Thursday, March 10, 2011

Column/Pictorial: The Chip Monk & The Strip Church


If that's not the coolest stained glass in the history of Catholic churches, I don't know what is. (Click on it to enlarge and see the uber-Vegasy detail.) It's the lower portion of the panel in the far northeastern window of the main santuary and is actually tough to find, tucked back behind where the choir and organist do their things. Here's another, closer shot of the 1975 artwork. Just one of those casinos is even still standing.

I was at Guardian Angel to do this week's Las Vegas Weekly column about the Chip Monk, the fellow whose job it is (or was) to go cash in casino chips dropped in the collection baskets. They used to get more than $2,500 a month that way and he used to be able to cash them all at Caesars or the Trop, but times have changed. Go read all about him in my Las Vegas Weekly column.


Meanwhile, here's a Flickr slideshow of images of from the church and my visit. One fun part is that many of the stained glass panels were paid for by famous Las Vegans like Danny Thomas and Wilbur Clark, as you'll see.




And here's just one shot I thought was artful. I call it "Two Cathedrals."

1 comments:

detroit1051 said...

All these years, and I never stopped to tour Guardian Angel Cathedral. Who would have thought Landmark, Sands and The Hilton would be memorialized in a church's stained glass windows. Maybe The Hilton was still the International when the window was crafted. Fascinating.