Sunday, January 16, 2011

Influential people who lived in Paradise Palms

Here is a brief and unfinished list of influential people who lived in Paradise Palms. All these names can be confirmed through the assessors website, newspapers or literary publications.


  • 1398 Cayuga Parkway - Arthur Liebert (co-owner of the Rainbow Club Casino in Henderson)
  • 1438 Cayuga Parkway - Bobby Darin
  • 1467 Cayuga Parkway - Frank Jospeph Lisbona (Singer, Pianist, Showroom Performer, Actor "Wild on the Beach", "The Day of the Wolves"), Vice Presient of Golden Nugget and Bally's); Harry James (big band leader) and Joy James (showgirl)
  • 1499 Cayuga Parkway - Fredric Apcar (Dunes show producer)
  • 1515 Cayuga Parkway - Phyllis Diller; Bobbie Gentry, singer ("Ode to Billy Joe")
  • 1517 Cayuga Parkway - Phil Ford (Comedian, "Ford & Hines," stage and strip performer)

  • 3397 Chickasaw Way - Fiore "Jimmy" Casella (1970s World Series of Poker champion), Nancy Niles (Author, "Vendetta")

  • 1425 Aztec Way - JK Houssels, Jr.  (President of the Tropicana and Union Plaza, Showboat Chairman and CEO)
  • 1428 Aztec Way - Bernice 'Bea' Heath (Family friend of fellow Paradise Palmer Sonny Liston, Liston visited Mrs. heath after dropping his wife off at the airport 12/26/71 and was the last known friend to have contact with Liston). Bea and husband Harry were also the first sales managers for Paradise Palms.
  • 1493 Aztec Way - Bill Deangelis (first entertainment director of MGM); Jerry Schafer, (producer) with Marianne Marks (actress)
  • 1526 Aztec Way - Roy Jarvis (Baseball Player, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates)
  • 1549 Aztec Way - Tony Sandler  (Singer, "Sandler & Young," Producer and Actor)
  • 1574 Aztec Way - Len Hornsby (former director of the LVCVA)
  • 1611 Aztec Way - Aija Kim (singer, Kim Sisters)

  • 1388 Pawnee Drive - Donald Cherry (singer "Mona Lisa," "Thinking of You")
  • 1389 Pawnee Drive -  Judy Lynn (Country music singer and Miss Idaho 1955)
  • 1408 Pawnee Drive - Dean Koontz (Writer)
  • 1429 Pawnee Drive - Gil Dova (Comedian Juggler)
  • 1620 Pawnee Drive - George Rock (Trumpeter, Spike Jones & His City Slickers)
  • 3328 Pawnee Drive - Rip Taylor; Sam "Baby Shoes" Prezant (bookmaker associated with the mob). Read more about Rip Taylor here.

  • 1676 Pawnee Circle - Jerry Gordon (vice president Flamingo) 
  • 1688 Pawnee Circle - Bruno Scarrone (choreographer for Folies Bergere)

  • 3355 Nahatan Way - Dick Cantino (musician/actor); Vido Musso (musician)
  • 3398 Natahan Way - Mike Corda (songwriter/ bandleader)

  • 3379 Dakota Way - Herb Kaufman (owner of Wonder World, financier of the Silver Slipper, and "Boylesque" producer)

  • 3507 Seneca Lane - Tony Costa (Composer, "I'll find a Rainbow"; Conductor at MGM Grand & Ballys and first conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic)

  • 3441 Sioux Way - Myrna Williams (Clark County Commissioner, sister of Mel Torme); David Williams (band leader, Casino host)
  • 3451 Sioux Way - Pierre Bezard (Dunes music director)

  • 3428 Spencer Street - George 'Ted' Marshall, Clark County district attorney, 1962-66
  • 3558 Spencer Street - Buddy Sarkissian (Drummer/musician in  Armenian cabaret music)
  • 3572 Spencer Street - Frank Rosenthal (the movie CASINO was based on this person)

  • 3333 Seminole Circle - Johnny Carson; Joe Louis (world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949)

  • 1761 Ottawa Drive - Stanley Morgan (the Ink Spots)
  • 2058 Ottawa Drive Debbie Reynolds; Sonny Liston (world heavyweight boxing champion)
  • 2082 Ottawa Drive - Frank Masterana (black book gambler)
  • 2126 Ottawa Drive - Walter Geary (Vice President & General Manager of Southern Nevada Telephone Company)
  • 2144 Ottawa Drive - Harris Sharp (architect, Zick & Sharp) 

  • 3614 Ottawa Circle - Walter Zick (architect, Zick & Sharp)
  • 3628 Ottawa Circle - Dolores Fuller (actress/song writer for Elvis)

  • 1389 Commanche Drive -  Dolores Fuller (actress/song writer for Elvis) (Yes, she owned 2 homes)

  • 1726 Commanche Circle - John Sexton (District Judge of Lander County)

  • 3454 Pueblo Way - Leland Newcomer (superintendent, Clark County School District)
  • 3456 Pueblo Way - Max Baer Jr. (actor - Jethro Bodine)
  • 3459 Pueblo Way - Frank Gagliardi (musician, big band composer, percussionist at the Sands, director of the UNLV Jazz ensemble)
  • 3482 Pueblo Way - Foster Brooks (actor & comedian) and Dionne Warwick (who lived there briefly, but used to rent it to the Riviera for their headlining acts such as Engelbert Humperdink, Bob Newheart, and Burt Bacharach) 
  • 3511 Pueblo Way - Imogene Ford (politician, Nevada Assembly and Senate, helped to create the Clark County Library District)
  • 3538 Pueblo Way - Peter Lynd Hayes & Mary Healey (entertainers - vaudeville, actors "The Peter Lynd Hayes Show," "Peter Loves Mary," "Zis Boom Bah," "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T."). Read more about Hayes and Healy here
  • 3551 and 3557 Pueblo Way - Alex Shoofey (Vice-president Sahara; Flamingo President, International Hotel President who brought in Elvis as a Las Vegas headliner)

  • 2114 Pueblo Circle - Robert Timm (pilot, holds the world record for longest flight at 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds in the "Hacienda" plane that hangs over the baggage claim area at McCarran)

  • 2144 Tona Circle - Sonny King (Jimmy Durante sidekick, introduced Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis, lounge performer at the Sands and Sahara, actor "Sergeants 3" and "Robin and the Seven Hoods")
  • 2208 Tona Circle - E. Parry Thomas (President, Bank of Las Vegas, philanthropist and  partner in Thomas & Mack)

  • 3638 Tioga Way - Gil Gilbert & Tulara Lee (comedians, "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady")
  • 3650 Tioga Way - Breck Wall (Entertainer, Bottoms Up, The Hollywood Palace)
  • 3672 Tioga Way - Roger Ray (comic xylophonist) 

  • 2121 Geronimo Way - Sante Kimes (professional grifter, convicted murderer)
  • 2201 Geronimo Way - Shecky Greene (Comedian, "History of the World Part 1," "Splash")
  • 3441 South Eastern Avenue - Max Baer Jr (Actor) (home demolished c. 2000)
  • 3613 South Eastern Avenue - Frances Fay (Singer, performer at The Thunderbird)
  • 2280 Mohigan Way - Melvin Shapire (propietor, Al Phillips) 
  • 2300 Mohigan Way - Frank Schivo (Sahara part owner)
  • 2367 Mohigan Way - Stanley Mallin (Jay Sarno's partner, co-creator of Caesars Palace, Circus Circus, Cabana Hotels)
  • 3829 Delaware Lane - Oscar & Deanne Alterwitz (proprietors of Walker Furniture)
  • 3838 Delaware Lane - Melvin Close Jr (politician, Nevada Assembly 1964-1970; Nevada Senate 1970-1982)
  • 3890 Delaware Lane - John Tobin (First appointee of the Nevada State Board of Hearing Aid Specalists)
  • 3858 Pima Lane. - Red Mcilvaine (radio host, talk show host, comedian, local t.v. guy and bit performer "The Electric Horseman," "Oh God You Devil," "The Pleasure Palace"); Liz Renay (entertainer known for her ties to actors and celebrity flings, burlesque performer, author "My First 2,000 Men" and appeared in John Waters' "Desperate Living")
  • 3853 Pima Lane - Donald Sutherland (actor) 

  • 3862 Omaha Circle - Nancy Austin (comedian, actor "Bottoms Up," clothing designer) and David London (comedian, Nancy's manager, husband and producer). Read more about Austin & London here.

  • 3525 Cochise Lane -  Robert Maheu (F.B.I., C.I.A., and right hand man to Howard Hughes)  
  •  3515 Cochise Lane - The film Casino was filmed at this location. Ash Resnick (Caesars vise president with ties to the mob), Val and Lee Valentine, Paradise Palms Tropical Estates developers who built this home based on models they built near the Boulevard Mall)
  • 3534 Cochise Lane - Jimmy Newman (Las Vegas Hilton Vice President, pioneered the ultra luxury "Sky Villa" concept)

  • 3237 Seneca Drive - Vince Cardell - (Liberace's protegee) 
  • 3398 Seneca Drive - Frank Pellegrino (actor)
  • 3378 Seneca Drive - Tonni Kalash (Trumpet for Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass) and Cal Kalash (violinist)
  • 3419 Seneca Drive - Babette DeCastro (Salon) - Member of the DeCastro sisters. The latin-flavored sister trio were protege's of Carmen Miranda, 1954 #2 song "Team Me Tonight"

  • 3333 Arapaho Circle - David Victorson (Caesars entertainment director) 
  • 3325 Arapaho Circle Nick Esposito (musician)
  • 3326 Arapaho Circle - Juliet Prowse (actor, engaged to Frank Sinatra, dated Elvis Presley) 

  • 1948 Raindance Way - David Swan (comedian/actor)

  • 1535 Golden Arrow Drive - Wolf & Muriel Adler (Wolf was a renowned musician and artist; Muriel was a concert pianist)
  • 1589 Golden Arrow Drive Elizabeth Knight (mother of Gladys Knight)
  • 1933 Golden Arrow Drive - Helen Scudier-Stout (restaurateur, founded The Egg & I)

  • 1607 Sombrero Drive - Beverly & Robert Griffin (gaming investigators "Griffin Investigation," publishers of monthly "Griffin Book" denoting casino cheats)
  • 1608 Sombrero Drive - Phil Foster (comedian, actor, played Laverne's dad "Frank DeFazio" on Laverne on Shirley)
  • 1626 Sombrero Drive - Louis Mack (first bail bondsman in Las Vegas, business owner "Lou's Liquor" "Boulder Liquor" "Esquire Bar" and "Las Vegas Bootery")
  • 1662 Sombrero Drive - Bob Rozario (Bobby Darin's musical director)
  • 1734 Sombrero  Drive - Buddy Rich (Drummer) Read more about Buddy Rich in here.
  • 2265 Sombrero Drive - Joe A. Mayer (Stardust musician, "The Novelities" and member of the Royal Dixie Jazz Band")
  • 2305 Sombrero - Cherry Wainer (South African musician, organist "Lord Rockingham's IX")

  • 3236 Brazos Street - Russ Morgan (Bandleader, composed 'You're Nobody till Someone Loves You')

  • 3516 Maricopa Way - Stuart Mason (second-generation owner of Taylor International, general contractor/builder of The International, MGM/Bally's, the current MGM, Venetian and Palazzo) 
  • 3541 Maricopa Way - Jay Sarno (Circus Circus / Caesars Palace) and Robert Bigelow (Bigelow Aereospace, Budget Suites)

  • 1618 Seneca Lane - Michael Schivo (concert promoter)

  • 3661 Seneca Circle - Juan Garcia Esquivel (Space age band leader)

  • 3555 Algonquin Drive  - State Senator John "Jack" Vergiels
  • 3591 Algonquin Drive - Don Vincent (Wayne Newton's music director)
  • 3575 Algonquin Drive - Gil Gilbert (Aladdin Vice President)

  • 3449 Algonquin Circle - Mitch DeWood - Flamingo Entertainment Director (original home burned in the late 70's and was rebuilt by the DeWoods)

  • 1900 Caballero Way - Arthur Trelease (City of Las Vegas City Manager)

  • 3217 Gaucho Drive - Kenny Kerr (performer, "Boylesque" first drag show on the strip)

  • 3187 Sundown Drive - Mimi Hines (Comedian, Ford & Hines)