Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

BONNIE SPRINGS RANCH/OLD NEVADA 289
For those without transportation, there are jeep tours to and from Las Vegas
available through Action Tours (& 702/796-9355; http://actiontours.com).
WHAT TO SEE & DO IN OLD NEVADA
Old Nevada (& 702/875-4191) is a re-creation of an 1880s frontier town,
built on the site of a very old ranch. As tourist sights go, this is a good one; it’s
a bit cheesy, but knowingly, perhaps even deliberately, so. It’s terrific for kids up
to about the age of 12 or so (before teenage cynicism kicks in) but not all that
bad for adults fondly remembering similar places from their own childhoods.
Many go expecting a tourist trap, only to come away saying that it really was
rather cute and charming.
Certainly, Old Nevada looks authentic, with rustic buildings made entirely of
weathered wood. And the setting, right in front of beautiful mountains with layered
red rock, couldn’t be more perfect for a Western film fantasy. You can wander
the town (it’s only about a block long), taking peeps into well-replicated
places of business, such as a blacksmith shop, a working mill, a saloon, and an
old-fashioned general store (cum gift shop) and museum that has a potpourri of
items from the Old West and Old Las Vegas: antique gaming tables and slot
machines, typewriters, and a great display of old shoes including lace-up boots.
There is also a rather lame wax museum; the less said about it, the better.
Country music is played in the saloon during the day, except when stage
melodramas take place (at frequent intervals between 11:30am and 5pm).
These are entirely tongue-in-cheek—the actors are goofy and know it, and the
plot is hokey and fully intended to be that way. Somehow, it just heightens the
fun factor. It’s interactive with the audience, which, in response to cue cards held
up by the players, boos and hisses the mustache-twirling villain, sobs in sympathy
with the distressed heroine, and laughs, cheers, and applauds. It’s hugely silly
and hugely fun, provided you all play along. Kids love it, though younger ones
might be scared by the occasional gunshot.
Following each melodrama, a Western drama is presented outside the saloon,
involving a bank robbery, a shootout, and the trial of the bad guy. A judge, prosecuting
attorney, and defense attorney are chosen from the audience, the
remainder of whom act as the jury. The action always culminates in a hanging.
None of this is a particularly polished act, but the dialogue is quite funny and
the whole thing is performed with enthusiasm and affection.
Throughout the area, cowboys continually interact with visiting kids, who,
on the weekends, are given badges so that they can join a posse hunting for bad
guys. There are also ongoing stunt shootouts (maybe not at the level found at,
say, Universal Studios) in this wild frontier town, and some rather unsavory
characters occasionally languish in the town jail.
In the Old Nevada Photograph Shoppe you can have a tintype picture taken
in 1890s Wild West costume (they have a fairly large selection) with a 120-yearold
camera. There are replicas of a turn-of-the-century church and stamp mill; the
latter, which has original 1902 machinery, was used for crushing rocks to separate
gold and silver from the earth. Movies (one about nearby Red Rock Canyon, one
a silent film) are shown in the Old Movie House throughout the day from
10:30am to 5pm. You can tour the remains of the old Comstock lode silver
mine, though there isn’t much to see there. You can also shop for a variety of
“Western” souvenirs (though to us, that’s when the tourist trap part kicks in).
Eateries in Old Nevada are discussed below. There’s plenty of parking; weekends
and holidays a free shuttle train takes visitors from the parking lot to the entrance.