Bettie: Don't miss this!

[Bettie]

"Dr. Lonnie Hammargren's Las Vegas home, which includes a million-dollar mechanical dragon and Liberace's piano and rotating bed, will be featured on "What's With That House" (11 p.m. Wednesday, HGTV)."

For those of you who have no idea who Lonnie Hammargren is, he was Nevada's Lt. Governor years ago and the neurosurgeon who operated on Roy Horn after he was attacked by the tiger. If you have no idea why you should be interested in seeing his house, let's just say it is the most interesting house you will ever - EVER - see in your entire life.

Once a year on Nevada Day, the doctor opens his home to the public and provides entertainment and food for a small donation that benefits the Boy Scouts. We have gone three years in a row, and took Parker with us last year. Evel Kneivel's motorbikes, the Batman car, the basket used as a prop in Around the World in 80 Days, Liberace's staircase, and a couple of home observatories are only half the fun. His house is actually 3 homes crammed to the brim with all kinds of crap and connected with signage from old casinos and other bizarre miscellany. It's like the world's dustiest museum of everything. A room dedicated to presidential paraphernalia, a room of Southwest/Indian artifacts, a recreation of the NYC skyline, a whole room dedicated to the Catholic Church and the Vatican, the largest baseball cap collection you've ever seen... His house is cool and cheesy at the same time (baseball caps line the ceiling and liquor bottles line the walls of the room next to the Egyptian-themed parlor, for example), and you wonder how anyone could live there or why some of this amazing stuff is left out in the elements, or why did he decide to paint the faces of the astronauts of Challenger on the floor of his pool? If you're ever in town on the day he opens up, make sure you go. Watching this show will have to be the next best thing.

Bettie

[Parker]

This place simply has to be seen to be believed. The show cannot possibly do it justice in half an hour, especially considering that they also feature two other houses. We spent most of a day there, and I am sure that there was a lot I missed.

If you're going to be in Las Vegas on Nevada Day, this is a must-see. For those unfamiliar with Nevada holidays, Nevada Day celebrates Nevada becoming a state and happens October 31. The fact that this is also Halloween somehow seems appropriate.

There is also a website, to which I have provided a link below. Again, this really doesn't do it justice - you simply have to see this place in person.

Principality of Paradise

[Greasy John]

> "Dr. Lonnie Hammargren's Las Vegas home, which
> includes a million-dollar mechanical dragon and
> Liberace's piano and rotating bed, will be featured on
> "What's With That House" (11 p.m. Wednesday,
> HGTV)."

> For those of you who have no idea who Lonnie
> Hammargren is, he was Nevada's Lt. Governor years ago
> and the neurosurgeon who operated on Roy Horn after he
> was attacked by the tiger. If you have no idea why you
> should be interested in seeing his house, let's just
> say it is the most interesting house you will ever -
> EVER - see in your entire life.

> Once a year on Nevada Day, the doctor opens his home
> to the public and provides entertainment and food for
> a small donation that benefits the Boy Scouts. We have
> gone three years in a row, and took Parker with us
> last year. Evel Kneivel's motorbikes, the Batman car,
> the basket used as a prop in Around the World in 80
> Days, Liberace's staircase, and a couple of home
> observatories are only half the fun. His house is
> actually 3 homes crammed to the brim with all kinds of
> crap and connected with signage from old casinos and
> other bizarre miscellany. It's like the world's
> dustiest museum of everything. A room dedicated to
> presidential paraphernalia, a room of Southwest/Indian
> artifacts, a recreation of the NYC skyline, a whole
> room dedicated to the Catholic Church and the Vatican,
> the largest baseball cap collection you've ever
> seen... His house is cool and cheesy at the same time
> (baseball caps line the ceiling and liquor bottles
> line the walls of the room next to the Egyptian-themed
> parlor, for example), and you wonder how anyone could
> live there or why some of this amazing stuff is left
> out in the elements, or why did he decide to paint the
> faces of the astronauts of Challenger on the floor of
> his pool? If you're ever in town on the day he opens
> up, make sure you go. Watching this show will have to
> be the next best thing.

> Bettie

if you've ever seen the Underground House?

GJ

[Bettie]

Do you mean the underground parts of Hammargren's house, or is there another house of which I'm unaware? One year when we were in the garage (he didn't let people in the garage last year), we came upon his grandson, who offered to show us a secret passage, which was underground. It went to a room with an Egyptian canoe-type boat, very ornate, and there were hyroglyphics on the wall, if I remember correctly. Overall, an Egyptian-themed room, but we didn't go very far because it wasn't part of the regular tour and people started to follow us in.

There's also a part of the regular tour that goes down a very narrow hallway, but that's really more of a basement that he turns into a bit of a haunted house since Nevada Day is on Halloween. The only reason that there's even an underground part (basements are VERY rare in Las Vegas) is because part of the house is on a hill, and it slopes down into a garage and other underground stuff.

I liked the Liberace rotating love bed on the show; that's obviously not part of the regular tour! Like Parker said, the show did not do it justice at all, but it was fun to watch, and I like the new addition of Stonehenge and can't wait to see it up close this year.

Bettie

> if you've ever seen the Underground House?

> GJ

[Greasy John]

> Do you mean the underground parts of Hammargren's
> house, or is there another house of which I'm unaware?
> One year when we were in the garage (he didn't let
> people in the garage last year), we came upon his
> grandson, who offered to show us a secret passage,
> which was underground. It went to a room with an
> Egyptian canoe-type boat, very ornate, and there were
> hyroglyphics on the wall, if I remember correctly.
> Overall, an Egyptian-themed room, but we didn't go
> very far because it wasn't part of the regular tour
> and people started to follow us in.

> There's also a part of the regular tour that goes down
> a very narrow hallway, but that's really more of a
> basement that he turns into a bit of a haunted house
> since Nevada Day is on Halloween. The only reason that
> there's even an underground part (basements are VERY
> rare in Las Vegas) is because part of the house is on
> a hill, and it slopes down into a garage and other
> underground stuff.

> I liked the Liberace rotating love bed on the show;
> that's obviously not part of the regular tour! Like
> Parker said, the show did not do it justice at all,
> but it was fun to watch, and I like the new addition
> of Stonehenge and can't wait to see it up close this
> year.

> Bettie

Bettie,

I've never been there, but apparently, near the Alexander Dawson office buildings in Henderson, there's a home built entirely underground. I once saw a program about it on KECT or the History channel or something. The home has a yard and lighting to simulate dawn, sunset and twilight. The drapes and carpet don't fade because there's no sun.

GJ

[Bettie]

Oh yeah, I've seen that on tv myself, but it's not open to the public. You can lease it out for corporate events, though (maybe our next book release party!). I found an article on it from the LV weekly Mercury a couple years ago; apparently, you entered through a giant "rock" above ground that opened up! It's also not the only one this guy had built, though the article didn't mention if the others still existed. I posted the link below.

Bettie

> Bettie,

> I've never been there, but apparently, near the
> Alexander Dawson office buildings in Henderson,
> there's a home built entirely underground. I once saw
> a program about it on KECT or the History channel or
> something. The home has a yard and lighting to
> simulate dawn, sunset and twilight. The drapes and
> carpet don't fade because there's no sun.

> GJ

Henderson Home

[Greasy John]

I'll find this place when I go to Vegas next month. Thanks for the link, I enjoyed reading about this house. Activityplanners.com use to rent it out, but I didn't find it mentioned on their web site. I like seeing and reading about unusual homes, mansions and architecture. A couple of years ago I went to see the Mormon fort, but it was like 112 degrees outside when I got there. So I got back into the car and decided the fort will have to wait.

GJ

> Oh yeah, I've seen that on tv myself, but it's not
> open to the public. You can lease it out for corporate
> events, though (maybe our next book release party!). I
> found an article on it from the LV weekly Mercury a
> couple years ago; apparently, you entered through a
> giant "rock" above ground that opened up!
> It's also not the only one this guy had built, though
> the article didn't mention if the others still
> existed. I posted the link below.

> Bettie