Elvis Alive Drive? 10 Las Vegas streets named for notable people

Josh Elliott is photographed near the intersection of Frank Sinatra and Industrial Road in Las Vegas Wednesday, August 24, 2011.

By Kyle B. Hansen

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Elvis is alive! At least according to the map book.

Not every street name has to be boring (Eastern Avenue) or named for a hotel (Sahara Avenue). Some make a statement, such as Elvis Alive Drive.

It turns out lots of streets in the Las Vegas Valley are named for interesting people, and some streets have noteworthy stories behind them. In fact, Mark Hall-Patton, the administrator of the Clark County museum system, wrote a book on the subject, "Asphalt Memories."

Las Vegas accountant Josh Elliott is pushing to change Industrial Road between Twain and Sahara avenues to Sammy Davis Jr. Parkway, creating an intersection near the Strip where Davis would be united with Rat Pack buddies Frank Sinatra (Drive) and Dean Martin (Drive).

The proposal has been approved by the Winchester Town Advisory Board and is to be discussed tonight by the Paradise Town Advisory Board before going to the planning commission and the county commission.

While Sammy Davis Jr. Parkway works it way through the approval process, the Sun dug out the map book and Hall-Patton's book to find some other streets named for notable people.

/Sun File Photo
Rat Pack Avenue

Three of the five members of the Rat Pack will have roads if Sammy Davis Jr. Parkway is approved. Frank Sinatra Drive runs along Interstate 15 just west of the Strip. Dean Martin Drive is on the other side of I-15.

The other two members of the famous singing and acting group, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, don't have streets in Las Vegas. But there is a Rat Pack Avenue in Henderson. It's in a residential neighborhood near Old Vegas Trail and Foothills Drive.
/AP Photo/Scott McKiernan
Siegfried Street and Roy Horn Way

More than four decades after first appearing at the Tropicana, the magical duo Siegfried & Roy are still a fixture on the Strip with their Secret Garden at the Mirage.

Siegfried Street is in a residential neighborhood near Tropicana Avenue and Buffalo Drive. Roy Horn Way is a frontage street on the south side of the Las Vegas Beltway between Decatur Boulevard and Sunset Road, where it turns into a road named for another notable local resident: Jerry Tarkanian.
/AP Photo
Elvis Presley Court and Elvis Alive Drive

Even the map book wouldn't be Las Vegas without Elvis Presley. When he performed here, one of every two visitors saw his show, and with tribute artists everywhere and Cirque du Soleil's "Viva Elvis" playing at Aria, he is still never far away.

Elvis Presley Court is a residential street near Grand Teton Drive and Decatur Boulevard. Elvis Alive Drive is in Kyle Canyon.
Photo by Leila Navidi
Wayne Newton Boulevard

Wayne Newton is called Mr. Las Vegas for a reason. He's performed more than 30,000 shows here in more than four decades. He also once owned the Aladdin, is known for raising prized Arabian horses and is working on opening his Casa de Shenandoah ranch to tourists.

He might also be the namesake of a road nearly every Las Vegan has driven on without realizing it. Wayne Newton Boulevard is the road that connects the airport connector tunnel to the terminals at McCarran International Airport.
Jerry Lewis Way

Perhaps best known for raising more than $2.5 billion since 1966 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association via annual Labor Day telethons, Jerry Lewis has long been connected to Las Vegas. He first performed here in 1947. But despite his notoriety, the street named for Lewis is so short it doesn't appear on some maps, including Google Maps. Jerry Lewis Way is just 200 yards long, running parallel to Harmon Avenue just west of Interstate 15.

Bugsy Siegal Circle

The notorious gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel helped build Las Vegas, opening the Flamingo as one of the first resorts on what is now the Strip. His mob connections cost him any of the usual memorials that go to city founders — monuments, school names and the like — but he does get a street, even if it is an obscure and misspelled one.

Bugsy Siegal Circle is a short residential road near Ann Road and Tee Pee Lane.

Photo by Lennox McLendon/The Associated Press
Debbie Reynolds Drive

The Hollywood star was a regular performer at Strip nightclubs in the 1960s and '70s, but her attempt at her own hotel, the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel, didn't end well. The hotel became the Greek Isles and is now the Clarion. But Debbie Reynolds Drive remains at the hotel's side, connecting Convention Center Drive to Desert Inn Road just east of the Strip.
/AP
Jimmy Durante Boulevard

Known for his large nose, Jimmy Durante was a stand-up comedian and popular entertainer on the Strip in the 1950s and '60s. He has two streets named for him; Jimmy Durante Boulevard runs between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue east of Boulder Highway, and Durante Street is in a residential area just south of UNLV.
/AP
Mel Torme Way

Singer Mel Torme performed all over the world and was a co-author of "The Christmas Song," along with hundreds of others. He got his start performing with Frank Sinatra, and his street isn't far from the intersection of Frank Sinatra Drive, Dean Martin Way and Industrial Road. Mel Torme Way connects Industrial to Spring Mountain Road south of the Fashion Show mall.
/UNLV Special Collections
Howard Hughes Parkway

As the story goes, Howard Hughes moved into the Desert Inn for a short stay in 1966. When the manager asked him to leave, he bought the hotel instead. Eventually, he also bought the Landmark, Sands, Frontier, other casinos and lots of property in and around Las Vegas, including what would become Summerlin.

Howard Hughes Parkway runs through a commercial development between Flamingo Road and Sands Avenue near Paradise Road.