Remnants of Las Vegas’ past
However much Las Vegas changes, it’ll live fondly in people’s memories as the swanky playground of the Rat Pack. That era lives on, if you look for it. One such holdout is the Golden Steer, a restaurant with a look and menu that haven’t changed much since it opened in 1958. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Bananas Foster goes up in a blaze at the Golden Steer. The Wood family, visiting from Corona del Mar, watches appreciatively. Booths in the restaurant are named for onetime patrons including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
At the Golden Steer, jumbo Gulf shrimp chill out. Rat Pack figures look on from a photo. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
It’s your classic meet-up of surf and turf as lobster tail is paired with a New York strip steak at the Golden Steer. Asparagus and a large baked potato await as well -- if one’s waistband will accommodate. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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White Cross Drugs has occupied the Strip since 1957. Nowadays, it’s in the shadow of Stratosphere. Inside is a classic drugstore counter: Tiffany’s. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Customers come and go at Tiffany’s, but time doesn’t seem to have changed the place very much. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Vintage signs enhance the sense of nostalgia at Tiffany’s. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Tiffany’s, looking very Edward Hopper-ish. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Many of Las Vegas’ classic properties are gone, but some live on, thanks to their neon signs. Restored signs glow along downtown’s Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard. One of the city’s best-remembered sentinels, the Hacienda’s horse and rider, stands at the intersection of those streets. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Fremont Street Experience glows with nostalgia. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Another visit to the past awaits about 20 miles west of the Strip. Spring Mountain Ranch, now a state park, was once a watering hole, then became a retreat for Chester Lauck, half of the “Lum and Abner” radio team. The two-story home he built there is constructed of locally quarried sandstone. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The ranch house, once a radio star’s retreat, is open to visitors. Spring Mountain Ranch is now a state park. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Spring Mountain Ranch’s owners after radio star Chester Lauck were German heiress and actress Vera Krupp, then billionaire Howard Hughes. In photographic form, they’re still around. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Attractive as the ranch house is, the true beauty at Spring Mountain Ranch is the soaring Nevada outdoors. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
