ELVIS IS STILL A HOT NUMBER IN LAS VEGAS

Nearly 40 years after his death, it’s evident Elvis still matters. When a street sign mixup forced Clark County to change Elvis Presley Way, formerly Riviera Boulevard, to Elvis Presley Boulevard a week later, a video of the new sign being installed received nearly 1.5 million uploads on the county’s Facebook page, said Erik Pappa, county spokesman. The video had 577,000 likes, a powerful indication The King is still beloved in the city where he launched his comeback in 1969 at The International, now the Westgate. A local Elvis fan club pointed out the gaffe shortly after the county installed the four Elvis Presley Way signs on Dec. 21, Pappa said. “A representative of the Viva Las Vegas Elvis Fan Club alerted us to the error. So staff installed the correct Elvis Presley Boulevard signs on Dec. 28,” he said. In all, four new street signs -- two at the Las Vegas Strip and two at Paradise Road by the Westgate – were changed, said Pappa. The County approved the name change from Riviera Boulevard earlier this year after a request was submitted by the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. The Westgate’s application was for the name change was approved on May 19, 2015. Pappa said the name change was “very well received…Our posts about the change on our other social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram also have proven very popular.” Presley, who would have celebrated his 81st birthday on Jan. 8, died August 16, 1977 from an overdose of prescription drugs that caused his heart to stop. He was 42. Pappa said the The Riviera Boulevard signs are being sent to the Clark County Museum, where they will be on public display later this spring.

You can view the Clark County YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/kOsba-ajSSo. It is also on the County website at www.ClarkCountyNV.gov. Sue Lorenz, president of the Viva Las Vegas fan club, said someone in her group spotted the mistake and contacted a website “that didn’t give proper credit.” She said Presley now has three streets named after him, this being the first in the tourist corridor. “Streets are named by property owners and two did so in northern Las Vegas near the year 2000,” she said.