Industrial to become Dean Martin Drive

Stephen Curran

Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 8:39 a.m.

Dean Martin becomes the latest 20th century crooner whose name will be enshrined in the minds -- and maps -- of those who come to Las Vegas to visit or to stay.

Industrial Road on the west side of Interstate 15 will be renamed Dean Martin Drive, joining Frank Sinatra Drive on the east side of the freeway in a kind of Rat Pack sandwich.

At the request of Panorama Towers LLC., the Clark County Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the change in 12 miles of Industrial between Twain Avenue and Southern Highlands Parkway.

"I am in full support of the name change," said Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald. "I think Industrial Road, especially in this area, is a misnomer."

Others weren't so supportive. Planning staff members urged commissioners to reject the new name, saying it violated the Las Vegas Street Naming and Address Assignment Policy adopted in 1988. The guidelines are meant to keep the commission from changing the name of only a portion of a roadway.

The Las Vegas Department of Fire Services also opposed the change, saying it would make it difficult for police, fire and paramedics to remember where Industrial Road ends and Dean Martin Drive begins.

Attorney Jay Brown, who represented Panorama Towers before the commission, said the name change came at "a natural break point," where Industrial crosses under I-15.

It's all a moot point now for Robert Barnum, who owns the M & B Auto Haus, now at 5115 Industrial Road. The new name would give his business a new address, if it weren't already slated for demolition within a year to make way for another high-rise project, he said.

"I didn't know about them changing the street name," Barnum said.

Barnum and his staff had been in the location for barely a year, after being booted from their old shop on Highland Drive to make way for increased parking at the Rio hotel. They had been in business there for more than 15 years, he said.

It's a process Barnum said he dreads repeating. Packing up the shop can take months.

"Now we've got to do it again," he said. "I'd like to stay in the same vicinity, but the price is real high around here. This whole thing is changing."