Transcript of interview with Ruth Hazard by John Neal, March 8, 1975

UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard i An Interview with Ruth Hazard An Oral History Conducted by John Neal Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard iii The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard iv Abstract On March 8, 1975, John Neal interviews Ruth Hazard (birthdate unknown, 67 years old) in her home about her memory of how Southern Nevada has changed economically. Hazard goes in-depth about her knowledge of municipal politics and her husband’s friendships with a number of Nevadan politicians. Hazard also briefly talks about her fascination with the above-ground atomic tests, speakeasies during Prohibition, and local anxieties about Las Vegas “losing its identity.” UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 1 This is John Neal, I’m interviewing Mrs. Ruth Hazard. Her age is sixty-seven; she resides in 900 Baker Avenue and was not born in Southern Nevada. Okay, were you born in Southern Nevada? No. What year do you remember—? That we came here? That you came here, yes. Well, we came here in 1931. At what schools were you educated in, if in Nevada? No. Not at all? No, no, not in Nevada. Okay. How about occupations? Well, I’ve been secretary and bookkeeper – What addresses have you lived in Southern Nevada? Well, let me see. 408 Bonneville, 603 South Fourth, and 900 Baker. Why did you move? Oh. These are just some of the questions that we have to follow. They’re the set questions. Well, we, before we write all this down. We lived at 408 Bonneville and we lived there, in oh heavens, we lived some place long before that, I can’t remember, in ’31. Where did we live? Goodness sakes. Well, anyway, when we lived at 408 Bonneville, we moved from there in 1939 UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 2 to move to Carson City where we lived for four years. Then when we came back we lived at 603 South Fourth, well, we lived there until we bought this house. Were you married in Southern Nevada? No, in Utah. Ogden, Utah. Is, or was, church activity a part of your life? Well, I’m— Central Christian Church. Central Christian Church. Do you remember the visits of any of the presidents or other important people to the Las Vegas area, such as President Roosevelt or Hoover—? President Roosevelt was here and dedicated the Dam. We were here then. How about spectacular events? Such as the crash of Carole Lombard’s plane or important—? We didn’t live here then. We were living in Carson City when that happened. Oh, okay. How about any important person’s marriages or divorces? Oh golly. I—I don’t know. I don’t— I don’t think most people keep up with that stuff, I guess. No (Laughs). Were, or are you active in politics? Well, right now I’m not very active, really. I belong to the Democratic Women’s Club and, oh, I participated in various campaigns. You know, I campaigned for people who were running for office and you know, door-to-door campaigning and then typing and things like that. But I wouldn’t say that I’m very active in politics, really. I wouldn’t—I am to a certain extent, but not, you know, not a whole lot I guess, you can say. Were, or are you the member of a social club or other special interest group? UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 3 Yes, Mesquite Club and I belong to the, oh the auxiliaries. V.F.W. Auxiliary and the American Legion Auxiliary. And, oh what’s the name? Past President Parly, 8 and 40. I need to ask you something, but is or was gambling an important recreational activity to your or your family? No, no, no it wasn’t. In fact, Harry never gambled. He never played the slot machines or anything. Really? No. I was sure that your answer was going to be (Laughs). I— I used to, oh I used to play slot machines. Oh yes, but I don’t do that anymore, but I used to. What other kinds of recreation do you seek? I don’t think I have any. Watch—I’ll, I’ll tell ya’ I, oh I belonged to the Hospital Auxiliary, you better put the Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital Auxiliary because that’s the one I’m very, very active in. That’s—I’m more active in that then anything because I—I do volunteer work with the hospital two days a week, you know? Yes. And I’m President of Baker and Hazard. I take care of their business, you know, and their affairs as best I can. I’m active in the church. I do more of that than anything I guess. I teach Sunday school class and – but for recreation, I guess all those things are recreation as far as I’m concerned (laughs) as far as I’m concerned. Yes. I mean, I guess that’s about it. ‘Cause I don’t—I don’t go in for any sports. I don’t play golf, I don’t anything like that. UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 4 How about television or radio? Oh I watch television and listen to radio, sure, all the time. Not a lot, but I do watch television and listen to the radio. Yes, okay. Do you remember anything about the early above-ground atomic tests? Oh yes, sure, I remember all of ‘em. Could you give me a little bit of—? (Laughs) Well, when they first started those tests. Ah, here, I can’t, do you know what year it was I don’t even remember— I have no idea. I don’t know what year it was either. I—I just don’t know, bet your dad knows. Yes, I’m sure. You ask him. But when they first started those tests out here they would, it was in the air, above-ground, and it would be like, three or four o’clock in the morning or something before daylight, long before daylight, and oh, I used to get up and I’d drive way out on Tonopah Highway to watch it. And if – There was a friend of ours from here that was black and had bought a lot of property there and she was a retired eye doctor and she stayed here, and she was here, one time when there was a test going on, I went down to her hotel and picked her up about, I don’t know, whatever time it was, and we drove out and sat out there to watch the, to watch it. Oh, it was a beautiful sight. See? There’s a picture of it. One of them; but, every time there was a test, oh I used to get up in the morning and drive out and watch it. Do you remember any of the controversies surrounding the tests? Well, I guess there was some publicity, something about it. You know, people thought there was radioactive materials, and they always—there’s always some people, you know, that thought UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 5 that. But as I remember, it wasn’t a lot. It wasn’t a whole lot of controversy about it. There’s more controversy now over the—they’re talking about the waste out and the storage out there. And ‘course, well, when the, oh I don’t remember the year it was. But there was some – you remember this— because there was some tests that rattled all the way to the city and cracked plaster and a lot of people filed suit against them and claims against for cracks and plasters and rattled dishes and it broke all kinds of things, and broke windows and everything. There was some, there was some controversy, you know. Just like a lot of other things, just kind of went away and I guess the atomic engineers or the government probably paid those claims, I don’t know. But I imagine they did, when it was proved that it was from the blasts. Because you know, they would shake pretty good! You know, it would shake up the floor there and every place pretty good, but we never had any damage that I know of that I blamed on the atomic, on the blasts. There was some, we all know that, but I don’t think it amounted to a whole lot. What changes have you noticed in the Southern Nevada area since you first arrived? Such as economic, environmental, or social? Oh dear. It’s just grown, it’s just grown tremendously. And the – socially, our culture, and our social life has improved a lot. We’ve got, since the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was opened, and they have so much, so many cultural programs, you know? And – Are you active in any of the programs out there? Un-uh. I know some of the kids— that Ross Krisky, he plays the piano and organ and everything, at the church, and he moved away recently. But he’s been active in some of those theatre groups and things like that. And I know Neal Early, he’s active in it too. I hate to say, I haven’t gone to any of those things. I haven’t had time, or something you know. But, I am interested, and lots times I’ll buy a ticket for something that, or support them in some way, you UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 6 know, but I haven’t gone to any of them you know. And our culture here, has improved a whole lot. Naturally, in forty years, it’s bound to. And the economics of course with all these tremendous hotels and all this gambling, my goodness, it’s just improved a lot. And the value of the real estate. The value of real estate has just—‘Cause see, Harry was in real estate business you know. It’s just really has grown. But I was active in politics for a good many years. You know, for a long, long time until oh probably just a few years ago. And then I, I had (unintelligible), but I used to work and I worked an awful lot for campaigns for senators and congressman and mayors and everybody else, you know? Do you know any of the old officials personally? Oh, yes. Most of them. Could you say anything about them? Yes, yes. Now let me see, I can’t even remember who was mayor when we came here but well I knew that ever since we’ve been here I’ve known the mayor, and the city commissioners, and the county commissioners, and all the state officials personally, you know, all of them. And the people that’ve been elected for legislature and things like that, because Harry was active in politics and we were active in the campaigns and we knew them real well. And I, let’s see— Didn’t Mr. Hazard hold a position before? Yes, he was—He was in the Nevada legislature in 1939, an assemblyman. And then he was in the legislature in 1947 and he was speaker of the assembly. Oh, hold on, I’m looking for that picture. Oh well, you know—oh, here it is. This is a picture that was taken in the – before he—it was taken in Carson City. But that was when he was speaker in 1947, the legislature in 1947. But Ernie Cragin was mayor, C.D. [Charles Duncan] Baker was mayor two terms, and Harry was his partner, his business partner. I wish I could, you know, I can’t remember some of these years, UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 7 you know, the year that— Some of these years, I just don’t remember. I mean, the year, ‘cause its so long, you know (laughs). But I’ll—Let’s see. Alan Bible, who was a United States senator, and he just retired recently. He was a close friend, and governor Carville, he was governor for a couple of terms and he was a close personal friend of ours. Also, Vail Pitman, who was a governor and of course, Michael Callaghan is a personal friend, and he’s the present governor. Did you participate in any of Mr. Hazard’s campaigns? Oh yes, sure. Do you mean when he was running for office? Yes. Oh, yes, I helped him. I handed out cards and asked people to vote for him and things like that you know. I did the clerical work like the typing and the dressing and dollops and mailing and all that kind of stuff. But I probably did more work for other people than I ever did for him. (Laughs). Do you remember anything specific about any one of the elections at all? Oh golly— I just— (Audio cuts off for thirty seconds.) I can give people a good lot of ideas on how to put on a campaign because it’s to win an election, you know, it takes—it’s a lot of hard work and you’ve got to have every precinct organized and you’ve ‘gotta have people. Somebody in every single precinct and have ‘em working and you’ve got to interview people and talk to ‘em and find out what they’re going to— Harry had a, Harry had the ability to—He could tell whether somebody could be elected or whether they couldn’t or what the people, how the people felt, which I never had. And I never will have. But he— ‘lotta people have that kind of ability. They have—they can feel the pulse of the people and can tell, and the person themselves that they’re supporting can tell whether they’re ‘gonna be elected. UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 8 Oh we’ve had some stormy campaigns, but I can’t remember any—anything right now. Let’s see the—Well the Baker campaign was exciting, because they thought—so many, ‘cause he ran against Ernie Cragin, who was a very, very popular man and he was a very good man. And he had been mayor, and then he had retired, and then he had come back and ran for mayor again and was elected, and he was a very popular man and he was a good mayor, there’s no doubt about it. He wasn’t very progressive, so when C.D. ran for mayor, he ran on the platform of improving the streets and the entire city and on progress, you know, which, Ernie Cragin, he just sat. He was a good mayor and he was honest, you know, you couldn’t say anything against him, but he was not progressive. So when C.D. ran on a platform of improving the streets and streetlights, and a lot of things, that, that the city didn’t have. So that was one of the things he was elected with, one reason he got elected, because our streets—the town was growing and our streets were just in terrible shapes. And well, we still got a ‘lotta streets that are not improved you know, that are not paved or anything, and someday maybe eventually they will be, but they have to create an assessment district in order to do it. Like over there, round close to the hospital, oh there’s a lot on North and Charleston, and there’s a lot of areas— But the people themselves, they won’t, they won’t pay for it. You see, they don’t want it, that assessment district, they have to pay so much a year over a period of ten or twenty years or something. And sometimes the people won’t do it, so they won’t allow it. So anyway, but C.D. got elected, that was one of the reasons, because he had progressive ideas and that was quite a stormy campaign because Pat McCarran, who was United States senator at the time, he came in here, he came into Las Vegas, and he contacted his friend and everybody to vote for Ernie Cragin. So that was – In spite of that fight, C.D. was elected, because Pat McCarran, he was quite a politician, and he was pretty powerful and he was very dictatorial and he used to be a good personal friend too. And then when Ted UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 9 Carville was governor, Ted Carville was elected governor in the same election that Harry was elected into legislature in 1939 legislature, and Carville was elected governor at that time. And we became real good—we were good friends, and that was when we moved to Carson in ’39, and Harry was the, in the legislature in ’39 and I was working. I was working in a law office here. So after the legislature was over, why, and then Harry was appointed on the tax commission in the Liquor Tax department and he had to travel around the state, and I used to go with him a lot you know. But, in those days, after that, it was during Carville’s regime, as governor, Pat McCarran, he was trying dictate everything. He tried to get—he was dictating to the governor that who he should appoint on various boards and various jobs. In those days, it’s different now than it was then, but in those days, when the democratic—There had been a republican regime—when the democrat was voted, then when they changed and there was a new governor was elected, the new governor, he could appoint all these different commissions. Like, the chairman of the public service commission, chairman of the labor, the labor commissioner. All these various commissions; I’ll give you a book that shows some of this stuff too so that you know what I’m talking about. Ah, here’s the, here’s the 1947 legislature, see here? I think it’s in here now. Oh it isn’t, no this is the handbook of the – Yes, here it is. Here, here’s the state roster, see? Goodness sakes, look at ‘em. The senators, here was the justices an all the district justices—and the governor, and all these, all these, these are all elected. Now this, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General and all these, these were people who were in office at that time. Now, she was elected – Now here, these are the state boards. Now on these, on these various boards, like the state board of examiners, and the governors on there, and these different officers—state officials, but here’s the public service commission. Now on the public service commission, for instance, the governor appoints the chairman. He appoints the chairman of the commission. And UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 10 then here’s the fish and game—the governor, the governor appoints all these, all the chairman of the various commissions you see. So, he has a lot of power, you know what I mean. You can take that and look that over, but I want that back too— Okay. But anyways, when they would change governors, administrations, for instance, when Carville was elected governor and after he took over and everything then he – they fire everybody. I mean they fire all the republicans, you know, and they would appoint the democrats. And that went on for a long, long time, but it isn’t that way now. As time has gone on, they’ve changed it, you know? It’s the same way in the United States, you know, I mean, President of the United States, he changes people, you know, he can do it, but they don’t do that because they have a merit system. They don’t make the changes like they used to. They used to just, boy, they just (unintelligible). ‘Cause when we moved to Carson City, why, all the democrats that moved there, why of course, the people who were living there, they had gotten acquainted with all those who were in office and who were on those commissions and everything, and were out of office, and they were out of a job, so they didn’t like us democrats very well. And some of them, you know (laughs.) But it’s, it was interesting, it was, you know, but they can’t, they don’t do that now. The governor, he keeps a lot of those, some of those men who had been chair of some of those commissions are still there. I mean, they’re there for several years and they outweigh—it doesn’t matter who’s the governor, if they’re doing a good job, it’s why they keep them I guess. But if they decide that they want to change, why, they can do it. It’s not as easy to make those changes as it used to be, because that’s what they used to do, you know? And McCarran was a United States senator and he had an awful lot of power and he had a lot of – he dictated to a lot of the – to the governor, you know, so— It was during Carville’s regime that, he wanted, McCarran UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 11 wanted Carville to appoint somebody for something, and he wouldn’t do it. And I don’t know, they had a falling out, you know. So of course, at this time that happened, by the people who were Carville’s personal friends and supporters and everything , why they, after they had a falling out, with McCarran, and Harry did too. In fact, Harry had a falling out with McCarran in another way. He was department commander of the VFW and he, shortly after he was elected commander, why, he appointed a man to a committee, in the VFW in the department chairman that didn’t get along with McCarran. He and McCarran just hated each other you know, so he raised sticks with Harry about him because he was an enemy of McCarran’s—you know what I mean. And McCarran didn’t want him on there, he didn’t want anybody. He just had his thumb right on the state, you know, so then, of course, Harry just told him that he appointed him and he was ‘gonna leave him in that chairmanship and everything and he wasn’t going to dictate to him what he was ‘gonna do because he was a good VFW member and he was entitled to the job. It wasn’t a paying job or anything, but anyway—Old McCarran, he was quite a guy. Then of course, Vail Pitman, there’s a book out, there’s a book that’s been published about vail Pitman. That’s called, “The Southern Gentleman of Nevada Politics,” and its – I’ve bought one of ‘em, and I’ve loaned it to somebody now, but here’s the name of it. It’s by Moody. It’s “Southern Gentleman of Nevada Politics,” and in that book, now I think—Listen, they had one of those books in the Nevada Room, at the library. I know they do, they do. In that book, there’s a lot of things in there— (Tape one ends) Okay. To what extent have you participated in businesses in Nevada? Could you give me a little bit of like, history of business? UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 12 Yes, I have worked for a wholesale plumbing company and worked for attorneys, and for the housing authority of Clark County, the housing authority for the city of Las Vegas, and at present, I am the present of Baker and Hazard Inc. It’s a commercial rental firm, we have commercial rentals in Las Vegas. Can you remember how the Depression effected the business in Las Vegas? Yes. Yes, we came here in 1931 right in the middle of the Depression, and at that time, they had a soup kitchen here that the American Legion Auxiliary participated in. I wasn’t a member at the time and they—And as time went on, prices were very, very, bread was ten cents a loaf, a hamburger was ten cents a pound, and if you had the ten cents—And rents were very; it was hard to find a place to live. The town was real small. They were building the dam, they were building Hoover Dam, and it was before Boulder City, before there was a town out there. The rents seemed high then, it seemed kind of high, but it was hard to find a place to live, and people who lived here, or who had been living here for quite a while and they were enclosing their garages, and just doing—building on to their house, doing everything, and were renting their garages. People were living in tents and like that because everybody was coming here to get work on the dam. Do you think that possibly the dam, because of its being constructed might’ve eased the situation? Yes, it did. Because of the fact that they were building the dam and the Depression, I don’t think the Depression here in Las Vegas was nearly as bad as it was in other parts of the country. People soon found work, I don’t think the people were out of work for a long time. But they came here and they were out of work, and they didn’t have no money and they took care of the – They set up a soup kitchen and various things so they could feed them. We were only here a little UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 13 while when Harry went to work for the New Journal selling subscriptions from door-to-door. And oh, he made good money because everybody wanted a newspaper. But I don’t think the Depression, I don’t think that Las Vegas really felt the Depression like other areas did. Then of course, when they built Boulder City, and the government built those houses over there when people moved out, a lotta moved out there, and we moved into a house. We first lived in a little – we used to call them “Autoports,” not motels, and we lived there for about a month. And then Harry was selling subscriptions and he found a little house around, well it’s on the west side of town. That was before, there weren’t very many colored people here at that time. And this man was building this house, and it wasn’t finished, so Harry wanted to rent it. So he said, “Well, it’s not—it isn’t painted, and the covered doors aren’t on, and this isn’t on and that isn’t on” and it had an outside toilet and everything. It had a kerosene stove, so Harry said, “Can I rent it?” So it had nothing on the floor, no linoleum, no carpet, no nothing on the floor. So he said yes, so he let us rent it so we moved into it. (Laughs). And it was just – But in those days, ‘course, heavens that was over forty years ago, you know? (Laughs). How old were you when you and Harry first moved? Well let’s see, that was at ’31, how old would I be? You take seven from eleven—I was twenty-four. Twenty-four? Yes, I was twenty-four years old. What occupation did Mr. Hazard have when he first came here? Well he had been a salesman. Salesman? He’d been a salesman, yes. UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 14 Who with? Well, he’d come here from—He lived up in San Francisco and he’d been a salesman in a furniture store up there. See, I don’t even remember the name of it. And when we first came here, he got that new job at the Review, and I watched the ads and I got a job, a part time job at a wholesale plumbing company which isn’t even here anymore. I just worked part time and then pretty soon I worked full time and then I got a job with a couple of lawyers. I was a secretary to a couple of lawyers and at that time, the legislature passed a law, they had to pay women, I think a minimum wage for a woman was eighteen dollars a week is what it was. So I worked for these two lawyers and each of them payed me nine dollars a week (Laughs). And that was pretty good money! That was pretty good money. And that was in 1936 or ’37. Gosh, when you try to think back on those things, it’s not easy. Oh, you had asked me about presidents visiting here. Back, you asked me that back there some place. I remember, you remember, you mentioned Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, when he dedicated the dam. President Kennedy, he was here. We saw him; in fact, we met President Kennedy when he was running, it was before he was running for president. And he was here as, I think he was a United States senator, or congressman, or something, I can’t remember what he was here, or it was before he was president that we met him. But I can’t remember, I can’t remember what the circumstances were. I’ll never forget the – Roger Foley, who was, he’s now the United States district judge. His father was here, was alive then. We were all at the, where President Kennedy was, or he wasn’t president then, and he I don’t believe, anyway, he introduced Harry to Kennedy and said that he was a retired politician, or retired and he used to be active in politics or something. And he said, “Well, I think you better get back in.” And Johnson, Lyndon Johnson, I think we met him not while he was president. I guess it was when he was senator. He was here and then Truman, President Truman, but it was UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 15 after he was president, after he was out of office and he was here for some kind of Jackson Day dinner or something and we met him. But – That’s the only presidents that I remember, I guess. Can you remember any other events nationally that –? We never went to a national, we never went to a national democratic convention. We went to the state conventions. Harry was County Chairman for the democratic County Chairman for the democrats. We went to state conventions but we never went to national. We’ve never been to Washington. There’s a little more on here. Do you remember anything about the Old Ranch formerly, the Stewart Ranch now known as Mormon Fort? Yes, that was here when we. Well, oh, they’ve turned it into different—at one time they had a restaurant down there, we used to go down there and eat. I don’t remember how long ago that was, I don’t remember how long ago that was. It’s pretty well been destroyed, it’s not much left there anymore but I saw in the paper this morning, in fact I knew about it before that, that they were—They showed me a picture out of the or showed me something out at the university that day in the Nevada Room, that they’re going to, try to reconstruct it or do something, I don’t know what they’re going to do, I don’t care. Daughters of Utah Pioneers are working on that. They had a restaurant out there at one time and we used to go there and eat once in a while. And I remember it was there but I never paid any, or a lot of attention to it, you know. I just knew it was there. Just like those old Helldorado grounds, you know, where the Helldorado used to be, there on Las Vegas Boulevard North. Its, I guess it’s practically all vacant now. And of course Cashman field, I remember so well when Cashman field was dedicated, and its just a shame that that’s gone like it has, just gone to (unintelligible), you know, it could be. It’s too bad that they haven’t kept it up because there were a lot of events. They used to have Easter Sunrise services UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 16 there at the Cashman field and it was real nice. But I don’t know why they, well the Elks, I guess the Elks owns it now. Anyway, or no, I guess the city does, doesn’t it? Yes, I don’t know, I guess the city owns it. But they don’t do anything with it, it’s just sitting there, and just deteriorating. All those cement seats where you had to sit, they’re just— It’s been condemned. Weather beaten and everything, yes. It’s just a shame for things like that to go. We’ve had a ‘lotta things here historically that are of historical value that people just, that community just let it go. Yes; do you remember any of the archaeological excavations out at Tule Springs or any other areas? No, nuh-uh. I knew the people who used to live out there, they used to have a – at the ranch a (unintelligible) girl, but that was a long time ago. Did you happen to be here during the Prohibition? Was that in the time you were here? Yes! I remember when Prohibition was repealed. Now wait a minute. (Laughs). I don’t know what year it was. When we first came here, they had these—It was right after the gambling act took on in, you know, gambling was legalized in ’31 and it was – one of the things that impressed me in the first, when we first came here, and Harry too: we’d go in to these, and gambling was legal, and these silver dollars. People would have these silver dollars. We didn’t do any gambling, but we’d go in and sit, we’d watch ‘em playing dice and “21” and whatever they were, all these—and these silver dollars would be piled up on the tables just like they pile up chips now. But these silver dollars was just, well it was fantastic. You never saw so much money, you know, you never saw so much money in our lives, I guess. And gambling was legal but the bars were not, and so they had several bars here in town—speakeasies— and it was, UNLV University Libraries Ruth Hazard 17 heaven’s sake, they paid off the officials I guess, and they used to call ‘em the (unintelligible) were ‘gonna come in to raid anything. Why, they’d know ahead of time, and let them know ahead of time so they didn’t take any of these people out, these bootleggers. There used to be, when we first moved over there, on Wilson Avenue, it was on this side of the railroad tracks, and there was a guy that used to make whiskey. Or used to bootleg, he didn’t make it himself, but he was a bootlegger and Harry used to drink in those days, and we used to walk across the tracks over there too. They called him “Peg Leg,” because he had a wooden leg, and they called him “Peg Leg.” And we used to go over there, and I used to go with him, and go over there and get a bottle (laugh) and that was during prohibition. And then of course, the first thing that was legal was this three-two-beer you know? That was the first thing. And so I used to like beer. And so we’d—have— and when the three-two beer came in, why, we’d go and have a bottle of beer with our lunch ‘cause I worked downtown and Harry did too. So we’d meet and have lunch together. And that three-two beer, and I think that’s the thing I remember more vividly about prohibition going out—the three-two beer was so good, and