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Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

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Born this Way: All about Olfactory Receptors

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Study

Madrid, Spain -- 2/2/11

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Downtown Las Vegas – “Casino Center” – 1959

Golden Nugget, Lucky Strike Club, Nevada Club

The rise of the Las Vegas Strip as a tourist destination brought about an effort by downtown businesses to compete with the Strip for visitors. In 1959 leaders of the City of Las Vegas joined with a group of Fremont Street hotel and casino representatives to mount a branding and marketing push designed to direct visitors downtown.

A similar effort had come and gone in the late ‘40s to brand the downtown casino district as Glitter Gulch.

“Casino Center” was selected as the new name for the city’s business district, the results of a Name Downtown Contest. A man from Boulder City was given $500 for his winning submission. Mayor Oran Gragson commented, “I���m not sure that I like it … However, it’s better than Glitter Gulch.”

An electrified billboard, “Downtown Casino Center → 10 Minutes,” was installed on the Strip. The billboard was meant to be downtown's equivalent to the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, and was created by the same team of Western Neon and artist Betty Willis. Another neon billboard closer to the destination was placed atop the building at 230 Las Vegas Blvd. The peak of the effort came in ‘65 with the renaming of Second Street as Casino Center Boulevard.

The “Casino Center” concept waned in the 70s and was forgotten by the 90s when the city mounted a third generation effort that culminated in the Fremont Street Experience.

Dedication of the Casino Center sign, 7/1/60, with Mayor Oran K. Gragson and others. The sign was located on the present-day location of the Cosmopolitan. Photo by Las Vegas News Bureau, courtesy of Sam Morris. Second photo, date unknown.

“The huge Casino Center spectacular highway sign [is] 60 feet high … the words Casino Center alone contain 4000 bulbs and a star which sits atop the whole structure has arms 16 feet long.” - Review Journal, 2/29/60.

Kodachrome, Jul. '65, via Lost & Found Vegas.

The Casino Center sign was later moved to Interstate 15. “The sign was determined to be on the wrong side of the street for traffic and was moved to the highway, on the east side facing traffic moving into the city.” - Kent Carmichael, Western Electric.

Postcards below, '63 to '71.

Sources include: Win $500 (ad). Review-Journal, 6/3/59 p13; Ken Hansen. Mayor's Aide Out, Changes Ahead. Review-Journal, 7/21/59 p1; Contest Winner. Review-Journal, 7/23/59 p2; Les Devoir. Vegas Vagaries column. Review-Journal, 9/6/59 p18; Forrest Duke. The Visiting Fireman column. Review-Journal, 2/29/60 p15; Murray Hertz. New Name For Second St – It Makes Sense. Review-Journal, 7/14/65 p9.

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Nancy Friedland, Can I Tell You About It?, 2022 

Acrylic on wood panel, 20 x 24 in

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1955 Pegaso Z-102 Series II Berlinetta

Mathieu Heurtault, Courtesy of Gooding & Company

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