We wrote about this pretty extensively back in the spring (see QoD 4/11/13), but obviously a lot can happen in Las Vegas in eight months, especially when it comes to the downtown area. Since that last feature, we've seen the debut of the Downtown Grand, Zappo's new HQ, a revamped Gold Spike, the Downtown Container Park, and myriad new boutiques, bars, and restaurants, not to mention the inaugural Life is Beautiful Festival.
When it comes to the Blue Angel statue, however, it seems to be a case of "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose" in its most literal sense, in terms of the more that things around it change, the more a whole lot of nothing seems to be going on with this iconic vestige of "old" Vegas.
The good news is that she's still in situ and standing tall as lookout over her boarded-up but still extant motel, which so far has eluded a promised date with the wrecking ball, presumably because of the collapse of the plans for the Downtown Gateway project that was due to occupy the space.
One of the few recent no-go stories in the newly revitalized original heart of Las Vegas, in a nutshell, Downtown Gateway Center was a plan proposed back in 2011 for a Hispanic-oriented, 91,000-square-foot master-planned development, featuring retail and dining outlets and cultural venues. The hub was to be the so-called "Four Corners" axis, located at Fremont Street, Eastern Avenue, Charleston Boulevard, and Boulder Highway, and some old buildings, including the Par-A-Dice -- another historic motel -- were cleared in anticipation of the new venture.
However, the funding never came through and it seems to have left the Blue Angel in a state of derelict limbo. The statue itself was originally going to be saved, refurbished, and incorporated into the entrance to the Gateway Center; the next we heard of her fate was in July of this year, when the word on the street was that she was up for sale to the highest bidder, leaving fans fearful at the prospect that a buyer might snap her up, up, and away to pastures new.
Beloved of tourists, as today's questioner bears witness, not to mention Las Vegas old-timers and anyone who, like My Week at the Blue Angel author Matt O'Brien, ever stayed or even resided at this slice of Las Vegas history, the Blue Angel is almost to downtown what the original "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign is to the Strip (it's no coincidence, evidently, that the two were both the work of legendary local designer Betty Willis), so her departure or destruction would undoubtedly be mourned by many.
The optimal way forward would seem to be her incorporation into a new venture, much as the reception of La Concho Motel was dismantled and transported from the Strip to take on a second life as the visitor center at the Neon Museum. The vintage Blue Angel would perhaps have comprised an interesting counter-point to the futuristic fire-emitting praying mantis sculpture at the new Container Park and a graphic bridge between new and old Vegas. She certainly would have been a more fitting ambassador/greeter to the whole Arts District, we feel, than those distinctly underwhelming and overpriced LED paint brushes that vaguely illuminate East Charleston Boulevard.
