Beckley boutique has long history in Vegas

Beckley, a fashion boutique at The Cosmopolitan, is buzzing with anticipation this Tuesday evening. The store is hours away from throwing its first big party in a town known for its big parties.

Staff members rearrange furniture to better accommodate the slew of guests expected. Gift bag goodies await assortment. Tall chairs and vanity mirrors are carefully placed in position. And, owner Melissa Richardson Akkaway, who just flew in from Los Angeles, hustles through the space donning a half-zipped cocktail dress as she checks final details with employees.

All the while, her great-grandfather Will Beckley looks on with the kind of togetherness typical for men of his time. He stands with a stoic expression and perfect posture in a three-piece tailored suit, behind a glass case displaying men's hats and ties. The colors are questionable since the picture is black and white, framed and proudly hanging near the Beckley cash register.

It's an homage to the original store that bore the Beckley name. Beckley's, as it was called, opened in 1908 as a men's clothing store that operated out of a canvas tent before moving into Hotel Nevada, now known as the Golden Gate, at Fremont and Main streets. It wasn't until a fire forced Beckley's to move that it opened as a brick and mortar stand-alone operation in 1913.

Just like he's doing today, Will oversaw the store daily. Back then, dust comprised the streets and hand-held kerosene lanterns lit the way at night.

"I still remember our number," says Virginia Richardson, daughter to Will and grandmother to Melissa. "Our house number was 21 and the store number was 27." She's referring to phone numbers, not street numbers.

Her father pioneered Las Vegas, as a resident and a retailer. Beckley's dressed men when men took great pride in their appearance. When hats came off at the introduction of a lady and suit coats stayed on in triple digit weather. When proper fit and tucked in shirts were synonymous with respectfulness.

As Richardson's son Bill escorts his mom into today's Beckley -- music pumping and necklines plunging -- the contrast between the times envelopes her. Virginia, with her perfectly coiffed silvery-white bob, buttoned-up red cardigan, black slacks and patent leather pumps, represents the history of Beckley's and Las Vegas. Melissa, sporting a well-suctioned Herve Leger dress, represents the future.

Forget that Virginia blushes at the sight of Melissa's black-and-white-striped Leger dress, uttering something about a zebra as they hug, the two have an unmistakable bond. Before the big Beckley party gets started, the pair take a walk around the store, hands interlocked. Virginia expresses her fondness of the fabrics from featured designers such as Camilla and Marc, Erin Fetherston and Elizabeth & James, but she's quick to note the styles need to be worn "correctly."

Melissa giggles at the observation, like a granddaughter who realizes the term "correctly" means something very different to the two of them.

"My grandmother is my inspiration. She means the world to me," says Melissa. "It's been nice to keep (Beckley) in the family. This is the rebirth, the modernization of it."

Melissa first opened Beckley in 2008 in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, Eddie, and 15-month-old son, Jack. Situated on Melrose Avenue, the store's hip, luxury clothes speak to the fashion-conscious community. Now, 50 years after Beckley's closed in 1941, the name returns to Las Vegas, where Melissa hopes to dress both local and tourist women with a taste for fashion-forwardness.

Her great-grandfather dressed both the town's blue-collar and white-collar men. The traveling businessman found good use of Beckley's Stetson hats and Florsheim shoes. The working men who came to town in herds when the Black Canyon Project -- now Hoover Dam -- went into construction, frequented the store for overalls and work boots.

Similar to the path Melissa's version of the store has taken, Beckley's started in California before branching out to Las Vegas. It also set up shop in the Nevada mining town of Goodsprings, but that only lasted a few years. For decades, the last store standing was the Las Vegas operation.

Retirement came calling in 1941 when Will finally surrendered his pride and joy to a generous buyer who turned it into the Pioneer Club. "That was one of the first (casinos) when the gamblers took over," recalls Virginia.

She remembers keeping a close eye on her dad's old store window that later peered into a smoky club where she and her girlfriends could occasionally catch a movie star such as Clara Bow playing blackjack. As more casinos sprouted, more celebrities followed. Burlesque performer Lili St. Cyr took a liking to Las Vegas, as did Liberace. When actress Marlene Dietrich started to visit, however, Richardson knew Vegas was going big-time.

Today, Beckley is inside a hotel-casino that has already proven to be a hot spot for the likes of Jay-Z, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Cameron Diaz shopped the boutique with her boyfriend, Alex Rodriguez, recently. And, it isn't unusual for young women to call Beckley and ask about a piece they saw on Jennifer Lopez, Kate Hudson or Anne Hathaway. The power of the celebrity in Vegas merely turned its engine in Virginia's day, but it has been in overdrive for some time now.

Will Beckley has an elementary school in town named after him and their family home on Fremont Street was moved to the Clark County Heritage Museum in the late '70s, but it still brings tears to Virginia's eyes when she thinks of her granddaughter resurrecting the family's store. Before she leaves Beckley at The Cosmopolitan to duck the big party, Virginia stops to take in the black-and-white photo hanging near the cash register.

"Oh my word!" she says, with her hand to her mouth in pleasant surprise. "Honest to God! Where did she find that?"

The same place she found her passion for retail. It was passed down from someone in the family.

Beckley is inside The Cosmopolitan, 3708 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 698-7600.