Hanging around the pool at The Last Frontier Hotel back in the late 40's you could be witness to some interesting events - like this nuclear test in the not-too-far-off Nevada Desert.
The Hotel is best known as the second resort built on the fledgling Las Vegas Strip, located along historic Highway 91. Built several miles south of downtown Las Vegas, the Last Frontier was completed in 1942, a year after the debut of its neighbor, the El Rancho Vegas.
Like the El Rancho, the idea to build the Last Frontier came almost by chance. In the summer of 1941, wealthy Texan R.E. Griffith and his nephew, William J. Moore, were on their way to California to purchase materials for a resort they planned to build in Deming, New Mexico. While on Highway 91, they stopped in Las Vegas to inspect the El Rancho and liked the secluded desert location so much, they decided to build a hotel and casino about a mile further south. Griffith and Moore reasoned that motorists traveling north on the highway from California would see their hotel, the Last Frontier, before the El Rancho. Griffith bought thirty-five acres on the highway, including the 91 Club, a nightclub and restaurant owned since 1939 by Guy McAfee, a former Los Angeles police officer.
Despite local skepticism about the remote location of their Last Frontier, Griffith and Moore were determined to out-do the El Rancho as a tourist attraction. They bought high quality furniture and imported authentic Western pioneer saddles, antique guns, and other accessories for the hotel's lobby, bar, and restaurant. They bused in expert stonemasons and members of the Ute Indian tribe from New Mexico to fashion fireplaces and patios from sandstone.
If nothing else, he does have an ego.
The silliness of some religious stuff.
I have two - one for her car and one for my truck.
The World Cup is feared to be fuelling an unprecedented rise in sex-trafficking – especially in Mexico where prostitution is rife. England are due to play Mexico in the Estadio Azteca in the Round of 16 tonight. The road to the stadium is lined with prostitutes, who stand on the pavements in broad daylight as families - along with potential Johns - walk past. The hectic and busy environment around a World Cup can contribute to increased demand for commercial sexual exploitation, according to some 'experts'.
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An ego the size of Mt. Rushmore...
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The Hays Code didn’t just shape Casablanca, it shaped the entire emotional architecture of Hollywood romance from 1934, when the Production Code Administration began strict enforcement under Joseph I. Breen, all the way through the early 1950s. Under these rules, adultery could appear on screen but never be rewarded, and a married woman choosing passion over duty was explicitly forbidden.
So when Michael Curtiz began directing Casablanca at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank in 1942, the writers Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch knew from day one that Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman, could not leave her husband Victor Laszlo, played by Paul Henreid, no matter how powerful her chemistry with Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, was.
That’s why the script evolved into a story of sacrifice rather than reunion. The famous airport goodbye, filmed on Stage 21 at Warner Bros. in the summer of 1942, wasn’t just poetic, it was the only ending the censors would approve.
And ironically, that restriction created one of cinema’s most enduring moral dilemmas. Instead of a conventional love story, Casablanca became a film about responsibility, resistance, and choosing the greater good during World War II.
Rick’s final act, sending Ilsa away so she could continue supporting Laszlo’s anti-Nazi efforts across Europe, gave the movie a gravitas it might never have achieved if the couple simply ran off together. The Hays Code tried to enforce morality, but in this case, it pushed the filmmakers toward a deeper, more iconic ending that helped Casablanca win Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944 and cement its place in film history.
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Lightning struck and killed a man at Fort Myers Beach Saturday. The beachgoer was struck directly by the bolt and pronounced dead at the scene.
The other three wounded swimmers were raced to a nearby hospital, according to local authorities. The injured victims had been wading in the water when the astonishing lightning strike came down.
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Here's a great idea for a gift for her -
and you don't need a reason to buy it for her...
Click on the picture for more information on this bracelet.
They're all simple yet elegant - and everything comes to you with free shipping!
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Every once in a while down here I come across something like this - like a guy around the corner from me that has a "No Kings" hand-drawn sign in his front/living room window. I spotted this golf cart last night when we were heading out for cocktails. It fascinates me that some people feel so strongly about something so obtuse that they need to display it - even in the crudest ways. Thank god I didn't end up sitting next to this loon at the bar. Juss' sayin'...
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