Post by memphis on Feb 22, 2016 12:37:15 GMT -5
By Norm Clarke
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Almost four decades after his death, Elvis Presley is getting a street named after him in the city where he rocketed back to prominence.
The rumor is true, Clark Country Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said.
With the upcoming implosion of the Riviera hotel-casino, Riviera Boulevard will be renamed Elvis Presley Way, she said.
It will start at Las Vegas Boulevard, cross Paradise Road and loop through the valet area of the Westgate, where Elvis launched his comeback in 1969 when Kirk Kerkorian opened The International. The name was later changed to the Las Vegas Hilton and the LVH before time-share king David Siegel bought the property in summer 2014 and renamed it Westgate, after his Florida-based company.
Giunchigliani said Siegel's representatives met recently with her planning staff to start the renaming process.
Siegel wants Elvis Presley Way to help market the hotel and the Elvis exhibit that was loaned to him by Graceland.
Giunchigliani said the Riviera sign at the intersection of Riviera Boulevard and Paradise Road will be removed.
"We'll try to put it some place appropriate; maybe the (Neon) Boneyard will take it or some place along those lines," she said.
I asked whether she could confirm the rumor that Siegel is planning to build a boutique hotel and a water feature in the 20-some acres in front of the building.
"I have not heard that," she said.
Naming a street in Presley's honor is long overdue. "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" had an eight-year run of sellouts in the 1,150-seat main theater. For years his official record of sold-out shows from July 1969 to December 1976 was listed as 837. But Graceland's chief archivist, Angie Marchese, after researching Presley's Las Vegas years, revised the number to 636 last year as Graceland's partnership with Westgate was being worked out.
Presley died Aug. 16, 1977. He was 42.
Las Vegas Review-Journal reader Joe Stanhibel, who has been pushing for the Elvis honor for some time, said the only two streets he found were Elvis Presley Court near Jones Boulevard and Grand Teton Drive and Elvis Alive Drive off state Route 157 near U.S. Highway 95.
Brian