Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.
To think I could have lived here another day and missed visiting Ray's Beaver Bag.
Stop it. This store sells black-powder rifles, buffalo skins, throwing knives, American Indian-made bags, cast-iron pots and everything else one might need to sate one's hunger for pre-1840 North American mountain man gear.
And how did I find this little shop of trappers? It's on the map -- the new Downtown Las Vegas Arts Map.
This two-sided chart shows the downtown arts and cultural sites on one side and a wider, valley-wide perspective of cultural sites on the other.
It is jam-packed with information on where to eat, what to see, what to do and where to shop for locally grown arts and oddities.
"The focus is the arts in the broad sense of arts and culture," Richard Hooker, program specialist with Las Vegas Cultural and Community Affairs, said. "It's history, architecture, arts. It brings the whole cultural landscape into view."
Hooker says it was fashioned from two years of research that went into obtaining national scenic byway designation for Las Vegas Boulevard in 2000. The byway section is from Sahara Avenue to Russell Road. It seemed a shame to simply file away all that information about downtown, Hooker said.
The map divides downtown into seven sections or neighborhoods, each with its own focus and highlights. For instance, the Lewis Street Justice Corridor features the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse, one of the city's newest buildings, and also half a dozen of the cottages built for railroad workers in 1911. There used to be 64.
"It was a way of looking at downtown as a series of distinct, unique neighborhoods," Hooker said. "And (the map) gives people the tools to explore it."
The map's artwork was hand-drawn by Brian Swanson, who owns Cricket Graphics. Cricket is in the Arts Factory building at East Charleston Boulevard and Main Street.
"It's as much for locals as it is for visitors," Hooker said. "It gives people who live here a new and fresh look at the territory."
Ray's Beaver Bag, at 725 Las Vegas Blvd. South, sits in the map's Arts District. Ray Potter opened it in 1978 in the same building from which his father, Gordon Potter, ran the 5th Street Liquor store and bar, says David Endsley, a retired computer-program analyst who helps out at Ray's for fun, and swears no one will know who I'm talking about unless I call him "Grumpy."
The bar opened in 1945 and closed in 1988, but you can see its neon sign mounted inside Neonopolis at the Fremont Street Experience.
"We have people visit us from all over the world, from Europe and Japan. But the locals is what keeps us alive," Grumpy said. "A lot of people who come in are artisans who want the scrap leather or people looking for pure wool blankets."
Locals -- that's us -- really can make a difference to the odd little shops lining Las Vegas' older streets.
Last Sunday I wrote about the Landmark Pharmacy because it was closing after 40 years. Finding such places because they're going out of business is about as fun as going to a wake for someone you didn't know but wish you had.
This map is your open invitation to meet your town. Pick one up at any of the city-run cultural centers or call 229-5431.
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