The Start of Something Big
The Sands Copa Connection Program Series along with its specially produced commemorative scrapbook for audiences celebrate the “start of something big” in Las Vegas history: the legendary Copa Room of the Sands Hotel. The four-part public history series captures the “Vintage Vegas” glamour and excitement of the Copa Room and its undisputed impact on the development of the city. What began in this showroom, featuring America’s top entertainers and the beautiful Copa Girls, set the city on a new path to becoming the “Entertainment Capital of the World” when other casinos followed suit after seeing the Copa Room’s success in attracting high rolling gamblers, the Hollywood crowd, and national attention through movies and television.
Each of the four programs offers audiences fascinating cultural insight as well as pure entertainment as they travel back in time to the Sands Hotel and the Copa Room of the l950s and 60s. The Sands and the Copa Room-Commemorative Scrapbook tells the story about what happened at the Copa Room; its management, famous entertainers, Copa Girls, Orchestra, and the front-of-the-house operation through photos, essays by historians, and recollections by individuals who were connected with the Copa Room at the time. The commemorative scrapbook publication was made possible, in part, by a grant from Nevada Humanities, a state agency of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Sands Copa Connection Program series is produced by the Junior League of Las Vegas in collaboration with several community partners in connection with the League’s historic preservation project: The Morelli House, originally built by Antonio Morelli conductor of the Copa Room Orchestra from l954-1972. A superb example of mid-century residential architecture, the League spearheaded the relocation of the structure from the Desert Inn Country Club estates to the historic district in downtown Las Vegas when it was set for demolition to make way for the Wynn Resorts in 2001. Based on its architecture and its provenance, the Morelli House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Presenting public programs and producing educational publications about mid-century Las Vegas history are an integral part of the project. The Sands Copa Connection Program Series and its commemorative scrapbook, The Sands and the Copa Room, are the latest in its series of public programs and publications produced by the Junior League of Las Vegas since the Morelli House was previewed to the public in 2007. The Program Series is being sponsored by a grant from the Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial.
Junior League of Las Vegas Announces Series on Sands Copa Room
The glamour, music and impact of the legendary Sands Copa Room to be highlighted Read more
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