk 5 times a day with homeowners who are distressed about what to do about their “upside down” mortgage.  I can help some of them, but not all of them. But I give them all at least the time of day.

And I’m still in business!

I’m grateful to all of you. And I’ve heard it so often, that many of you are grateful for my past blogging.

So here’s the deal:

I’m geared up to get at it again. Mentally, physically, and time-wise. There’s even a new post below this one if you’ll scroll down. If you get my posts by email, or by RSS feed, you already know that.

If I remember correctly, the most number of comments I ever received to any one post is 21. That’s a lot if you’re not a political blog.

I’m thinking that a few or many or a lot of you might want to tell me what you’d like to see more of. Tell the other readers why this blog is an important one. Tell them why it’s important to you, or how how it helped you make a decision about where to live or something about your house, or why your neighborhood is so great. If you’re a past client, tell them about your experience working with me. Tell me what a scum I am for only posting 3 times in the last 3 months and how glad you are that I’m back again. Anything you want to say.

Let’s have at it. The more comments I get to THIS POST AND ALL FUTURE POSTS, the more I’ll blog. Deal??

Sincerely,

Uncle Jack

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 20 Comments »

The Huntridge Circle Park Veteran’s Memorial Project - The Heart Of An Historic Downtown Las Vegas Neighborhood

June 29th, 2010 Categories: Huntridge

I’m starting a new series on the “historic” neighborhoods of Las Vegas. A few have Historic Status and get a capital H. But all of them are from the 40’s 50’s and 60’s. It’s my intention to do them as much in chronological order as possible, knowing that some of the neighborhoods developed simultaneously.

First up on the list is the historic Las Vegas neighborhood of Huntridge. In future posts I’ll discuss the area, the architecture, the charm and the history. Today though, we’re going to talk about the heart of Huntridge, The Huntridge Circle Park.

The Huntridge Circle Park sits in the middle of Maryland Parkway, just south of Charleston. It’s surrounded by 3 busy lanes of traffic in each direction. It’s also one of the smallest parks in the City of Las Vegas Parks System.

Unfortunately, the Park is CURRENTLY CLOSED. There’s lots of politics behind that decision. There’s plenty of coverage of it over at the Review J****nal. (aside: their name will never again darken the pages of my blog) but here’s a good story from 2006 in THE LAS VEGAS SUN on the politics. There’s lots of downtown neighbors who have very vocally expressed our desire to open it back up. The city says there’s no money to do it. There’s been plenty of meetings with councilman Gary Reese, plenty of letters sent, and plenty of whining from the neighbors.

Happily, it’s finally come down to this: A private group, the owner’s a gun store and shooting range called American Shooters has an idea to build a world class Veteran’s Memorial. They promised to raise the funds, select a design, and donate it to the city when done. So far, they haven’t let us down, and I don’t believe they will either. As you’ll see, the project has been moving forward for many months now.

There were numerous meetings held about this, and the leaders of many of the Neighborhood Associations prevailed at getting one of our own, Kasey Baker, to be on the committee to select. the final design from among more than 100 entrants. Kasey was the architect of the current iteration of the Park. I served on that committee for a long year 10 years ago as we rebuilt the Park and turned it into something beautiful and wonderful for the re-emerging Downtown Las Vegas Historic Neighborhoods.

Last week, the 4 top finalists got to show off their concepts and designs. The maquettes or scale model mock-ups were on display for a day for the City Council and mayor and invited neighborhood activists to see them. I was on my way there to see them, when I saw Gerard Ramalho of Channel 3 filming his report live in the Huntridge Park, so I got to see this being filmed. They did an excellent job covering not only the past, but the present and future of the Huntridge Circle Park and the Veteran’s Memorial.

 

 

Here’s a few of the pictures I took that day to help you get the feel for them. (they’re clickable to see at a larger size). The “marqettes” will be on display for public comment and recommendation as to which of the designs will ultimately be built. Below the pictures is the schedule where you can GO SEE THEM FOR YOURSELF (PLEASE), and give the committee your input.   

 

 

 

 

 

Input from ALL of Las Vegas, and especially from the Downtown Neighborhoods is honestly being sought. You can see the maquettes at the following 2 locations.

Now Thru July 5:

American Shooters

3440 S. Arville Street

Las Vegas, NV 89102

Phone: (702) 362-1223

On display during store business hours

 

July 6 thru July 19:

 

East Las Vegas Community/Senior Center

250 North Eastern Avenue
Las Vegas, NV 89101
Phone: (702) 229-1515

On display during center business hours: Monday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Tuesday on display after 10 AM) and Tuesday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m

 

 

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 4 Comments »

Fun Features Found In Foreclosures - Back To Paradise Palms

May 15th, 2010 Categories: Fun Features Found In Foreclosures, Paradise Palms

I wasn’t going to do anything on Paradise Palms for a while after our big long series on the 1963 newsletters and  William Krisel designs.

However, there’s still a mysterious shortage of bank owned homes that are available, and a doozy of a good one popped up in Paradise Palms the other day. One of the things we learned from the 1963 newsletters as that all the homes on Mohigan, Papago, Hoopa, Omaha and Delaware were unique - one (or a few) of a kind custom homes.

This one at 3846 Hoopa Lane, on the corner of Mohigan has always been one of my favorites in the area because of the columns of Lava Rock in the front, and the 36 inch crinkle-cut-pattern front door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d never been inside until yesterday when it came to market as a bank owned foreclosure. I knew the floor plan – and loved it from a similar design on Mohigan that sold last year. Inside I found a wall of glass and extra wide sliders to the back yard, as well as the sliding glass doors from the dining room to the front of the house. The step down living room features the rock fireplace with terrazo hearth and the lighting soffit/ledge.   

 

 

 

 

It’s actually a 2 sided fireplace column, and the family room side of the fireplace is even more dramatic with it’s built in book cases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other great original feature of the house is the step down – sunken shower in the master. Looking out from the shower you’ll find a private little rock-walled patio space with sliders leading to to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a few other really cool features, such as the back yard and pool. The house is in remarkably good condition for a bank owned foreclosure. Here’s the MLS pictures, and the amusing comment from the listing agent: “A quaint and mature 3 bedroom”. No one who reads this blog would use the word “quaint” to describe it. I’d have said: “A fabulous example of a Mid Century Modern Ranch”.

Of course, the bank listed it at a ridiculously low price of $119,900. There’s already multiple offers, but the window is still open this weekend. The best thing is that it’s a Fannie Mae owned home, and NO INVESTOR offers will be considered unless it’s been on the market for more than 30 days. If you’ve been sitting on the fence, there’s a great opportunity here. Give me a call, or tell someone about about it and have them call me.

 

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Some More Catching Up - Mid Century Modern Landscaping And Beautiful Things In Las Vegas

May 13th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern

Mid Century Modern Landscaping

Our favorite Mid Mod Blogger — Pam at RetroRenovation.com has started a series on Mid Century Modern Landscaping. I totally pleased that she’s going to do this topic. It’s one I’ve always wanted to do, but the emphasis in Las Vegas has been on xeroscape/desert/low water landscaping. Hopefully we can learn some fundamentals of the era, and blend it with the requirements of desert landscaping.

In her interview with Ted Clearly, a Landscape Architect, she asks about those fundamentals…..

For this first story, can you tell us, in general, what are the key, foundational elements or drivers of mid-century landscape design. Like… the theory behind it… that residential homeowners should be thinking of?

Well, I think we can look at it in a couple of ways; traditional homes had one ‘look’, but mid-century modern ones quite another.  With the latter, a seamless quality between inside and outside was an integral aspect of mid-century modern architecture, and there’s a very recognizable vocabulary of rectilinear patios, clean lines, and bold curving shapes with no focal point or symmetry.  Influential landscape architects such as Garrett Eckbo were strongly influenced by the abstract painters of the mid-century.

But as Pam has pointed out, most of these modest post-war homes instead reflected a traditional style, whether we’re talking about a Cape Cod, a neo-Colonial, or a rambler.  If you carefully study garden books of the ‘40s and ‘50s, when you scrutinize the black and white or fading color photos, you’ll see that the better landscaping really was not a lot different than what we garden designers today think of as basic, sound design principles:  overlapping plant masses, interesting specimens, a sense of ‘movement and rest’, and entertaining areas using hardscaping materials and geometries in sympathy with their house’s style.  We could speculate that our parents and grandparents, having weathered a deep, sobering Depression and the full-on sacrifices of a second World War, were looking for the comfort of traditional styles in both their homes and the landscaping that surrounded it, but in a simpler and more affordable version geared toward the middle class.  There seemed to be a bit more emphasis on bright circus-like colors with big Dahlias, Hollyhocks and high-maintenance Hybrid Tea Roses, yet designs tended to be a bit more ‘tight’. Today’s trend, by comparison, introduces somewhat relaxed, native perennials and shrubs, which have become more mainstream not just for the aesthetics but the environmental aspects of water conservation and so on, which of course was virtually a non-existent concern back then.  One easily-overlooked aspect of mid-century garden design is what’s not included:  the sorts of materials like stackable concrete block walls or vinyl fencing that weren’t around back then, and an absence of the over-the-top luxury added to so many expensive backyards in recent pre-Recession times.  It’s interesting to me how the influences of Modern design crept into the look of many otherwise-traditional gardens, no doubt because of popular magazines like Sunset, in a similar way to the merchant builders who cobbled together different features they admired into their hybrid home styles.

As Pam is famous for saying…..”Heck Yea there is more” and still more to come.

 

SEVEN Magazine’s 50 Beautiful Things In Las Vegas

Vintage, Retro and Downtown things that get a nod include:

Luv-It Custard, The Neon Boneyard, Cleveland Clinic/Lou Ruvo/Frank Geary, The 5^th Street School, The Holiday Motel Sign, The Jersey Boys, The Golden Gate Hotel, World Market Center,

Here’s the whole list from SEVEN magazine

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It’s Hard To Type When You Are Handcuffed

May 12th, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

Mary Joy handcuffed me. Then she tied me to the chair in front of the keyboard and said “TYPE!!!!”

I’m only just barely kidding, since I asked her to do that last Sunday as joke. I can’t explain why I missed 3 whole weeks of blogging, and with a minor exception, it’s actually more than a month. There’s a ton of excuses, but no good reason for not blogging regularly except – maybe burnout. It’s been over 3 years of blogging daily at VeryVintageVegas, and quite frankly, I’d become brain-dead.

During my “vacation” an important (to me) anniversary date came and went without comment or mention. April 1^st was my 20th anniversary of being a Realtor, Back then, you spent a month in school, then waited a month or so for the next monthly exam date, then a couple of weeks till you found out if you passed or not. Then you’d apply for the real estate license and wait till it came in the mail. It arrived on April Fools Day, which probably set the tone for the next 20 years.

It’s been a VERY interesting 20 years! But I’m still here, and still helping people buy or sell real estate. If you or someone you know needs to talk real estate, don’t hesitate to call or email me. Referrals are STILL always welcome.

 

There’s plenty of stuff I should have reported or told you about, but here’s 3 that deserve mentioning:

Helldorado Parade!

This year, I’ll be with the Flamingo Club on it’s first ever Heldorado Float. It’s going to be way at the end of the line, so stick around till the end to wave at us. The Parade is Saturday, May 15 at 7pm. The parade route is 4^th Street between Charleston and Fremont Street. Fireworks at Fremont Street Experience start at 9 pm, and the 3^rd night of the rodeo also starts at 9pm.

Helldorado is a 4 day event in Downtown Las Vegas. It’s been a Las Vegas tradition since 1935. The complete schedule and all the details are on the Elks Club’s Website

Helldorado Days this May 13-16, is an outdoor community event celebrating Las Vegas’s tribute to the wild west and produced by the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks Lodge No.1468. Helldorado Days which began in 1935, is the longest running civic event in the history of Las Vegas, originally created as a means to encourage tourism to the city upon completion of the Boulder Dam. With over 40,000 people in attendance, Helldorado Days offers a 4 day pro rodeo, a parade, carnival, treasure hunt for gold, whiskerino contest, golf tournament, poker tournament, art show and auction, trail ride, exhibits and food. For 4 days Downtown Las Vegas is transformed into Helldorado Days as the event takes over several vacant downtown blocks and builds a rodeo arena and carnival from the ground up. Helldorado Days is a non-profit community event. The members of Elks Lodge No. 1468 are committed to assisting children and veterans in need and have given back over $75,000 in 2009 and over $4 million to the community since 1935. Las Vegas Helldorado Days, May 13-16, 2010. Downtown Las Vegas 2 blocks from the Fremont Street Experience. For tickets and information visit www.ElksHelldorado.com or call 702-870-1221

First Year-To-Year Increase In Home Prices Since 2007

Is it significant that prices rose .2 percent over April of 2009? Time will tell. Can it be explained by the Tax Credit, which expired at the end of April? By the shortage of Inventory? All good questions that Hubble Smith reports on in Monday’s Review Journal.

“I believe it will be months before the market really gives us a reliable indication of which direction it is going after all the government intervention.”

105 Years Old And Still Going…..

I’d like to recommend an excellent essay by my dear friend Brian Paco Alvarez. It celebrates the 105^th Anniversary of Las Vegas, but more importantly – it discusses the opportunities that lie ahead for Las Vegas, and how we can learn from our past.

Whether our staying in Las Vegas was a choice or not, this is a perfect time to see where Las Vegas came from and where we can take it. Las Vegas is a city that developed out of necessity whether it was to supply the trains with water or to create a place that people can visit. Now that we are well aware of our communities vulnerabilities we must look to our past and reflect at how our community reset itself during challenging times. The time is now to use our ingenuity and reshape our community for its future and this can only happen if you are willing to embrace it.

You can read the entire essay at EnculturateLasVegas – The daily blog of all things cultural in Las Vegas.

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In Case You’ve Been Wondering Where I’ve Been And What I’ve Been Doing

April 14th, 2010 Categories: Huntridge

I kinda lost the bet. JB said I couldn’t get a Huntridge Cottage remodeled in less than a month. I thought I could.

It would have been easy if I’d just done a “blow and go”, or “slap up a coat of paint” job. If I’d ripped out the original 1944 bathroom and kitchen. I could have put in new “off the shelf” crap from one of the big box home improvement stores and called it a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could have left some of the hidden plumbing issues, or some minor and major electric, stucco, concrete and roofing issues for someone else down the road. Sure….there were some compromises that had to be made in trying to keep things as authentically original as possible, but I’m sure happy with how it’s turning out now that it’s finally coming together.

 

 

 

 

 

We’ll be renting the property. The intention is to hold it for many years. That’s one of the reasons we went to the lengths we did to do it right the first time. I’m offering it up to VeryVintageVegas readers or their friends first.

Since it has a huge 2 car detached garage, I’m figuring it would be perfect for an artist to use as a studio. There’ll be some cute red curtains in the kitchen, polished parquet flooring, and a terrific den which could be a third bedroom or great office or music room. I’ll put up more pictures as we wrap up the final details.

We’re offering it at $1000/month. If you know someone who really wants to live vintage, then give me a call or drop me an email. Jack@UncleJack.com 378–7055

 

I learned or re-learned a lot of lessons in the last 6 weeks. Here’s a few of them:

I’m not 25 anymore. There’s nothing like a lot of hard physical work to remind you how much arthritis you have, or how sore your muscles can get. But I did lose 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks!

If the electric is screwed up, CALL AN ELECTRICIAN! You can only make it worse.

Cast Iron water supply lines have to be removed and replaced!

40 year old wallpaper is not fun to remove.

Copper pipes (and especially the brass fittings) should not be buried underground. The real lesson is to watch where you dig. I barely touched the main water line with the shovel……

EVERY plumbing job will require 3 trips to the hardware store….no matter how much you think you got everything you needed the first time.

90% of the time spent on a paint job should be spent on the preparation. Cumulative layer upon layer of sloppy paint jobs takes a lot of time to undo.

2 full time jobs is a bitch. Doesn’t leave much time for blogging, never-the-less 8 episodes of American Idol that haven’t been watched yet.

I hope you missed my daily blogging as much as I missed doing it. I should be back to a daily schedule now.

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 12 Comments »

“Mid Century Modern Las Vegas” Exhibit At Nevada State Museum

April 3rd, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern

The opening reception for the new exhibit at the Nevada State Museum – “Mid Century Modern Las Vegas” will be on April 24^th.

VeryVintageVegas readers are invited, and need to RSVP to sirvin@nevadaculture.org

J. Florian Mitchell was a photographer in Las Vegas during the 50’s and 60’s. When he passed away recently, his heirs found dozens of boxes of photos taken during the heyday of Mid Century Modern everything. The first few boxes were thrown away before they realized what they had.

The remaining boxes of the collection were donated to the Nevada State Museum, and my friends Lynn Zook and Dennis McBride have been going through the collection for over a year. There’s photos of just about every building in Las Vegas during that era. The best of the Mid Mod will be on display along with Mid Century Modern domestic and decorative arts.

Even if you can’t attend the reception, this is an exhibit that you won’t want to miss. I’m checking on the run dates for the “Mid Century Modern Las Vegas” exhibit and will update this post and do another when we have more information.

The Museum is located in historic Lorenzi Park
700 Twin Lakes Drive
Las Vegas, Nevada 89107
Phone: (702) 486-5205

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 1 Comment »

Very Vintage Boulder City Hosts “The Green Energy Expo”

March 24th, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

If you’ve never taken a drive or a stroll thru Boulder City, it’s something you really ought to do. It’s got lots of very well preserved pre war houses, and mid century modern hotels and offices.

This Saturday would be a great day to do it, and you can spend much or some of the day at the Green Energy Expo at the Boulder City Rec Center, 900 Arizona Ave. The event is SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010 from 9 AM to 4 PM — which would leave plenty of time for stroll thru downtown Boulder City, and thru the surrounding neighborhoods. There’s plenty of interesting antiques shops, boutiques and great architecture.

Event Name: Green Energy Expo
Event Type(s): Boulder City, NV
Member Event
 
Description: When it comes to the renewable energy issue, are you wondering what’s new under the sun? Well, March 27 is your chance to find out. The Nevada Green Team is sponsoring its second Green Energy Expo that last time included exhibits and information on solar cookers, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and other head-spinning technologies. Find out how to save money on your energy bill and qualify for free or reduced cost energy retrofits. So, if you’re not doing anything March 27, visit Boulder City and see what’s new under the sun. 
Event Date: 03-27-10
 
Event Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: Parks and Recreation Bldg. at Bicentennial Park
900 Arizona Avenue
Boulder City, NV 89005

click here for map…
Contact Person: Lynn Goya
(phone: 702-281-8686)
Details: The event and seminars are free and open to the public.

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The Mystery Mid Century Modern Homes Of Las Vegas -

March 22nd, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas History, Mid Century Modern, Mystery House Series

 

Anyone recognize this building? It would be a very cool Mid Century Modern home, but maybe it an office building? I don’t have any idea.

The address is 1391.

It’s one of the mystery pictures from February 1960. All of the pictures in this series are from a single roll of film that our anonymous historian dug up. Some are houses, but there’s also apartment buildings, commercial buildings, and a strip hotel. I’ll be sharing them all with you in the coming days, and perhaps you can help us identify the locations. The whole series will be categorized as “Mystery House Series”, in the left column.

The decorative concrete block sunscreen is a fairly common pattern that we’ve found in Las Vegas. The blocks are a staple of Mid Century Modern architecture. . This pattern was number 44 in the series that we ran of all the various patterns that I’ve ever found in Las Vegas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 7 Comments »

Mesquite Club To Hold Rummage Sale

March 18th, 2010 Categories: Events

“Established in 1911, the Mesquite Club is the oldest non-profit women’s club in Nevada. The club’s formal debut took place just six years after the emergence of early Las Vegas on building lots put up for auction by the railroad in 1905.

The Mesquite Club took it’s name from the indigenous mesquite trees which, at that time, provided most of the shade for the Southern Nevada desert.Once established, the club immediately set to work addressing the civic, cultural and general welfare needs of the community.” (from the Mesquite Club website).

Their clubhouse, at 702 St. Louis Avenue achieved historic property designation from the City of Las Vegas in 2009. Additionally, they’ve just finished the first remodel and updating in many years. In this post from January, 2009, I showed a few interior photos from before the remodel. I was excited to see that the decorative concrete block wall in the entryway was preserved. If you’ve never seen the inside, make sure you stick your head in the door when you’re there.

Mesquite Club Rummage and Parking Lot Sale In Downtown Las Vegas

It’s time once again for their annual Rummage Sale on Saturday, March 27^th from 8am till 2pm. Should be a great place to do some spring time bargain hunting. Maybe you’ll even find some real treasure, after all – many of their members are from some of the oldest families in Las Vegas.

 You can rent a parking space yourself if you’d like to sell some of your stuff, or donate items for them to sell. Details are in the flyer.

 

 

 

 

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The Bonus I Promised You - The Paradise Palms Community Of Las Vegas

March 15th, 2010 Categories: Paradise Palms

I said “But, wait– there’s more”, and here it is.

It’s the hand drawn rendering of Paradise Palms from 1963. It was also handed out at the sales office, which I now know had a Desert Inn Address, though it was the last lot at the end of Dakota Circle. Was it in the house that’s there now? A trailer? A different building that was replaced with house?

Having stared at this map for hours over the last few weeks, it’s also created all kinds of new questions. I’m trying to put together all the pieces of the puzzle. I’ve had to go back into the county records to discover that the unlabeled segment containing Aztec and Cayuga are really “unit 2”. The west half of Sombrero, Raindance and Scout Street (which doesn’t exist, and is called Raindance now) are really unit 15. Sombrero Avenue goes straight thru from east to west from La Canada to Eastern. Where’s La Canada?

Obviously, this wasn’t the final version of the map. The Unit 15 homes were built in ‘64 and ‘65. They’re mostly ranch styled mid mod’s. Someday I’ll figure out the whole puzzle. If anyone has any clues…..please send them my way.

The map does help us see where the park once was. And you can see in the bottom left hand corner, that there was another whole group of homes that never materialized. That area is now apartments.

Unfortunately, the map was printed on 11×17 paper which didn’t fit in my scanner, so I did it in 2 parts. In retrospect, I should have taken it somewhere with a bigger scanner. Maybe someone with some photo shop skills will do us a favor and put it back together as one full map.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the 1963 brochures and newsletters as much as I have. Now it’s time for some coverage of some other neighborhoods…..and some Mystery Pictures.

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Where Is It? Number 2

March 15th, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

Susanne and Gary, who will be residents of Vintage Vegas next month, guessed right on our first mystery photo. They were the only ones who ventured a guess. (I was right, myself, as well.) It’s on the NE corner of Franklin and 7^th in the John S. Park Historic Neighborhood.

Today’s installment is one that I’ve figured out already as well. Anyone else want to take a stab at it?

It’s clickable to see a larger version.

 

 

 

Tomorrow’s won’t be easy, and I have absolutely no clue.

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 3 Comments »

Can You Help Us Identify The Location Where This Pictures Was Taken?

March 14th, 2010 Categories: Mystery House Series

Now that we’ve (almost) wrapped it up on Paradise Palms, I’d promised you a new series.

I think John will recognize this. It’s the only house that I recognize in the new batch of pictures that I’ve obtained from our anonymous Las Vegas historian. Or, I could be wrong, since it’s had some changes over the years. Anyone (besides John) want to take a stab at telling me the address to this home? Send an email Jack@Unclejack.com or use the comments section.

The only thing on the envelope is “February, 1960”.

Our anonymous Las Vegas Historian dug them up. He provided a different batch that we published at least a year ago.

I just spent an hour trying to find some of them in the old archives. I hadn’t categorized them, and even I’m baffled. I tried all kinds of keywords in the “search field” that’s in the left column. No luck. I did have a good time revisiting some of the posts that came up under the various keywords that I tried. So that’s another mystery. Where on the 3 years of blog archive are they?

This time, I created a new category called “Mystery House Series”. I’ll make sure to assign a category to all of these as I publish them. If any of you can find some of the old ones, send me the date or the link.

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 1 Comment »

The Last Of The Paradise Palms Newsletters From 1963

March 14th, 2010 Categories: Paradise Palms

Alas, the last of the 1963 Paradise Palms Desert-News newsletters. I sure was hoping more of them would surface. No luck!

Today we find babies, children, a Jackie K hairdo, and a very fabulous dinette set.

I’ve also picked up another clue as to the which were the Secrest Construction Company “Americana Series” homes that were mentioned in the first edition that we published. In that February 63 newsletter, the unit 12 Americana Series was erroneously described as Tioga, Cochise and Geronimo, west of Spencer. Those streets are East of Spencer, and are actually Unit 10, The Tioga finger which runs westward from Eastern. Yes, I was confused by their error, and the swimming pool picture below helped to clear that up.

 

But wait.

There’s one more piece of Ephemera that came in this collection, but you’ll have to wait for tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some football, And then there’s…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Giovannella”. Anyone have any clue about her later years? Nothing on Google under Giovannella, but searching “Joan Marks” got to me to a 1957 article in Time Magazine, as well as a 1957 article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

How about it art history guys/gals. Who can did up some more?

 

 (UPDATE: 10 minutes after publishing this last newsletter, new Paradise Palms resident Clay put this link into the comments section. A 1970’s painting by Giovannella of Linus Pauling. Thanks, Clay! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 1 Comment »

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