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.

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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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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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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.

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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! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Plan 8 - The Last Of The William Krisel Designed Models Of Paradise Palms

March 12th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern, Paradise Palms

This is the last of the series showing the original 1963 sales brochures of the William Krisel designed homes of Paradise Palms.

I’m just intelligently guessing that about 300 of the 1044 homes in Paradise Palms were Krisel designs. Irwin Molasky’s Paradise Development Company developed the entire master planned community, and directly built the Krisel homes. There were other construction companies that built some of the “units” of Paradise Palms.

For example, in the first of the newsletters, we learned that the whole section north of Desert Inn, between Camelback Road and  Eastern Ave. were built by Miranti Homes. These 83 homes in Unit 11 were concrete block, ranch style homes with pitched roofs or flat roofs, and sunken living rooms.

The same article told us that “Unit 10” (which is the Tioga finger into the golf course), and “Unit 12” (the first few homes on the streets west of Spencer) were the work of Secrest Construction, who dubbed a group of 77 homes as the Americana Series. I think these were the ranch houses west of Spencer.  

I have no clue if Irwin Molasky’s Paradise Homes actually built the rest of the homes in his development. If anyone else has a clue or some history for me, please email or call me.

 

 

 

Plan 8 was the largest of the Bill Krisel Designs. It was 1900 square feet. The fireplace was the centerpiece of the home as it was an island which served as a divider between the family living room and the dining room. The other distinctive feature was the screened front courtyard in front of the kitchen window, which stretched over to the carport.

Almost all of the model 8’s have had the carport converted to garage. Unfortunately, many of them have had the screen walls removed. 

A good (bad – fixer upper) example of the Model 8C just sold as a foreclosure at 3419 Seneca, and a terrific well kept and beautifully painted example of the model 8B can be found at 3522 Pueblo Way, which is 3 or four houses west of the “Revision House”.  

I don’t recognize the 8A at all. I don’t recall any that have an extended facia providing shade to the bedroom windows. Nor do  I recognize the shadow block design on the left front of the house. Am I wrong?

There’s at least 3 people/couples that I know of who have been driving around Paradise Palms with these brochures trying to identify all the houses of each model. I wish I had the time to do it lesiurly as well. Perhaps one of them will spot an 8A that I’m not remembering.

 

The prices, which were rubber stamped onto the back of the brochures is a little harder to read on the the model 8, but they were:

Lot B $31,900 and

Lot C $34,500

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March 10th, 2010 Categories: Paradise Palms

Our Paradise Palms 1963 series is coming to an end soon. There’s only one more floor plan brochure, an after this, the August 1963 edition of the Paradise Palms Desert News, there’s only September left to show you.

I was hoping someone else would surface that had other editions stashed away, but, alas, it hasn’t happened.

We’ll continue with some more 1960’s fun with a new series of photographs from our secret historian. He just delivered a whole cache of 1960’s pictures, and we’ll need your help figuring out where they are.

 

Today’s edition of the Paradise Palms Desert News features smuggled art, more hair, a new gas station, and lots of furniture that we’d all love to have now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mother used to “let” me lick the S & H Green Stamps. There’s actually 3 full books of them in a box in her store room. All that licking, and they never got turned in for valuable merchandise.

Anyone know when the “flying A” got torn down?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Plan 7 - The Bill Krisel Designs Of Paradise Palms In Las Vegas

March 3rd, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

 Plan 7 is on of my favorites.

Plan 7B is so easily recognizable. There’s only 4 of them that were built. All are south of Desert Inn. The Caddy Shack is the most easy to spot with it’s lime green and white color scheme. It’s the home of Mary-Margaret and Cary Stratton, and was on our Paradise Palms Homes Tour in October 2008. It was also featured in the documentary film that was premiered last week at the Palm Springs Modern Weekend. There’s some interior photos in that link. If you haven’t seen driven by it, you haven’t really driven around in Paradise Palms. It’s on Seneca Drive, just south of Desert Inn. You can’t miss it.

Zane and Jenny are the proud new owners of one of them. I helped them snag it away from the bank this last fall. They’re busy working away on the inside, but at least the weeds are gone now from when they bought it. Their’s is in a similar location on Pawnee, just south of Desert Inn.

There’s also on on Pawnee Circle, next to Clay’s new house, which is one of the plan 5 tri-levels. The Fourth one is on Ottawa Drive, just east of Spencer.

All four of the 7B’s were built in a mirror image of the drawing.

Plan 7A and Plan 7C are turned 90 degrees so that the front door faces the street instead of the side of the house as it does on the 7B.

 

 

This is the “Caddy Shack” at night. It’s just as eye-popping during the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They started to get a little pricey as we moved into the bigger of the model.

Lot A = $28,400

Lot B = $29,500

Lot C = $31,600

Still I have no clue as to what was the difference between a the 3 lot choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Home Of Walter Zick Featured In Paradise Palms Newletter From July 1963

March 1st, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern, Paradise Palms

Where was I before the last week got lost?

It’s time for another volume – July 1963 – of the Paradise Palms Newsletters. This one contains a special treat, which we’ll get to on page 3. There’s also a lot of great hair, 2 tone shoes to match the dogs, and a real “leave it to beaver” moment!

 

 

 (UPDATE: regular VVV reader and client Anya just discovered that that’s her house in the bottom right photo of the Welcome Mat. She vows to not only do over the house, but to get the same haircut as Naida Ormond!)

 

 

 

Here’s our special treat. Old time readers will remember that we’ve been championing the cause of getting a school named after Walter Zick, the prolific modernist architect of Las Vegas.

Walter Zick is responsible for the Mint, and the “Pod Schools”. He designed UNLV’s Maude Frazier Hall, and Flora Dungan Humanities Building; as well as Clark and Valley High Schools.  We still have numerous banks, office buildings, a dozen or so houses. Walter Zick was the preeminent architect of 1950’s and 60’s. The body of work that still remains are some of the best examples of modernism in what we now call Vintage Vegas.

We did a bus tour of the Zick buildings last October, and a panel discussion with Alan Hess and Walter’s daughters Claire and Karen.

Walter and his family moved from Washington and Decatur to a new home in Paradise Palms in 1963.

Claire told us at the panel discussion that people always asked her father why they lived in a tract house when he was an architect. He told them there was nothing he could build that was better than the Bill Krisel designed home in Paradise Palms.

Turns out that Irwin Molasky, the developer of Paradise Palms (or at least his staff) had a lot of respect for Walter Zick, and gave him not only the article on page 4, but a full page of photos. Maybe we should re-think full wall, floor to ceiling draperies!

The house is a Bill Krisel design, Plan 8 which we’ll show you in a couple of days.

The article in the Paradise Palms Newsletter about Walter Zick is here on page four.

For the sake of the search engines…I’m re-typing the article, (syntax, grammar, punctuation, typo’s and all) though it can clearly be read in the scan to the left, which is a clickable thumbnail if you’d like to see it full sized at 8.5 x 11.

Walter Zick, a partner in the firm of Zick & Sharp, outstanding architects in Nevada, threw open the doors of his beautiful home to the staff of your community Newspaper, the Desert News.

The Zick home at 3614 Ottawa Circle is the object of many sparkling eyes, particularly those playing the Stardust Golf Course adjoining the home. Its beauty and landscaping blends rounding homes.

Zick first came to Las Vegas in 1945 as an associate architect for the Flamingo Hotel. Although scheduled to remain only for one year, he fell in love with the Las Vegas Valley and decided to make it his home. In 1948, he joined with Harris Sharp to form the firm that now bears the name, Zick & Sharp. Many of the finest homes and buildings in the area are the results of their creation. The Zick home decor is styled in contemporary with oriental influence. Pictures of the home and the furnishings are presented on page 3 of this issue.

The Zicks – Walter and Mildred – have two daughters, Karen and Claire, both of whom attended Las Vegas High School. They are avid and ardent horse women. Their room in the home is the only one with a western atmosphere, completely dominated with ribbons won as contestants, and statuettes of horses too numerous to count.

Zick’s partner, Harris Sharp, also is a resident of Paradise Palms., and is in the midst of decorating and furnishing his home at th present time.

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The Palmer and Krisel Homes of Paradise Palms - Plan 6

February 22nd, 2010 Categories: Las Vegas Real Estate News

All of the Plan 6’s in Paradise Palms are south of Desert Inn. There’s a few west of Spencer, but primarily, they were on the golf course.

Probably the most easily recognizable of the Palmer and Krisel plan 6’s, and the most popular is 6A with its butterfly roof and and shaddow block. I think it was also the most difficult to modify, so they tend to still be intact.

The “Revision House” that we showcased last month was a plan 6C.

I need to do an actual survey but I’m guessing that about 200 of the homes in Paradise Palms total were the Palmer and Krisel designs. I verified with Bill Krisel in an email exchange last year that many of the other floor plans and elevations in Paradise Palms are not his.

The Krisels have an intrinsic value, now that his name is well known to those who are in the know among the Mid Century Modern preservation movement. Unfortunately, one of the outcomes of the current market conditions is that NOTHING except for how many square feet a home has is being given any value by the appraisers. This will change over time as the market comes back.

 

 

 

 

The plan 6’s have the cantilevered concrete hearth and the polygon popout over the fireplace, which was a truly distinctive feature of this floorplan. In the amenities list, the fireplace is called a “wood burning fireplace with projected hood”.

Prices from the builder?

Lot A – $27,450

Lot B – $28,550

Lot C – $31,150

I’m assuming the C lots were on the golf course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a the general look of the fireplace in the plan 6, from the revision house.

The floating, cantilevered hearth was  originally plain cement. Here it’s been covered in slate.

 

 

 

 

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The June 1963 Paradise Palms Newsletters - Commercial Center In Urban Las Vegas Is Introduced

February 17th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern, Paradise Palms

In today’s installment, we get introduced to “Commercial Center”, which is currently under construction and scheduled for an August 1963 Grand Opening. A must read article!

 “New concepts in the use of space and frontage design, based on architectural studies, create a feeling of activity which is essential to bringing traffic to a shopping area.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “Welcome Mat” introduces us to Sam Melchionne and his family. Sam’s the band leader at the Desert Inn Sky Room.

A great piece of Las Vegas History in the tribute website. There’s some terrific pictures buried in it.

Lynn Zook at Classic Las Vegas also has a picture of Sam Mechionne with Robert Goulet in this post 

I want that Sunburst Clock!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s all about the “ladies”! And the HAIR!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch your speed. Sometimes I think they really struggled to fill the page. In retrospect, it’s still a fun read, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paradise Palms was the first Master Planned community in Las Vegas. It’s filled with what we now call Mid Century Modern homes. They deserve to be restored and collected.

Paradise Palms can be located on both sides of Desert Inn Road, between Maryland Parkway and Eastern Avenue. Some of the homes are on what’s now the “National Golf Course”. When the community was built, the course was the “Stardust Golf Course”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Palm Springs Modernism Week

February 16th, 2010 Categories: Architecture

I did a 36 hour whirlwind trip to Palm Springs this weekend for a very small part of Palm Springs Modernism Week. My last visit was 12 years ago. I should have planned for three or four days, as there’s so much to see. Next time!

Sunday night was the world premier of the new documentary on William Krisel, Architect.

It turns out, I got to play a role in the film. The film does a great job of telling Bill Krisel’s story, and telling of his philosophy of architecture, and at the end, there’s segment about his Paradise Palms homes in Las Vegas, and the new wave of appreciation for them. That’s where I came in. The “Alexanders” – 1000’s of home in California that were designed by Bill Krisel are already hot commodities among the modernist revival movement. The better preserved, or better restored, the more valuable. Las Vegas has the only group of them that are relatively undiscovered, and that was one of the points I was able to make in the film. The other point is that the houses are desirable for both the baby boomers coming back to our childhood homes, or the kids and grandkids of the boomers who have discovered that there’s something else besides Tuscan Tile Roofs and Suburban Stucco.

I had the opportunity to meet him and speak to Bill, both before after the movie.  which is significant to me, because he’s the architect who actually drew the floor plans and elevations that we are currently publishing in the Paradise Palms Brochure Series.

From my brief conversation, I learned that he never came to Las Vegas. Irwin Molasky, the developer of Paradise Palms was friends with Bob Alexander, who was building in Palm Springs. When Irwin saw the Krisel homes, he commissioned Bill to create a set of them for Las Vegas.

Probably the most important thing I learned from the film, and the conversation, is that the consumer public NEVER heard of the architects of tract housing. A few famous architects who did custom work had their name in the public – Lautner, Neutra, etc - but it was the builders names that were attached to the tract products. Bill Krisel was famous in California among the builders and developers, and he produced plans for more that 40,000 buildings during his career. It’s only in the last 10 years that his name surfaced in the modernist revival community. That’s when he acquired the cult following of affectionados of his work.

After the question and answer period, I was able to grab a picture with Paradise Palms residents Zane and Jenny Donaldson who had also driven down for the premiere. In the background next to William Krisel is Jake Gorst, the director of the film who was on the panel. I’m not sure where Alan Hess was at the moment, but he was on the panel as well.

The DVD of the documentary will be available in about a month, after the Los Angeles Premier at the Getty Museum. We have the wheels in motion for a “LAS VEGAS MODERNISM” weekend in October, which will feature a screening of the film here.

 

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Retro Renovation’s Pam Krueber Makes A Mid Mod Video For ETSY

February 12th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern

Our favorite post war baby boom housing blogger made an important video that makes some important points.

Of course you should read Pam’s announcement at RetroRenovation, and follow the links to the original posting on the ETSY site, as well.

Before you watch it, I want to make a couple of points that I don’t say often enough.

Mid Mod, or Mid Century Modern is a CATCH PHRASE! It means lots of things. It’s an era in history. It’s a style, and an aesthetic, and much of it has become timeless. Some of it is just kitsch and camp now. Some of it is worth imitating, copying and collecting. Some of it just isn’t.

It’s real easy to get all caught up in what’s the most visibly “unique” about the “modern” houses of the era. Those are the few that I call “Desert Modern”. Pam calls it “High-Fallutin Modern” in the video. You’ll see when you watch that she has a clever little name for that which isn’t high-fallutin. The homes in Paradise Palms, for example with their unique shapes, outrageous roof lines, geometric designs ARE NOT THE NORM. They’re not even – by any stretch of the imagination - the majority (except in PP).

MOST of the Mid Mod houses in the world are actually “ranch homes” which is why I try to use the term Ranch Modern to describe them. Ranches are the vast majority of homes in VintageVegas. The desert moderns are scattered among the ranches, and do have a collectible rarity factor. Regardless of size, or whether they’re tract or custom, most mid mods are ranch.

Pam’s whole website is devoted to what’s become her new theme…”Love the house you’re in”. Both the desert modern and the Ranch modern share a couple of simple ideas that were the post war revolutionary “rethinking” of HOW WE LIVE IN A HOME. For example, the sliding glass door, the smallest version of the “wall of glass” was a defining element of modern during it’s heyday. It’s lived on as a staple of housing design. The kitchen as the central hub of the house – part of the living area, instead of being hidden away as a forbidden zone has not gone away. The patio as an extension of the living area into the outdoors – still there! Clean lines, lack of ornamentation, the use of natural materials, bright colors, were all staples of modern.

That era that we now call “Mid Mod” lasted from the end of World War II until roughly 70. That’s when housing started to change again. Popular decorating got more ornate, 2–stories took over; lots started getting smaller; and stucco and red tile roofs became the cookie cutter clutter of todays housing. The Mid Century Modern Heritage Of Las Vegas has one unique element, as well, that exists nowhere else. All of it is centralized to the extent of the size of Las Vegas in 1970. Past that and you’re out of Vintage Vegas and into the suburbs and the sprawl.

Pam’s “RetroRenovation” is the best starting point there is if you want to learn more about what to do with your “modern” house – regardless of if it’s desert modern or ranch modern. And then if you really get hooked….there’s a thousand books and magazines and websites to read. Sit back, make some popcorn, enjoy the show!

Tags: retrorenovation, pam+kueber, desert+modern, ranch+modern

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The Paradise Palms Desert News - Building Community In 1963

February 12th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern, Paradise Palms

“Let’s keep Paradise Palms looking like paradise!!” — a motto worthy of re-embracing!

Here’s Volume 2 Number 5, the May 1963 newsletter of Paradise Palms.

 

 

This is how people networked back in 1963. Today, they’d just have a facebook fan page. Oh, they do! New fans welcome. New content welcome as well.

Of course, if it’s a real scoop, as these newsletters are, you should give it to me to publish first! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Welcome Mat introduces us to saxaphone legend Vido Musso, and lots of grass and a pine cone lamp.

We also meet The vice president of the Flamingo, a pair of pedal-pushers, and 2 pairs of flood pants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Impala and a ?

Any of these names recognizable?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Another plug for Vido Musso

Babette DeCastro of the DeCastro sisters.

Frances Faye 

Jack Nicklaus – you know who he is, so I didn’t link it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m hoping someone will uncover more of these newsletters.

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 1 Comment »

Plan 5 - The Tri - Level In Paradise Palms - A Mid Century Modern Neighborhood In Las Vegas

February 10th, 2010 Categories: Mid Century Modern, Paradise Palms

This one’s for you, Clay.

There’s no mistaking the Tri-Level design. They were only built South of Desert Inn, in Paradise Palms– the first Mid Century Modern Neighborhood of Las Vegas. You can’t miss them. There’s about a dozen or so of them all together spread out through the neighborhood. There’s still 3 or 4 of them that haven’t had additions or severe modifications or haven’t been stucco’d over.

Find the one on Pawnee Circle. It’s the best original.

They have some of the largest of the “Stone Screen” or “Sun Screen” privacy walls made out of the decorative concrete block that I’m so fond of. (that link will take you to the entire series that we spent all of last year on)

You’ll also note that they came with a zig zag of concrete panels that made up the steps from the street to the front door.

 

 

The line of shadow block in the chimney has always been inspirational.

 

 

 

 

The rubber stamped pricing isn’t very legible but the builder price is starting to really get up there in 1963.

Lot A = $27,950

Lot B = $25,950

Lot C = $31,550

A few (many) of you have been actually reading the amenities list. A few of them that have amused me, or caught my eye:

“ilsa imported Italian tile or glass tile walls around tub”

“Extra large Superamic tile counter top and splash”

“Wall to Wall Carpeting”  and a “Built-In TV outlet”

“full luminous ceiling with fluorescent tubing”

“6 foot built-in sloped mirrored medicine cabinet”

“Decorative block screen wall across entire lower level”

 

 

 

 

Posted by Jack LeVine | Currently 3 Comments »

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