Second and Fifth StreetsBond Road - College Road - Paradise Valley Road - San Francisco Street - Highland Drive - Clark Avenue - Main Street/Salt Lake Highway - Tonopah Hwy/Los Angeles Hwy - Lorenzi Street - Lakeshore Drive - Lamb Boulevard - Rockingham Avenue - Ely Street - Mesquite Avenue - D4C Road - Coran Avenue - Wing Street - Piedmont Boulevard

HELP! I know that Flamingo and Desert Inn had different names, and I believe Maryland Parkway is not Maryland's original name. If you know of these streets'(or any others') original names, please email me at christen@nevada.edu. Also, if you happen to have any pictures of street signs with any changed names streets (IE Bond Road), please let me know. Thanks!

9-26-99:If anyone knows anything about the proposed "West Sahara Expressway" (early 1970s) please email me with what you know. Thanks! NC

Ever wonder why the signs for Flamingo Road are misaligned(see right)? For those of you who haven't lived here very long, it was called Dunes-Flamingo Road from I-15 to Koval. And many of you can probably even remember when it was just "Dunes Road" from Las Vegas Boulevard to I-15. Like Dunes-Flamingo Road, many streets in Las Vegas had different names before they received their current titles.

Old Street Names

Which street should be renamed?

Las Vegas Boulevard/Fifth Street

Tropicana Avenue/Bond Road

Lake Mead Blvd/College Road

Paradise Road/Paradise Valley Road

Sahara Ave/San Francisco Street


Current Results

The first and most obvious ones are Second and Fifth Streets. Anyone who's been to downtown Las Vegas has probably noticed that there is no Second street between First and Third, and no Fifth between Fourth and Sixth. The Second Street has been renamed Casino Center Drive. Fifth Street is now Las Vegas Boulevard.

Next is Bond Road. You may have noticed the Bondaire Club and the Bond Mobile Home Park on East Tropicana between Koval and Paradise. Well, according to my mother(who has lived here since the mid 60s) there was no street there when those were built, and Bond Road was named after them...can't confirm that though. Bond Road is now known as Tropicana Avenue.

This next one is weird to me. I've seen a topog map that has Lake Mead Blvd. labeled College Drive, but the Community College is on Cheyenne.

At one time, long before McCarran Airport was where it is, there was a little community in the south called Paradise Valley. And, coincidentally, Paradise Valley Road went to Paradise Valley.

Meadows Village residents may know about this one. Before the Sahara was built, the street south of New York, Chicago, St Louis, Cleveland, Cininatti, and Baltimore, today called Sahara Avenue, was called San Francisco Street.

I guess this one isn't really fair, because part of it is still named Highland. But into the late 80s or early 90s, Martin Luther King Blvd from Oakey to Craig was called Highland Drive. Why couldn't they have renamed something geeky like Bonanza? I kinda dig Highland Drive.

Anyone that's seen a map of the original Las Vegas townsite notices "Clark Avenue" on the southern end of the McWilliams town. Clark is now known as Bonanza Road. At one time, US 95 used Bonanza to get from Las Vegas Boulevard to Rancho.

Las Vegas Boulevard North through North Las Vegas has had three names historically. Its first name was Main Street. Coming into Vegas from the north on LV Blvd, you'll notice that Main Street is straight ahead and Las Vegas Boulevard branches to the left. Back in the day, Fifth Street(Las Vegas Boulevard) ended at that intersection. The second historical name was the Salt Lake Highway. I can remember seeing this on maps into the 80s.

On the same note as the Salt Lake Highway, Rancho was once known as the Tonopah Highway and Las Vegas Boulevard was once known as the Los Angeles Highway.

One of the more recent road name changes is that of Lorenzi Street. Before US 95 was a freeway in the northwest, Rainbow Blvd was called Lorenzi Street. Lorenzi Street still exists between Westcliff and Charleston just east of Rainbow.

At Lake Mead, three streets meet in a T. Northshore Road is the column of the T, and the top of the T is Lakeshore Drive and Lake Mead Drive. Originally, Lakeshore Drive continued all the way to I-15, until it was renamed Lake Mead Drive.

Look at a map and you may be able to guess this one(or look at the map on the LV Freeways page) Green Valley Parkway was called Lamb Boulevard.

For the next few, I did a little research at the UNLV library. Many of these next streets had two names, but ran in the same place(ie Buffalo was Buffalo south of Washington, but Piedmont north of Washington).

Harmon, east of UNLV, was called Rockingham Avenue. No idea if there's a reason for naming it such.

Note the names of the streets between Tropicana(Bond Road) and Russell Road are Reno, Hacienda*, and Rawhide. Reno and Rawhide were both one time major cities in Nevada. Rawhide is now nonexistant, Reno is now unimportant. But Hacienda's original name was Ely Street, thus, all the streets in this area were named after formerly important Nevada cities.
*-Hacienda is slowly being renamed to Mandalay Bay Road, and may be completely renamed such in Bracken and Spring Valley. Time will tell.

Not sure when this namechange happened, but on the 1953 CSAA map of Las Vegas, Pecos is shows as Pecos Road(Mesquite Avenue.)

Hard to believe as it may be, up to the late 1970s, there was VERY little south of Sahara Avenue in the Southwest side of town. There was, however, a ranch near the present day intersection of Arville and Twain. Up to the late 60s, the D4C ranch had a road that went from it to Las Vegas Boulevard...Spring Mountain Road ended at D4C Road near Highland Drive. Up to the late 60s, Spring Mountain Road never intersected Las Vegas Boulevard-D4C Road did, though.

Lake Mead Boulevard in Eastland Heights was called Coran Avenue.

Before the Wynns came to town, Wynn Road was called Wing Street.

As mentioned above, Buffalo was Buffalo south of Washington and Piedmont Boulevard north...this held into the 1980s.

Old Streets has had visitors since 8/4/99.
Thanks to KVBC's Tom Hawley for helping with this site.