Vegas history posted in downtown exhibit

Friday, May 6, 2005 | 10:27 a.m.

Greetings from Las Vegas. Wish you were here. Having a blast. Literally.

The mushroom cloud visible from a postcard highlighting the Pioneer hotel in the 1950s says a lot about America during the beginning of the Cold War, and even more about Las Vegas, a place where above-ground nuclear testing was as exciting as a kick line in one of the finer showrooms.

Not only did mushroom clouds appear on postcards, they were referenced in menus and on marquees. But it is the postcard that has been documenting the explosions and just about everything else that has defined Las Vegas over the years.

In "Vegas VIP" (Viewed in Postcards), an exhibit on display through May at POST Modern, the historic post office on Stewart Avenue, we see a decade-by-decade pictorial history of the city whose birth coincided with the Golden Age of postcards.

"The way postcards have developed over time is the way Las Vegas has developed," Brian "Paco" Alvarez, curator of "Vegas VIP," said. "The postcards are not just of people, but of the great architecture of the city."

Pointing to the atomic testing postcard, Alvarez said, "We exploited that as a city. In the 1950s you could see the mushroom cloud from downtown."

Other postcard images include the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, hotels that no longer exist and Vegas Vic. In addition to postcards, some of which have been enlarged as much as 5 by 8 feet, the exhibit includes historic photos and artifacts, including giant black-and-white portraits of Las Vegas' founders.

The building itself is part of the attraction.

"For it to be in this building is an honor," Alvarez said. "This is a serious, federal-style, neoclassical building. That is expected in major cities and you come here and you don't see it hidden behind Lady Luck.

"The goal here with all of the exhibit spaces was to try to demonstrate the architecture of this building, show exhibits that have people looking up. This is Vegas. They want to be ooh-ed and aah-ed."

Different rooms feature eras ranging from early Vegas to the federal period to the atomic age and post modern era. Also on display are copies of railroad depot plans and plans for the post office.

Artifacts include a Geiger counter, a wooden pipe once used to divert water from big springs, a collection of Helldorado buttons, letters from neon signs and the conductor's step from the Las Vegas Aerotrain.

In one colorful and retro postcard that was enlarged to poster size, a woman poses atop the sign for the Las Vegas Club. In another postcard, two-door sedans are parked in front of the Mint hotel in the 1960s.

"It's not easy to blow up a postcard," Alvarez said. "But it really brings out the postcard as a work of art."

Viewers will also have a glimpse at notes from the back of postcards to see stories that were shared. Most of the postcard collection belongs to Bob Stoldal, vice president of news operations at KLAS Channel 8, who Alvarez says has one of the largest collection of vintage Las Vegas postcards in the world.

The exhibit coincides with the centennial.

"It's an exciting time to be in Las Vegas," Alvarez said. "As I tell everyone, Las Vegas has come of age. It's finally 21 and can have it's martini."