Transcript of interview with Charlotte Conti by Charles Conti, March 20, 1978

UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti i An Interview with Charlotte Conti An Oral History Conducted by Charles Conti 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 Charlotte Conti ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2017 UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 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 Charlotte Conti iv Abstract On March 20, 1978, Charles Conti interviewed hairdresser and physical education instructor of St. Francis School, Charlotte Conti (born Charlotte Anne Easton on December 13, 1941 in Arkansas) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the interview Charlotte discusses occupations, Mormon Church activity, education, marriage and raising a family in Las Vegas. She then recalls the social significance and communal impact of the annual Helldorado Parade. She also discusses the overall growth and development of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1953 to 1978. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 1 The date is March 20th, 1978. We’re at Charlotte’s residence of 1414 Shadow Mountain Place, Las Vegas, Nevada. And this is for the Local History Projects Oral Interview for Nevada History Class at the University of Nevada. Okay, here we go. Okay, name and present address? My name is Charlotte Conti. My present address is 1414 Shadow Mountain Place. All right. What’s your, what was your maiden name? My maiden name was Charlotte Anne Easton. Easton. Right. Okay. Okay, your place and date of birth? I was born December 13th, 1941, in Jonesborough, Arkansas. Oh, in Arkansas? Not in California? No. Then you moved from Arkansas to California or what? Ah, my mother was nineteen at the time when she had me. Ah, she moved from her family to California, Riverside, to be exact. I was raised in Riverside, California until we moved to Las Vegas in June of 1953. ’53. Okay. Any members of your family that came to Nevada? The members that came, my mother, my father, and I had a younger sister at the time. Okay. Now, you said earlier you started right into what high school? Well, at that time the school system was set up for elementary and high school. I went to Las Vegas High School down on Seventh and Bridger. And that was the only one? UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 2 Right. At that time, right? Right. I, the following year or the same year that I enrolled in Las Vegas High School, they opened Rancho High School, which was our competitor then. (Laughs) And you continued on there? Right. And graduated from Las Vegas High School, right? Right. Graduated in 19—June of 1959, class of ’59. Okay, now your education, you said—go over what you said a little bit ago about your high school education. Well, I grew up in high school here, it was—the Mormon people were very active in our school and in our, you know, the class that I ran around with, I took a liberal arts course. Mm-hm. Which music was one of the functions in it and that’s how I became acquainted with so many of the kids in the Mormon Church. They were usually very musical or very outgoing. Mm-hm. And religious background—my family (Laughs) had always said we were just Protestants. (Laughs) So I was free to go to any church. Right. With any friend. It was open. And observe different types of religion. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 3 So did you like what you saw at the Mormon Church or what? Was it that much different than the Protestant Church? Well, um, the kids that you’re running around with make you interested at the time. Mm-hm. And as long as you have their companionship, I was very comfortable there. Yes. But I also attended the synagogue. I used to like to go to the dances and parties at the Episcopal Church, that became (unintelligible) and I guess I really didn’t make a religious commitment until I got married. And then I made my religious commitment to the Catholic Church and have joined the Catholic faith. Do you remember anything about the Mormon religion at all? The beliefs or customs or anything like that? Oh yes, you know. I— Go over a few of them. I can’t— Well, that was just a part of growing up I think. I—they did so much for their young people. They were very active. The young people in the Mormon Church always seemed to have something to do. An active participation. And when your parents are both working, which mine had to when we first moved here, it was kind of a relief to have something there for me. Yes. And I found, you know, that there were many things that I liked about their church a lot. But there were a few things that I just really didn’t under— You didn’t understand at all, I guess. No. I didn’t understand. I just didn’t feel that I believed in that. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 4 Mm. That was my whole problem. But I really— But if you, if your parents would have been strict Mormons, you know. Oh yes. It would have probably made a difference. Then I’m sure everything, yes, everything would have fell into place then. Right. Okay, um, okay, what about your occupational history in Las Vegas? Occupational history. Upon graduating in June of ’59— You didn’t have any jobs in high school at all? No. Or you just went to school? Just went to school. Okay. Mm-hm. Ah, after graduating, that summer that I graduated, I worked at Twin Lakes, at that time it was, which is now called Lorenzi Park. At that time it was a public swimming pool and it had horseback riding stables and everything, and I worked through the whole summer there. Mm-hm. And I earned enough money by working at Twin Lakes to go to beauty college in the fall and September I went into beauty college, and at that time— This was what, around 1960 or so? No. It was still ’59. Fifty-nine? Yes. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 5 Okay. On September of ’59, I enrolled in the Las Vegas Beauty School and that was on Fourth Street. And at that time the state board requirements to become a beautician in this state were 1600 hours, school hours. Mm-hm. And I put in my 1600 hours and I wrote my state board in January of 1960, and I was a licensed beautician and I went to work Downtown at a little tine—no, wait, first I went to work at a, the Vegas Village Beauty Salon, because the owner of the school owned it. After working there about a month, I quit there and went to work Downtown at the Fremont Beauty Salon. And then I worked at College Park Beauty Salon for about five years and I left the beautician work for a while. Did you miss that or? Because it kind of got to me, you know, webbing all the time, you know. Yes. And I went to work for Jay Brewer at the time. He owned a cocktail lounge and I went to work for him. Mm-hm. And—in fact, that’s where I met my husband, that I’m married to, and he came in there. He was working for a friend of his in restaurant management and I met Carl at that time, and when we got married we bought a beauty salon, Downtown on Fremont Street at Seventh and Fremont. And we called it the Vegas Girl Beauty Salon. We opened a wig salon and a beauty shop, and I worked in the beauty shop until 196—the end of ’68. And then I had to quit because I became pregnant with my little girl, my first baby. And I quit working, we sold our business and I— UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 6 You haven’t worked since then right? No. I have worked the last three years at St. Francis de Sales School teaching PE. Okay. Okay, let’s, in there when you’re talking about when you first came to town how—how you felt. How everything was, everything was desert, more or less, right? Oh yes. It was a small town, really. Our town when I, it seemed to like, well, it’s just grown leaps and bounds. There were so many vacant dessert areas that now either house two hundred and forty apartments or there’s a shopping center. Oh, well where, what were the main strips, the main drags when you first came to town? Well— Charleston or what? No. Fremont— Fremont. Charleston and Fifth Street, which they have since changed to Las Vegas Boulevard. Fifth Street was (unintelligible) Right. Fifth Street went all the way out to the hotels on the Strip. Mm-hm. But the town was very, very easy to get around in. Not like (Laughs) Not like (Laughs) it is now. (Laughs) Not like it is, for sure. So everything was more or less was built up Downtown then. That’s where it all started, right? It’s really hard to say. It’s like one of the neatest things I remember as a child growing up here, was the (Laughs) warnings that they were gonna have a bomb—drop a bomb at the Test Site. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 7 Mm. We would always get up and watch, and at that time they, there was no ban, and they dropped them above the ground. And you could see the big mushroom clouds and usually a bright glow. Wow. And it was really neat because they would drop them, oh, maybe at 4:30, 5 o’clock in the morning. Detonations were always usually really early, predawn. Mm-hm. And it seemed like it would light up the sky so much. Yes. You know, I mean, maybe it was because I was young then and I don’t know—but it was one of the beautiful things that I can remember was watching from our roof, big mushroom in the sky. That’s amazing. But now I’m, you know. So Boulder Dam was built then right when you came, right? When, what year was Boulder Dam built? Do you know? Gee, I’ve been there so many times. But I really—I think in 1943. Forty-three? Then you wouldn’t remember anything about the property? No. No? Nothing that—? No. Before they built it. Okay, what about the old ranch? What—you were saying that you—? The Stewart Ranch. The Stewart Ranch. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 8 The Old Stewart Ranch. That’s what it was called? The Old Stewart Ranch. Yes. Well, what was that? Was that, ah—? Well, all I can remember it, is there was a cottonwood tree and old house and a couple of old houses. One looked like a house that maybe—I don’t, it looked like an old relay station that you would see in the—in a western. Yes. Well, maybe— That’s the type of appearance. Like that might have been what it was. And I really think that Squires Park is a great improvement over the old ranch. (Laughs) Yes. (Laughs) Really, I—you know, it was, it must’ve had its moment but it was certainly over. Yes. And it’s nice to see that they’ve utilized that area and made it a nice— Squires? Nice park. That’s what it’s called now? Right. Squires Park? Right. What’d they do to it, more or less? They—they tear down the old building? Oh yes. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 9 They just tore everything down and built— And there were so many big trees and they’ve gone in there and they’ve really made a very nice recreation area for kids. Mm-hm. They have a swimming pool there and such or what? No. Just a— But they have ball diamonds and tennis courts and now they have lights at night in the park and it’s all shaded. Mm-hm. And there’s a lot of equipment for small children playing on the swings and things like this. Mm-hm. They’ve put old trains and planes and things down there. But they’re really, really neat for kids. Useful yes. Well, that’s good to see that they utilize the land like you said. Okay, um, okay, membership and activity in some of the organizations that you deal with? You said you’ve been teaching physical education? Right. At the St. Francis? Right. For the past three years. And before that—one of the nicest organizations that I was in was—I belong to the hospital Rose De Lima Auxiliary. And that was really—it was just like a candy stripe or a nurse’s aide or something. Mm-hm. But that was a real rewarding experience. Mm-hm. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 10 You know, you really felt like you could go in and cheer somebody up. (Laughs) Yes. Really. That’s kind of nice. Yes that is. Other than that I really didn’t—I belonged to the Democratic Women’s Organization. Mm-hm. And I can’t think of anything else. Okay. What was some of your places of—places of residence and travel in Nevada, other than Las Vegas? Okay. When we first moved to Las Vegas, the only place that we could find—we lived in a motel for about two weeks. We finally found a man that would rent us his house. He owned a house in Eastwood at that time, and we lived on (Laughs) Atlantic Street, 1624 Atlantic. Those homes are the little homes that are right behind the Showboat Hotel. Yes. I think I know. Flat roofs. (Laughs) (Laughs) And we lived there for about a year and a half. Then we moved up and rented a house on Hasid. And we lived on— So at the time there were just a small amount of housing projects in Nevada? Right. There were very small. There weren’t near the abundance of apartments and new homes that there are now, right? No. There were not the apartments that they have now. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 11 Were there any nice beautiful homes then like there are now? Yes. They had Rancho Circle. Uh-huh. And that has always been one of the landmarks really in my estimation in elegant homes. Yes. Land at—the Rancho Circle was always the place. Mm-hm. But, um, track homes, there were not that many. Yes. And the oldest—in fact, there were homes a block off Fremont Street, residential areas. (Laughs) There used to be a house right down on Fremont Street, you know, that may seem odd. In fact, I’m trying to think right now, exactly where it was and it was right down between Trader Bills on Fremont, before you would get to Ronzone’s. Mm-hm. What— And I think I can really remember the old houses, at that time they all had porches. Oh, they did have porches then, right. Right, and front yards and right on Fremont Street it was nothing to see the man sitting on his rocker out on his front porch watching the cars go up and down the street. (Laughs) (Laughs) When I went to Las Vegas High School, I mean, to Las Vegas Beauty College of Fourth Street, right next door to the Beauty College was an old home that had been there for years. And— Those are all leveled now right? Oh, they’re all moved out and they have the—I think there’s a finance company in there now. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 12 Yes. And a trust office. Are the houses still standing? No. Or do they tear ‘em down and build? No. They tore them down. Yes. Yes. They did. But it—you know, it was not uncommon to, that was the old residential area. In fact, the homes from Fremont to Charleston, right down on First, Second, Third, and Fourth. And then, there was another area called Crestwood. The homes then behind the Showboat Hotel that we lived in. Mm-hm. And a few homes in what they call, Circle, around Maryland Parkway, Circle Park. Mm-hm. There were homes in that area and that was the basic residential areas. I mean, that was it. That was it. Right. Of course, we had the Westside. Yes. And there were homes being built all the time over by Rancho High School. What about North Las Vegas? That would be Rancho High School District, uh-huh. That would be the same area there? Right. Mm-hm. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 13 That’s where you find a lot of your older homes and such nowadays, that we have now. Right. I still think probably some of the oldest homes in town right now would be down on First, Second, and Third, down in that area. Yes. Yes. Well, when you guys came here in ’53 or so, when you were twelve, do you remember, was the town that tourist, you know—? Well, you have to— Was gambling that heavy or the emphasis on tourists was so great as it is now or what? Do, you can remember much or? Well, here’s, when you come in at twelve years old your world revolves around being twelve. Yes, right. And you really don’t notice that there’s a lot, an awful lot of people. Yes. It seemed to me that people relied more on bus transportation then. Mm-hm. I know I did as a child, you know you rode the bus to town, you, the transit bus and you would ride it wherever you wanted to go. Mm-hm. And it didn’t seem like we had the traffic, near the traffic that we have now. Mm-hm. And of course, my mother was a food waitress, my father did not go into gambling right away, he went in to be a city surveyor for the City of Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 14 Was the word that going into the gambling was where the money was at the time or what? Well, my father had been a rancher in Riverside and he wasn’t sure that gambling was what he wanted to be in. Mm-hm. And he had liked to work outdoors and being his own boss in a ranch, he felt it would be better for him to work with the city for a while. Mm-hm. Until he found out really what he wanted to do. And he worked with the City of Las Vegas for about five years and he got an opportunity to go and a friend asked him, if he would like to break in as a cashier, and that was at the Westerner Club—and that was Downtown on Fremont Street. He broke in as a cashier at the Westerner Club and then he went on to work at the Hacienda when it opened. Mm-hm. And from there he went to Caesars Palace and worked. My mother— Did he get Carl the job at Caesars? Did he help get Carl the job there? No. My husband got it—he went to work first Downtown on Fremont Street writing keno in 1966 and he wrote keno Downtown for two years and then he went to the Thunderbird Hotel— Mm. When they put in keno. Mm-hm. And from the Thunderbird he went to the Stardust, from the Stardust he went to Caesars Palace. And that’s where he still is now? Right. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 15 Okay, now, um, where else have you been in Nevada? Have you been—you say you’ve been to Tahoe and where? Well, when I was growing up, my father loved to hunt. He was a sportsman. Ah, I have never really liked to hunt but when you’re twelve what are you gonna do? You gotta go where the family’s going. (Laughs) (Laughs) And I, we have been to all the, I really think that that was one of the nice times that my dad and I really spent together. We went to Ely and up by Pioche and Panaca and Caliente, hunting. Mm-hm. And those were usually a week at a time, hunting trips, and I’m not the world’s greatest camper. (Laughs) I really don’t like camping. (Laughs) (Laughs) And one time I remember when we went camping, it started to snow as we reached Caliente and I said, “I will not sleep in a sleeping bag.” (Laughs) “I can’t stand this! I can’t do it!” (Laughs) And my dad laughed. In fact, that’s one of his favorite stories, was the time he had to go in to Caliente and stay in the hotel—there was only one hotel in Caliente. (Laughs) So Caliente’s up north, right? Right. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 16 Is it very far up north or what? I think it’s about eighty-five miles. Okay. I could be off on these mileages. No. It’s—(Laughs) But it’s similar to that. Yes. Maybe it’s a hundred. It’s probably about a hundred or so. But I’ve been—I think I’ve been in most of Nevada. Maybe the very, very far north. I haven’t been past Reno. But I’ve been all up through Tahoe and— It’s beautiful out in Tahoe isn’t it? Oh, it’s beautiful up there. Yes. One thing, I just learned this last year when we went up to Tahoe at Christmas time, is that the lake up there only changes five degrees from the summer to the winter. Oh yes? So it lets you know what a cold lake that is. (Laughs) It must be very cold. It’s really cold. But it’s the most beautiful blue. Yes. I guess because it is so cold. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 17 How is the fishing in it? Did your dad fish, too? Is that—or just hunt with a gun where you—? When you said hunting, is it both? Oh, he would—he deer hunted. Deer hunted? That was his— That was the hunting? Very, number one sport, deer hunting. Mm-hm. But— Did you guys get a lot of deer easily? Did he get a lot of deer? Well, usually all we’s got is deer. But— So? That was always, I always found that very sad and I really hated to even think about him shooting something. But it happened. So, so the hunting is good then, up north? Oh yes. In Nevada. Yes. There’s a lot of open land and such, right? It’s beautiful up there, too. It’s hard to believe when you live in this desert, that you can go so many miles away. Yes. And there is grass and pine trees. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 18 And beautiful mountains. And meadows. Yes. And everything. Yes. It’s just beautiful up there. Yes. Comparable to this desert, I can imagine. Let’s see here— The town, the people, in the small towns, are like the people used to be twenty years ago, here. Now it seems like our lifestyles have accelerated. Too fast? Not too fast. I think, just to keep up. Yes. You have to accelerate to keep up or you’re left in the mud. Right. But it’s very interesting because even in Carson City lifestyles are much slower. I’m not saying that the people are slower, mind you. They’re perfectly—they’re just like us but their pace is slower. They’re just not growing. And they’re—they have time for people. Where I find even as myself, I don’t have the time to spend with neighbors, with friends, with people that I would really like to know. Because I just don’t have the time. Yes. But it seems like, in these areas, the people have that time. They haven’t become so busy. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 19 Oh, why do you think, ah, because the town’s grown so fast or—? Well, I’m sure, once your town starts growing, well— Yes. And more people come in and there’s more to—it just has to change, everything. Did that upset you when Las Vegas started growing so fast, then? No. Because when it was growing I was growing, too. So you didn’t realize it, right? And, you know, really, I spent my teenage years and I could care less about the town, I was really worried about me. Yes. And my hair! (Laughs) And what I was going to where and if the car I was going in was going to be right. (Laughs) (Laughs) I could care less about the town growing then, I was growing. Uh-huh. But it seems now I’m not grown all the way. I’m still growing. (Laughs) But I can look back and appreciate the people more in my past than I can appreciate some of the people I’m living with in the present. Yes. Mm-hm. And I hate to think of the future because I know that this town is going to continue to grow. Mm-hm. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 20 It will continue to grow. There’s no doubt in my mind that this town won’t continue to grow. Everybody says, “Well, what do you think gambling in New Jersey’s gonna do to Las Vegas?” Well, listen, New Jersey doesn’t have Las Vegas climate. They don’t have our showrooms and at least it’s nice to get up and smell fresh air, not the smell of that old stale (Laughs) Yes. (Laughs) Ocean out there. (Laughs) I just don’t think New Jersey’s going to hurt us like everybody thinks. It may slack our economy a slight bit. A slight, yes. You know. But— But then again, right now, the— People aren’t going to stay back there and freeze. No. The weather, you know, is definitely— With snow up to their elbows. Yes. When they can be out here walking around in a sweater. There just not going to do it. But what do you think about—now, right now, I noticed that Las Vegas is trying to bring in businesses, like they just brought in Levi Strauss and they’re trying to start, ah, you know, some factories, to bring their headquarters here and start to bring some industry here. Do you think that’s good? Because, you know, with that— UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 21 Well, but Las Vegas has been looking for years, to bring industry in. But our problem here, I really think, has been in varying different degrees. One, we didn’t want industry in here that would pollute us. Okay then. Because if you look around we are surrounded by mountains. Mm-hm. So— So they didn’t want that factor. Yes. And we had enough with the Stauffer Plant in Henderson. That—I don’t know if you’ve ever been out to Henderson. Never. Not yet. Well, they have a Stauffer Chemical out there and that really pollutes it. Four days a week it smells like Purex. One day it smells like, you know, some, a sick ward. (Laughs) (Laughs) And, you know, it’s really— Yes. Gives off a terrible smell. It’s like Goodyear, I’m used to that. Right. (Laughs) But when you pass that, they didn’t want any industry in here to pollute. So in other words— UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 22 They wanted in—but then it wasn’t an attractive place for too many industries. I don’t really feel. Because gambling, they felt, was the industry here. Right. And— Tourism, they wanted to keep it like that, right? Everything had to be trucked in. Uh-huh. We don’t manufacture anything here. Yes. So looking at the standpoint, it would have to be a company that was willing and there weren’t too many companies up until now, I don’t think. Well, Levi Strauss was really the only. That’s sort of the beginning, isn’t it? That’s sort of paving the way. Right. But they certainly wouldn’t be here either if it hadn’t come around to jeans becoming a popular attire. Right. So popular, yes. Let’s face it. For years, jeans were out. After the fifties, nobody wore jeans. Not until the last five or six years, they didn’t. Right. Now jeans are popular again. So they’ve moved here because it’s easier for them to locate in this part. But I don’t know if they’ll ever bring a lot of big industry in here. I don’t really look to see a lot of big industry here. Well, it’ll, if it keeps growing it’ll have to— The Test Site— UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 23 The industry will have to grow. Built up a lot— Yes. Of housing and everything here. Because when the Test Site became very, very active and all their testing and that, I noticed that— Did that ever scare you at all or? Did it scare me? Yes. No. I always— Them blowing up bombs with that much power, you know. Only two, three hundred miles away. My conception of power and the kilotons, at that time in my life—I had no idea what they were doing. Yes. I just used to love to watch the mushroom clouds. Just the mushrooms. Now it frightens me sometimes. Yes. You know, I’ve— Well, what about all them people that get killed around there, now? There was, this guy fell last week, wasn’t it, couple weeks ago, and died and—? Their accidents have been at a minimal. Have they? UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 24 I would really say so. I wonder, seeing, you know. Because I think— Since I’ve been here. In a situation like that, it’s very, very patrolled and I think safety factors are really number one out there. There aren’t that many accidents out there. Yes. My gosh— Well, that’s good to hear. You take a bigger chance crossing some of these streets now. (Laughs) Yes. (Laughs) Than they do at work, I’m sure. (Laughs) Maryland Parkway’s pretty crazy at noontime, that’s for sure. So, what else? Property and wealth achievements. Ah, this house pretty much is the only wealth achievements you and Carl have? Right. When we first married, we lived in an apartment on Silver Dollar. We lived there until (Laughs) we got evicted. (Laughs) (Laughs) We lived—we were living in an apartment for three years over there. And at the time we moved in, we’d just gotten married. We had no children and no pets. They evicted us because we lived in an adult court that allowed no children and no pets. And when they evicted us I had a dog and a child and two cats. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 25 That I was feeding. (Laughs) (Laughs) And I wasn’t going to give up— Uh-huh. Times changed quick. I was thinking about giving up the two cats. (Laughs) And I had already found another home for the dog but there was no way I could give up my child. (Laughs) So we bought a house. Our first house. And we lived there for about five years. When we sold that house we bought the property on this house here, with a half-acre— (Tape ends) [Tape starts mid-sentence] (Unintelligible) bought the property here. Owner, builder, built this house. He really enjoyed doing that so much that that’s become his hobby. Now he’s been building other houses? Right. Along with managing keno out at Caesars, he builds houses (laughs) (Laughs) On the side. He’s building his third house now in Curtis Park. Custom built home—and you know, other than that, this is our major investment, our own home here. But we really don’t get—we have bought in stock. But it seems like we always buy the wrong kind, you know. (Laughs) Well, you know that stock, I mentioned before, that teletype? Uh-huh. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 26 That’s— Tel Data. Tel Data. Right. That’s catching on right now, so— I know well, you do have stock and that. But I remember one day my husband came home and he was so excited and he said, “Ah, I just bought us some stock. Oh, honey, I know it’s gonna be good.” I said, “Oh really, what kind is it?” He said, “Dynasty Oil.” I said, “Oh, that sounds like a loser.” (Laughs) (Laughs) Was it a loser? It lost. Yes? (Laughs) (Laughs) And then, we bought stock three years ago in—through some friends and it was consolidated—computer consolidates, and that also divided and went busted. Hm. So. So this is your major investment then, huh? Right. I don’t believe in stock other than our savings account, this is it. So you guys plan on living here forever or are you gonna—? UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 27 Well— Live here for a while and sell this and move on to something better or? Having our children in parochial school, as long as they can go right up the street five houses to school—and go from first grade to eighth grade, I really feel that we’ll be here at least— Until then right? My youngest one will start school next year there, in September. So I can look forward to living here eight years. Yes. It’s so convenient. And then I think that we probably would sell. Mm-hm. You know. Yes. And buy something smaller for when the children leave. Do you think you’ll, you would, you’ll definitely be in Las Vegas, though, until the kids are raised and Carl retires or whatever? It’s really very hard to say. Yes. I would prefer to live here. You know, but what I was getting to was the growth, you know, the way this town’s growing so much. Does that bother you at all? I mean, to you know, you were here when you said it was so beautiful or people, everyone knew everybody. UNLV University Libraries Charlotte Conti 28 I don’t know, you know, we—like I say, we were up at Tahoe for Christmas. We really seriously looked around at the towns, and it’s so beautiful up there, that if we were ever to leave Las Vegas, I’m sure that we would probably go up to Tahoe or Carson City and live. Mm-hm. Because it’s very— What—do you know the population in Carson City? No. I really don’t. (Laughs) Yes. I don’t really know. Well, what’s the population here, probably about ah three hundred thousand. That’s about what the population is, I don’t think it’s any more than that? I really don’t know. ‘Cause that was what the population of Akron is about three hundred thousand and I think that’s about what it is here. But it’s hard to tell with the, you know— Right. The amount of tourists coming and go