logo
Old promises of restoring yesterday's Las Vegas underscore revamp of new Commercial Center

Old promises of restoring yesterday's Las Vegas underscore revamp of new Commercial Center

Yahoo30-04-2025

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The Commercial Center in Las Vegas is set to undergo a major redevelopment, transforming the historic site into a cultural arts district with new attractions and facilities.
'They wiped the whole fund out': Commissioner wants to claw back $8M given to chairman's district
The redevelopment project aims to revitalize the 62-year-old Commercial Center, which was once a hub for legendary rock acts like The Doors and Led Zeppelin. The plan includes creating a cultural arts district that will offer fine arts and entertainment options, distinct from the downtown Arts District in Las Vegas.
'It will be a true live, work, play cultural arts district,' Ross Miller, former Clark County Commissioner, emphasized the project's potential impact, said.
Tick Segerblom, Clark County Commissioner, described the area as having been very rundown but now ripe for development, stating, 'There's lots of things happening, but this place was very rundown.'
The redevelopment project has faced challenges, including funding and planning disputes. Former Commissioner Ross Miller allocated about ten million dollars of discretionary parks and recreation money to the project, which stirred controversy.
Incoming Commissioner April Becker expressed concerns about how the money was spent, questioning the accountability and planning behind the financial decisions.
The Commercial Center has been neglected for decades, with businesses catering to niche markets, including a swingers club.
The county has invested hundreds of millions to improve safety and infrastructure, adding a bus line and security measures.
UNLV is partnering with the county to host arts events at the Commercial Center, with students performing in the Composers Room, a venue with historical significance. The project includes ambitious plans like creating a Fremont-Street-like experience and a surf park, aiming to attract developers and revitalize the area.
The Commercial Center redevelopment promises to breathe new life into a historic area of Las Vegas, blending cultural arts with modern attractions. As the project unfolds, it seeks to celebrate the city's heritage while paving the way for future growth.
All facts from this article were gathered by KLAS journalists. This article was converted into this format with assistance from artificial intelligence. It has been edited and approved by KLAS staff.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Snap is acquiring Saturn, a calendar app used at thousands of high schools
Snap is acquiring Saturn, a calendar app used at thousands of high schools

Engadget

time13 hours ago

  • Engadget

Snap is acquiring Saturn, a calendar app used at thousands of high schools

Snap has acquired Saturn , a calendar app for high school and college students. The company didn't disclose the terms of the deal but said that close to 30 of Saturn's full-time employees will be joining Snap as part of the acquisition. It's not clear what exactly Snap has planned for Saturn, but the company confirmed to Engadget that the calendar app will continue to operate as a standalone service. It also suggested that the acquisition could help Snap bring calendar-focused features into Snapchat. A calendar app may seem like an odd choice for Snap, but there's clearly a lot of overlap between the two services' users. According to Snap, about 80 percent of US high schoolers attend schools that support Saturn (its App Store page says it's available at more than 17,000 high schools). Snap is used by more than half of US teens, per Pew Research . Saturn is also much more social than the typical calendar app. It has a Snapchat-like design that allows teens to easily share and compare their schedules with friends. It also supports features specific to many high school students' routines, like block schedules, rotation calendars and extracurricular activities. Saturn also has features for college students, though it doesn't seem to be as widely used among that slightly older demographic. The startup, founded by Dylan Diamond (Saturn's CEO) and Max Baron (COO) has previously raised money from a number of high-profile investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Jeff Bezos' Bezos Expeditions. Forbes reported in 2021 the startup had raised $44 million. Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Engadget's parent company Yahoo, joined the board of directors at Snap on September 12, 2024. No one outside of Engadget's editorial team has any say in our coverage of the company.

Live at the Chicago Theatre: Francis Ford Coppola, ‘Megalopolis' and your questions
Live at the Chicago Theatre: Francis Ford Coppola, ‘Megalopolis' and your questions

Chicago Tribune

time19 hours ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Live at the Chicago Theatre: Francis Ford Coppola, ‘Megalopolis' and your questions

Want a better America? A very famous filmmaker would like your thoughts on that one. Hiding in plain sight, 'Megalopolis' is no longer streaming anywhere (it was available, briefly, as a digital download) and it's not on DVD. There's a reason. Its writer-director prefers that you experience his long-brewing, half-mad argument for democracy, aesthetics and a brighter future in a big way. Not a small, pauseable one. In July, one of modern cinema's towering figures will embark on a multi-city tour of 'An Evening with Francis Ford Coppola and 'Megalopolis' Screening.' The film presentation will be followed by Coppola's discussion, built around questions from the audience, on the topic 'How to Change Our Future.' The July 25 Chicago Theatre event follows engagements in Red Bank, New Jersey, and Port Chester, New York. After Chicago, Coppola and 'Megalopolis' move on to Denver, Dallas and San Francisco; Live Nation presents five of the six tour stops, with the Texas Theatre handling the Dallas engagement. 'This is the way 'Megalopolis' was meant to be seen, in a large venue, with a crowd and followed by intense interactive discussions about the future,' Coppola wrote in a statement for Live Nation. Coppola has wrestled with 'Megalopolis' for nearly 50 years. Covering much of the $120 million production costs himself, with money from his celebrated winery, the filmmaker's latest premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival to wildly mixed reactions. After several months of searching for a distributor (Lionsgate, ultimately), 'Megalopolis' grossed $14 million in theaters, making it one of modern cinema's most brazen rolls of the dice. The film stars Adam Driver as visionary architect and inventor Cesar Catilina. A few decades in the future, this idealistic savior vies for urban redevelopment and design control of the Manhattan-like city of New Rome with its weak, corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito). Evoking a metropolis on the brink of total collapse, New Rome's scheming politicians and half-ruined architectural monuments also suggest ancient Rome, just before Nero started fiddling. Catilina wants something better for the people, a utopian rebuke to mediocrity. His motto is unmistakably Coppola's as well: 'When we leap into the unknown, we prove we are free.' Now 86, the director will forever be best known for his 'Godfather' trilogy, 'Apocalypse Now' and smaller-scaled masterworks such as 'The Conversation.' His latest film, he has said, may too pass the test of time, long after the memes and the financial reports have faded. As Coppola posted on Instagram earlier this year, noting that director Jacques Tati risked all he had (or nearly) on his wondrous 1967 utopian/dystopian dream 'Play Time,' now considered a classic: 'Box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics (it) has no true place in our future.'

Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint
Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint

New York Post

time19 hours ago

  • New York Post

Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint

Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they wouldn't get it right. The Steven Spielberg classic 'Jaws' takes place in a fictional small town in New England — but Long Islanders claim the blockbuster movie and novel that inspired it owes a hat tip to a late local legend. 'Monster' hunter fisherman Frank Mundus — a proud son of Montauk — was the inspiration for Robert Shaw's salty Capt. Quint in the movie, which turns 50 on Friday, family and friends said. Advertisement 4 Although Steven Spielberg's epic 'Jaws,' which turns 50 Friday, depicts unprecedented terror and calamity offshore in the small fictional New England town of Amity Island, its true story belongs to Long Island. Courtesy of Pat Mundus 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him,' the shark hunter's daughter Pat Mundus told The Post. 'Everybody on the East End knows,' she added of the mighty man who died in 2008 at 82. Advertisement Mundus, who lives in Greenport, said people still ask her daily if she's related to Frank. The Brooklyn-born seaman came to the Montauk Point from the north jersey shore in the early 1950s to do what wasn't traditionally done before: intentionally go out in search of the feared apex predators of the sea. The self-branded 'monster fisherman' turned the tide of 'the family-friendly inshore fishing image that Montauk had,' said Pat, a former oil tanker worker who is now 68. Advertisement Mundus couldn't give two flying fins, however. 'He branded himself a 'monster fisher' because he knew that it would attract more charter customers,' she explained, adding that there was a method to the madness. As a boy in the city, Mundus tried jumping from roof to roof between a pair of three-story buildings and fell to the ground, breaking his arm and developing a near-fatal infection. The miracle recovery — one that hindered his schooling to the point he finished eighth grade at nearly 18 — is what gave Mundus his 'big booming energy.' 'He painted one toenail red and the other blue and called them port and starboard. He wore an earring. He went barefoot everywhere. He played pranks and made a public spectacle of himself.' Advertisement Perhaps Mundus' most iconic gag was when 'he had another guy dress up as a Frankenstein-like monster and they put him in a waterproof casket and marked it offshore.' 'They 'discovered' the guy, they brought the casket back and opened it up on the dock, and this big monster sprang out.' By the 1960s, the attention-grabbing antics were enough to reel in 'Jaws' author-to-be Peter Benchley. The penman fatefully rode on Mundus' boat, the Cricket, which was named for the running joke that its captain looked like Jiminy. 'My father was a very intelligent person, but not terribly well-educated, so he didn't know who Peter Benchley was,' Mundus, one of Frank's three daughters, said. 'He just thought it was a guy who was interested in listening to stories about catching fish.' The depiction of Quint and the lack of recognition of the real story sent Mundus overboard, his daughter said. 4 The real-life story of 'Jaws' is based on the 'monster' hunter fisherman and local legend from Montauk, Long Island, Frank Mundus. Courtesy of Donnie Braddick Advertisement 'He had very carefully crafted his whole image in his own brand for 30 years,' she added. 'And then some guy just came along and stole it without acknowledging who he was.' Even Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine laments to this day that Mundus and the setting of Montauk were shortchanged. 'Frank Mundus was a legendary fisherman who could be in Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea,'' he told The Post. What 'Jaws' got wrong Mundus said her father isn't the bitter old salt that his Hollywood counterpart. Advertisement 'He was never in the Navy, he had no revenge against evil — he didn't seek restitution for the loss of his shipmates, who were all eaten by sharks, none of that,' she said. 'He had a flair for being outrageous, but he wasn't angry and pissed off, and would never take a baseball bat to a VHF radio.' When they saw the film in theaters together, Mundus wasn't afraid to speak his mind. 'A couple of times he stood up and said, 'that's impossible, that wouldn't ever work!'' she recalled. Advertisement 4 Pat Mundus, who is the daughter of the famed shark hunter, told The Post, 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him.' 'He laughed through all the parts that everybody else was totally scared about.' Although Pat said that her dad moved on from his gripes, Roy Scheider apparently didn't get the message and worried Mundus would do something like give him a black eye — like a doll's eye. The man who played Chief Brody told publicist Todd Shapiro he was petrified of doing film anniversary events on the East End in case he would run into Mundus, according to the PR consultant who tried recruiting Scheider for a reunion. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! The real sequel Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction, the fame of 'Jaws' reshaped Montauk in the 1980s and transformed the then-quaint fishing village into Sharktown USA. Sam Hershowitz began hosting annual shark tournaments at his marina on Star Island, 'that brought people all the way up from the Carolinas,' he said. 'The first year we had 82 boats, the year after we had 150,' Hershowitz, 85, told The Post, adding that he would play John Williams' iconic 'Jaws' score before they all left for sea. 'The motel owners used to thank me because they would be booked solid.' During the 1986 competition, Mundus and his former colleague Donnie Braddick made more fishing history. 4 Frank Mundus died in 2008 at the age of 82. Courtesy of Pat Mundus They brought in what some record books call the largest ever rod-and-reel caught great white at a whopping 17 feet and 3,427 pounds. Sam's Star Island Yacht Club and Marina has a replica of the big guy that remains a tourist selfie favorite to this day, Hershowitz said, adding that due to shark fishing regulations, it's a record that will never be broken. Braddick, now 69, was captaining a tuna fishing boat when he spotted tons of sharks devouring a dead whale about 25 miles southeast of Montauk Point. The boaters he was with were too frightened, so Braddick had to wait until he brought them back to make a go at the sharks. En route back to land, Braddick spotted Mundus coming in from an overnight charter. 'If you needed heart surgery and the best heart surgeon was passing by, it would be a good idea to grab him,' Braddick, who left Montauk for North Carolina when it became 'credit cards and spending mommy and daddy's money,' told The Post. The duo returned to port and stocked up on essentials — beer and pizza — and headed back out in their respective boats into the moonlit hours. 'In the middle of the night, we felt the boat get bumped…and then it was like, 'oh boy, they're here,'' he recalled of the 'all-star' team that sprang into action to nab a great white. 'We reeled the boat to the fish, not the fish to the boat…after an hour and a half, that fish was like 'f–k it, I've had enough of this s–t' and it just charged the boat…All I see is him steaming at us.' Finally, after masterful gaffing and angling, the beast fell to the men of the sea and was towed back to land. 'The rest was one big friggin' party,' added Braddick. 'A lot of people know about it, and they still talk about it.' While the legend of Mundus is as eternal as the sea, Pat is ready for a new wave and wants to live a life of her own rather than echo family tales, she said. Still, there's one thing Mundus told his kin that she remembers to this day. 'Fear is just not understanding something,' Pat recalled. 'And if you want to get over a fear, you have to gain competency in it.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store