Couple recall history of valley through local wedding venue

"I used to drive into town in that and shuttle clients back to our place," she said. "There were no paved roads out here in those days."

"Those days" were the early ’60s, and "out here" is what was once referred to as the Las Vegas Racquet Club, now The Secret Garden wedding venue, 9001 Dean Martin Drive.

Ann Miller and her husband John Miller, now in their 80s, purchased 15 acres of land along Dean Martin Drive south of Blue Diamond Road for $17,000 in 1962. The couple spent what little savings they had left to build five tennis courts, a 9-foot-deep pool with a diving board and rows of Chinese elm trees along the perimeter.

Despite the fact that neither were tennis pros, the two of them were confident. The Las Vegas Racquet Club became the city’s first private tennis club and shaped the historical landscape of a fledgling town.

"We always loved the Palm Springs Racquet Club," said Ann Miller, who lived in Los Angeles with her husband until moving to Las Vegas in 1962. "We were impressed with all of the movie stars and thought that would be fun."

At its peak, the club was home to more than 300 local members, including Kirk Kerkorian, a casino mogul and the father of the mega-resort, and David Zenoff, a Nevada Supreme Court judge from 1966 to 1976. The price of membership was $25.

The club also boasted "a few thousand" non-local members, according to John Miller, such as Dinah Shore, Gladys Knight and Bill Cosby.

They are an affable couple.

The signs of athleticism linger in John Miller, a champion gymnast in his youth, Mr. America in 1948 and tennis pro of his own club.

Ann Miller, originally from Fort Worth, Texas, has a tinge of southern drawl in her voice and plenty of Southern hospitality.

"We collected people," she said, laughing. "People would come over to visit for 10 minutes, and we wouldn’t let them leave for three days."

John Miller worked as an engineer for the Pomona Fire Department, in Pomona, Calif., and when an old friend said the station was auctioning some equipment, he traveled to east Los Angeles and purchased the station’s old fire engine.

"I used it to wash our courts," he said.

His wife recalled piling the gang onto the bright red truck and driving to the Sands for cocktails.

"We must have been a sight, all of us jumping off the back of a firetruck in our white tennis clothes," Ann Miller said. "We wouldn’t be there more than 10 minutes before they’d call over the loudspeakers, ‘John, will you move that dang firetruck of yours away from the entrance?’ "

The couple said they have never regretted moving to the desert.

"It was a privilege living here in the ’60s," Ann Miller said. "It was a dressy town then."

Eventually, the casinos caught on and wanted their own piece of the action.

"The hotels realized we had all of the celebrities," John Miller said. "They started building their own courts."

The club’s membership numbers began to slump.

"We were watching Tricia Nixon getting married on the grounds of the White House," Ann Miller said. "I thought we could do that."

In the mid-’80s, The Las Vegas Racquet Club became The Secret Garden, hosting hundreds of weddings over the years.

John Miller said $65 per person is a good estimate for the cost of a wedding at his facility today, but 30 years ago, it was $15 per person.

The Secret Garden is run primarily by the couple’s grandchildren, but John said he and his wife still enjoy being involved in the operations.

The 50-year-old courts are slightly cracked and faded now. The nets are frayed. Weeds have grown tall along the edges.

John Miller said he is too old to play tennis now, but when asked what his plans were for the next 50 years, a smile formed under his white mustache. "I’ll have to hang around and see. I’ve got some ideas for the future," he said.

For more information, call 318-1484 or visit asecretgardenwedding.com.

Contact Southwest/Spring Valley View reporter Nolan Lister at nlister@viewnews.com or 383-0492.