Abstract
The Moulin Rouge, created in 1955 as the first racially integrated hotel-casino in Las Vegas, played a key role in the advancement of American civil rights, yet its ephemeral existence and near-total physical obliteration threaten to erase its import as a significant site of twentieth century cultural history. The meaning and memory associated with place tend toward disappearance through the forces of urban renewal, negligent decay or willful destruction, processes exemplified by a town in constant evolution like Las Vegas. Nobelist Patrick Modiano’s work, and in particular his 1999 novel Dora Bruder, provide a lens through which the importance of historical memory, as well as the means and methods of preserving and maintaining it, come into focus.
