I went downtown this morning for the dedication of the new Mob Museum, officially known as The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Everyone calls it the Mob Museum, even it's own website is themobmuseum.org.

Mayor Oscar Goodman gave a little speech out front, then bashed in the doors with a baseball bat, and we went inside for a look around and some one on one conversations. The mayor had a little surprise for everyone. The new museum will have the original wall from the St Valentines Day Massacre. The museum is pretty hollowed out for remodeling so there is no way to tell what it will look like. There is the original vault/safe which is intact, and will probably be a part of the museum. The upstairs/downstairs areas were closed off to us. They did have some cardboard cut outs of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and several posters of what they plan to do. The museum is still a solid year from opening, probably longer.

It's always great to see the mayor and talk to him. Even if you have reasons to not like him, he has an incredible entertainment value. He did talk about when the city purchased the building, the conditions were that it would be a museum. As the politically correct shied away from a mob museum, Oscar asked them if they liked water colors? Then he asked if they thought they could pack in crowds if it were a water color museum. Then he asked if they like stained glass and asked them if they thought the crowds would converge on a stained glass museum. That's how they settled on the mob museum, even though the name was changed. Oscar concedes that he was in the middle of the action at the time and the law won, so he has no hard feelings calling it a law enforcement museum.

Oscar also showed us a spot on the bottom steps of the courthouse/post office/mob museum, and told us about the first case he worked in the courthouse. He didn't know how to pick a jury and was very nervous. So nervous that he threw up on the courthouse steps. He said that he wants to put a plaque at that spot.

Sounds interesting - I definately will be among the first tourist to tour this facility - definately alot of history here!

Maybe someone is finally thinking? Getting rid of all the Vegas history is not a good thing!