Friday, July 12, 2002 | 3:01 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: July 13, 2002
With all of the hotel implosions and other vast changes of the past century, many argue that the Las Vegas Valley's historic roots have been lost forever.
Members of the Pioneer Trail Project say that's not so. They say if you look real hard, peel back the layers of decay and indifference and use a vivid imagination, you can find the old Las Vegas.
"I love history and I think what is left of the older section of town is well worth preserving for future generations," said Samuel Wright, a member of the project and a planner for the Regional Transportation Commission.
"You pass these places a thousand times, yet many people don't see them because they are not thinking about history."
The Pioneer Trail was designed to help preserve more than 30 cultural sites along a six-mile route from the Las Vegas Valley Water District on Valley View Boulevard to the Old Mormon Fort on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Recently the organizers, who include local government leaders, citizen activists and members of the Las Vegas Arts Commission's West Las Vegas Arts Committee, were given a $537,000 grant from the Bureau of Land Management to begin work on the cultural trail.
The money will be used to repair and, in some cases, install sidewalks, erect colorful banners every two-tenths of a mile and install engraved stone and metal signs at the various landmarks, which include the old Binion ranch house on Bonanza Road, the McWilliams Town Site, Lorenzi Park and the old fort.
The banners and markers were designed by local artist Vicki Richardson.
A July 27 penny drive at four locations on the trail -- the Water District, Moulin Rouge, old Westside School at Washington Avenue and D Street and the fort -- will raise additional funds to promote arts projects along the trail.
Sarann Knight-Preddy, who owned the historic Moulin Rouge in the 1980s and attempted to return it to its glory days as the first desegregated resort of the '50s, said part of the trail's purpose is to stimulate economic growth in long-stagnant areas.
"I came here in 1942 -- it was a time when Jackson Avenue in West Las Vegas was as busy as Fremont Street, because it was desegregated," and Fremont Street was not, said Knight-Preddy, a member of the Pioneer Trail Project and the West Las Vegas Pioneers Inc.
"Both blacks and whites frequented places like the Cove, the Cotton Club, the Harlem Club, the Brown Derby and the Town Tavern. When desegregation ended, the businesses on Jackson closed and the area deteriorated because blacks started going downtown and to the Strip."
The Pioneer Trail will cut through the heart of Jackson, where today only the Town Tavern remains. Knight-Preddy said a marker will be placed there and at the sites where the clubs from the era of Las Vegas' segregation once operated.
Wright got the idea for the Pioneer Trail two years ago while trying to develop a local urban bicycle trail. He visited historic trails in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Monterey, Calif.
"I thought, why not have a similar trail here in Las Vegas?" Wright said. He soon learned, however, that creating a bike path amid a concrete and asphalt jungle was a logistical nightmare. But he figured the plan could be salvaged with a pedestrian/auto route through the city.
Wright said that while the start-up federal grant is generous, it is nowhere near enough to buy all of the landmarks and save them. The group has no plans to do so, leaving the buildings targets for demoliton.
For example, the old ranch near Rancho Drive that once was owned by gaming pioneer Benny Binion and in later years by his family is boarded up. There is nothing to stop its owners from tearing it down and developing the valuable commercial land.
Also, the old boarding house at F Street and Adams Avenue, where entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. stayed during the days of Strip desegregation, is vacant.
"We may install the markers and one day have to change them to read, 'Here is where such-and-such used to stand,' " Wright said. "So I am taking photos of the places that still exist so they can be included on the markers."
Wright said the trail could provide a valuable learning tool -- and a fun outing -- for local schoolchildren on field trips. For example, when they visit the Water District, they will be standing on the site of the valley's first American Indian and white settlements.
One of the more charming stops on the trail is the Biltmore bungalows, small homes off Bonanza Road and Veterans Memorial Drive that long ago housed titanium plant workers. While some of the homes are vacant and in decay, others have been fully restored and painted bright, cheery colors.
Not included on the initial trail plans are the old Union Pacific Railroad site of the early 20th century land auction, which gave birth to the city of Las Vegas, or the historic Kiel Ranch in North Las Vegas.
"You have to start somewhere, and we decided to start with the oldest townsite," Wright said. "I think it's a good start. Maybe one day, The Pioneer Trail will wind all through the area."
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