Monday, March 22, 2004 | 8:15 a.m.
A Las Vegas businessman is taking Tonopah's historic Mizpah Hotel out of mothballs and putting it -- and hopefully Tonopah -- back on tourists' maps.
Residents of the Nye County town that sits along U.S. 95 about midway between Las Vegas and Reno already are sprucing up their storefronts in preparation for the 96-year-old hotel's grand re-opening this summer, Danny Doiron, the Mizpah's new general manager, said.
"It's like sparking new life into everybody. It's great that a little bitty building can give so much hope," Doiron said.
Well, the Mizpah isn't exactly "little bitty." The five-story building was Nevada's tallest from 1914 to 1929. Built in 1908, it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and was one of the first Nevada buildings to have electricity and an elevator.
That elevator still works, Doiron said Friday. In fact, the Mizpah is in pretty good shape for an old gal.
"So far, it looks like it's just cosmetic work," he said. "The foundation looks good, and everything seems to be in pretty good shape. But with a 100-year-old building, you never know."
The Mizpah, which closed in 2000 after its new owners hit financial trouble, was the place to stop on the long trek between Las Vegas and the state's capital. Everybody who was anybody -- and plenty of regular people -- stayed there.
Its past guests include champion boxer Jack Dempsey and state and national lawmakers such as U.S. Sens. Patrick McCarran, Key Pittman and Takser Oddie, who also served as Nevada's governor.
Of course, such a historic place carries its share of myths, too. For example, there is no evidence that legendary lawman Wyatt Earp ever stayed at the Mizpah, according to an essay by Guy Rocha, Nevada state archivist.
Earp and his wife, Josie, lived in Tonopah in 1902, where they ran a saloon, did a little prospecting and "pursued other business," Rocha writes. But the couple moved to California before the Mizpah opened in 1908.
More likely, Rocha says, the story refers to the Mizpah Saloon and Grill, a business that occupied the site before the hotel was built.
Doiron hopes to bring such tales back to life within the walls of the 57-room hotel. Most of the antique furniture, fixtures, photographs and other items were stripped away by previous owners, he said. But Doiron and his partners in the Mizpah Casino LLC have been scouring the country for replacements.
"We've been looking everywhere on eBay and the Internet," he said. "We have some military postcards with pictures of people who stood there in front of the hotel. We're going to do a display case. We're trying to collect anything from the era."
Doiron hopes that, as word of the Mizpah's re-opening spreads, Nevadans who have items from the original hotel or from the early 1900s will step forward. The Mizpah will showcase all of Tonopah's Old West history, he said. And it will bring at least 70 new jobs and a convention center to the town's starving economy.
He promises the grand opening this summer will be worth the drive.
"Come relive the past," he said. "It's going to be the biggest hoo-ha that Tonopah's seen in 100 years."
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