Rediscovered recently from the
Nevada State Museum archives are the Paradise Palms community advertisements which approximates
where each builder was located. Starting Paradise Palms prices were $21,950 to $41,000 depending on the builder, and
topped out at $68,000 for the most luxurious home offered in Tropical Estates. As the map is from 1964, Miranti Homes had
finished building on the north side of Desert Inn Road in 1963 and had moved to Paradise
Palms West, on Twain Avenue. Valley High
School, Orr and Knudson Middle Schools, and Ruby Thomas Elementary Schools hadn’t
been built yet – Only Paradise Elementary and Bishop Gorman were noted on the
map, the rest were noted as unnamed facilities. The closest shopping centers were
Vegas Village and Commercial Center.
Commercial Center was built by Paradise Homes – one can still see the
signature folded-plate zig-zag roofline at the Las Vegas Cue Club fronting
Sahara Avenue that echoes that of the Palmer & Krisel Model 11a and 12a.
This second map is from August
1964 – just three builders were left at this time – Paradise Homes, Americana
Homes, and Fontainebleau Estates. The
Boulevard Mall hadn’t been named yet and was tentatively referred to as
Parkway Mall, which was to feature both The Broadway and Sears, along with convenient parking for 6,000 cars. Paradise Palms was humbly
noted as ‘The most perfectly located residential community in Paradise Valley’, a description which still holds pretty true to this day. For those who aren't aware, at the time, the unincorporated southeast
quadrant of the Valley was known as Paradise Valley – a name which still occasionally pops up on maps or in business names.
This third and final map was not
created by Paradise Palms, but was a general Las Vegas Valley map found in the
May 1964 Las Vegas Sun which advertised which builders were building where. Desert Inn front man Wilber Clark had several
active subdivisions under construction at some of the most affordable prices in
town - $15,995 for a home at Trop & Maryland or at Boulder Highway and
Vegas Valley. The most expensive other
than Paradise Palms was Sunset Hills, at Wilshire and Westleigh (Oakey/Decatur)
topping out at $27,800. West Desert Inn
Road was known as Asbury Avenue, Martin L. King Boulevard was Highland Drive,
St. Rose Parkway, formerly Lake Mead Drive, was known as Frontier Boulevard, North
Eastern Avenue was 25th Street, Lake Mead Boulevard turned into a
road named Miller Avenue, and the North Las Vegas Airport was noted as
Thunderbird Field. Interstate 15 hadn’t
been built yet, and Las Vegas Boulevard was U.S. 91 & 93.
