LV history buffs appeal for accuracy

The city's Historic Preservation Commission wants Las Vegas to rewrite history -- at least the version embedded in downtown sidewalks.

At its meeting Wednesday, the advisory board urged city officials to replace three of the 18 bronze medallions marking major events in Las Vegas history. Commissioners said the three contain incorrect information.

"They're wrong, and they ought to be fixed," Commissioner Mary Hausch said.

Though commissioners argued that some of the other medallions have been etched with details that cannot be verified, they specifically targeted those with clear mistakes.

One marker claims the city's first hotel, now the Golden Gate, opened in 1906 at Main and Fremont streets. The hotel that is now the Golden Gate did open that year, the Historic Preservation Commission has determined, but it was neither the first hotel in Las Vegas nor the first downtown hotel.

Another medallion claims the first atomic blast was conducted in 1951 in Nevada "to great fanfare." Although the first atomic test wasn't done in secret, commissioners concluded that it lacked the fanfare of later explosions.

A third medallion lists 1945 as the year that Bugsy Siegel bought the El Cortez and planned the first Strip casino resort. In reality, according to the commission's findings, Siegel was part of a group that bought a percentage of several casinos on Fremont Street in 1945. He wasn't planning the Flamingo then, but even if he was, it wouldn't have been the first casino on the Strip.

The medallions, which cost $3,600 each, were placed in the Fremont East District as part of the city's ongoing $5.5 million reconstruction of Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Eighth Street.

"This was not looked at as a historic district; it was looked at by the designers as an entertainment district," said Scott Adams, director of the city's Office of Business Development.

Adams told the Historic Preservation Commission that it would cost at least $1,000 to tear each medallion out of the concrete.

"It would probably be very expensive and disruptive to remove the medallions," he said.

Instead, Adams suggested adding two new medallions to clarify the intent of the markers. He provided the commission with proposals for the new medallions, described as "disclaimer plaques."

One of his proposals read, "Fremont East District welcomes you to downtown Las Vegas. Watch for Las Vegas fun facts as you walk through Fremont East." All the other proposals referred to the content of the medallions as either "fun facts" or "fun trivia."

"That's not a disclaimer; that's an endorsement," complained Bob Stoldal, chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Commissioner David Millman, director of the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas, agreed with Stoldal's assessment and said he'd rather do nothing than add the new medallions.

Adams blamed no one for the inaccuracies on the medallions.

"I stand behind my staff and how they developed those," he said.

Commissioner Janet White made the motion to recommend that city officials change the three markers.

"We understand that we have no power to force them to do that," she said.

Commissioners also recommended that city officials allow them to review future medallions.

Adams said he would take the board's recommendations to heart and come up with cost estimates for replacing the three medallions.