Oakes Vegas Studio

L. J. and Nell Oakes founded the Oakes Vegas Studio in 1922, specializing in landscape and portrait photography. The studio was originally located in the Griffith building at 2nd Street and Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada. L. J. Oakes, former principal of the Las Vegas Grammar School and civic leader, worked as a photographer for the studio and his wife, Nell, operated the business. Photographer Glenn A. Davis became affiliated with the studio upon his move to Las Vegas in the late 1920s.

The Oakes family traveled to Bryce Canyon, Utah in the summers to operate a photography studio there during the tourist season, while Davis ran the Vegas Studio. L. J. Oakes was well known for his landscape photographs, especially of Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in Utah and the Colorado River and Hoover (Boulder) Dam site. Glenn Davis won national awards for his photographs documenting the 1937 Las Vegas Rodeo and desert landscapes.

The studio moved to the Western Union building at 107 Fremont Street in 1929, and later to 116 Fremont Street. After the death of L. J. Oakes in January 1932 from pneumonia, Nell Oakes and Glenn Davis continued to operate the Oakes Vegas Studio, eventually changing the name to Vegas Studio and Camera Supply. Oakes and Davis dissolved the studio in July 1941.

Sources:

”Las Vegas Pays Final Respect to Pioneer Citizen Louis Oakes.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 11, 1932.

“Mrs. Oakes has Opened Photographic Studio.” Las Vegas Age, May 27, 1922.

“Oakes Family Goes to Utah.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 4, 1930.

”Oakes Moves Studio to New Building.” Las Vegas Age, July 6, 1929.

“Photographs Win Fame for Vegan.” Las Vegas Age, April 22, 1938.

”Pioneer Business in Vegas Closes.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 3, 1941.