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Sands Entertains ig FreswPafl&i In addition to the movie celebrities, state and local officials, the management of the Sands will play host to a host of newspapermen; who will start arrivmfThHi Las Vegas tonight. -jweQV. This eyening's contingent is a. group of Texas newsmen, including Paul Hochuli and Bill Roberts! of the Houston Press, Charlie Ev-j ans of the Houston Chronicle, Robert Akers, of the Beaumont Enterprise and Jane Hardison ftf the Dallas Times-Herald. Tomorrow, at 11:20 AM, the New York press will arrive and include such personalities as Earl Wilson, Gene Cook, Hy Gardner, Frank Farrell, Lee Mortimer, Joe Cseda, Bill Smith, Mary Fraser, Mel Heimer and Joe Cohen. The Pacific. coast section of newspapermen -and women also arrives tomorrow and will include approximately 132 persons. ^he management has slated two das/s of entertainment for the visiting and focal newsmen. Entertainment includes a door opening ceremony at 4 PM, Tuesday, attended by state and city officials, headed by Governor Charles Russell. 3^Qlto>wing this, the press will be he . ired at a cocktail party from 5 -to 7 PM, followed by the Premier dinner \ and floor show, concluding with a Chuckwagon party at midnight. . -AgP Wednesday's events include press v conference with Danny Thomas, Sands headliner, and initiation of Paradise pool withhEsth- er Williams, noted aquatic star, taking the first dip. u?Θ╝?Θ╝/fs $c//y SECURITY OFFICER ?╟÷ Bev Perkins, one of the most popular law enforcemept officers in Clark County, and member of pioneer southern J^vada family, has been named security chief at the new i I Sands Hotel. He will supervise staff of 12 deputies. | j Monday, December 15, 1952 Las Vegas Review-Journal 3 j f Vegas Resort Hotels Hair Modest f Beginning The new Sands opening recalls to old timers ?╟÷ those who were here prior to the construction of the great Boulder dam, project ?╟÷ of the various hostelries which went toward making Las Vegas a com- fortable community. The resort hotels, of course,, are a far cry from the. first hotel which graced the confines of Las Vegas. That initial hostelry was made of canvas and scrap lumber and housed the many folks who were here for the auction of lots which began the town proper.: C. P. "Pop" Squires was the proprietor of that first hotel, and he recalls that the customers "slept in shifts" because the accommodations were so meager. He also recalls that there were no spring mattresses and that the best beds were the old army cots which were, at best, just a place on which; to sleep. ',^?║^:'i The Overland hotel was among the first modern structures built in Las Vegas, and it was the site of most of the dinner parties which were provided for the fast growing city that was Las Vegas. With the advent of the old Nevada hotel ?╟÷ now the Sal Sagev?╟÷ the town really was becoming metropolitan and there was room foi, most all of the visitors which came here. Along about 1935, or so, a fellow from Price, rjtah, named P. o. Silvagni came to Las Vegas, and decided what the town needed was a good commercial hotel. So he purchased the lot at the corner of Second and Fremont streets,! which for many years had been! nothing but a pussy willow patch! with an empty foundation in it.1 He reared the Apache hotel and it became known far and wide as the luxury hotel of the community. , ;, f ?╟≤ Hundreds of early day visitors, recall well the dinner parties, the! cocktail events and the dancing! parties which went on in the Kivaf Club and there isn't a person who I was hefe at the time, but who remembers the Apache bar. It was "where love meets", and, 4 o'clodk every afternoon was cocktail hour for the younger set of the town. On a Saturday night that; was where the residents gathered! and sometime during the evening one Could meet anyone who resided; in the area. Jfflm Wf$iW^miW it was in the Apache hotel where the junior chamber of commerce was born and it was there that thej first nationwide., publicity storyl about Las Vegas, featuring- Reaj G^e, who then was divorcing the; glamour boy Clark and had chosen Las .Vegas to do ?║$Mk&.'.born. I :i^;:Was in the Apajjp hotel where! the search for the |l||j^hlan party j was launched onfi^^piary morn-A ing, and it was there*that the survivors of that gf^jip which was lqstfor a week in the-snows of the Gseoilp. mine section,. told the tale O^their. harrowing, experiences. /*^Thf Apache hotel was the first of What might be called the luxury hotels of the community for it had hotel accommodations, a gambling casino operated by "pop" Houskey n nd Tommy. Thebo, and -. a nighi j club with a top floor show. The'" Only thing it lacked was a swimming pool. Most people seeap^O, have for-' gotten also that the$$!feadows, out; where the KLAS radio transmitter stands, now, once was a luxury hotel. Most Of them recall it as a night club. But the Cornero broth-! ers built it along the lines of the present resort hotels but,, as Louise Cornero said when the venture folded up?╟÷"I was just 10 years ahead of the town." There have been many memories born in those old hotels of the community and it is nrobable there will be many more dreamed- up by the newer comers who now enjoy the finest hotel accommodations anywhere in the world. It was a rather small beginning that brought about the resort hotels, but Las Vegas has them now and they are well populated. LAS VEGAS SUN Monday, December 15, 1952 slNDS ORCHESTRA ?╟÷ ?╜ay Sinatra and his orchestra will^o- vide musical background in lavishly appointed Cft^JRo^tn at Sands Hotel for headline entertainers scheduled for appearance at the newest Strip establishment. jl^S-h