By Linda Jones
David Brown, Famous Bonanza porter, stands in front of the mural that was revealed when the Famous Bonanza expanded to the south. Photo by Linda Jones
The large mural painted by Michael Shaughnessy in 1965, and long since forgotten, was uncovered when the Famous Bonanza was recently expanded to the south. A doorway was cut into the former Santa Fe Central shop last summer and when the wallboards were ripped away, the workers were surprised to find the hidden mural.
Shaughnessy drifted into Central City in 1965 and found work at the Gilded Garter, a famous (and sometimes infamous) bar on Main Street. He drew caricatures in colored chalk and he was good at it. When the tourists weren’t asking for his caricatures he drew locals, and soon he had drawn more than half the townsfolk and most of the dogs in town. When two of the Garter’s musicians left to open the Silver Slipper down the street, Shaughnessy went with them.
He began creating a mural on the wall. He drew the people of Main Street – local characters, musicians and waitresses – in the summer of 1965. He did include himself, as a much smaller figure standing on a ladder with a paintbrush in his hand, in the lower right corner. Some of Central’s famous historic buildings and the Face on the Barroom Floor are also in the mural.
Not knowing the mural was there, the workmen damaged it when they broke through the wall from the Famous Bonanza. Ann Dobson, general manager for the Famous Bonanza and Easy Street casinos, hired Frank Lechuga to repair the most damaged areas. This fifth bay in the Bonanza opened on Labor Day 2010.
(Credit and many thanks to Sandy Hoffman and the Little Kingdom of Gilpin for the history research.)
