TOURISM, HOSPITALITY, AND THE LURE OF THE WEST:

HOW THE HARVEY HOUSES PAVED THE WAY FOR LAS VEGAS

 Wednesday, May 21, 2014

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Art Square Theater, 1025 S. First Street, Las Vegas, Nevada

6:00 pm – Reception and book signing, featuring authentic Harvey House inspired menu items

Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, 1017 S. First

(behind Art Square, adjacent to Mingo’s)

Free and Open to the Public

Sponsored by Nevada Humanities, the Las Vegas Tourist Guides Guild (LVTGG) and UNLV’s College of Hotel Administration, with support from UNLV’s History Department and the City of Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission.

Join us for a spirited panel discussion exploring how the Harvey House empire of restaurants and hotels, under the guidance of hospitality pioneer Fred Harvey, paved the way for the development of Las Vegas as a tourist destination. The panel includes:

• Andy Kirk, moderator, UNLV Professor of Public History
• Stephen Fried, author, Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the West – one meal at a time.
• David Schwartz, Director, UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research
• Jan Jones, Senior Vice President of Communications and Government Affairs, Caesars Corporation; former Mayor of Las Vegas
• Opening remarks by Dean Stowe Shoemaker, UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration

The program includes the screening of an excerpt from the recently released documentary, The Harvey Girls: Opportunity Bound, a film that chronicles the first significant female workforce in the US. Fred Harvey was a groundbreaking entrepreneur who established the first national chain of restaurants, hotels and book stores along the Santa Fe Rail Road from Chicago to California.

The Harvey House model of cultural travel, hospitality and culinary invention in the late 19th and early 20th centuries set the stage for a thriving industry that would invigorate the economy and culture of the West. Considered the father of hospitality, Fred Harvey was a pioneer in branding and mythologizing the west.

For more information about this program, call Richard Hooker, LVTGG, 702.592.2164

A WSJ review of Stephen Fried’s book can be found at this link.

You can view, print, and share the event flyer from this link.

The Las Vegas Tourist Guides Guild is a professional association of tour guides and travel industry professionals promoting the scope and integrity of tour guiding in Nevada. The Harvey House event, cosponsored by the Guild, is part of a series of educational and informational programs developed and presented by LVTGG in partnership with other organizations.