Haunts of the Rich and Famous

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(Though the following history of the property is quoted directly from Wikipedia, it is definitely interesting and worth reading.)

Lake Las Vegas is a 320-acre man made lake surrounded by 3,592 acres developed by 5 companies.

When first opened in 2003, the area included several hotels and casinos including the Monte Lago Village Resort, the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort, the Hilton Lake Las Vegas, and Casino MonteLago.

Lake at Las Vegas Joint Venture, LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 17, 2008. Debts were estimated at between $500 million and $1 billion.

Lake Las Vegas emerged from bankruptcy in July 2010. The creditors have filed a lawsuit against the former insiders. In a related action, resort property owners are suing lender Credit Suisse as part of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit claiming the bankruptcy was caused by a scheme between the bank and resort developers.

The golf course was purchased by Nevada South Shore LLC, a Hawaii based corporation for $4.5 million on February 17, 2011.

The Ritz Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, closed after 8 years of operation on May 2, 2010.

The former Ritz Carlton was reopened on February 11, 2011. The property was renamed Ravella at Lake Las Vegas. On April 30, 2013, Kam Sang Co. announced that the Ravella would be renamed the Hilton Lake Las Vegas. The Hilton opened June 6, 2013. The casino closed in October 2013, as a result of a lease dispute between Kam Sang and the casino’s operators.

From a TripAdvisor.com review dated October 18, 2014:

“Ghost Town”

The golf course is closed, the casino is closed (“seeking a buyer”), the village is eerie and empty. There are “For Sale” signs on several properties around the area. Everything shut down when the economy crashed in 2008. Will not return any time soon.

Venetian Gothic

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

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Whenever I had a paper due in school I would plagiarize from the World Book Encyclopedia. Not much has changed except Wikipedia has replace the World Book. So let me just dive in as if I actually know what I’m talking about.

Venetian Gothic is a term given to an architectural style that originated in 14th century Venice with the confluence (I would have substituted a plain, ordinary, everyday word here because no one I know talks like that. Confluence? What the…?) of Byzantine styles from Constantinople, Arab, and early Gothic forms from mainland Italy. The most iconic Venetian Gothic structure, the Doge’s Palace, includes traits of Gothic, Moorish, and Renaissance architectural styles.

None of the above has anything to do with the image above, as the image above is a photo taken a few weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The new world! We in the new world have a habit of duplicating and replicating and basically just plagiarizing every other culture in the world. But it’s not our fault. See, as a nation, we are made up of a lot of different ethnic type people from every other culture in the world. So it’s understandable! At least to me.

Maybe I should run for congress.

While I decide what my platform will be, please visit Photos By Emilio. We have images in every color to suit every mood!

The Workshop

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

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“But the kitchen will not come into its own again until it ceases to be a status symbol and becomes again a workshop. It may be pastel. It may be ginghamed as to curtains and shining with copper like a picture in a woman’s magazine. But you and I will know it chiefly by its fragrances and its clutter…. There will be something sweet-smelling twirling in a bowl and something savory baking in the oven. Cabinet doors will gape ajar and colored surfaces are likely to be littered with salt and pepper and flour and herbs and cheesecloth and pot holders and long-handled forks. It won’t be neat. It won’t even look efficient. but when you enter it you will feel the pulse of life throbbing from every corner.”
― Phyllis McGinley

If you like the above- and maybe even if you don’t- please visit Photos By Emilio when you’re bored at work! Also, try my gallery of images. A work in progress.

Top Of The World

Emilio

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“Perhaps people, and kids especially, are spoiled today, because all the kids today have cars, it seems. When I was young you were lucky to have a bike.” ~ James Cagney

And yes, I know who James Cagney was. “Made it, Ma. Top of the world!”

White Heat was in theaters 34 years before I was born. Cagney died when I was not quite three years old. I want a legacy like that. I don’t care about fame, I just want to be remembered for something long after I’m gone! So please go to Photos By Emilio and remember me. I’m not gone yet. And I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. But just in case….

Heavy Duty

Emilio

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For those of you who hold my wife in high esteem- as I tend to do most days- I must tell you she is, indeed, fallible. She actually had the audacity to question my judgement when I stated I was going out to take photos. “Why not wait awhile? It will be golden hour soon”, she said. I hate when someone echoes my own words back at me. Golden Hour! I taught her that. And now she feels the need to question my judgement, restrict my creativity? I gave her the famous Emilio Pasquale stare that has left people quaking in their boot heels in the past. “Well,” she said, “if you’re not going to listen to me I might as well go along for the ride”. Not only did she not quake, she collared and leashed the neurotic chihuahua we’re dog sitting and brought her along, too! Her name is Beach (not my wife’s. The dog’s.) which I think is chihuahuan for “bitch” and she is. (I hope no children are reading or any one else easily offended by that title.) Every time I got out of the car to take a few shots, the Beach would shake and whine until I returned and would then jump onto my lap and attempt to lick the flesh from my face. At one of my last stops I found this row of “machines”. My wife laughs that I call them machines. But I am the one laughing now for once we got back home and after about a half hour of post processing, she said, “that looks better than I thought it would”. Which, I know, does not mean she thinks it is any good. But that is about the most I will get from her whenever I prove her wrong. So now I feel vindicated. Even though I had to make my own dinner that night.

And clean up after myself.

So please feel free to visit Photos By Emilio where you can read all the nice comments people have written about my wife in the past.

The Tower

Emilio

High Desert State Prison, Indian Springs NV

Contrary to what you might be thinking right now, I am not on the inside looking out! As usual, my wife got into the act by suggesting I take a few shots of the prison off I-95 at Cold Creek Road because “that’s where OJ is!” Anyone outside the United States or younger than myself might have to Google the infamous case to fully understand what she was referring to. I was afraid that any body in the tower might think I was planning someone’s escape as I searched for the best spot from which to capture (capture?) the shot. Still, I ventured out of the car and up against the fence. The place was totally deserted- maybe because the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees even with those glorious clouds present. Anyway, to make a long story short (too late?) I found out when researching ideas for this narrative, that OJ Simpson is not incarcerated here but some 470 miles north at Lovelock Correctional Center in Northern Nevada.

Sweetheart, we are not driving there!

Please visit Photos By Emilio when you get a chance

Kelso

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

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One of the many ruins that dot the Mojave National Preserve. Situated close to the edge of a huge sandy area named the Devil’s Playground – dunes and salt flats that stretch over 40 miles and merge with several dry lake beds around Baker, CA. Kelso is a small settlement that looks as if it has been largely unchanged for many years. The town is built around a large Spanish-style building; formerly a railway depot. It now contains the Mojave National Preserve visitor center. Kelso once had a population of 2,000, and was at one time both an important railway stop, providing water for steam trains on the Los Angeles – Salt Lake City route, and a center for iron ore mining, but is now nearly empty.

Please visit Photos By Emilio for more of my work in color as well as black and white.

The Real Paris

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

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Yes, folks, It’s the real Eiffel Tower. At the very real Paris Hotel and Casino in beautiful Las Vegas NV. Lower left, you can see the real fountains of The Bellagio Hotel.

Please come visit me at Photos By Emilio for some real color!

Amargosa Opera House

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

Just on the outskirts of Death Valley is the Amargosa Opera House, still in use today after being renovated and revamped in 1968 by Marta Becket, who has performed there since. Read her amazing story here and here.

Though we have eaten at The Amargosa Diner, and visited the adjacent motel, we never have stayed for a performance.

Photos By Emilio

La Rive Droite

Black And White Photography, Emilio, Photography

The Left Bank has become a rather expensive tourist trap nowadays so we are eating and drinking the afternoon away in a darkly lit bistro on La Rive Droite, The Right Bank. The cassoulet contains mutton, pork skin, and white beans. We are pouring a table wine from a country estate in St. Emilion when a short little man, with a rat-like visage similar in look to Roman Polanski sidles up to our table. He knows we are foreign by the way we are dressed and, probably, by the loudness of our party. We are, unashamedly, ugly Americans! Loud, rude, obnoxious. I am prone to blaming it on the wine consumed at such an early hour. Not quite 3 in the afternoon. He wants to show us Le Sacre Couer Basilica, Les Palais de Tuileries. He is offering his services as our own private tour guide when we explain we have not yet even seen La Tour Eiffel, l’Arc de Triomphe. He is aghast. Offers to show us both at the same time. A little known spot not too far from our present location very few know about. Only the cognoscenti are aware of this secret spot. He scurries out, confident he has piqued our interest and will follow. He has and we do.

And there they are. Both the Eiffel Tower and the Arch of Triumph. On opposite sides of the Seine. Captured in one photo on one magical Tuesday afternoon.

Please visit Photos By Emilio for more of my work, mostly in color.

And my apologies to anyone duped by such an outlandish tale as this photo was taken just outside the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas NV just last week.

But I had fun writing it! 🙂