A Refuge in a City of Sin
Guardian Angel Cathedral
Close to forty million people visit Las Vegas every year and you’d expect few, if any, to have plans for attending church during their stay. You would expect that, but you just might be surprised.
Casinos offer everything their guests’ heart’s desire — free drinks, shows, fabulous restaurants, outrageous nightlife — everything, that is, except a place of worship, and that is by design. No one wants their guests contemplating the wages of sin while shuffling dollars into a slot machine, doubling their bid on the craps table, or downing that third (or fourth) three-foot-high margarita. Yet amidst the glitz and glamour on the Las Vegas strip, sits a not-so-tiny refuge from all Sin City has to offer. It’s a refuge visited by thousands of people every year.
Of course, like the city in which it resides, this refuge also has a rather nefarious past. The Guardian Angel Cathedral got its start from none other than Morris Barney “Moe” Dalitz — an admitted bootlegger with ties to organized crime.
Moe Dalitz came into this world on Christmas Eve, 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts. By the time he was twenty he was using the delivery truck from his father’s dry cleaning business to run bootleg alcohol in Michigan — where the family had moved in 1907.
Thirty years later, in 1949, Dalitz was sent to Las Vegas to take over the construction of the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino (now the Wynn) when the original owner, Wilber Smith, ran short of funds. Dalitz would eventually run the Desert Inn upon its completion, as well as both the Showboat and Stardust Casinos.
A year later Dalitz was the target of the famous Kefauver Hearings, which were held in the federal courthouse on Stewart Avenue in downtown Las Vegas.
When questioned by Senator Estes Kefauver about his running bootleg alcohol, Dalitz responded, “If you people wouldn’t have drunk it, I wouldn’t have bootlegged it.”
But Dalitz was more than a man with ties to organized crime. He was also well-known for his philanthropy. During his tenure in Las Vegas, he gave money for the construction of a hospital, a mall, a country club and golf course, a residential track of homes, and even some of the buildings which make up the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In 1961 Dalitz donated a plot of land just to the north of the Desert Inn. The land was to be used to erect a cathedral. But Dalitz didn’t just donate the land, he also funded the entire project.
The design of the building fell to the very capable hands of Architect Paul Revere Williams, although Williams was actually an unlikely candidate. An African American born on February 18, 1894 in Los Angeles, Williams was an orphan by the time he was four. Forced into a foster home, he was lucky enough to land with a family who believed in the power of education.
Williams, who was the only African American attending Polytechnic High School at the time, was actually discouraged from going into architecture by one of his teachers who was concerned about his ability to attract clients in a mainly white community. This didn’t stop Williams from pursuing his dreams. It also didn’t stop him from making a name for himself in the 1920s and 30s designing expensive homes for wealthy clients in Bel Air, Brentwood, and Beverly Hills.
Williams chose a dramatic A-frame design for his 1100 seat cathedral, which has the effect of making the entire building appear as if it’s reaching up to the heavens. Above the front door rests an enormous two-thousand-square-foot mosaic designed by Hungarian artist Edith Piczek in 1966.
The mosaic, which was executed by mosaic artist L. Favret-Pietrasanta, shows a guardian angel — the cathedral’s namesake — with three figures representing Prayer, Penance, and Peace. Piczek also designed the mural which rests behind the alter.
This mural, called the final beginning, shows “swooping angels” rising up toward heaven around the guardian angel.
These angles, however, are depicted in a style — called “Mystic Realism” by Piczek — that is more consistent with what you’d expect to find drawn on the pages of a comic book than on the wall of a Catholic church. Far from a traditional design, these angles are multi-colored in bright yellows, reds, and oranges, highlighted with greens, blues, and purples.
The twelve beautifully-colored, triangular-shaped stained glass windows inside the cathedral represent the Stations of the Cross. Created by Edith’s sister Isabel Piczek, a Hungarian-trained theoretical physicist and monumental artist, they were designed in the same “Mystic Realism,” a style that is more cubist than traditional.
Each window depicts themes that subtly demonstrate the evils of gambling and one even has the 1970s Las Vegas skyline incorporated into it.
Each window received donations from different sources, with window XII receiving its funding from actor Danny Thomas and his wife.
For many years, the church attracted tourists and casino employees alike, each looking for an escape from the neon lights of the strip. However, as Las Vegas grew, fewer and fewer employees attended services, leaving only tourists to keep the door open.
Though through it all the cathedral has remained a refuge in the city of sin and has even expanded. In 1995 the cathedral underwent a $1.3 million renovation, part of which saw the destruction of the nearby tiki-themed Bali Hai motel.
The cathedral has weekend and weekday masses. It has reconciliations and novenas and on the first Friday of every month in answer to the many Happy Hours held in bars and casinos along the strip, the Cathedral holds a “Holy Hour” following the 12:10 mass.
And while Las Vegas has become an example of what unbridled extravagance can lead to, the Guardian Angel Cathedral — as with churches of old — still rings its bell every hour on the hour to not only indicate the time, but also possibly to remind tourists and residents alike that it still dares to stand as a lone beacon in defiance of a city built largely on sin.
This story is an exert from my book Discovering Vintage Las Vegas: A Guide to the City’s Timeless Shops, Restaurants, Casinos, & More by Globe Pequot Press. You can find out more about me and my writing by visiting my website, where you can sign up for my newsletter, find out about my award-winning books, and get a free novella.
