Vintage Arizona Photographs

08/15/2021

06/23/2021

"Dr. Dietrich, Open Heart Surgery", Szabo
1995

10/27/2019

04/03/2019

DON'T GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THAT GUY IN WASHINGTON! GIVE TO AZ!

03/05/2019

The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the fifth resort to open on the Strip. It was situated between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue. The hotel was situated at 3145 Las Vegas Boulevard South, between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue.[3] The original name for many years was Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn. Wilbur Clark, described by Frank Sinatra biographer James Kaplan as a "onetime San Diego bellhop and Reno craps dealer",[4] originally began building the resort with his brother in 1947 with $250,000, but ran out of money. Author Hal Rothman notes that "for nearly two years the framed structure sat in the hot desert sun, looking more like an ancient relic than a nascent casino".[5] Clark approached the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for investment, but it was struggling financially. In 1949, he met with Moe Dalitz, the head of the notorious Cleveland gang, the Mayfield Road Mob, and Dalitz agreed to fund 75% of the project with $1.3 million, and construction resumed.[5] Much of the financing came from the American National Insurance Company (ANICO),[6] though Clark became the public frontman of the resort while Dalitz remained quietly in the background as the principal owner. The resort would eventually be renamed Desert Inn and was called the "D.I." by Las Vegas locals and regular guests.[7]

01/12/2019

James “Jim” Lauda Gorraiz was a photographer who owned and operated the Casa Grande Photo Shop from 1949 until his death in 1990. During that time, he took thousands of photos of Casa Grande and surrounding areas. Phoenix photographer Marilyn Szabo saw Gorraiz’s photos at Arizona’s Museum of...