Lonnie Hammargren plans open house to share new art, artifacts

Nevada Day, celebrated the last Friday in October, has passed. But Dr. Lonnie Hammargren is not one to stand on convention, so he plans to open his home to the public in honor of the holiday a week after the rest of the state celebrates it.

The eccentric retired neurosurgeon plans to open his home Saturday and Sunday.

"Originally it was going to just be Sunday, and I invited some local celebrities to come out then," Hammargren said. "Then we decided to get The Dummkopfs out here to play, and they're not available on Sunday. So here we are opening it for both days."

Hammargren sometimes performs with The Dummkopfs, a local comedy polka band that has a regular Sunday gig at the Skyline Casino in Henderson.

Hammargren's home at 4300 Ridgecrest Drive, which has had numerous monikers attached to it over the years, is most often referred to as the Hammargren Home of Nevada History. He first moved into the quiet Paradise Palms neighborhood in 1971. His first eclectic addition was a second-floor planetarium that he got approval to build during a night of drinking with the neighborhood's developer.

"I was concerned because there wasn't enough science education available out here then," Hammargren said. "People asked why I didn't build a planetarium out in the country, where you could see the stars better, but at the time I had to live within three minutes from the hospital for my patients."

From there, the home continued to fill and expand, eventually spreading out to fill three homes connected by bridges, tunnels and a working railroad.

Hammargren began collecting butterflies at age 5, and his mania for collecting has grown over the years. He was one of the only neurosurgeons in town for years, and the lucrative position and his connections in the valley allowed him to acquire historical artifacts, such as a Northern Nevada blacksmith shop, Bugsy Siegel's toilet and a full-size plane attached to his roof that he claims was the only airplane ever built in Puerto Rico.

He has brought in casino signs and discarded stage props, including a giant pink Easter egg doorway used in a Liberace production, and his latest find, set pieces from "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular."

"Of course, now that I've brought them here, it isn't 'The Phantom of the Opera,' it's 'The Phantom of Paradise,' " Hammargren said . "I don't know who that phantom might be, but I know he's here. Sometimes I see his shadow behind me."

For a time, it seemed as if Hammargren's annual open house was on the verge of ending. Health issues and conflicts with some of his neighbors who objected to crowds and messes led to its suspension in 2009. That may have helped push Hammargren toward his failed plan of turning the home into a museum. A heated public meeting with the Clark County Commission resulted in the museum idea being rejected, but Hammargren and his lawyer, Dirk Ravenholt, believe the meeting also reaffirmed his right to hold the Nevada Day celebrations.

"It seemed pretty clear to us," Ravenholt said. "There's no law prohibiting you from having people over to your home. He's got a right to open his house if he wants to, and he does."

Hammargren has made some attempts to smooth things over, sending out volunteers after the event to pick up trash and working out arrangements with the shopping plaza at 3830 E. Flamingo Road to allow off-site parking and a shuttle service.

In the last few years, in addition to his long list of titles, including honorary consul to Belize, Hammargren has added artist. He doesn't just collect historical artifacts , he often adds his own touch to them or takes them apart and combines them into unique objects or political allegories, such as giant three dimensional editorial cartoons made of bric-a-brac.

For decades a giant set of scales with models of the University of Nevada, Reno, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has been on display on one end of his home representing the balance of funding of the two campuses. Some of his recent additions from the "Phantom" set have been combined to represent the Nevada Capitol in Carson City.

"There are those who call the Watts Towers outside of L.A. outsider art," said Chris Renton, development coordinator for Chicago's Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. "The problem is there's no set definition for the term."

Renton said the hallmarks of intuitive or outsider art tend to be artists who follow their own unique vision and are self-taught and show little influence from the mainstream art world. Most insider art walks the thin line between sane and insane.

Visitors will have to make their own judgment as to whether they think that description fits when they see Hammargren's home.

The Hammargren Home of Nevada History is scheduled to be open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday entertainment will be provided by local bands The Dummkopfs and The Fremonts. On Sunday, several tribute artists are set to perform, and Hammargren has invited former Clark County commissioner Thalia Dondero, former UNLV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian and former Clark County sheriff Ralph Lamb.

Hammargren is requesting a $10 donation at the door with funds going to the Hammargren Home of Nevada History. Concession sales will be operated by and benefit Living Grace Homes, a home for unwed pregnant teens.

For more information visit nevadadays.org.

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.