Thanks for all the valuable info on Dana's life in Las Vegas. If
anyone happens to know her address when she lived in Hollywood, I
would greatly appreciate it. I haven't been to California yet but am
thinking on going sometime.

Lynda


--- In rememberingdanaplato@yahoogroups.com, "sfm992002"
<sfm992002@...> wrote:
>
> I think it will be 10 years this May sweet Dana lost her life. I am
> such a big fan that I have no words to do her justice. Sweet Dana.
>
> --- In rememberingdanaplato@yahoogroups.com, Michael Gonzales
> <mikeg77852000@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Hey Chris, it is good of you to remember Dana. Not many people
seem
> to care about her now that she has been gone almost 9 years now.
But
> I never forgot her. And I never forgot the autograph picture that
she
> sent me several years before when she was still on Different
Strokes.
> I would have given anything to try to save her. If you want a good
> place to see a good memorial to Dana, go to danaplato.net. It is a
> great web site and you will truly enjoy it. Take care and have a
good
> day. Mike G.
> > --- On Thu, 1/22/09, chrisk0529 <chrisk529@> wrote:
> >
> > From: chrisk0529 <chrisk529@>
> > Subject: [Remembering Dana Plato] Dana's time in Las Vegas.
> > To: rememberingdanaplato@yahoogroups.com
> > Date: Thursday, January 22, 2009, 5:12 PM
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Howdy from Texas, y'all.
> >
> > I know that we lost Dana in May of 1999 (exactly 3 weeks before
my
> > birthday!), but I hadn't really thought all that much about her
for
> > the past few years, until just the other day when AOL ran
a "Where
> > Are They Now?" story about "Diff'rent Strokes". When I got to the
> > page about her I was amazed to discover that my eyes welled up
with
> > tears. Then I swear I sensed "something"; it was as if she
reached
> > out to me from the great beyond and said "Please don't ever
forget
> > me!". Well Dana, I've thought about you more these last few days
> than
> > I have the last few years, and I'm looking for everything and
> > anything I can find about you. Even though I never had the honor
to
> > meet you I feel like I really knew you, and your passing far
before
> > your time really hurts not just me but countless other fans. Rest
> in
> > peace beautiful lady, and I swear I WILL NEVER, EVER forget you
> > again!
> >
> > That's why I'm here. I never thought I'd belong to a group like
> this,
> > but as we all know there was something special about Dana,
> otherwise
> > we wouldn't be here, right?
> >
> > Which leads me to the following. I want to share with you a few
> > things I discovered about Dana's life in Las Vegas. I plan to
> > investigate more fully into this as time permits, and I welcome
any
> > comments and assistance from members of this group.
> >
> > I visit Las Vegas at least twice a year, so I have an interest in
> > where Dana might have been while she was living there. I obtained
a
> > copy of the story about Dana's tragic passing from the Las Vegas
> > Review-Journal newspaper dated May 10, 1999, the reason being is
> that
> > I hoped it would give much more specific information on her life
> > there. To this end I was not too disappointed. (The full article
> > available upon request). I also have the story from the Las Vegas
> Sun
> > but it sheds very little additional information on her time in
Las
> > Vegas. I do appreciate reading this from the Sun article:
> >
> > "It's a shame when someone with so much potential dies so young,"
> > said District Attorney Stewart Bell, who as a private attorney in
> the
> > early 1990s represented Plato and twice won her probation for the
> > crimes to which she pleaded guilty. "She had a troubled young
> > adulthood but I know that for a while she was drug-free because
she
> > was regularly tested while on probation."
> >
> > There were several specific locations mentioned in the Review-
> Journal
> > story and I believe I have located their possible locations:
> >
> > "She lived for months at the Anchor Village Apartments at The
> Lakes."
> >
> > I was unable to locate any place by that name in Las Vegas but
> > evidence seriously supports my guess that it's known today as
> > the "Sunset Breeze" apartments, located at 3001 Lake East Drive.
> Lake
> > East Drive is a short street, and photos from GoogleEarth show
only
> > one apartment complex on it. Evidence to support my guess is
found
> in
> > this statement from the newspaper:
> >
> > "Plato pleaded guilty to robbing Lake Video on Lake East Drive in
> > February 1991. Plato, disguised in a hat, coat and sunglasses,
> robbed
> > the store while brandishing a pellet gun. 'I was shocked when she
> > walked up to the front desk with a gun in her coat, demanding
> money,'
> > store clerk Heather Dailey said at the time. 'She was disguised
in
> a
> > hat, sunglasses and a coat, but I recognized her through the
window
> > before she even came in the door.
> >
> > 'It was shocking because she lives around here,' Dailey said
> > then. 'I've seen her in here before. When she brought the gun
out,
> I
> > thought, 'You're kidding me' because I knew (who she was).'
> >
> > About $140 of the stolen money was recovered, police said. After
> the
> > robbery, Plato apparently gambled about $20 at a bar in the same
> > shopping center as the video store.
> >
> > I was unable to locate a business called "Lake Video" in the Las
> > Vegas area, and the article does not mention the name of the bar
> > either.
> >
> > However, there is a shopping center with many detached buildings
in
> > it on the west side of Crystal Water Way, just south of its
> > intersection with W. Sahara called "Lakes Park", located at the
> point
> > where Lake East Drive intersects with Crystal Water Way. I have
not
> > found any info on the tenants at this location at this time.
> >
> > "....she took a job at the Al Phillips cleaners on West Flamingo
> > Road...."
> >
> > I was able to locate this place; I'm hoping it hasn't moved since
> > Dana worked there:
> >
> > Al Phillips the Cleaner Inc.,
> > 8645 W. Flamingo Rd., #101, Las Vegas, NV 89147.
> > Website: http://www.alphilli ps-thecleaner. com .
> >
> > It's in the "Desert Breeze Plaza" shopping center at W. Flamingo
> Dr.
> > and S. Durango Dr., on the west side of town. Unfortunately I
can't
> > get any decent ground level photos from GoogleEarth for this
> location.
> >
> > "After leaving that job, she worked for several weeks at Crystal
> > Cleaners on Spring Mountain Road."
> >
> > I was unable to locate this business on Spring Mountain Rd.;
> however
> > a "Crystal Cleaners" does exist just north of there on N. Jones
> > Blvd.; Spring Mountain Rd. and Jones Blvd. cross. Obviously they
> > moved since then.
> >
> > Call me crazy, but I'm planning to check out these places on my
> next
> > visit to Las Vegas later this year. I'm sure there are
> no "memorials"
> > at any of them, but being the nut that I am, I want to see the
> places
> > where Dana spent part of her all-too-brief life. Hopefully I will
> > discover more before then and will gladly share with all on here.
> >
> > Thank again, Chris in Texas.
> >
>