Mob Museum, Etc.

We went to Du-Pars Restaurant & Bakery for breakfast this morning, except Dad who went straight to gambling. Curt had won a coupon for a free Vegas stack of (3) buttermilk pancakes that they are famous for. We split them between Lori, Mom, & me, while Curt had their Brulee steel-cut oatmeal. Personally, I prefer pancakes that are more substantial than buttermilk.

After breakfast Mom & Curt went back to gambling, while Lori and I went to the Mob Museum, officially known as the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. The building itself is a historical building built in 1933; it formerly housed a post office and Federal courthouse. They have incorporated portions of the post office into the entry and one of the courtrooms is a mini-theater for a presentation on the Kefauver Committee's Las Vegas hearings. We spent about 3&1/2 hours there.


It was interesting but had quite a few photos of dead gangsters and their victims; nearly all were black and white so that 'sanitized' the bloody scenes. One of the few displays that had 'blood' was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre wall; the 'blood' had to be paint since 87 year old blood would have denatured and would not still be bright red. When the original building was to be torn down a Canadian bought the wall, numbered the bricks, disassembled them, and reassembled it for a display in Canada. It was ultimately purchased by the Mob Museum.


They also had a map of the original plat of Las Vegas. In the map below Main Street is the uppermost street at the top edge of the town; with 1st through 5th streets sequentially below it. (The map does not follow the cartographic standard, North is actually at the upper right corner of the map.) The museum building is located just outside of the right edge of the original part of Las Vegas at the intersection of Stewart and 3rd. The California Hotel is located within the original limits of Las Vegas in the top right corner of the map on a block bounded by Ogden, Main, Stewart, & 1st.


We also visited The Beef Jerky Store, which actually has more than just beef jerky. They have jerkies made of pork, chicken, duck, various types of seafood, buffalo, alligator, kangaroo, meatless jerky, and more. They also have trail mix, dried fruit, 'li hing everything' (though none with the all natural li hing mui powder), and crack seed. It is run by people from Hawai'i! Here's part of their jerky wall.


On the way back we walked through the Fremont Street Experience. I had been wondering about the trees in this area; specifically whether they were real or not. Today we discovered the spiral topiaries are not; they are fake branches attached to a thick wire spiral form. Still not sure yet about the palms, where the gravel surrounding the base of the trees is cemented together and either comes all the way to the trunk or has an inch or so of bare ground. We saw this guy painting with spray paint cans. He uses some techniques that are used in other media such as putting down a base layer and letting it dry, then spraying another color over it then dabbing with a crumpled paper to remove some pigment before it dries. It looks like he uses a thin acrylic sheet as his canvas. It is likely he started by using airbrushes. Or perhaps he is a former tagger.


Mom has been doing really well. Curt said the difference between how she is doing now and how she was during the last week of June (when they returned a day before she went to the emergency room) is like night and day. Back in June she was needing to come back to the room every couple hours or so to take a nap, she complained of her legs feeling 'heavy', and she was breathing very hard whenever they had to do any walking. This time she is staying up until after midnight and waking up early, no complaints about 'heavy' legs just a cramp in her hip due to sitting at the video poker machines, and no heavy breathing. The extra blood and platelets are really making a difference! If she keeps this up she might be able to make another trip the first week of November for her annual birthday trip to Las Vegas!

Even here in Las Vegas we can't get away from those hurricanes and tropical storms! Apparently Tropical Storm Paine is heading towards Las Vegas. It is currently over the Pacific and predicted to lose even more speed once it starts crossing over Baja California. We should be back in Hawai'i by the time the remnants get to Las Vegas.
 

























Arrgh Matey, Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day! And Happy Birthday to Renee & Aaron!