Escape from MGM Grand harrowing
A survivor of the MGM Grand fire 32 years ago hasn't forgotten that the darkest day in Las Vegas history also was the city's finest hour.
"I have much to be thankful for today," longtime costume designer Diana Eden said via email on Wednesday.
She would like to thank a kind soul who helped her, one of many acts of kindness on the chilly morning of Nov. 21, 1980.
Eden was in Room No. 1194, among more than 4,000 in the hotel. She awoke about 7 a.m. to the sound of people running in the hall "and the weird sound of alarm in their voices."
She had been staying in the hotel for five weeks, one of 14 costumers who were assisting legendary designer Bob Mackie. They were a few weeks from rehearsals for the new show "Jubilee." Eden was handling all the fittings.
"I poked my head out of the door to see only smoke," she recalled.
She pulled on a sweatsuit, grabbed a tote bag and her purse, and rushed off through deadly smoke hoping to find an exit. She was among the lucky ones. A week before, she had flown back to Los Angeles and when she returned, her new room was on the 11th floor, down from the 23rd, where her team was staying.
More than 80 people died from the fire, including a fellow costumer who was on the 23rd floor. Hundreds were injured in the city's worst disaster.
Eden and dozens of others emerged from a fire escape door, "which I see almost every time I drive down Flamingo (Road) to this day."
Worried about her colleagues and with no way to reach them, she checked into the Maxim across the street and rushed back to find her friends amid the gathering crowd of evacuees, firefighters, police and onlookers.
Eden stood out in the crowd because she had fled without shoes. At the Maxim, she wrapped her frozen feet in bright yellow towels.
"An onlooker who took pity on me offered me a pair of sneakers he had in his car. They were a size 13, but I didn't care."
She said he was a big guy who said he was an entertainer at a local lounge "with a single name like 'Hercules.' "
If anyone remembers helping a lady with yellow towels that served as footwear, "I'd still like to thank him," Eden said.
Help came from all corners of the Las Vegas Valley that day. Waves of volunteers showed up at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where hotel guests, some still in night clothes and wrapped in blankets, had been transported.
Nellis Air Base quickly dispatched huge helicopters to the roof of the MGM Grand, loaded with long ropes that were thrown over the side as potential lifelines.
The Barbary Coast, since renamed Bill's Gamblin Hall & Saloon, closed down its gaming side and instructed employees to provide complimentary food and hot drinks to the throng of evacuees who escaped the fire and cold.
Waves of volunteers showed up at the Las Vegas Convention Center, where hotel guests, some still in nightclothes and wrapped in blankets, had been transported. The volunteers included practical nurse Lise Davis, the wife of singer Mac Davis, who had opened his headliner engagement the night before the fire.
THE PUNCH LINE
"Nonsnooty Perrier." - From David Letterman's Beverage Breakthroughs
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke. His weekly segment, "Norm Clarke's Vegas," airs during the "Morning Blend" on KTNV-TV, Channel 13 every Thursday.
