Dr. H. Annual open house next Sunday

Dr. Lonnie Hammargren is having his annual open house this Sunday. I’ve written about him before, when I was able to tour his place as part of my wife’s Red Hat club. Dr. H is a neurosurgeon and former lieutenant governor of the state of Nevada. He has purchased four homes side by side in an older part of town to the east of the airport and turned them into a museum of Nevada history. Basically, he has the money and buys whatever he feels like buying and sticks the stuff around his house. This includes just about every neon sign from torn down casinos that don’t make it to the official Neon Museum, a full sized steam train engine, one of the Apollo space capsules, one of the paddle wheels from the old Showboat casino, the roller coaster from the Stratosphere up on the roof, Liberace’s dressing room from the Hilton, one of the Venetian gondolas (in his front room), and whatever else strikes his fancy.

I really like having a big arm and torch from the statue of liberty hanging over the back wall. I think that would be neat, and have told B that if I ever find one I’ll be getting it too.


Somebody posted a rather chaotic video taken at one of these open houses:


Dr. H had a heart attack a few year ago which caused him to think about death. One of the things he did as a result was to hold his own wake. He figured it would be nicer to hear what people had to say about him rather than be locked in a box when it happened. I like that thought, but not sure if I really want to hear what people think about me.

You can go to the Nevada Days web site for more information. So, if you are in town this weekend I would highly recommend going. If you are lucky you might catch one of Dr. H’s personal tours around the place.