Viva Las Vegas Architecture

"New York City has Grand Central Terminal. Boston has Faneuil Hall. Chicago has the Carson Pirie Scott & Co. building. San Francisco has Coit Tower. Las Vegas has . . . the La Concha Motel lobby.

Among such august architectural icons, kitschy La Concha --which most closely resembles a fly-in hamburger stand used by the Jetsons--might seem like a questionable candidate for historic preservation.

But, by year's end, if all goes according to plan, the airy, concrete and glass 1961-vintage lobby, with its three signature 28-foot parabolic arches, will be preserved for posterity at a cost of about $1 million. Preservationists cobbled together the money through state and local grants and donations."