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Photographs of Bourbon Street signs, Las Vegas (Nev.), 2002
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Site address: 120 E Flamingo Rd
Sign owner: Carma LTD
Sign details: Bourbon Street is located between the Maxim and the Barbary Coast on the north side of Flamingo, stretching to the corner of Audrie and Flamingo. The building contains elements such as brick masonry, stucco and wrought iron grating. It is a smaller property compared to nearby plots such as Bally's or the Flamingo. Extending north a short distance for a structure of rooms and parking, the signage consists of wall signs on the east and west sides of the building, a main sign on the south side of the building, a sidewalk and window canopies, as well as a main pylon.
Sign condition: Structure 3 Surface 3 Lighting 3--notes: The entire facade of the building, as well as canopies are badly faded and in need of attention.
Sign form: Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère
Sign-specific description: Headed west on Flamingo the first signage visible of the Bourbon Street is on the east face of the main building. A giant stucco arch, which runs the height of the building, is adorned at the very top with a round canopy. The canopy is divided into striped sections of red and white alternating panels, separated by gold aluminum polished raceways lined with incandescent bulbs. The canopy's underside is laden with incandescent bulbs. White channel letters reside on the surface of the building spelling out " Bourbon Street," with one word above the other. The letters are filled with white neon. Below the word "Street," the words "Hotel Casino," are spelled in channel letters and filled with red neon. Below the collection of channel letters and canopy, the majority of the space is occupied with an internally lit plastic screen with vinyl letters. Two small canopies flank the arch over two windows and also contain incandescent bulb raceways. The top edge of the building is gold polished raceways with incandescent bulbs. Along the south side of the building, long canopies are hung upon the top edge of the wall hanging over backlit plastic screens with vinyl letters. The middle of the building is an archway projected out into space creating an extension of the side of the building. The same canopy design seen on the east side of the building is seen at the top of the structure only larger in size. It is also treated with the same raceway and incandescent bulb design. "Bourbon Street" is spelled in al capital channel letters outlined in red neon and filled with incandescent bulbs. Above and below the text on the wall, white neon is bent into decorative, scrollwork patterns. The very top of the arch is crowned with a single internally lit spherical bulb. Below the text a cabinet with rounded top corners, houses channel letters filled with red neon. It is bordered with a raceway lined with incandescent bulbs. Projecting out on either side of this cabinet, along the face of the building, hanging over the sidewalk, is a canopy with an exoskeleton of raceways lined with incandescent bulbs. On the wall of the building, between the two top and bottom canopies, and on either side of the main entrance two small canopies hang over windows. They are treated the same as the window canopies on the east side of the building. On the west end of the property there is a small porte-cochere, and covered walkway that extends west to the end of the property. At a slightly higher elevation than the facade's canopy, the porte-cochere is a square design with the same external raceways and bulbs, the same can be said for the walkway extending to the edge of the property. The canopies look to be made of steel and painted to match the color scheme of the establishment. The underside of the porte-cochere is comprised of squared mirrored paneling illuminated with incandescent bulbs. On the west side of the building above the porte-cochere the same canopy and arch design can be seen but the text is more akin to the text on the south side of the building. The channel letters spell the text Bourbon Street in two lines. They are outlined in red neon and filled with incandescent bulbs. The text "Hotel Casino" is represented in channel letters filled with red neon. The only difference is the yellow neon design placed in between the two words. To the left of this sign, along the top edge of the building the canopy design picks up again hovering above a backlit sign message board. On the extreme west end of the property the main pylon sign faces east/west on the northeast corner. The sign basically consists of a large pole with a double-backed cabinet, crowned with the umbrella canopy shape seen throughout the property. The cabinet is of rectangular design with the corners cut out in a circular shape. The majority of the sign is occupied by the red neon bordered channel letters, which read "Bourbon Street". These are also filled with incandescent bulbs. The text "Hotel Casino" is spelled in channel letters and outlined on the interior with red neon. The left and right sides of the word "Street" are occupied with a channel scrollwork design lined with yellow neon. A channel pattern also separates the words "Hotel" and "Casino" This patterns appears to be like a flier de lie with its mirror image attached to it from the bottom. It too is filled with yellow neon. The face of the cabinet is lined with a raceway containing incandescent bulbs. The umbrella canopy occupies the top of the sign. It is fully realized in the round, with the exterior skeleton of the raceways with incandescent bulbs. The underside is also mirrored with incandescent bulbs spread across the surface. At the very top of the umbrella shape a streetlight puts the finishing touches on the sign. A small sign worth mentioning sits north of the main pylon at the edge of a small parking lot for the facility. It is a small back-lit cabinet denoting hotel registration and parking. The rectangular cabinet sits upon a small pole with a rounded section incorporated into its design. On the plastic portion of this rounded extension the words "Bourbon Street" are graphically painted along with the image of the red and white canopy.
Sign - type of display: Neon; Incandescent; Backlit
Sign - media: Steel; Fiberglass; Glass
Sign - non-neon treatments: Paint
Sign animation: Oscillating, chasing
Notes: All the incandescent bulbs on the raceways that are visible, chase each from other top to bottom. The incandescent bulbs, which line the raceways on the umbrella shape on the main pylon, chase each other downward as well as around the border of the face of the sign. The underside of the umbrella is also encrusted with incandescent bulbs, which oscillate. The text on the pylon sign all light up simultaneously in an oscillating pattern, they then steady burn, then shut off. The main logo marquee seen on the south face of the building contains the same animation seen on the pylon sign as well. The small vertical raceways underneath the porte cochere also animate by chasing downward.
Sign environment: Headed west toward the strip on Flamingo, the defunct Maxim is almost invisible at night, while the first active property is the Bourbon Street. The main pylon resides directly across Audrie from the Battista's pylon, making a flanking neon gateway to northern bound travelers on Audrie.
Sign manufacturer: YESCO
Sign - date of installation: 1984-05
Sign - thematic influences: The theme of the Bourbon Street is evident in its name being influenced by the Mardi Gras party atmosphere of New Orleans. The new Orleans theme itself is reminiscent of turn of the century America. The canopies and brass railing are reminiscent of properties such as the Westward Ho, with its umbrellas, brass treatments and raceways as well. The pylon is reminiscent of a close neighbor in the Barbary Coast, with similar style 19th century block text, and color palette.
Surveyor: Joshua Cannaday
Survey - date completed: 2002
Sign keywords: Oscillating; Chasing; Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère; Neon; Incandescent; Backlit; Steel; Fiberglass; Glass; Paint
Mixed Content
Magdalena Martinez oral history interview: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Oral history interview with Magdalena Martinez conducted by Monserrath Hernandez and Barbara Tabach on April 4, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Magdalena Martinez recalls her childhood and growing up in Los Angeles, California. Martinez's parents are from Durango, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. Martinez describes the generational differences that the women in her family faced and how the feminist movement of the 1970s did not resonate with women of color. Her family moved to Las Vegas in 1986 where she attended Bishop Gorman High School. After transferring to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from community college and joining a student organization that would later become Student Organization of Latinxs, she became an early member of the Latino Youth Leadership Conference (LYLC) sponsored by the Latin Chamber of Commerce. Martinez describes how the LYLC has evolved over the years, and talks about her role in those changes. She discusses past work for CSN, NSHE, and currently is the Director of Education Programs with the Lincy Institute.
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Biographical essay by Rachel Taylor, 2014
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Rachel Taylor describes her family's experience during the Holocaust in Poland in the Kutno and Gubin ghettos. She was able to escape with her sisters and brother with the help of a Polish priest and nun, and her parents survived Auschwitz-Birkenau. Taylor came to the United Staes in 1961.
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Sook-ja Kim, February 12, 1996 and April 6, 1996: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
The Kim Sisters, composed of three sisters, Sook-ja, Ai-ja, and Mia, came from Korea to Las Vegas in February 1959. Their first contract in America was to perform at the Thunderbird Hotel for four weeks as part of the China Doll Revue, the main showroom program. This engagement led to a successful career. Their popularity reached was at its height at the end of the 1960s when they performed throughout the United States and Europe. Sook-ja Kim is the oldest of the sisters. After his sister Ai-ja died in 1987, Sook-ja teamed up with her two brothers and continued to perform until 1989. Now semi-retired from show business, with occasional performances in Korea, she is working as a real estate agent. In this interview, she talked about her childhood, her career, and the family she has built since coming to America. Sook-ja was born in 1941 in Seoul, Korea as the third child of seven in a musical family. Her father was a conductor and her mother, a popular singer. After the Korean War, her mother arranged to send the Kim Sisters to America. When they came to Las Vegas, there were virtually no Koreans in the area. They depended on each other to take care of themselves. Some of the difficulties they had to adjust to in American were language, food, and cultural differences. Over the span of almost forty years in America, Sook-ja became acculturated without discarding her ethnic identity of family priorities. Her life-long guiding principle has been to adopt certain American values while continuing to keep her cherished Korean ethnic values. Through their performances, the Kim Sister informed the audience about Koreans and their culture. As the oldest of the group, Sook-ja was entrusted the care of her sisters, and later her brothers, the Kim brothers. Once she settled in Las Vegas, she brought more than forty members of her extended family to the city, contributing to the growth of the Las Vegas Korean community.
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