Question of the Day - 06 May 2025

That was Bonnie Springs Ranch. 

The original unnamed ranch dated back to 1843. It was fed by a natural spring that, in centuries past, sustained the Paiute inhabitants of the valley, before settlers ran them off. It was also a stopover on the Old Spanish Trail that ran through Red Rock Canyon en route to California. John C. Fremont’s 1846 expedition to California was replenished at what would become Bonnie Springs.

Bonnie Springs took its name from owner Bonnie McGaugh, who purchased the tumbledown property, which had long fallen into disuse, and opened a bar on it. Together with husband Al Levinson, a manufacturer of Skibird boats and operator of a fishing center and gas service station, McGaugh began the ranch as a tourist attraction in 1958, adding to it bit by bit, including the horse stable that was built in 1963. The following year, the Levinsons opened the restaurant. Its ceiling was originally festooned with neckties. Why? Levinson had been refused entry to the Desert Inn for showing up wearing a bolo tie, so any patrons at his restaurant who came wearing traditional ties had to surrender them to the proprietor, who hung them from the ceiling. Despite this necktie-confiscation policy, business at Bonnie Springs Ranch flourished.

In 1972, the Levinsons began expanding the original ranch into Old Nevada, a collection of Wild West-themed buildings and tourist attractions whose amenities ranged from fake gunfights to a waxworks museum and a 50-room motel. During this period, the ranch’s signature petting zoo began to grow from one sheep to a veritable Noah’s ark that includes peacocks, kangaroos, miniature burros, chicks, turtles, porcupines, pot-bellied pigs, even a Canadian lynx. (Wayne Newton donated two miniature goats as well.) 

Horseback riding and pony rides for the kids, a miniature train that circled Old Nevada and provided transportation from the parking lot to the village, and a thrice-daily melodrama and hanging were part of the experience. Rooms at the motel were themed: Get-A-Way, Spanish, Peacock, American Indian, Covered Wagon, 1890s.

Bonnie Springs Ranch made a couple of appearances on the TV series "Ghost Adventures," as it had more than its share of alleged hauntings, including a merry-go-round that was seen to spin on windless days and a shadow apparition in the opera house. 

Bonnie McGaugh Levinson died in 2016 at age 94; her heirs quickly sold the ranch and the entire attraction shut down March 17, 2019. A Las Vegas developer, CSR Development, purchased the property, which was listed for sale for $31 million. The project spans 65 acres and includes 16 two- to three-acre lots for custom-built homes; the lots went on sale in February 2020 for $3 million to $9.3 million. A 25-room motel, restaurant, 5,400-square-foot event barn, luxury spa, and private water system are also planned.

You can see all the ambitious plans for the development at the Reserve at Red Rock website.