Erotic Heritage Museum

Before we begin, you may have heard that the Erotic Heritage Museum is closed. Good news! It has re-opened in its original facility under a new organization which is more stable and less susceptible to issues that would lead to interruptions of availability.

Yes, the Erotic Heritage Museum is truly a museum. It consists of about 20,000 square feet of exhibits and displays on the subject of human sexuality.

The purpose of the Museum is not to arouse, but to inform and educate the public on historical and current events surrounding the subject. It is a bona fide scholarly endeavor and not an attempt to pass off pornography as art or educational material.

The Museum is located at the intersection of Fashion Show Drive and Industrial Road, directly catercorner from the Fashion Show Mall. Dr. Victoria Hartman (nee’ Austin) serves as Curator.

From 2011 through 2013, Diva Las Vegas has held a reception and tour in cooperation with the Museum. These were private events closed to the general public.

Just prior to DLV 2012, a special exhibit on Crossdressing was prepared by a group of DLV members, in cooperation with the EHM staff.

The EHM activity is an opportunity to socialize, to relax, to learn, and to enjoy each other’s company.

The group toured the museum, both individually and in groups with a docent.

Yes, restroom graffiti is an exhibit!

One of the more popular exhibits is the Wall Of Shame, featuring various groups and public figures who have chosen (often very hypocritically) to act as self-appointed guardians of the public morals.

A special feature of 2013 was “Buttercup Delight” performing some classic burlesque.

We missed 2014 due to the (fortunately temporary) closure, but you can be sure that the EHM will be back on the program for DLV 2015!

The Limo Tour …

My favorite DLV activity of all time has to be the Limo Tour!

The principle is very simple. We get dressed to the nines, hire several limos from a local service, load them with enough adult beverages to pollute the East River, pile in, and do the town!

It’s a great chance to be yourself,  enjoy life and each other’s company, go see and be seen, and, uh, kick back.

Milt – One of our favorite drivers from Bell Trans, he’s a sweetie!

We’ll  ride for a while …

… imbibe for a while …

… stop for a while …

We’ll do the Strip and then some!

Once a stop came unplanned!

Sometimes we’ll mingle with the “normals” …

And we’ll occasionally end up off the beaten path …

In the early years of the Limo Tour, a favorite stop of ours was the DelMar Motel. This was a long-demolished very sleazy no-tell motel which used to be about midway between the main Strip area and Downtown.

The DelMar has a special place in the memory of early DLVers, as an amusing item of DLV lore has to do with one of our people getting invited to an intimate one-on-one at this fine establishment.

In 2002 our Limo Tour group was actually asked to leave the property when we overstayed and wore out our welcome!

Another favorite stop is for photo sessions outside the Four Queens downtown.

The idea of the Four Queens photos is to have FOUR of us, that’s right, 1-2-3-4, no more, no less, posed under the Four Queens sign.

Four Queens! Get it?

Well, it never seems to work out that way.

In recent years we’ve been doing the “Walk Of The Cats” downtown, that’s where we’ll have the drivers let us off at one one end of Fremont Street Experience and we’ll (eventually) make our way to the Four Queens, where the limos will pick us up.

Of course we’ll socialize with the “normals” on the way!

A great opportunity for photo ops is the Paris and Bellagio area on the Strip!

And sometimes we just have to wing it!

For the 2010 Limo Tour, a security guard at the Venetian assured us that there would be a mime performing on the small stage in the passageway at the time we planned to visit.

Well, the time came, and no mime!

Some of our group had to fill in.

The Early Years – 1998-2000 …

The initial growth of Diva Las Vegas was astounding!

From the original 5 in 1997, we had approximately 16 in 1998, about 35 in 1999, and about 50 in 2000.

The goings-on were still quite informal during these years, and most everybody who attended got to know almost all of the others very early on in the event. Many of those who joined DLV in these early years are still with us with near-perfect attendance throughout the years.

Much of the late-evening social life during these years revolved around a piano bar called Keys on east Sahara. This was comfortable for those who were not used to mainstream public, and had light entertainment most of the time.

One featured activity which occurred during these years was what we called our Dam Good Tour, a personal in-depth guided tour of Hoover Dam, conducted by one of our own who was at the time a senior member of the operations staff. This continued each year until 9-11.

Although the main theme of DLV during these early years was Quality Social Time, other activities started to take place such as side trips to Red Rock Canyon and Valley Of Fire, various shopping expeditions, several group meals, and visits to various casinos and tourist attractions in the area.

One frequently-believed misconception about Diva Las Vegas is that during the early years, DLV activities were almost exclusively held in “alternative” and “safe” venues. This is quite incorrect. Although we did frequent such places as Keys and Goodtimes during these years, we had group meals in mainstream restaurants each year (Teahouse at Imperial Palace in 1997, Hard Rock in 1998, Tony Roma’s in 1999, etc.) and a custom which would repeat for several years, a first-night group dinner at the Sahara Buffet began.

“Crazy Times” were frequent during these years. Yes, some hard partying happened along with several memorable moments. One piece of DLV-Lore which lives on to this day is that of Galiano [sic]. Galiano [sic] is a semi-intentional misspelling of Galliano, a liqueur which was the favorite of one of our original 5. When consumed straight, Galiano [sic] is recklessly intoxicating and one particular individual (I wonder who? {blush}) was hit rather hard by it. The chain of good-natured (???) gags and anecdotes revolving around Galiano [sic] continued regularly for several years and makes occasional appearances to this day. Yes, in those days it was more socially-correct to consume such libations in abundance.

It was during these years that DLV attained its “critical mass”, a strong following of regulars who would sustain DLV’s growth for years to come.

In The Beginning …

Diva Las Vegas was never intended to be a major TG event.

The first DLV, in May of 1997, was a real-life get-together of those who had become acquainted over the Internet, most specifically on Internet Relay Chat (IRC).

IRC was (and still is) the forerunner of today’s “Chat Rooms” and similar things.

In 1996 a recurring theme in discussion was that it would be “so cool” if those who had gotten to know each other on line could meet in real life. Several possible locations were discussed, but plans were put off for the holidays.

When the discussion resumed in early 1997, Las Vegas was the only suggested location which did not have a number of objections by those wishing to attend. Eventually the weekend of May 9-11 was settled upon as the weekend to meet.

If I remember correctly, something like 12 individuals said that they were definitely going to be there.

Five showed up! It was a very small crowd but a very good time.

The original 5 were, in alphabetical order, along with their IRC “nicks” (screen names):

1. Annie (dionysia)
2. Deb (windy)
3. Elaine (MsElanous)
4. Hollye (Margeth)
5. John (JohnInLA)

The very first get-together, the first DLV activity of all time, occurred at the Goodtimes Lounge at Tropicana and Spencer. DLV has visited the Goodtimes each and every year since 1997.

The second DLV activity of all time was an informal get-together at the Hard Rock Cafe.

This weekend also hosted the only time in the history of DLV where all attendees were ever in one place at the same time. This was Saturday evening at Choices Lounge (long since closed) on Charleston. As of this writing, two of the original 1997 attendees (Annie and Deb) have perfect attendance over all years of DLV!

It was agreed upon to do “same time next year”, and as the cliche’ goes, the rest is history!

The IRC channel on which this all began is still active and open to all, old and new alike. For those familiar with IRC, the commands to access it are:

/server irc.pinkmyst.com
/join #transgender