Historic recreation center to reopen

Judy Odierna

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:18 a.m.

After being closed for more than a year, the Doolittle Community Center will reopen its doors this weekend.

The recreation center, built in 1967 at 1940 N. J Street in the West Las Vegas neighborhood, completed a $10.5 million renovation that added a new pool with a play area, two gyms with state-of-the-art equipment, a new bathhouse, a game room, classrooms, a computer lab, fitness and dance rooms and a commercial kitchen.

The public will get its first look at 10 a.m. Saturday. An invitation-only celebration will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday.

"I think the community will love it," said Barbara Jackson, Director of Leisure Services for Las Vegas. "They will finally see something come together that has been long in the making."

The center is one of the city's most utilized facilities but had deteriorated greatly over the past 30 years, Jackson said.

Jackson said the city was dependant on local schools and churches to help keep some of the programs that Doolittle sponsored up and running.

"We're very appreciative for the cooperation that we received," Jackson said. "That also goes to the public who didn't stop coming to us just because we weren't in our normal location."

One community member looking forward to the re-opening is Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose ward houses the center.

Weekly said he can't wait to take his kids to the facility that he often went to while growing up.

"The most significant thing at Doolittle is that a lot of lives have been saved," Weekly said. "It has given a lot of kids some faith and hope and an opportunity to be involved and be in a safe haven."