PCP - 360 Vintage Vegas: Jackie Gaughan & the El Cortez

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There are a collection of men who helped build the city of Las Vegas during its formative years that didn’t have colored pasts.  Their origins are not linked to organized crime and their stories aren’t the sort of things people make movies about.  However they would become the shining examples that the gaming industry could not only exist without the Mob but could continue to grow. A fact that was established in 1941 and continues to endure to this day.  The El Cortez is the city’s oldest hotel casino to continuously operate under the same name and only the 2^nd casino ever added to the nation’s historical preservation list.  It’s also the only casino on that list still open to this day.  This is the story of the people and the properties that shaped Downtown Las Vegas.

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The Las Vegas Club was originally located on the other side of the st, in between the Northern Club and La Bayou.  In 1949, it moved across the street and took over the Overland Hotel eventually expanding to the corner for Fremont and Main (multiple sources)

Twitpic of the week

It's the kind of picture that makes you stop and look closer the moment you see it; bold moments in Vegas not-so-long-ago history.  MGM Grand's original entrance, on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana, was a giant golden lion meant to serve not only as the properties marquee but as a cubist representation of the studios mascot.  Captured here by @LasVegas_Lovers under construction, perhaps it's with the benefit of hind sight that one can't help but look at this picture and ask "what were they thinking?"  "How did they not know walking under a lion would put off Asian gamblers?"  Once you remember the entire project was meant to attract families to the property, the concept comes into focus.  It also reminds us that once there was a world where you couldn't simply Google "Asian Gambling Superstitions" and find all the reasons why this marquee would only exist for 3 years.  Regardless, fortune favors the bold and photography documents it for all to relive and learn from.

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A common misconception is that Vegas Vicki, the neon cowgirl formerly located diagonally across the street from Vegas Vic atop the Glitter Gulch sign on Fremont St, was originally named Sassy Sally.  The truth is she has always been known as Vegas Vicki.  The casino next door to her didn’t change its name from Sundance West to Sassy Sally’s until months after she had already been introduced to Fremont St.  Much like the romanticized and wholly inaccurate story that Bugsy Siegel came up with the idea to build the Flamingo, the legend of Vegas Vicki’s name has been inaccurately retold so many times by those who claim to know about the city and it’s history, it makes segments like 360 Vintage Vegas all the more important, if only so those that love the city so much they seek out shows like ours to get more of it, will know the truth. (Multiple sources but Vital Vegas inspired the research) 

Twitpic of the week 

In 1980, Bob Stupak, future owner of Vegas World and eventually Stratosphere, owned the Vault casino on Fremont St and wanted to build an iconic marquee.  Taking inspiration from Vegas Vic, the idea for Vicki was born.  As a compliment to Vic’s mechanical waiving hand, Stupak wanted Vicki’s to do something as well so he had the designers make her leg kick.  However only 6 months after she was unveiled, the kicking mechanism in her leg broke.  Claiming he didn’t want Vicki to be out of commission for however long it would have taken to repair, the mechanics were never fixed and her leg never kicked again.  This last week, Vicki was removed from her home of 37 years so that construction could begin on the former Las Vegas Club.  New owners promise Vicki isn’t being retired to the Neon Boneyard and vow she is simply being relocated.  However where that will be or when it will happen has not been revealed yet. The two most popular rumors are that she’ll be relocated to the northern freeway turnoff to Las Vegas as a bookend to the “Welcome” sign, not that one, or installed on the ground somewhere on Fremont St, making her a photo op for visitors to downtown. This week’s winner, shared by @NeonVacation may be the best photograph I’ve ever seen taken of Vegas Vicki. 

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