Paradise Palms

Paradise Palms is a Mid Century Modern housing community in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the 1960s Irwin Molasky and Merv Adelson's company Paradise Development hired the young architectural firm of Palmer & Krisel fresh from their success building hundreds of successful tract homes for Alexander Homes and other custom projects in Palm Springs, California. The original homes off Cayuga Parkway debuted in 1960 and were developed by Molasky and Adelson's Paradise Homes, designed by Hugh Taylor and loosely based on Palmer & Krisel homes in Palm Springs' Racquet Club Road Estates. In 1962, the Plan-O-Ramic model home center opened on Dakota Way featuring all Palmer & Krisel-designed homes built by Paradise Homes. In 1963, other builders were added to the community, including California-based Americana Homes, Tropical Estates by Vallee Development, Stellar Greens by D.L Bradley, Miranti Homes and Fontainebleau Estates by Eastern Enterprises.

"This unique subdivision was the first planned community in Clark County. We used curvilinear street patterns instead of rectilinear. Paradise Palms won the American Builder magazine award for one of the best planned communities in the U.S. The interior designs were by world-renowned C. Tony Pereira." Irwin A. Molasky [1]

Construction
A William Krisel-designed home featuring a distinctive butterfly roof in Paradise Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The homes are Mid Century Modern of standard post and beam construction mostly sited on 40-by-40-foot (12 by 12 m) plots.

On both the Hugh Taylor and Palmer & Krisel-designed homes, there were numerous models available but to make the homes look custom, the footprints were rotated on their lots and flipped with a minimum of 3 different roof lines available: folded plate roof lines, butterfly roofs, flat, ranch, and dramatic overhangs. The homes also featured unique decorative block work and stone screens and were generally finished in sanded stucco.

"Street side, facades stretched almost the full extent of the 100-foot (30 m) wide lots. Concrete block or extended stucco walls connecting house and carport were intended to add length to the front of the house for a more imposing appearance. Idiosyncratic decorative elements made use of wood, decorative concrete block, patterned brick, two-tone paint, rock, ironwork, spun fiberglass panels, and other materials." Robert Imber, Eichler Network

Miranti Homes all offered three unique elevations as well with traditional mid-century ranch designs, carport or garage options, all-concrete block construction and featured some of the more colorful kitchen and bathroom options in the community. Americana Homes offered traditional mid-century elevations, and offered larger family-oriented homes with two car garages, interior wood paneling and up to 5 bedrooms. Stellar Greens featured modern luxury ranch homes, with architectural hallmarks consisting of roman tubs in each master, built-in appliances like toasters and can openers, 2-car garages, and terrazzo flooring. Fontainebleau Estates offered two models, but with a wide-variety of elevations the builder created a unique streetscape of 1800 and 1900 square foot homes that included sunken living rooms, garage or carport options, unique breeze block details and double door entries. Tropical Estates is defined by its low-slung ranch homes, unique breeze block patterns, front courtyards, interior planters lit by skylights, and sunken roman tubs in each master bedroom.

Las Vegas National Golf Club

Many of the homes in this tract back up to the Las Vegas National Golf Club. The Las Vegas National Golf Club began as the Stardust Country Club in 1961 (part of the Stardust Resort & Casino properties).

In 1969 it was purchased by the Del Webb Corporation and renamed the Sahara-Nevada Country Club. In 1982 it was purchased by American Golf Corporation who partnered with the Las Vegas Hilton in 1994 to create the Las Vegas Hilton Country Club, and was most recently renamed the Las Vegas National Golf Club in 1998. The original course record of 63 was set by Arnold Palmer in 1967 and held that record for 28 years.

Over the years it has hosted LPGA Championship Events and PGA Tournament of Champions. And it was supposedly a Rat Pack hangout back in 'the day.' The golf course was purchased in 2007 by a group led by real estate investor John Knott III.[2] It is currently managed by Harrah's Resorts.

Notable homes and residents

There are also homes by built by Molasky & Adelson's Paradise Homes designed by Palmer and Krisel on the Eastern side of the golf course off Eastern Avenue, and north of Desert Inn Road at Burnham Avenue. Approximately 400 of the 1,000 of the homes were designed by Palmer & Krisel.

The home used to portray Frank Rosenthal's estate for the movie Casino is at the end of Cochise Street between the #1 and #18 fairways (although his actual home was within the Las Vegas Country Club Estates).

Famous residents of Paradise Palms throughout the decades have included celebrities Johnny Carson, Sonny Liston, Debbie Reynolds, Howard Hughes' protégé Robert Maheu, Foster Brooks, Sonny Liston and mobster Sam "Baby Shoes" Prezant. Other former residents include politicians Jack Vergiels, Melvin D. Close, Jr, Imogene Ford and various casino strip entertainment executives such as Ash Resnick, Jimmy Newman and Jerry Gordon.

Paradise Palms notable residents (with their addresses) include:[3]

  • Juan García Esquivel (space age band leader) – 661 Seneca Circle
  • Rip Taylor and Sam "Baby Shoes" Prezant (bookmaker associated with the mob) – 3328 Pawnee Drive
  • Bobby Darin – 1438 Cayuga Pkwy
  • Pierre Bezard (Dunes music director) – 3451 Sioux Way
  • Judy Lynn (country music singer and Miss Idaho 1955) – 1389 Pawnee Drive
  • Bruno Scarrone (choreographer for Folies Bergere) – 1688 Pawnee Circle
  • Jerry Gordon (vice president of the Flamingo) and Tim Alexander (drummer for Primus) – 1676 Pawnee Circle
  • Buddy Sarkissian (drummer/musician in Armenian cabaret music) – 3558 Spencer Street
  • Johnny Carson and Joe Louis (world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949) – 3333 Seminole Circle
  • Frank Rosenthal (the movie Casino was based on this person) – 3572 Spencer Street
  • Dick Cantino (musician/actor) and Vido Musso (musician) – 3355 Nahatan Way
  • Mike Corda (songwriter/ bandleader) – 3398 Nahatan Way
  • Phyllis Diller – 1515 Cayuga Parkway
  • Stanley Morgan (The Ink Spots) – 1761 Ottawa Drive
  • Walter Zick (architect) – 3614 Ottawa Circle
A home in Paradise Palms designed by modernist architect William Krisel
  • Dolores Fuller (actress/songwriter for Elvis) – 3628 Ottawa Circle and 1389 Commanche Drive
  • Harris Sharp (architect) – 2144 Ottawa Drive
  • Frank Masterana (black book gambler) – 2082 Ottawa Drive
  • Debbie Reynolds and Sonny Liston (world heavyweight boxing champion) – 2058 Ottawa Drive
  • Max Baer Jr. (actor – Jethro Bodine) – 3456 Pueblo Way
  • Shecky Greene (comedian) – 2201 Geronimo Way
  • Jay Sarno (Circus Circus / Caesars Palace) and Robert Bigelow (Bigelow Aerospace) – 3541 Maricopa Way
  • Fredric Apcar (Dunes show producer) – 1499 Cayuga Parkway
  • Tonni Kalash (trumpet for Herb Alpert) and Cal Kalash (violinist) – 3378 Seneca Drive
  • David Victorson (Caesars entertainment director) – 3333 Arapaho Circle
  • David Swan (comedian/actor) – 1948 Raindance Way
  • Nick Esposito (musician) – 3325 Arapaho Circle
  • Foster Brooks (actor) and Dionne Warwick (who lived there briefly, but used to rent it to the Riviera for their headlining acts such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Bob Newhart, and Burt Bacharach) – 3482 Pueblo Way
  • Red Mcilvaine (talk show host, comedian, local TV personality) – 3858 Pima Lane
  • Donald Sutherland (actor) – 3853 Pima Lane
  • Juliet Prowse (actor – engaged to Frank Sinatra, dated Elvis Presley) – 3326 Arapaho Circle
  • Frank Schivo (Sahara part owner) and Robert Maheu (F.B.I., C.I.A., and right-hand man to Howard Hughes) – 3525 Cochise
  • Michael Schivo (concert promoter) – 1618 Seneca Lane
  • Ash Resnick (Caesars vice president with ties to the mob – the film Casino was also filmed at this location) – 3515 Cochise
  • Nevada State Senator John "Jack" Vergiels – 3555 Algonquin Drive
  • Don Vincent (music director for Wayne Newton) – 3591 Algonquin Drive

References
  1. "Irwin Molasky on Las Vegas Today and Paradise Palms' Lasting Legacy". BLVDS. 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  2. "For those who live by golf course, a new worry". Las Vegas Sun. 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  3. "Influential People Who Lived in Paradise Palms". Paradise Palms Las Vegas. 2011-01-16. Retrieved 2014-08-27.

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