Recently I wrote a bit about The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister, how it was unexpectedly fascinating and so interesting in particular to learn about the Hotel Agua Caliente in Tijuana, where Las Vegas architecture and culture perhaps arguably began.
Alas, after decades of sitting derelict, the resort burned down. Not much is left. The end.
Except of course for the inevitable postcard shopping on eBay. I picked this one up for 99 cents:
The look of the "Gold Bar" doesn't really tickle my interest, but it probably grabbed Hollywood's attention well enough back in the day. (Per the previous post, I still can't find any photos of the really stunning designs online. Perhaps I'll rent a movie and try to grab some stills. Other than this. Nice gown, though. Someone needs to bring back diaphanous.)
(There is online footage of Agua Caliente's famous racetrack. Mike, and perhaps all those who appreciate the "sport of kings," would be very sad if we were to forget handsome Phar Lap's final race.)
The back of the card wasn't shown on the auction, but the seller did say it was used. Ooo - more yummy than a box of Gump chocolates! Who knows what glimpse of 1930s glitter it may bring?
Here is the back:
The card is addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Quentin Smith at 270 Seaman Avenue in NYC. (Google results for that name are all over the place.)
It was postmarked 19 August 1930, and it reads, "Tijuana, Aug. 18. Down in Old Mexico. ????day attended a barbecue at Hoot Gibson's ranch. Expect to start east Thursday. Bob."
Not as my-goodnessy as Helena nor as unexpected as Rosemary, but now we have Bob. Bob. Bob? Someone who visited and ate barbecue with Hoot Gibson, second only to Tom Mix in terms of 1920/30/40s cowboy stardom. (Which I will admit I didn't know until I looked him up. I guess Roy Rogers and Gene Autry came a little later. Also, cowboy stardom ain't what it used to be.)
Hoot Gibson also has a Las Vegas connection: he moved here in the 1940s and opened the D4C ranch on Spring Mountain. (And it wasn't until I started typing this that I "got" the name of the ranch. Say it out loud. Think about what Nevada used to be famous for. Ha! Good one.)
Around that time he was in a film called Life in Las Vegas that cowboy movie fans have been going nuts trying to find. (More info - scroll to end.) Was it a real film that never quite happened? Or was it a travelogue made by someone in Las Vegas? Maybe I finally have a butt-boosting reason to poke around the archives at the downtown library.
By the next decade, Hoot's lavish lifestyle spiraled down and he was working at the Frontier casino as a greeter. (The Frontier was blown up last year. I am surrounded by catharsis.) His last film appearance was a brief spot in Ocean's Eleven (the original), and that was about that for Hoot.
But What About Bob? One can only imagine. And one does. (It's fun.)
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