The official website of Paradise Palms, Las Vegas, a mid century modern neighborhood. E-mail us at:
paradisepalmslasvegas@gmail.com
Check back often to stay updated on what's going on in our neighborhood.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Paradise Palms featured in "city best" article for Aol.
40 Years of Booze: 3 Classic Bars in Paradise Palms
For several decades, the well-preserved, Eastside neighborhood of Paradise Palms has hugged Desert Inn Road with some stunning architecture. Clay Heximer, a leading proponent for the neighborhood's preservation artfully sums up its appeal: "Residents here know they are a part of a historic neighborhood, and they do their shopping within a mile or two of their homes. It's their duty to preserve not just the neighborhood, but the surrounding commerce." And that, of course, includes the local bars and according to Clay, these classic taverns have kept its residents in proper spirits for more than 40 years.
Champagne's Cafe: You cannot go wrong with this place. Flocked red velvet wallpaper? Garish lightbulbs? Thick cigarette smoke that's more dense than a dry ice machine? Discover $2 drafts, sultry leather couches, a crankin' jukebox that plays your favorite stuff from the past 50 years, plus holiday lights spotting the interior 365 days a year.3557 S. Maryland Pkwy.; 702-737-1699
Davey's Locker: The bartenders here were not trained by Dale DeGroff, but any bar that has a giant blue neon fish in the parking lot to welcome you was never striving for pretension in the first place. In addition to cheap beer and shot specials for under $3, Davey's boasts the most colorful set of barflies this side of a Steinbeck novel.
1149 E. Desert Inn Rd.; 702-735-0001
Coachman's Inn: Another fine late-'60s leftover. A reputed favorite of the late mobster Tony Spilatro, Coachman's Inn's staying power lies in its quiet, cozy confines that will cater to a late-night nightcap very well. Chatty servers, a menu of enticing appetizers (who's not down for oysters or lobster bisque?), casual lighting and ample seafaring decor offer a swell retro feel for all.
3240 Eastern Ave.; 702-731-4202
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Neighborhood Pride Zone.
The best way to take care of our neighborhood is doing the job ourselves. If we are able to establish a neighborhood pride zone the county will give us grants for taking care of the graffiti. In other words, we'll basically be getting paid for what we already do for free. The money wont go directly to an individual, but rather go back into the neighborhood. It can be used for beautification projects, a block party, neighborhood watch signs(which are $25 a piece) and so on.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Paradise Town Board Agenda.
The following was sent to me by a fellow Paradise Palmer.
________________________________________________
On February 8th, one of our neighbors, St Viator on Eastern and Flamingo, will go before the Paradise Town Board to obtain Waivers to permit the property to remain unlandscaped along Flamingo Road, Eastern Avenue, within the parking lot, and around the rear property lines and adjacent to the Flamingo Crest townhomes. For those of you who have been here a while, St. Viator at one time had trees and shrubs along these frontages, but elected to remove all living vegetation and leave only bare gravel for our community to view. This action was against Clark County code, and after facing a violation issued from Code Enforcement, St. Viator is now asking for permission to allow the current unlanscaped appearance to remain. St. Viator is claiming in their justification letter submitted to Clark County Planning that if they install the bare minimum landscape required by code, it will be vandalized and destroyed by the community.
The removal of all living vegetation from the roadway frontages from this property negatively affects our community. Eastern and Flamingo are major thoroughfares, and thousands of vehicles pass by every day. This current appearance of the site sets a negative precedent for the neighborhood and for the Las Vegas Valley. The removal of landscape affects property values, exacerbates the urban heat island effect and contributes to community blight. I strongly encourage our community to voice opposition to St. Viator’s request and send an e-mail to Clark County Comprehensive Planning at alr@clarkcountynv.gov, or show up to the February 8th Town Advisory Board Meeting and ask that the bare minimum amounts of landscape required by Code be installed by the property owner.
For more information, call Clark County Comprehensive Planning at 455-4314 or review the Paradise Town Board Agenda at: http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/Depts/admin....811.updated.pdf
________________________________________________
On February 8th, one of our neighbors, St Viator on Eastern and Flamingo, will go before the Paradise Town Board to obtain Waivers to permit the property to remain unlandscaped along Flamingo Road, Eastern Avenue, within the parking lot, and around the rear property lines and adjacent to the Flamingo Crest townhomes. For those of you who have been here a while, St. Viator at one time had trees and shrubs along these frontages, but elected to remove all living vegetation and leave only bare gravel for our community to view. This action was against Clark County code, and after facing a violation issued from Code Enforcement, St. Viator is now asking for permission to allow the current unlanscaped appearance to remain. St. Viator is claiming in their justification letter submitted to Clark County Planning that if they install the bare minimum landscape required by code, it will be vandalized and destroyed by the community.
The removal of all living vegetation from the roadway frontages from this property negatively affects our community. Eastern and Flamingo are major thoroughfares, and thousands of vehicles pass by every day. This current appearance of the site sets a negative precedent for the neighborhood and for the Las Vegas Valley. The removal of landscape affects property values, exacerbates the urban heat island effect and contributes to community blight. I strongly encourage our community to voice opposition to St. Viator’s request and send an e-mail to Clark County Comprehensive Planning at alr@clarkcountynv.gov, or show up to the February 8th Town Advisory Board Meeting and ask that the bare minimum amounts of landscape required by Code be installed by the property owner.
For more information, call Clark County Comprehensive Planning at 455-4314 or review the Paradise Town Board Agenda at: http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/Depts/admin....811.updated.pdf
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Paradise Palms gets more press. This time in the Las Vegas Weekly.
Paradise Palms is history
Residents looking for official designation
Wed, Feb 2, 2011 (6:30 p.m.)
Paradise Palms
Photo: Clay Heximer
Designed by Southern California architects Dan Palmer and William Krisel, the homes were part of developer Irwin Molasky’s grand plan to create a stylish neighborhood away from Downtown and within walking distance of the Boulevard Mall (which Molasky also developed).
It drew the movers and shakers of the era—entertainers, mobsters, designers, architects and casino executives—and despite a few shoddy enhancements over the years, many of the homes, built on the Stardust Golf Course, maintain their original mid-mod features, including spacious interiors, indoor/outdoor living, flat or folded plate roof lines, stone screens and clerestory windows.
Lynn Zook, historian for the Friends of Classic Las Vegas, calls Paradise Palms a “wonderful little pocket of the midcentury modern era” that “somehow, after all of these years, survived.” One of its homes was even featured in the movie Casino.
Given all of this, a group of Paradise Palm residents wants the neighborhood to have a historical designation, something to educate the community, but has hit a snag: the neighborhood is in unincorporated Clark County and, unlike the city, the county has no historical preservation program.
Clay Heximer, who’s been leading the effort and even created a Paradise Palms website, has talked with local and state preservation groups, to no avail. He may be in luck, however. County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who has tried to change the ordinance for two years, says Nancy Lipski, director of the Department of Comprehensive Planning, is writing an ordinance that would establish a historical designation program. Giunchigliani hopes to have it passed by the end of March.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Paradise Palms in the newspaper.
The View Feb.1.2011
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Paradise Palms, the first planned community in Clark County, wants to get on the map.
Celebrities have had addresses within its boundaries, and hundreds of families still call its Mid-Century Modern-designed ranches and split-levels home.
One of the community's residents is working to preserve and protect its charm for generations to come by achieving historic distinction for the almost 50-year-old development.
Clay Heximer is trying to shield the 600 or so homes from bulldozers, developers and residents looking to make harsh face-lifts to the iconic homes.
"I just love this community, and I don't want to see it go the other way," he said.
Heximer has rallied neighbors and brought his case to the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office Jan. 12 in an effort to obtain state protection and funding.
While he waits to see where Paradise Palms ranks against projects from all 17 Nevada counties, Heximer is working with local lawmakers to see his preservation efforts through.
The neighborhood is nestled around Las Vegas National Golf Club, 1911 E. Desert Inn Road, the former Stardust Golf Course, and is bordered by Desert Inn and Flamingo roads and by Maryland Parkway and Eastern Avenue.
As Las Vegas entrepreneur Irwin Molasky developed the area in 1962, he called on noted architects Dan Palmer and Bill Krisel to work their magic for modern, massed-produced housing, said Alan Hess, architect and architectural historian.
"Paradise Palms is a very good example of their work," he said. "What they were trying to do was to bring good modern design to the average person in tract homes. We're dealing with something of excellent architecture of its time."
The houses were about $40,000 back then, affordable yet competitive, Hess said. They sold wildly from 1957 to 1959, and it's rumored that a unit per day was sold in that time period.
The architectural duo added their signature design of slanted roofs, sharp angels and less formal floor plans. They tweaked where needed to respond to the desert climate, Hess said.
"It's one of the most distinctive parts of Las Vegas I've found," said Realtor and Mid-Century Modern enthusiast Jack LeVine. "It was a total rethinking of the modernist movement."
And the architects' vision wasn't limited to bricks and mortar.
Outside, they planted palm trees -- a Krisel favorite and a nod to the name of many of their developments. Palmer and Krisel are responsible communities such as the Twin Palms community in Palm Springs, Calif., and Corbin Palms near San Fernando, Calif.
Hess was unsure if any of their other communities are on any historic registries.
The first and only designated historic neighborhood in Las Vegas is John S. Park Historic District near Las Vegas and Charleston boulevards, LeVine said.
The area also is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It is protected by the city of Las Vegas Historic Register, but Paradise Palms falls in Clark County jurisdiction.
County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani is working with Heximer and the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, on whose board of directors she serves, to draft a historic preservation ordinance to propose to the Clark County Commission.
If enacted, the ordinance would provide "an additional layer of protection, as well as recognition" when developers or planners consider changes to the communities, she said.
It wouldn't directly block, for example, a high-rise from being built, but it would afford more room for discussion, she said.
"It gives pause, and the council would then say it would be compatible," she said.
The ordinance would differ from the state's because it wouldn't provide funds, Giunchigliani said.
"It's very difficult getting money out of the state," she said.
Achieving historic distinction can be tricky, and all parties must be in sync, said Mark Hall-Patton, administrator of the Clark County Museum System.
He has worked on cultural commissions in the past and seen preservation agreements crumble, he said.
"You're balancing a public view-scape with private ownership," he said. "You have to get everyone on board, and you can't impose (on rights)."
Not only is the community a part of local history, its moniker speaks to Las Vegas' growth.
The Paradise area gets its name indirectly from early Las Vegas settlers. Land that is now a barren desert landscape was a lush watershed for miners traveling through Nevada in the mid-19th century. Hence, many found a "paradise" from a of time ranching and producing food and decided to build a life there.
Another factor as to why developers chose the Paradise Palms moniker could have come from Molasky himself. The businessman founded Paradise Development Co. with Merv Adelson shortly after moving to the valley in 1951.
Paradise Palms was one of their first projects; a community sprouted up with the aim of supporting their future properties on or around Maryland Parkway. The men famously constructed Las Vegas' first enclosed shopping center, The Boulevard mall, and Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, the Bank of America Plaza and Nathan Adelson Hospice.
"At the time, Paradise was the edge of town," Hall-Patton said. "It was somewhat of a gamble to build out there."
Heximer has a few neighbors who have lived in their homes since Palmer and Krisel built them. He went door-to-door seeking input and distributing information about his desire to get on a historic register.
"As soon as I would say, 'We're trying to get the neighborhood back to what it was,' they were all like, 'Yes,' " he said.
He has lived in his 1962 split-level home for about a year, and he's also creating a Neighborhood Watch and social hour for residents. He's resilient about protecting his neighborhood despite a tough road ahead.
"It makes me keep trying to find new avenues," he said.
Heximer is unsure when or if the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office will return with a decision. Giunchigliani hoped some sort of county protection could come this year.
"It's the right thing to do in the long run, but it's a long process," Giunchigliani said. "I totally applaud them."
For more information about the campaign, visit paradisepalmslasvegas.com.
Contact Centennial and Paradise View reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@viewnews.com or 477-3839."
"Saving the neighborhood
Advocate fights for preservation of Paradise Palms
By MAGGIE LILLISVIEW STAFF WRITER
  Craig L. Moran/ViewClay Heximer sits on the steps outside his home on Pawnee Circle in Paradise Palms. Johnny Carson and Rip Taylor were among a number of stars who have lived in the community.  Special to VIewA home in Paradise Palms was featured in the 1995 film "Casino." The historical tidbit associated with the home and others like it in the master-planned community are helping neighborhood resident Clay Heximer in his bid to have Paradise Palms registered as a historic community.
|
Celebrities have had addresses within its boundaries, and hundreds of families still call its Mid-Century Modern-designed ranches and split-levels home.
One of the community's residents is working to preserve and protect its charm for generations to come by achieving historic distinction for the almost 50-year-old development.
Clay Heximer is trying to shield the 600 or so homes from bulldozers, developers and residents looking to make harsh face-lifts to the iconic homes.
"I just love this community, and I don't want to see it go the other way," he said.
Heximer has rallied neighbors and brought his case to the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office Jan. 12 in an effort to obtain state protection and funding.
While he waits to see where Paradise Palms ranks against projects from all 17 Nevada counties, Heximer is working with local lawmakers to see his preservation efforts through.
The neighborhood is nestled around Las Vegas National Golf Club, 1911 E. Desert Inn Road, the former Stardust Golf Course, and is bordered by Desert Inn and Flamingo roads and by Maryland Parkway and Eastern Avenue.
As Las Vegas entrepreneur Irwin Molasky developed the area in 1962, he called on noted architects Dan Palmer and Bill Krisel to work their magic for modern, massed-produced housing, said Alan Hess, architect and architectural historian.
"Paradise Palms is a very good example of their work," he said. "What they were trying to do was to bring good modern design to the average person in tract homes. We're dealing with something of excellent architecture of its time."
The houses were about $40,000 back then, affordable yet competitive, Hess said. They sold wildly from 1957 to 1959, and it's rumored that a unit per day was sold in that time period.
The architectural duo added their signature design of slanted roofs, sharp angels and less formal floor plans. They tweaked where needed to respond to the desert climate, Hess said.
"It's one of the most distinctive parts of Las Vegas I've found," said Realtor and Mid-Century Modern enthusiast Jack LeVine. "It was a total rethinking of the modernist movement."
And the architects' vision wasn't limited to bricks and mortar.
Outside, they planted palm trees -- a Krisel favorite and a nod to the name of many of their developments. Palmer and Krisel are responsible communities such as the Twin Palms community in Palm Springs, Calif., and Corbin Palms near San Fernando, Calif.
Hess was unsure if any of their other communities are on any historic registries.
The first and only designated historic neighborhood in Las Vegas is John S. Park Historic District near Las Vegas and Charleston boulevards, LeVine said.
The area also is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It is protected by the city of Las Vegas Historic Register, but Paradise Palms falls in Clark County jurisdiction.
County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani is working with Heximer and the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, on whose board of directors she serves, to draft a historic preservation ordinance to propose to the Clark County Commission.
If enacted, the ordinance would provide "an additional layer of protection, as well as recognition" when developers or planners consider changes to the communities, she said.
It wouldn't directly block, for example, a high-rise from being built, but it would afford more room for discussion, she said.
"It gives pause, and the council would then say it would be compatible," she said.
The ordinance would differ from the state's because it wouldn't provide funds, Giunchigliani said.
"It's very difficult getting money out of the state," she said.
Achieving historic distinction can be tricky, and all parties must be in sync, said Mark Hall-Patton, administrator of the Clark County Museum System.
He has worked on cultural commissions in the past and seen preservation agreements crumble, he said.
"You're balancing a public view-scape with private ownership," he said. "You have to get everyone on board, and you can't impose (on rights)."
Not only is the community a part of local history, its moniker speaks to Las Vegas' growth.
The Paradise area gets its name indirectly from early Las Vegas settlers. Land that is now a barren desert landscape was a lush watershed for miners traveling through Nevada in the mid-19th century. Hence, many found a "paradise" from a of time ranching and producing food and decided to build a life there.
Another factor as to why developers chose the Paradise Palms moniker could have come from Molasky himself. The businessman founded Paradise Development Co. with Merv Adelson shortly after moving to the valley in 1951.
Paradise Palms was one of their first projects; a community sprouted up with the aim of supporting their future properties on or around Maryland Parkway. The men famously constructed Las Vegas' first enclosed shopping center, The Boulevard mall, and Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, the Bank of America Plaza and Nathan Adelson Hospice.
"At the time, Paradise was the edge of town," Hall-Patton said. "It was somewhat of a gamble to build out there."
Heximer has a few neighbors who have lived in their homes since Palmer and Krisel built them. He went door-to-door seeking input and distributing information about his desire to get on a historic register.
"As soon as I would say, 'We're trying to get the neighborhood back to what it was,' they were all like, 'Yes,' " he said.
He has lived in his 1962 split-level home for about a year, and he's also creating a Neighborhood Watch and social hour for residents. He's resilient about protecting his neighborhood despite a tough road ahead.
"It makes me keep trying to find new avenues," he said.
Heximer is unsure when or if the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office will return with a decision. Giunchigliani hoped some sort of county protection could come this year.
"It's the right thing to do in the long run, but it's a long process," Giunchigliani said. "I totally applaud them."
For more information about the campaign, visit paradisepalmslasvegas.com.
Contact Centennial and Paradise View reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@viewnews.com or 477-3839."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)