I have no idea where to start. Castillo del Sol. The Hammargren Home of Nevada History. Though I don't have all the details, I believe the house was once declared as the sovereign nation "The Principality of Paradise". Lonnie even coined his own money, called Dupees. You can find them on eBay every now and then.
At one point, Robin Leach, host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, appeared on The Johnny Carson Show, and Johnny asked something to the effect of "You've been in some of the most spectacular homes in the world. What's been your favorite?" Without a beat, Mr. Leach replied "The home of Dr. Lonnie Hammargren in Las Vegas." It's that kind of place.
On February 8th 1993, the Department of Interior honored Lonnie by recognizing his outstanding complex as a branch of the Smithsonian, naming it the “Hammarsonian Museum”. It was also voted “Worst Las Vegas Eyesore” in 1997 by readers of the Review-Journal newspaper.
You can find a lot of good info on the house all over the web. In fact, for a more comprehensive view than I'll give here, you can check out the home tour online at Lonnie's website. The website describes it best: Full appreciation of the history contained within can only be be achieved by visiting the home repeated times. I also invite you to read a little tidbit about the house here. I cribbed a lot of info from there.
But, I'll try and provide some of my impressions. It was an experience I won't forget, and I had plenty of time to soak it in. We arrived at the house after the parade at around 5pm or so, and Lonnie didn't get placed in the tomb until about 11 pm.
First arriving off the parade route, we entered the enclave from the back, and were greeted by this:
And thus, the tone was set.
Around the corner was the first dinosaur of the evening.
(I believe it was actually designed to shoot fire, though I didn't see it in
action.)
The entrance we took is in front of the middle house.
(Oh yeah. The house is actually three houses. They bought some
neighbors' houses to expand into.)
With no real idea of where I was heading, into the middle house I went, and was promptly met by a skeleton at a player piano, watched over carefully by JFK.
I also found my first near-life size campaign poster. I think I spotted at least five or six of there around the house. I think the idea of keeping multiple life size posters of yourself around the house is a little creepy, but I suppose when you mix it in with everything else, it just fits.
Wandering over the the North House (I think?), we finally started to encounter some Egyptian stuff.
Which, of course, was right next to the Liberace stuff.
The staircase below was the staircase Liberace used to walk down on stage during productions at the Riviera hotel.
 |
See? |
 |
Evidently, part of the room had to be demolished to fit the staircase.
In another nearby room, we've also got this:
Just upstairs, we come to another dinosaur, but this one is real... except for the E.T. head.
This was right next to a knight on horseback.
And Mike Tyson biting the ear off of a boxing bear.
And a king and queen. With another cardboard cut out of Lonnie in the background.
Just for second, let's stop. What we've seen so far here represents part of two rooms of the three-house structure that is Castillo del Sol. I'm leaving a lot out. Without really wandering around, it's impossible to convey the scope of this place. The Mike Tyson thing up there is sorta tucked away in a closet in a hallway. And people live here too!
So, jumping around a little bit, I wandered out onto the patio over one of the swimming pools. Hanging there are some odd yellow submersibles. I heard someone say they were used for filming movies.
And above them is an old stunt motorcycle.
And back across the patio in some upstairs space leading to the rooftop deck, a weird toy room featuring a mannequin dressed as Spiderman.
And then, a big vat of water with Abraham Lincoln in it.
He's kept company in there by some rubber alligators and sea turtles.
We'll get there later, but you can see Lincoln head-on through the living room
window.
And right by there, some off puzzle bits and leftover mannequin parts.
And C-3PO and R2-D2, along with big stuffed... I dunno, Christmas gerbil?
They're guarding an old car upside down on the ceiling...
...and and old motorcycle that evidently belonged to my wife's grandfather. Which is in turn guarded by a cardboard Stormtrooper.
Sorry if this seems a little disjointed, but I'm just following the walkthrough I did. There isn't a lot of hidden continuity I'm just not showing you.
Next, I came across a huge pile of guitars. There are some real beauties in there, and some signed by famous folks.
At this point, we've been wandering up to the rooftop terrace. Once you're up there, you're greeted by a big elephant.
Along with some spectacular views of the landscape surrounding Vegas.
I'm a bit of a roller coaster fan, so I was a little saddened to hear one of the coasters on top of the Stratosphere was no longer around.
Fortunately, Lonnie has preserved part of the coaster on his roof.
Including the bizarre addition of a Salad Bar sign halfway back the train.
Just to left is one of those things that I actually missed the first time
around because my brain just didn't really accept it, and then moved on to the
next bit of weirdness. But then I whipped my head back around and yes,
indeed... There is a really large space shuttle on the roof.
With a cardboard standup of Michael Jordan inside of it.
In the back there, you can see something that looks like an Mercury capsule... someone mentioned that it was actually a real training capsule from the space program.
Which I suppose makes sense... we're evidently in the headquarters of the Nevada Aeronautic Space Association.
I wonder if this guy is president of the space association...
There's more space shuttle stuff lying around too.
I wonder how well Lonnie has all of this stuff catalogued. I completely picture him wandering around the roof thinking "where did that come from?"
Ok... back into the house.
I don't really have any comment on this. But it was another interesting surprise after coming back in.
Here is Lonnie's 9/11 memorial. The buildings are the architectural models used to build the New York New York casino in Vegas.
For a little room context here, this is inside the Cathedral Lonnie built
inside one of his houses for his wedding.
(I'm not sure that actually adds any context, but it's as good a place as any to
mention that he has a cathedral in one of his houses.)
This is the actual Chapel in which he was married, which is a bit off the Cathedral
.
At the other end of the Cathedral is a strange diorama that I THINK is of the El Dorado canyon. This was kinda neat though.
By this point in the house, I was hitting the point of serious sensory
overload. Here's a weird looking Taj Mahal kinda thing.
Now, this, the 9/11 Memorial and the caveman above are all in the same room.
With a lot of other stuff. I don't quite have my bearings as to what the
theme was, but wow.
And then we get some more space fun. Here's Lonnie in a Cosmonaut uniform.
And then, into the tropical room, with a really large butterfly...
Some big Tiki masks...
And, of course, the poster for some bizarre jungle themed sexploitation film starring Jack Palance.
Now, at this point, I had to briefly abandon the house tour, because Robin Leach showed up.
And then the dancers started to kick in.
And they even got me in on the action.
But really, you know it's a party when even Darth Vader is groovin'.
After dancing, everyone needed a break, and we had some nice buffet dining.
There's nothing quite like standing in a buffet line with a bunch of Stormtroopers. I was actually a bit to engrossed (and hungry) to take a picture of that one. Sorry.
But once the sun set, we did some more exploring.
And right out front, I'd missed the most usable space shuttle on the whole property.
This was on the entry to Lonnie's garage.
The story I'd heard is that the garage is part of what started the whole home
acquisition thing. He'd been parking too many of his cars out in front of
the house, and the neighbors complained, so he just built an underground parking
garage. Complete with a tomb, but we'll get there.
Anyway, the expansion went a little too far underground and crossed the
neighbor's property line. So he just bought them out, and thus it started.
I have no idea whether this is true, but it's cool.
The garage has some impressive stuff in it.
I know virtually nothing, but I'm sure any of these cars cost more than my education.
Plus, a Velvet Beatles:
And yet another standup of himself:
This just speaks for itself.
And frankly, no home in Vegas would be complete without some of the Waynester.
Wandering back outside, I encountered... I dunno, part of Mir?
I couldn't actually see it, so I had to rely on my flash. But keep in mind, whatever this is, it's just sitting in his driveway.
Along with the original Batmobile.
So, we wandered back around a bit, and I saw this sign kinda hidden near the bar:
And indeed, Lonnie has built an entire abandoned gold mine below one of the houses. This was March, but it looks like it's permanent Halloween down there.
We did manage to escape the mine, and came upon this in the living room.
This is right behind the Abraham Lincoln underwater.
Around the corner a bit, we came across a mannequin mooning the Statue of Liberty.
And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, was the house. Or at least as much as I
could meaningfully capture and convey in a single trip.
The tour was invigorating and exhausting. Even the stuff above is only
really the tip of the iceberg. Just looking at
Lonnie's House Tour Online, you can see I missed major pieces. I
encourage you to head on out and tour it yourself at your earliest convenience.
At this point, we were ready to head down to the tomb.
And really, who better to lead us there than some guy dressed like Indiana Jones.
or...