The ‘Other’ Paradise Palms that Never Was

Fresh off their success of Paradise Palms, Paradise Homes began planning and building a second golf course community, Black Mountain Estates, in 1964.  Featuring many of the same Palmer & Krisel-designed homes as Paradise Palms, Black Mountain Estates was a first for Henderson – being the first luxury home community in Henderson.  Henderson, for many decades, was considered an industrial and manufacturing town, with an address that for many was considered less than desirable to live in. It wasn’t until the 1970s when Green Valley in far north east Henderson sprang up that old perceptions began to fade. 

Las Vegas Review Journal, 04/25/64

Only a few dozen Palmer & Krisel homes were built at Black Mountain Estates, as by 1965 a recession had all but halted new home construction in the Las Vegas Valley.  One of the unique Palmer & Krisel-designed homes found in Black Mountain Estates that isn’t found in Paradise Palms is the Plan 2H.  This was the ‘Hawaiian’ elevation of the popular Plan 2 found throughout the northern portions of Paradise Palms.  Luckily there’s a well-preserved 2H on St. Andrews Road in Black Mountain Estates.  As for the remainder of the community, a vast majority of the lots were sold individually, resulting in an eclectic mix of custom homes from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, with a few lots remaining perpetually vacant.   As for the Palmer & Krisel homes, a majority of them have been renovated and updated beyond recognition.  

Henderson Home News, 10/29/64, advertising the Model 2H. Photo courtesy Santiago Pin-Ups

Model 2H on St. Andrews Road

Had that recession never hit Las Vegas and Paradise Homes completed their subdivision, Paradise Palms may have had a great architectural rival.  If you're interested in taking a look at Black Mountain Estates, from Downtown Henderson take Pacific Street south to Fairway Road.  Head east on Fairway Road, and you'll find Black Mountain Estates.  For those of you who are purists when it comes to mid-mod architecture and the works of Dan Palmer and Bill Krisel, the following photos may be a little tough to digest.  Links to the original Paradise Palms sales brochures have been added as a point of reference.

Black Mountain Estates - location

Model 1A

Model 1C

Paradise Palms Model 1 Sales Brochures

Model 2A

Model 2B

Paradise Palms Model 2 Sales Brochures

Model 3B

Model 3B

Model 3B

Model 3A

Paradise Palms Model 3 Sales Brochures

Model 4A

Model 4A

Model 4A

Model 4H

Model 4B

Model 4A

Paradise Palms Model 4 Sales Brochures

Model 6A

Model 6C

Model 6C

Model 6A

Paradise Palms Model 6 Sales Brochures

Model 7C

Paradise Palms Model 7 Sales Brochures

Model 8C

Model 8A

Model 8A

Paradise Palms Model 8 Sales Brochures

November Terrordise Palms Social Club

 

Paradise Palms Clown Ads

In honor of Halloween this week, we bring you one of the most frightening items from our discoveries at the Nevada State Museum:  Creepy Clown Ads of Fall, 1963.  We hear Nameless and Phooey still haunt the former Plan-o-Ramic Model Home complex, so for those of you on Seneca Drive, watch out.  Have a safe and happy Halloween everybody!

Paradise Palms 1964 Builder Close Out Ads

By late summer 1964, most of the builder tracts in Paradise Palms had begun to close out their models.  Americana, Fontainebleau and Paradise Homes were the only builders left.  This article from the Las Vegas Review Journal in August, 1964 describes the luxury homes of Paradise Palms a value.  Predicted in this article is a rise in home value due to contributing factors such as the impending Parkway (Boulevard) Mall, Nevada’s first enclosed regional shopping center; roadway improvements on Maryland Parkway, stated to be one of the finest duel highway avenues in the west; and a bright future for the area due to all the planned growth.

08/24/64

Our family that admires billboards is back again, this time admiring a Palmer & Krisel-designed Model 14H home, where one could enjoy the atmosphere of the Islands in an exciting Hawaiian-styled home.  Home buyers could purchase model homes – including furniture – for quick move-ins.  Interestingly, both the elusive 6H and 8E are shown to entice buyers; however only one 6H was ever built in Paradise Palms while no evidence of an unaltered 8E with signature floor to ceiling sliver window and vertical siding has appeared (all other Plan 8’s are well represented throughout our community in both original and altered forms).  

02/23/64

03/15/64 Model 8E

03/08/64 Model 6H

Lone Model 6H, on Tioga Way

The final advertisements for Paradise Palms were a marked departure from previous ads. Simplified clip art-style graphics were now used, and for the first time real people were featured in ads.  The style seen in the late 1964 ads is drastically different from what we saw with the grand opening ads of early 1962, no doubt reflecting changing times and practices.  In the final ad we see that fully furnished models were offered for sale, a practice we saw with Americana Homes.   In a time when the greatest entertainers and the best and brightest in hotel and management staff were lured cross-country to fast-growing Las Vegas, fully furnished homes gave buyers an instant start to their new lives in the middle of the Mojave desert. 

06/07/64

06/28/64

October Las Vegas National Golf Social

Paradise Palms Community Maps

Rediscovered recently from the Nevada State Museum archives are the Paradise Palms community advertisements which approximates where each builder was located.  Starting Paradise Palms prices were $21,950 to $41,000 depending on the builder, and topped out at $68,000 for the most luxurious home offered in Tropical Estates.  As the map is from 1964, Miranti Homes had finished building on the north side of Desert Inn Road in 1963 and had moved to Paradise Palms West, on Twain Avenue.  Valley High School, Orr and Knudson Middle Schools, and Ruby Thomas Elementary Schools hadn’t been built yet – Only Paradise Elementary and Bishop Gorman were noted on the map, the rest were noted as unnamed facilities.  The closest shopping centers were Vegas Village and Commercial Center.  Commercial Center was built by Paradise Homes – one can still see the signature folded-plate zig-zag roofline at the Las Vegas Cue Club fronting Sahara Avenue that echoes that of the Palmer & Krisel Model 11a and 12a.

This second map is from August 1964 – just three builders were left at this time – Paradise Homes, Americana Homes, and Fontainebleau Estates.  The Boulevard Mall hadn’t been named yet and was tentatively referred to as Parkway Mall, which was to feature both The Broadway and Sears, along with convenient parking for 6,000 cars.  Paradise Palms was humbly noted as ‘The most perfectly located residential community in Paradise Valley’, a description which still holds pretty true to this day.  For those who aren't aware, at the time, the unincorporated southeast quadrant of the Valley was known as Paradise Valley – a name which still occasionally pops up on maps or in business names.

This third and final map was not created by Paradise Palms, but was a general Las Vegas Valley map found in the May 1964 Las Vegas Sun which advertised which builders were building where.  Desert Inn front man Wilber Clark had several active subdivisions under construction at some of the most affordable prices in town - $15,995 for a home at Trop & Maryland or at Boulder Highway and Vegas Valley.  The most expensive other than Paradise Palms was Sunset Hills, at Wilshire and Westleigh (Oakey/Decatur) topping out at $27,800.  West Desert Inn Road was known as Asbury Avenue, Martin L. King Boulevard was Highland Drive, St. Rose Parkway, formerly Lake Mead Drive, was known as Frontier Boulevard, North Eastern Avenue was 25^th Street, Lake Mead Boulevard turned into a road named Miller Avenue, and the North Las Vegas Airport was noted as Thunderbird Field.   Interstate 15 hadn’t been built yet, and Las Vegas Boulevard was U.S. 91 & 93.