El Cortez moves closer to national recognition
One of Nevada's longest-standing casinos on Wednesday took another step toward national recognition.
Las Vegas' historic preservation commission voted unanimously to advance an application seeking to list the El Cortez on the National Register of Historic Places.
The vote means the application will be forwarded to the State Historic Preservation Office after the application is revised to correct mistakes. Once it gets past the state level, it goes to the National Park Service.
The recognition is important because it elevates the status of Las Vegas' downtown gambling district and could help boost interest in the burgeoning area, said Bob Stoldal, vice chairman of the commission.
"This gives downtown Las Vegas a legitimate flag to wave on historic preservation," Stoldal said.
The El Cortez, opened in 1941, has remained largely intact as the Fremont Street neighborhood around it rose, fell and began to rise again.
El Cortez owners hope the historic designation will continue to the broader revival of downtown Las Vegas being fueled by the pending arrival of Zappos' corporate headquarters and the recent opening of the Mob Museum, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and a surge of new small businesses.
"There is not a long history, obviously, in Las Vegas," said General Manager Mike Nolan, adding that identifying historic places in the surrounding area could drive interest by visitors. "I love to go see older parts of cities."
The El Cortez application is based mostly on the fact the facade on Fremont and Sixth streets has barely changed since the first card was dealt there in 1941.
There are 50 Clark County places on the registry, according to the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office.
The list includes the Boulder Dam Hotel in Boulder City and the Fifth Street School and the site of the former Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas.
Other long-lasting local casino properties include the Golden Gate, which is in a building that opened as Las Vegas' first hotel in 1906, and Railroad Pass in Henderson, which first opened in 1931. Neither is listed on the national register.
The El Cortez architecture is considered significant because it is an example of a Spanish Colonial Revival style with a Western flair, which was popular in the Western United States around the time of World War II.
Another significant factor in the case for the listing is the El Cortez's role in the development of Las Vegas.
When the El Cortez opened, Fremont Street was the economic and cultural soul of the city.
It would be another decade before new properties on the Strip began chipping away at downtown's dominance.
But before the El Cortez application is sent to the state, Stoldal and others will have a chance to correct errors in the document.
Some of the mistakes Stoldal identified in the application included information about former El Cortez partners Moe Sedway and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.
Stoldal said the application misstates some information about their arrival in Las Vegas. The document attributes their arrival in Nevada as the result of a desire to expand the Trans America race wire.
Although the men were involved with the wire, Stoldal said, it wasn't until well after their arrival in Las Vegas.
The El Cortez has been controlled since 1962 by longtime downtown operator Jackie Gaughan and his business partners.
Stoldal said the mistakes can be fixed. He praised the overall quality of the application prepared by historian Peter Moruzzi.
"This is a great document for the El Cortez," Stoldal said. "We need to clear up some of the language about Las Vegas."
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
