Vegas Vic waiting to welcome us to Las Vegas."Howdy, You All, come right in!"
Lincoln County Lynx - Center, George Wimsatt 
Ina Wadsworth, Ruby Lee, Wanda Nielson "Cruising" Freemont St.
The El Cortez Hotel and Casino of the 1940s and 1950s
Rat Pack Members, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra
Peek-A-B00!
A suite at the El Cortez in the 1950s
When I was a teenager in the 1940s, a very popular radio program
was "Your Hit Parade". It was broadcast each Saturday evening
and offered the most popular and best selling songs of the week. In
the beginning, it offered the top 15 songs. Later, a new and more
exciting format offered a countdown to the top three songs, with the
number one song announced with much fanfare, for the grand
finale.
The title of this story comes from a song written by Johnny Mercer
in 1944 and recorded by Frank Sinatra, the swoon master of all the
giddy "bobby sox" crowd . It was a "Your Hit Parade" winner in 1945,
and one of my favorites. It was titled, "Dream (When You're Feeling
Blue)". The chorus of the song was fitting for me, a high school
freshman.
So, dream when the day is through;
Dream, and they might come true.
Things never are as bad as they seem.
So dream, dream, dream.
When I was in high school, some of my most exciting times were the
trips the students took to Las Vegas. The different student body
clubs had trips affiliated with their studies. The Pep Club had
several trips each year. Even though Las Vegas High School was
much larger than Lincoln County High School, they competed in the
same league in boys sports. The Pep Club usually had a trip to Las
Vegas for a football game and a basketball game. If we made the
league or district playoffs, which we often did, we would have
another trip.
They kept the girls separated from the boys on these trips and the
ball teams were also separated from the other boys. The athletes
and coaches always stayed at the Wittwer Motel in North Las Vegas
and the girls stayed at the Sal Sagev Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
I guess they figured all the distance and no cars, there would be no
breaking curfew or getting into mischief. I can honestly say that it
did not always work the way they intended it to.
As we were not allowed to go onto the Strip, or any establishment
except those on Freemont St. and Las Vegas Blvd., the Sal Sagev
was the perfect place to stay. It is located at One Freemont St.
and is the smallest and oldest hotel on the street. It opened in
1906 as the Hotel Nevada, and in 1931 became the Sal Sagev (Las
Vegas spelled backwards). In had one more change in 1950 when
it became the Golden Gate Hotel, home to the famous $.50 shrimp
cocktail, (but that is a story for another time.)
One of the girls favorite destinations was the El Cortex Hotel and
Casino. It had a lot of glamour, and a bit of notoriety, attached to it.
It was owned by mobster/gangster Bugsy Siegel. It had opened in
1941 and was considered the finest such establishment in downtown
Las Vegas. Bugsy bought it in 1945 when he migrated to Las Vegas
from California when authorities shut down California's gambling
operations. He ruled his little kingdom with a flamboyance new to the
downtown area, throughout 1945 and 1946. In late December of
1946, he sold it to open the Flamingo on the Strip. While he was at
the El Cortez, you could usually find all, or part of, Hollywood's
"Rat Pack" there, either as entertainers or as Bugsy's honored guests.
The Rat Pack consisted of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr, Dean
Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. It had long been written
about the Rat Pack's ties to the gangster scene, especially Frank and
Dean, and they were close personal friends of Bugsy. Now, to a girl
in her teens from the tiny little town of Panaca, Nevada, that was
heady stuff, for sure! At that time, ole "Blue Eyes", as Frank was
called, was the crooner who was making all of the girls hearts flutter,
and the rest of the Rat Pack shouted "Hollywood Entertainer"!
Cruising Freemont St. several times a day was mind boggling to me.
I loved the noise, the millions of lights, the people thronging the
streets, rushing from one establishment to the next, intent on
their individual missions and often not paying attention to who they
were bumping into or knocking for a loop. I was enthralled with the
famous "Vegas Vic" neon sign, a 40 foot tall cowboy wearing a big
stetson and boots, with a cigarette in his mouth, forever waving
his arm and welcoming us to Las Vegas and Freemont St.
The El Cortez is located at 6th Ave. and Freemont St., one block off
Las Vegas Blvd. To make it even more exciting and mysterious,
as we walked Freemont St., we could reach it by taking the pedes-
trian walkway to the hotel's main entrance. The walkway was a
marvel. It was 1,500 feet long with a 90 foot high overhead canopy
with thousands of small blinking lights. It connected several hotels
along Freemont St. from Las Vegas Blvd. to Main St.
When you stepped from the walkway into the main entrance of the
hotel, you stepped into glamour, beautiful marble floors, paneled
walls, elegant draperies, plush furniture, and walls lined with
autographed pictures of Hollywood celebrities, sports celebrities,
political greats, and scenes from Broadway and Las Vegas shows,
and Bugsy reigning supreme with the headliners of the day. Of
course, we were not allowed to go into the casino, but we would
often catch a celebrity walking in the lobby, and it could be one of
the Rat Pack. Bugsy was often seen walking around with the ever
present cigar in his mouth, very much the genial host. Just
knowing who he was, and what he did, made us giggle, even as we
shivered if he looked our way.
We couldn't afford to eat in their main dining rooms, but could go to
the coffee shop, or get a hamburger, hot dog, or ribs, at The Grill.
Bugsy had added the Tower behind the original hotel and casino to
jazz it up and add more rooms. One of the sneaky things we loved
to do was to ride the Tower's elevator, getting off at each floor to
walk the hallways, hoping to be able to look into a room as a maid
was cleaning, or a guest was entering or exiting. The rooms looked
so glamorous and opulent.
It was at that time that I made myself a promise that I would one
day stay at the El Cortez Hotel. I wanted to walk those hallways
as a guest and use my key to enter one of those beautiful suites.
I wanted to partake of the famous El Cortez smorgasbord in the
huge dining room and browse the gift shops. It seemed a pretty
lofty goal for a teenager from Panaca.
Did I achieve that goal, realize that dream? To find out, you will
was "Your Hit Parade". It was broadcast each Saturday evening
and offered the most popular and best selling songs of the week. In
the beginning, it offered the top 15 songs. Later, a new and more
exciting format offered a countdown to the top three songs, with the
number one song announced with much fanfare, for the grand
finale.
The title of this story comes from a song written by Johnny Mercer
in 1944 and recorded by Frank Sinatra, the swoon master of all the
giddy "bobby sox" crowd . It was a "Your Hit Parade" winner in 1945,
and one of my favorites. It was titled, "Dream (When You're Feeling
Blue)". The chorus of the song was fitting for me, a high school
freshman.
So, dream when the day is through;
Dream, and they might come true.
Things never are as bad as they seem.
So dream, dream, dream.
When I was in high school, some of my most exciting times were the
trips the students took to Las Vegas. The different student body
clubs had trips affiliated with their studies. The Pep Club had
several trips each year. Even though Las Vegas High School was
much larger than Lincoln County High School, they competed in the
same league in boys sports. The Pep Club usually had a trip to Las
Vegas for a football game and a basketball game. If we made the
league or district playoffs, which we often did, we would have
another trip.
They kept the girls separated from the boys on these trips and the
ball teams were also separated from the other boys. The athletes
and coaches always stayed at the Wittwer Motel in North Las Vegas
and the girls stayed at the Sal Sagev Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
I guess they figured all the distance and no cars, there would be no
breaking curfew or getting into mischief. I can honestly say that it
did not always work the way they intended it to.
As we were not allowed to go onto the Strip, or any establishment
except those on Freemont St. and Las Vegas Blvd., the Sal Sagev
was the perfect place to stay. It is located at One Freemont St.
and is the smallest and oldest hotel on the street. It opened in
1906 as the Hotel Nevada, and in 1931 became the Sal Sagev (Las
Vegas spelled backwards). In had one more change in 1950 when
it became the Golden Gate Hotel, home to the famous $.50 shrimp
cocktail, (but that is a story for another time.)
One of the girls favorite destinations was the El Cortex Hotel and
Casino. It had a lot of glamour, and a bit of notoriety, attached to it.
It was owned by mobster/gangster Bugsy Siegel. It had opened in
1941 and was considered the finest such establishment in downtown
Las Vegas. Bugsy bought it in 1945 when he migrated to Las Vegas
from California when authorities shut down California's gambling
operations. He ruled his little kingdom with a flamboyance new to the
downtown area, throughout 1945 and 1946. In late December of
1946, he sold it to open the Flamingo on the Strip. While he was at
the El Cortez, you could usually find all, or part of, Hollywood's
"Rat Pack" there, either as entertainers or as Bugsy's honored guests.
The Rat Pack consisted of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr, Dean
Martin, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. It had long been written
about the Rat Pack's ties to the gangster scene, especially Frank and
Dean, and they were close personal friends of Bugsy. Now, to a girl
in her teens from the tiny little town of Panaca, Nevada, that was
heady stuff, for sure! At that time, ole "Blue Eyes", as Frank was
called, was the crooner who was making all of the girls hearts flutter,
and the rest of the Rat Pack shouted "Hollywood Entertainer"!
Cruising Freemont St. several times a day was mind boggling to me.
I loved the noise, the millions of lights, the people thronging the
streets, rushing from one establishment to the next, intent on
their individual missions and often not paying attention to who they
were bumping into or knocking for a loop. I was enthralled with the
famous "Vegas Vic" neon sign, a 40 foot tall cowboy wearing a big
stetson and boots, with a cigarette in his mouth, forever waving
his arm and welcoming us to Las Vegas and Freemont St.
The El Cortez is located at 6th Ave. and Freemont St., one block off
Las Vegas Blvd. To make it even more exciting and mysterious,
as we walked Freemont St., we could reach it by taking the pedes-
trian walkway to the hotel's main entrance. The walkway was a
marvel. It was 1,500 feet long with a 90 foot high overhead canopy
with thousands of small blinking lights. It connected several hotels
along Freemont St. from Las Vegas Blvd. to Main St.
When you stepped from the walkway into the main entrance of the
hotel, you stepped into glamour, beautiful marble floors, paneled
walls, elegant draperies, plush furniture, and walls lined with
autographed pictures of Hollywood celebrities, sports celebrities,
political greats, and scenes from Broadway and Las Vegas shows,
and Bugsy reigning supreme with the headliners of the day. Of
course, we were not allowed to go into the casino, but we would
often catch a celebrity walking in the lobby, and it could be one of
the Rat Pack. Bugsy was often seen walking around with the ever
present cigar in his mouth, very much the genial host. Just
knowing who he was, and what he did, made us giggle, even as we
shivered if he looked our way.
We couldn't afford to eat in their main dining rooms, but could go to
the coffee shop, or get a hamburger, hot dog, or ribs, at The Grill.
Bugsy had added the Tower behind the original hotel and casino to
jazz it up and add more rooms. One of the sneaky things we loved
to do was to ride the Tower's elevator, getting off at each floor to
walk the hallways, hoping to be able to look into a room as a maid
was cleaning, or a guest was entering or exiting. The rooms looked
so glamorous and opulent.
It was at that time that I made myself a promise that I would one
day stay at the El Cortez Hotel. I wanted to walk those hallways
as a guest and use my key to enter one of those beautiful suites.
I wanted to partake of the famous El Cortez smorgasbord in the
huge dining room and browse the gift shops. It seemed a pretty
lofty goal for a teenager from Panaca.
Did I achieve that goal, realize that dream? To find out, you will
need to read my next story.
1 comment:
I think I know the answer! I loved theses pics ( Cowboy Vic- I remember that one) and the memory of the shrimp cocktails, even though I think they were $1.00 by the time I got to eat them. Certainly "Good times,noodle salad" for you!
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