Nevada: Las Vegas, Nevada Desert, Tonopah
In the late 1990's, I spent a lot of time is Las Vegas and traveled around Nevada.
Below are some pictures of Las Vegas, the Nevada desert, and a small town 100 miles
north of Las Vegas.
As you know, Las Vegas has many casinos. I have been in most of them, but here
I present pictues of only three. Each casino is built around a theme and the theme
is taken to extremes in the construction of each casino.
New York New York Casino
This is the casino called New York New York. You can see the resemblance to the city
of New York. The roller coaster is fucntional and you can ride it for a fee.
Excalibur Casino
Across the street from New York New York is the casino called Excalibur. It has
a castle/knights theme. The wizzard that can be seen in the balcony in the center
of the castle is annomated with voice and smoke. He repeatedly says something on a
periodic basis.
Luxor Casino
South of New York New York and Excalibur is the Luxor casino. Named after
a city in Egypt, Luxor has an Egyptain and desert (appropriate for Vegas) theme.
The hotel rooms are unususal in that the ones located in the pyramid have sloped walls.
To get to the rooms, one takes a ride on an "inclinator" a variation of the common
elevator, except the inclinator moves up and sideways. On the top of the pyramid,
there is a bright white spotlight that is aimed straight up. It can be seen for
miles away.
Hoover Dam
A few miles to the east of Las Vegas is Hoover Dam. This amazing structure
is built on the Colorado River that forms the border between Nevada and Arizona. In
the picture above, you can see the two intake towers that take in water for the electric
generators. You can also see the electrical transmission towers on the hills in the background.
Below is another picture of the dam. Note how large this dam is!
You can take a tour of the dam for a small fee and they will let you take
all of the "dam" pictures that you like. I took the shorter of the two available tours
and a picture of the generator room is presented below.
Generator Room
This is the generator room is at the bottom of the dam. There are 2 banks of electrical
generators in the generator room - one on each side. One side supplies Nevada with
electricity and the other side, shown in this picture, supplies Arizona.
Nevada Desert
I drove north up highway 95 from Las Vegas. North of the small town of Beaty,
I took the picture above. This view is looking east from the highway and shows
a thunderstorm. in the distance over the mountains. Further on up the road, I went
through another small town called Goldfield. Goldfield was once going to be the
capital city of the state of Nevada which was called Esmeralda back then. I
stopped in a rock shop in Goldfield and purchased a gold sample from the owner
who happened to be the president of the Goldfield Chamber of Commerce. He had
a 25-foot long python pet snake coiled up in a corner of his shop.
Continuing my travel up highway 95, I ended up in Tonopah, a larger town than
Goldfield, but still very small.
Tonopah, Nevada
Above is a view of the desert mountains at Tonopah. I took this picture from my
window in the hotel where I stayed.
The Mizpah Hotel
This is the Mizpah Hotel where I stayed in Tonopah. It was owned by a casino
in Las Vegas. This building is a 5 story hotel and until 1948 it was the tallest building in all of Nevada. I could see that this hotel was a grand hotel in its day. Inside it is reasonably well
kept and looks like the western hotels I remember seeing in old western TV shows
and movies. It has an elevator that works, but it had a bullet hole in the door.
The bathtubs in the rooms are claw foot tubs converted to a shower. The floor in
my room sloped from the outer walls to the inside. It did have an air conditioner
in the wall. I understand that no one wants to stay in room 513 - a prostitute
was murdered in that room. Her ghost known as the "Lady in Red" is reported to visit that room.
The Mitzpah Hotel was built in 1907 when the town of Tonopah was only 7 years old. Then the town
has a population of 10,000 due to the minimg activity. Now, the town has a population of
about 3,200. The Mitzpah Hotel had 76 guest rooms and suites (some with common baths), steam
heat, and the first electric elevator west of the Mississippi River. The hotel also featured
a fine dining facility, tonsorial parlor, and a public room. The hotel had 18-inch tinck granite
walls, brass chandeliers, and stained glass windows. The hotel's renowned service and comfort
drew in the rich and famous from throughout the western world. Royalty dined and drank there
in style while Wyatt Earp tended the bar and the champion boxer Jack Dempsey worked as
a bouncer. The dining room is currently named after Jack Dempsey.
During WW II, the hotel was home to many military families due to the construction of the
nearby Tonopah Army Air Corps base where B-24 crews were trained before being shipped off to Europe.
Famous test pilot Chuck Yeager was reportedly a regualr visitor to the Mitzpah Hotel during
that time. The hotel has been placed on the National Historic Register.
I have discovered that in 2006, the hotel is for sale with an asking price of $1.5M.