A "Rat Pack" intersection in Las Vegas?

[roadfro]

Las Vegas Man Works to get street named after Sammy Davis Jr.
Las Vegas Review Journal - 11/28/2012

Who can take Industrial Road, sprinkle it with dew, turn it into Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, and create a miracle or two?

The Candy Man can, that's who.

In this case, the Candy Man is Josh Elliott, a 59-year-old Las Vegas native who has been on a one-man quest to name a two-mile stretch of Industrial Road after Sammy Davis Jr., that famous singer and dancer who became synonymous with Las Vegas and who died at the age of 64 in 1990.

And if there's anybody up to the latest task, it's Elliot. He's no novice. He was instrumental, he said, in bringing Martin Luther King Boulevard to Las Vegas in the late 1980s.

This changeover has already been approved by the Clark County Commission. The only catch is that money needs to be raised for changing signs and planning/mapping databases.

If the money can be raised, Sammy Davis Jr. Drive would intersect existing Frank Sinatra Drive and transition into Dean Martin Drive at this intersection behind Caesar's Palace west of the Las Vegas Strip--thus, three members of the "Rat Pack" would be 'reunited' at the intersection.


Longer term thinking: The current designation of Sammy Davis Jr. Drive ends at the city limits of Las Vegas. If the city were to extend the name along their section of Industrial Road, and NDOT's Project Neon plans continue forward to link Industrial Road to Martin L. King Blvd, Vegas would have a major thoroughfare named for three separate recognizable individuals.

[LA_MetroMan]

Las Vegas Man Works to get street named after Sammy Davis Jr.
Las Vegas Review Journal - 11/28/2012

Who can take Industrial Road, sprinkle it with dew, turn it into Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, and create a miracle or two?

The Candy Man can, that's who.

In this case, the Candy Man is Josh Elliott, a 59-year-old Las Vegas native who has been on a one-man quest to name a two-mile stretch of Industrial Road after Sammy Davis Jr., that famous singer and dancer who became synonymous with Las Vegas and who died at the age of 64 in 1990.

And if there's anybody up to the latest task, it's Elliot. He's no novice. He was instrumental, he said, in bringing Martin Luther King Boulevard to Las Vegas in the late 1980s.

This changeover has already been approved by the Clark County Commission. The only catch is that money needs to be raised for changing signs and planning/mapping databases.

If the money can be raised, Sammy Davis Jr. Drive would intersect existing Frank Sinatra Drive and transition into Dean Martin Drive at this intersection behind Caesar's Palace west of the Las Vegas Strip--thus, three members of the "Rat Pack" would be 'reunited' at the intersection.


Longer term thinking: The current designation of Sammy Davis Jr. Drive ends at the city limits of Las Vegas. If the city were to extend the name along their section of Industrial Road, and NDOT's Project Neon plans continue forward to link Industrial Road to Martin L. King Blvd, Vegas would have a major thoroughfare named for three separate recognizable individuals.

SAMMY should get a street named after him that crosses the strip in the more touristy areas. He was a LAS VEGAS icon like no other.

[roadfro]

Anything more "touristy" would result in renaming a MAJOR street, so that's not gonna happen.

It should be noted that the City of Las Vegas named an outdoor performance space in Lorenzi Park as the "Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza", a venue that has been around for at least 20 years. I don't think any other Rat Pack member has anything named for them in the area (other than the two streets mentioned previously).

[agentsteel53]

various roads which cross the strip:

Sunset Rd - can be renamed
Russell Rd - dunno who Russell is
Diablo Ave - that one has to be kept.  besides, it's a brief connector only
Hacienda Ave - is that still an extant casino?
Reno Ave - clearly not the best way to get to Reno, so can be renamed
Tropicana Ave - okay, that can stay because that is where the Tropicana is
Rue de Monte Carlo - another active casino
Harmon Ave - who is Harmon?
Flamingo Road - another active casino

and that's the main north-south drag.  plenty of opportunities for Sammy; and that's not even getting into all the crap named after that xenophobic fiend Pat McCarran.

[LA_MetroMan]

Anything more "touristy" would result in renaming a MAJOR street, so that's not gonna happen.

It should be noted that the City of Las Vegas named an outdoor performance space in Lorenzi Park as the "Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza", a venue that has been around for at least 20 years. I don't think any other Rat Pack member has anything named for them in the area (other than the two streets mentioned previously).

I would be all for the city ponying up the money and create a 40' high circular LED computer lighted circle imagery of all of the rat pack, spinning in eternity on the land THEY truly helped build. It was the mobs money that brought them in, it was the entertainers that kept them coming back, and THE RAT PACK were the kingpins.

[Lytton]

Harmon Ave - who is Harmon?

Its probably Mark Harmon, that's what I'm guessing.

[roadfro]

Harmon Ave - who is Harmon?

Its probably Mark Harmon, that's what I'm guessing.

You resurrected the thread for that terrible guess? Mark Harmon has nothing to do with the Las Vegas area.


According to Asphalt Memories, a book published by Clark County noting the origin of some street names around Clark County, Harmon Avenue is actually named for Harley A. Harmon–the book gives no detail on who Harmon is.

Russell Rd - dunno who Russell is
Diablo Ave - that one has to be kept.  besides, it's a brief connector only
Hacienda Ave - is that still an extant casino?
Reno Ave - clearly not the best way to get to Reno, so can be renamed
Tropicana Ave - okay, that can stay because that is where the Tropicana is
Rue de Monte Carlo - another active casino
Harmon Ave - who is Harmon?
Flamingo Road - another active casino

and that's the main north-south drag.  plenty of opportunities for Sammy; and that's not even getting into all the crap named after that xenophobic fiend Pat McCarran.

Some notes other on street names mentioned:

• Russell - Named for John Russell, mayor of the City of Las Vegas from 1939-1941. He owned a 100-acre ranch near where the road began.*
  
• Hacienda - The casino no longer exists; it was sited on what is now Mandalay Bay. Hacienda is a semi-major street in southern LV area
  
• Tropicana - Originally named Bond Road, for the ranch it led to. It was changed to help promote the hotel, at the same time that Sahara Ave was changed from San Francisco Ave.*
  
• Flamingo - Named also for the original Flamingo hotel, it was originally named Monson Street.* A portion of the street near I-15 and the Strip was actually named "Dunes-Flamingo Road" (incorporating the original Dunes Hotel that was where the Bellagio now stands), and signs along I-15 and at the Strip actually said "Dunes-Flamingo" into the late 1980s, IIRC. The Dunes was imploded in 1993.
  
• McCarran - nothing named for Senator Pat McCarran intersects the Strip, but there is a Patrick Lane in southern Las Vegas, McCarran Street in North Las Vegas, McCarran Blvd on Nellis Air Force Base, and a no-longer extant McCarran Avenue that was in Henderson. He's the only person to have had 4 streets in the Las Vegas area named for him.* Let us not forget McCarran Airport is named for him. Also the McCarran Boulevard ring road (now hidden SR 659) in Reno/Sparks.
  
  * = Info proceeding an asterisk taken from above-mentioned book.

[amroad17]

Need to find a road for Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop while they are at it.

Of course, in about 25 years, they will have to name a road for Wayne Newton too.

[roadfro]

Of course, in about 25 years, they will have to name a road for Wayne Newton too.

Wayne Newton Blvd already exists. It is part of the roadway(s) that serves McCarran International Airport, specifically Terminal 1 (possibly the passenger pickup taxi lanes).

[amroad17]

I did not know that!

[ARMOURERERIC]

Don't for get Frank Rosenthal

[roadfro]

Sorry for the 2-1/2 year bump, but this actually came to fruition last month./

Sammy Davis Jr. joins ranks of people immortalized on Las Vegas area's street signs - Las Vegas Sun, 9/29/2015

Clark County honored another member of the legendary Rat Pack today when a stretch of Industrial Road got a new name: Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.

The name change affected 1.8 miles of Industrial Road from Sahara Avenue to the intersection of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra drives behind the Mirage.

Interesting to note that the name change only applied to the portion of Industrial Road that lies in unincorporated Clark County; that part within the City of Las Vegas boundary remained named Industrial Road.


The article above also gives some information on other people who have streets named after them in the Las Vegas area.