Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

West Las Vegas gateway marks community pride

Garry Fox, a lifelong Las Vegan and noted artisan, is old enough to remember when black performers had to stay in West Las Vegas rooming houses because the Strip resorts where they performed were segregated.

"Sammy Davis Jr. had to enter Las Vegas hotels by the back doors," he said, recalling the days of the pre-civil rights movement many Las Vegans would rather forget -- and driving home the point of West Las Vegas' historical significance.

"So it's good when you have an opportunity to do something for the old west side," he said.

Fox's contribution includes a donation of $700 worth of ceramic tile work to the West Las Vegas Entry Gateway at Owens Avenue and B Street, which was dedicated in a brief noontime ceremony Monday.

The gold lettering on blue tiles at the base of the concrete-formed monument reads: "The Historic 'Old Westside,'" honoring one of Las Vegas' oldest neighborhoods.

The monument, including landscaping of the large triangular-shaped median on which it stands, cost $8,410 in Community Development Block Grant funds that were issued by the city of Las Vegas.

City officials say the gateway is merely the cornerstone of further improvements to the area that has long been in decay. It also is the first of eight planned West Las Vegas gateway monuments.

Isadore Washington, a 54-year local resident, said the location of the first gateway also is significant in that it is adjacent to a city park named for longtime West Las Vegas civic leader Jimmy Gay, who "did a lot for this community, especially for the young people."

The new landmark came to fruition as a result of the work of the West Las Vegas Executive Board, Neighborhood Commission (Area 2) and the Las Vegas Arts Commission.

Fox, who has worked on many local projects, most notably the tiling of the white tiger exhibit at The Mirage, said his contribution to help beautify the area will go far beyond the slab on which he worked.

"This community has been good to us over the years, and this gives us an opportunity to give something back," he said, noting that, among other projects, he is helping Western High students create murals for the Economic Opportunity Board Building on D Street.

Fox said he is impressed at how West Las Vegas residents want to preserve their heritage as well as improve their neighborhoods, many of which have become infested with gangs and drugs.

City Councilman Michael McDonald, the key speaker at the ceremony, noted that with such improvements residents can "take back our neighborhoods" and bring more sustaining business to the area.

"The gateway makes a strong, positive statement about the West Las Vegas neighborhood and about community partnership," he said. "We are very pleased with the way groups have come together in the spirit of neighborhood pride."

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