Las Vegas - Frontier Going Dark

The neon sign atop The Frontier hotel building has gone dark. Other signs, such as the main vertical neon sign which carries the farewell message, are still illuminated and running.

Las Vegas - Modern Relic - Silver Slipper Sign

A sign exists in the fenced off parking lot of The Frontier, which is a modern relic of when The Silver Slipper existed right next to The Frontier.

The sign says:

PARKING FOR

FRONTIER & SILVER SLIPPER

EMPLOYEES ONLY

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ALL OTHERS WILL BE TOWED AWAY

AT OWNERS EXPENSE

The Frontier is closed and fenced off, but the sign can still be seen with a good lens (for the immediate moment) from Las Vegas Boulevard, near the north entrance of The Frontier.

Las Vegas - Sand Storm

A wind and sand storm hit the Las Vegas Strip area on Friday 27 July 2007 at about 7:45 PM. It lasted in strength for only a half hour or less, but reduced visibility considerably during that time.

Las Vegas - Trump Name Up

Before your arriving plane even crosses 25R to get to the terminal, you may observe two things.

1-The TRUMP name is up on the south face of his building.

2-Construction of Palazzo seems doomed to continue forever.

Las Vegas - Trump Tower and Ivana - Before And After

Photo 1 (top) shows the site on which Trump Tower in Las Vegas would be built, as it looked on 24 July 2005.

Photo 2 shows the sales office for Ivana's skyscraper project on that same day.

Photo 3 (middle) shows Trump Tower in Las Vegas as it was on 25 July 2007.

Photo 4 shows a closeup of letters atop Trump Tower Las Vegas as it was on 25 July 2007.

Photo 5 (bottom) shows the state of the defunct Ivana sales office as it was on 25 July 2007; the project having been ditched some time ago. The website name has been removed from the building - the website is now just a placeholder.

By the way, for the record, the Ivana sales office is on the site that used to be The Holy Cow.

Las Vegas - Frontier Closing Series - Keyboards - Jerry Reynolds

Let's get something straight from the start of this post...

Jerry Reynolds has played keyboards for The Dry Martini Orchestra since 1999, and was the keyboard player who performed at The New Frontier in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the final night of that longstanding Las Vegas hotel & casino. (15 July 2007)

Closing night at The Frontier was a surprisingly upbeat event. This was largely due to the Dry Martini Orchestra doing an excellent performance; musically and energetically.

Can you imagine the type of energy it took to bring The New Frontier to life?

If you weren't at the closing of The New Frontier, then you won't really know that what I am writing is solid, but what I am saying is that:

The Dry Martini Orchestra did a performance that not only brought that place to life, but did a truly excellent live performance that set and implanted an energetic and happy vibe into everyone in the The New Frontier.

At midnight, it was employees of The New Frontier who told people to cash out, but it was the band who conducted the evening.

In the top photo which I am including with this post, you can see Sinatra tribute style frontman Nick D'Egidio with guest singer Norm Kaye, and further back is Jerry Reynolds at the keyboard. I think this photo portrays a little of the energy and excitement of the evening. All other photos feature Jerry more prominently.

The Dry Martini Orchestra has a CD available at:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/nickdegidio

(That's not an affiliate link.)

Also you can find The Dry Martini Orchestra at MySpace at:

http://www.myspace.com/drymartiniorchestra

Lastly, Jerry Reynolds, keyboard player for The Dry Martini Orchestra, can be found at:

http://www.myspace.com/j3rivram

Las Vegas - Frontier Closing Night Correction - Jerry Reynolds

On Wednesday 25 July 2007 I made a post [Las Vegas - Frontier Closing Series - Keyboards - Mark Adam Watkins] in which I incorrectly identified the keyboard player of The Dry Martini Orchestra.

The keyboard player who performed at the closing of The Frontier was Jerry Reynolds, a musician who has played with The Dry Martini Orchestra for many years.

I sincerely apologize to Jerry for making this error.

For continuity of comments I will be leaving the incorrect post up for another 24-48 hours and then deleting it. As well, a corrected post will follow this one

Las Vegas - Stardust Auction Flashback

Today is the auction of The New Frontier (see the post prior to this one for details). As mentioned, there have not been any signs at The New Frontier which advertise that an auction is taking place. You either "know" that The New Frontier is having an auction today, or you do not.

Not advertising the auction of The Frontier, on the property of The Frontier, differs from how the auction of The Stardust, just up the block, was handled less than a year ago.

At The Stardust, various banners and signs were put up which promoted the auction. And it was the very same company which was handling the auction.

Perhaps Great American feels that they have enough salvage type businesses on a list created from those who purchased at The Stardust auction.

Las Vegas - New Frontier Auction Is Today

The (defunct) New Frontier will have a one day only auction, today, Thursday 26 July 2007. The auction is being conducted by Great American Group, starting at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.

In addition to the auction on the premises of The New Frontier, it can also be accessed online.

http://www.greatamerican.com/Services/auctions.aspx

The rear parking lot and entrance is being used for this event.

Wednesday was a preview day. Pastel colored pieces of paper with Lot Numbers were placed on property to be auctioned off, now that The Frontier has closed.

Unlike the auction of The Stardust, there is no advertising of the auction on the Las Vegas Boulevard side of the property. Even at the rear entrance, the sign is obscure, and does not make specific reference to an auction taking place. Also unlike the five day auction of The Stardust , this auction for The New Frontier is one day only. Today is the day.

This, apparently, is the final opportunity to enter The New Frontier property, unless you are part of the demolition crew.

Las Vegas - Project City Center - From The West Side

The familiar view of Project City Center is from Las Vegas Boulevard. Here is a shot of the progress of Project City Center from a few blocks west of The Strip. At this location Harmon is closed for construction access only.

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Photo taken Saturday 14 July 2007. No old stuff presented as new here.
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Project City Center has a website at:

http://www.citycenter.com/

Las Vegas - VegasFuel Energy Experience

I saw this energy drink in a convenience store near Sunset Station. VegasFuel.

The can doesn't actually say Las Vegas, but the colors and the image of the dancer in a pose make the point.

They have a website at:

http://www.drinkvegasfuel.com/

My connection is slow, and I wound up clicking off their site before it got through loading. It was either that, or don't make this post.

Las Vegas - Frontier Closing Series - Drummer Nick Scarmack

Nick Scarmack (drummer) performed with The Dry Martini Orchestra the final night of The New Frontier in Las Vegas, Nevada (Sunday 15 July 2007).

The band played for a while before Nick introduced Sinatra tribute frontman Nick DeGidio. At one point Nick stepped away from the drums for a short while to allow guest drummer Evan Diner to perform with guest singer Norm Kaye.

In addition to the music, Nick had a noticeably upbeat and humorous stage presence which added a good vibe to the atmosphere.

Some info on Nick Scarmack can be found at:

www.slawdawgz.com/slaw_dawgz_016.htm

Las Vegas, Nevada - Rain

Late Monday night a drizzle which turned into a thunderstorm temporarily delayed flights at McCarran Airport. Some flights came in on the ILS, but within the hour visibility was much improved.

Streets were particularly slippery, having received very little rain in recent months. The outer (curbside) lanes were often half flooded.

The rain did not seem to cool things off. Walking in the street, it felt like a hot drizzle.

Las Vegas - Frontier - Unknown Area

As I walked around the property of The New Frontier on closing day, I paid attention to a seemingly unused area, not far from the rear entrance.

The area had an outdoor courtyard, which appears to have been once surrounded by a brick wall. Part of that wall seems to have been replaced by cinder blocks. An old fancy metal door exists at one end.

I have posted a photo which shows the location of that metal door (see blue arrow), in relation to the normal rear entrance of The Frontier.

I don't know anything about this area, and once again am putting out the call to anyone who may know what this area was.

Las Vegas - The New Frontier Closed - Arcade Empty

Everyone who entered The New Frontier through the rear parking area walked past the video game arcade. It was along the descending slope of a hallway a little past the bingo area.

To my recollection the video game arcade was always empty. I suppose it was used a little, but I didn't see it.

On closing night, the arcade was really empty, the machines having been removed several days earlier.

Las Vegas - The New Frontier - TV Coverage

A number of television stations came to The New Frontier throughout closing day. Most reported from outside. Fox came inside as well to get various footage, including interviewing some young people. Both accompanying photos are of the same network.

Attractive woman reports from outside. Children interviewed inside.

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Any questions?

Las Vegas - The New Frontier Closed - Gilleys Farewell

Welcome To Gilley's

Where The Real Cowboys Hang Out

During closing night at The New Frontier, Gilleys remained quiet. It had already had it's final night of action, (at least within The New Frontier - reports are that Gilley's is looking for a new location).

Gilley's was responsible for the four red rocking neon mechanical bulls on the main sign of The New Frontier.

As well, everyone seems to love and remember:

Cold Beer Dirty Girls

the line from the main sign on The Strip which referred to mud wrestling.

Here's looking at Gilley's from closing night of The Frontier.

The New Frontier Pool On Closing Day

The last round of guests who stayed at The Frontier had to check out by 12 noon on Sunday 15 July 2007. That left 12 odd hours in which no one could answer the question, "where are you staying?" with "here at The Frontier."

Accordingly, the pool itself was taped off with yellow tape.

The pool area could still be walked through, however. This is how The Frontier pool looked during the late afternoon of closing day; not much more than six or seven hours until everyone would be asked to cash out.

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Palazzo and Encore, both under construction, can be seen in the distance in some of the photos.

The Frontier Final Day - Look No Timeshare

The Frontier Closing Day Tour continues with a shot that might be most appreciated by Tim and Michele of http://fivehundybymidnight.com/.

A photo which shows the absence of timeshare people.

This location, conveniently located near the north restrooms, is where the timeshare people had a table, and would do whatever timeshare people do in such areas. They usually hung out by the middle doors, but retreated to this location.

I have a recollection of a particular Five Hundy By Midnight episode in which Tim and Michele visit The Frontier and Tim demonstrated how to get past the timeshare people

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By the way, the dollar massage chairs in this photo were the worst.

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Still to come in this Frontier Closing Day Tour series:

• Gilleys
• The Pool Area
• Empty Arcade
• Empty Shops
• The Snack Bar
• The Real Bar!
• Some Great Shots Of The Dry Martini Orchestra
• A pretty tv news broadcaster outside The Frontier
• A funny drummer
• A crowd enjoying the farewell celebration
• A largely unknown old area of The Frontier

The New Frontier - Shutting Things Down (part 2) [And A Mystery Elevator!]

Some banks of machines were turned off a week or two before the close. Those shown in these photos are just some of those which were turned off and yet left in place; (I suppose to be auctioned off).

This area was near the middle doors, (the doors which were closest to the actual sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard). You can see a "mystery elevator" indicated in one of the photos. By the position in the building the elevator could only go down, indicating that it was an employee service elevator. Yet I have never seen the elevator in operation.

If anyone knows anything about this elevator, or has seen it used, please share the information.

The New Frontier - Shutting Things Down (Part 1)

Several weeks before the close, some machines in The Frontier were turned off, and remained in place but dark until the end.

A few other machines (between Panda Express and the north restrooms) were removed entirely from the wooden carousel table on which they were placed.

The majority of machines were on and running until the end. A few though had notices placed on them advising of their shut down time being several hours earlier than the closing time.

A bank of machines on the wall between Sigma Derby and Gilleys had the notice:

We apologize for any inconvenience but this machine will be shut down at 6:30 PM tonight.

Technically it was not turned off, but rather turned to Out Of Service mode. A few other locations in The Frontier also had this early Out Of Service effected. It is striking to see the ominous blue screens of OOS mode.

Las Vegas - Last Night Of The Frontier - Photos And Food

Hours before The Frontier closed, the crew of The Frontier had their own celebrations not far from The Margarita Bar. Some of the table gaming area was used for food and photographs.

A craps table was converted to a display of photographs, and also nearby food was available. Members of the crew came by throughout the night for food, and for the photo display.

Las Vegas - The Frontier Gift Shop

The gift shop was located logically, between the main entrance and the registration desk. It was open 24 hours a day.

A month before the close they reduced the price on merchandise with the Frontier name on it. Shot glasses were already gone, but they did have nice 12 ounce (or so) glass mugs. They also had odd useless plastic boots, car coffee mugs, and some clothes.

T-shirts which had the Frontier name on it, also all had the Gilleys name on it. You couldn't get a shirt which was purely one or the other.

The last items to go with the Frontier name on it were children sized items.

They also had Christmas items, which had nothing to do with The Frontier, which they were still trying to sell. They finally disappeared on the final day, but I doubt that they were purchased. Then again, who knows?

There were also some heavier and higher priced Frontier items which took a while to sell. Leather jackets, and denim shirts.

Dice and cards sold out 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I kept expecting to see the soda case empty out, but it didn't. Some items were not replenished, such as Red Bull. But regular items such as Pepsi were there until the very end.

Here we see several views of The Frontier gift shop as it was with just 41 minutes before the close of The Frontier. The closing of a shop which was open for 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for many years.

New Years Days, Christmas Days, Valentines Days, personal days which are known but to oneself. This is how it looked, when it finally neared time to close.

Las Vegas - The Frontier - Sigma Derby With 27 Minutes Left

Sigma Derby was mechanical and clunky and wonderful.

Sitting there was in some ways like sitting at a table game but without a dealer. When people sit around the new giant Wheel Of Fortune, they are still all isolated from each other. At Sigma because of the table design, it carried all the personal nuances of a live game.

If the people at Sigma were cool, or at least interesting, then okay. If they were not, out come the headphones.

I've sat there at 3 or 4 a.m. enjoying the slow cheapness of it all, with the added entertainment of watching the occasional cowboy get escorted out, or perhaps to the hoosegow in some cases. The perp walk was from Gilleys to Sigma Derby, to the main exit (valet driveway).

Often, security would announce, "look out, coming through" as they hurried someone out. It didn't matter if there was no one in their way, they would always call it out. I suspect that "look out, coming through" was their code phrase for "hey civilized patrons, check out this one."

For this entertainment the best seats were the two which faced Gilleys.

During the final days of The Frontier, first one, and then a second seating position broke in some way, and instead of repairing it, the coin slot was simply taped over with yellow tape. On the final day of The Frontier a third position malfunctioned, and it's coin slot was taped over as well. The three broken positions all happened to be the three in a row which were on the sports book side.

Here we see the crowd at Sigma Derby 27 minutes before the close of The Frontier. [I just don't see the point of calling it The NEW Frontier anymore.] The guy sitting with his back to the camera is at one of the three broken positions. I guess that is why there are so many people on the other side.

Las Vegas Frontier - The Story Behind A Front Page Newspaper Photo

The front page of the Las Vegas Review Journal on Monday 16 July 2007 had the headline:

Frontier's days end

The main front page picture which accompanied that article was of a man named Ed Phelan, with his arms spread wide while singing karaoke.

You can see the article and picture at:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/8526017.html

You can also see my post entitled "Las Vegas - Farewell Frontier" for my first coverage of this brief karaoke event.

Now this is not a big deal, but it might be interesting to some of you to see what I think is a story behind the story.

Ed Phelan is a nice man who did an enthusiastic one song performance of a Joe Cocker song. Still though I was a little surprised that that is what the LVRJ used as the headline photo. I would have used a photo of something recognizable, such as The Frontier.

The newspaper article stated that there were four customers (not a misprint - four) of the sports book being seranaded. I might be wrong, after all I am an idiot, but by my count the number was zero.

There were no customers of the sports book there. (Four or zero or whatever I know. But here is how I counted it.)

-There was Neil Bush and Ed Phelan who the LVRJ acknowledged as singing.

-Norm Kaye, the famous singer from many years ago, who sang with the Dry Martini Orchestra later in the evening.

-John Locher who photographed for the LVRJ.

-Myself, who John had to have recognized as a photographer as he and I crossed paths while photographing many times that evening.

-Elsewhere in the sports book was a man who ate something and rested. And in the distance there were two employees of Phil's Deli who were on the job, but had nothing to do.

I suppose that part of the difficulty which the LVRJ faced was how to cover the closing of The Frontier, which officially took place at one minute after midnight, when the paper is probably already built at that time.

Las Vegas Frontier - Closed And Fenced

Once again, The Frontier is surrounded by a fence; only this time the gates are closed and "No Trespassing" signs are up. The doors are taped shut with yellow caution tape. Except for a few employee vehicles, the lots are empty.

The neon is still going. The music is still playing in the valet parking area. Inside, some machines, and some signs are still lit. All of this can be observed from the sidewalk, where a fence separates pedestrians from Phil Ruffin's paycheck.

More interesting stuff from inside The Frontier on closing night is still to come in this special series. The best is yet to come.

Las Vegas Frontier Closing Night - Margarita's Mexican Cantina

This one does not need me to write much. Just follow the pictures.

Margarita's was a restaurant in The Frontier, famous not only for it's food, but also it's attached margarita bar.

The band was stationed just off to the right of the bar, making this a very busy location. Thus my journey to a more peaceful area.

My search for a more peaceful area ultimately wound up outside sitting on a brick wall near the valet parking driveway. From there I was able to enjoy the darkness and neon of a hot Las Vegas night.

Las Vegas - Norm Kaye At The Frontier Closing

At 10:37 p.m. with less than two hours to go before The Frontier closed, a Las Vegas music legend was introduced. Norm Kaye.

Norm Kaye was part of The Mary Kaye Trio, which introduced late night lounge acts to Las Vegas, at a time when the action closed early.

The Sinatra front man introduced Norm Kaye, who then sang several songs as the crowd went wild.

As well at this time, a guest drummer played with The Dry Martini Orchestra. I believe his name was Evan Diner (has played with Wayne Newton) though I might be off on the spelling.

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On 18 February 2007 I did a post on the loss of Mary Kaye. It can be found at http://royvegas.blogspot.com/2007/02/farewell-to-mary-kaye-revolutionary-las.html

This series on the closing night of The Frontier will continue.

Las Vegas - Farewell Frontier