Apolonio Sauceda interview, August 13, 2019: transcript

i AN INTERVIEW WITH APOLONIO ‘LONEY’ SAUCEDA An Oral History Conducted by Barbara Tabach & Monserrath Hernández Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas ii ©Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2018 Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV – University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Manager: Barbara Tabach Transcribers: Kristin Hicks, Maribel Estrada Calderón, Nathalie Martinez, Rodrigo Vazquez, Elsa Lopez Editors and Project Assistants: Laurents Bañuelos-Benitez, Maribel Estrada Calderón, Monserrath Hernández, Elsa Lopez, Nathalie Martinez, Rodrigo Vazquez iii The recorded interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Grant. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first-person narratives. The participants in this project thank University of Nevada Las Vegas for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish. The transcript received minimal editing that includes 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. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews with permission of the narrator. The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada. Claytee D. White Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas iv PREFACE What’s in a name? In August 1927, Lauro and Maria Sauceda name their son after the martyred saint Apolonio. It is likely they never thought their last name would be part of the Las Vegas streetscape, but there is a short street near Jones and Twain called Sauceda Lane. And, yes, this is named for Apolonio Saucedo. In 1995, Apolonio retired from Clark County Zoning where he was a cartographer for over two decades. Loney, as he is fondly called, also made a part-time career as a movie extra in Las Vegas; a second vocation born of a love of film and possibly from his handsome good looks. Some even referred to him as the “Silver Fox” for strong physical resemblance to crooner Jerry Vale He was born to Mexican immigrant parents who came to the United States in the 1920s, settling eventually in Argentine, Kansas. His father was a shoemaker who worked on the railroad; his mother bore twelve children. In 1946, Loney dropped out of high school to join the army, served in Germany, and then returned to Kansas to finish his education, including a business college in Kansas City, Missouri. v For Loney the warmth of Las Vegas was inviting. So in 1969, he relocated to the valley where his father-in-law worked for Westinghouse at the Nevada Test Site. There was the promise of no snow. He and his wife had four children and later divorced. During this interview, one of his daughters, Linda Blount, joins the interview and talks about her youth in Las Vegas. She graduated in 1975 from Valley High School. Loney has a long resume. In his youth baseball became important and he played with the Mexican baseball league. His post-active service in the Army includes becoming a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, a member of the Color Guard Post 8, and a founder of the local American Legion Post 213. He recently participated in the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. From early on, he has been active in the small but proud Latino community and quickly made longtime friends in Las Vegas. Among his treasured memories is his membership in the Nevada Association of Latin Americans (NALA). vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview with Apolonio ‘Loney’ Sauceda, and with Linda Blount August 13, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada Conducted by Barbara Tabach and Monserrath Hernández Preface………………………………………………………………………………………....iv - v Shares scrapbook (dated 1973-1974) that he kept of the history of NALA [Nevada Association of Latin Americans] as the organization began in the late 1960s with him and others such as Manny Cortez, Tom Rodriguez, and more……………………………………………………………..1 – 2 Talks about his family heritage, parents were from León, Mexico and immigrated to the United States in the early 1920s; settled first in Waco, Texas and then moved to Fairbury, Nebraska and eventually to Argentine, Kansas, where he was born in 1927; parents Lauro and Maria; maternal uncles ran with Pancho Villa; his parents left Mexico to escape the revolution; father was a skilled shoemaker but worked for railroad. Describes the 1930s-on Latino community of Kansas and inconsistent discrimination he observed between Kansas and Missouri. At age forty, circa 1969, he moved from Kansas; his high school experiences and being told to stay away from “white girls”…………………………………………………………………………………….…….3 – 6 From a family of twelve children, he is second youngest boy; high school sports participation; family switched between English and Spanish, which was his parents’ only language. Attended Catholic schools; Apolonio was a martyred saint; did not graduate, instead enlisted in the U.S. Army during his junior year (1946); serves in Germany; returned to finish high school and attend business college in Kansas City, Missouri; older brothers were enlisted and served combat duty. Talks about post-service, starting an American Legion post (1948), goes back for reunions for over 70 years; also, member of Post 8 in Las Vegas, where he started the color guard…………...7 – 11 Tells the story of how he moved to Las Vegas in the winter of 1969; father-in-law was with Westinghouse at the Nevada Test Site and there was snow in Kansas. Professional cartographer for the U.S. government in Kansas; then worked for Clark County zoning department. Talks about love of movies and becoming an actor. Recalls life in Kansas and a job for Belgium Farms as a teenaged field worker. Married in Kansas City and divorced after moving to Las Vegas; four children. Expands on becoming a movie extra and a SAG member……………………..…12 – 15 Talks about Las Vegas in 1969 and into the 1970s when he relocated here; remembers his daughter participating in the Miss Teenage Las Vegas Pageant (with his daughter Linda Blount who joins the interview); Linda talks about the city, 1975 graduate of Las Vegas High School; various neighborhoods each has lived in; both father and daughter had long careers in various departments vii at Clark County; has a street named after him, Sauceda Lane (near Twain and Joes Blvd.)………………………………………………………………………………………..16 – 19 Explains NALA and what the acronym stands for; mentions Bob Agonia; Horacio Lopez; impact of seeing the diversity within the Las Vegas Latino community in the 1970s; goes through photographs………………………………………………………………………………...20 – 24 Explains that he identifies as American; indifference to Mexico, but proud of his Latino heritage; talks about Pancho Gonzalez, famous tennis player, that is in the scrapbook; other celebrities he crossed paths with, such as Robert Goulet, Cheech and Chong, Liberace, Erik Estrada and Sugar Ray Robinson; his nickname of Silver Fox and resemblance to singer Jerry Vale, Patrick Swayze. His pride of NALA awarding scholarships. Shares about a recent trip to Washington, DC with a group of WWII veterans, Honor Flight; how he got the nickname Loney………………....25 – 31 More about heritage pride; only one of twelve siblings to marry a non-Latin person. Talks about his baseball enthusiasm and Mexican leagues………………………………………………32 – 35 Talks about working at ice plant with other Mexican Americans as a teenager; reminisces more about growing up in Kansas, discrimination, act of kindness of a teacher. Talks more about his lieutenant colonel rank in National Guard and the Color Guard; old Las Vegas and favorite old casino is Golden Nugget; how he survived West Nile disease; more about Linda and her career with the County………………………………………………………………………….….36 – 49 Appendix: Snapshots of mementoes of Loney’s life…………………………………………….50 viii 1 Mr. Sauceda: (Recording begins mid-conversation as narrator shows photo album at his kitchen table.) There I am as a young man. BARBARA: Oh, look at you. See Mendoza? Oh my, yes. This is the NALA [Nevada Association of Latin Americans] scrapbook. Yes. Bob Agonia. Bob Agonia, yes. Did you get him? Yes. Fernando Romero. We did him, didn’t we? MONSERRATH: Yes, we have. Here’s Manny Cortez. He’s gone. Most of these guys are gone. We interviewed his daughter [Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto]. (Pointing) He was the mayor of Henderson, Lopez, Horace Lopez. What a handsome crew. I think this related to Thomas Rodriguez. How did you come to create the scrapbook? Wait a minute. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s stop. We’re going to do a formal introduction and you’re going to spell your name for us, okay? 2 This is Barbara Tabach with the Oral History Research Center with the Latinx Project. I’m sitting with Apolonio in his home, and I’m also sitting with… Monserrath Hernandez. Apolonio, do you like to be called Apolonio? No. Loney. Would you spell your whole name and your nickname for us, please? The nickname Loney, L-O-N-E-Y. S-A-U-C-E-D-A, Sauceda. And Apolonio is spelled… Apolonio, A-P-O-L-O-N-I-O. Great. Today, if I didn’t say this already, it’s the thirteenth of August 2019. You’re showing us the NALA scrapbook, and the date on this is 1973 through 1974. Was that your responsibility, to keep a scrapbook? Oh no, I just did it on my own. I’ve got all kinds of scrapbooks. I was in the movies, also, forty-six movies here in Las Vegas. Bring the movie book, Tony (speaking to his son). We’ll talk about that separately, too. Scrapbooks are always interesting. If you’re ever interested in donating those to the UNLV Library in the archive. In fact, you could have those to the UNLV Library. That would be great. I’ve got the American Legion catalogs, scrapbooks, and also Reserves. I’m a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard. Awesome. That’s great. I love your house. You’ve got a lot of memorabilia and memories. Those are most of my family back up there. 3 Let’s start with that part of your story. Can you tell me a bit about your ancestors, what you know about your family heritage? My folks came from León, Mexico back in about 1920, ’22, or something like that to escape the revolution. They crossed in Laredo, Texas, and then from Laredo, Texas, they went to Waco, Texas. In Waco, Texas, Fidel was born; one of my brothers was born there. Paul was the oldest son and he was born in Mexico. They brought him as a baby. Then from Waco, Texas they moved to Fairbury, Nebraska, and they lived there for about five or six years. They had another three or four children. Then from there they moved to Hiawatha, Kansas. They stayed there for a little while. Then from Hiawatha, Kansas they moved to Kansas City, Kansas, the community called Argentine, and that’s where I was born in 1927. What month were you born? April, April the eighteenth, 1927. I’m ninety-two years old now. Fantastic. You don’t look ninety-two. That’s what everybody says. No, you don’t. This is great. What were your parents’ names? Lauro, L-A-U-R-O, and Maria. Do you know anything about how they met? No. In fact, my mom came from a real strict family back in Mexico. Back in those days they were all real old-fashion. They just couldn’t meet; they had to sneak around. My mom had real bad brothers; they were mean son of a guns. They used to run around with Pancho Villa and all that. They had to sneak around. They finally got together and got married. After that the brothers were all friends again. 4 What brought them to the United States? How did they make that decision? What do you know about their decision to come to the United States? They just wanted to escape the revolution. I think they had friends here in the United States in Kansas City, Kansas. That’s what took them to… That’s what took them there finally. What kind of work did your father pursue? He came from León, Mexico; that’s the shoe capital of Mexico. He was a professional shoemaker. Because of all the presidents here in the United States, he couldn’t get a job as a shoemaker or anything like that, so he had to go work on the railroad. His brother John moved to California with the railroad, and my dad came to Kansas with the railroad; that’s how they got separated. What did he do for the railroad? Do you know what his job was? I guess he was just like a section hand at one time. Later on, when he worked for the Pennsylvania Car Company there in Kansas City, Kansas, he did machine work and stuff like that, like the turntable; he used to do that. He was a jack of all trades, shoemaker, carpenter, gardener; he did everything. We always had something to eat. We grew up with tortillas, beans and potatoes. Your mom was a good cook? Oh, are you kidding? Everybody in Kansas City knew her; that she was a good cook. Every bum that ever came through Kansas City looking for a handout, they came to our house. And she was generous. Yes, very generous. 5 What was the Latino community in Kansas like? In Kansas it was bad because of all the discrimination. Kansas being a free state, for some reason there was prejudice against everybody. If we would go to Missouri, which was a slave state, we could go anywhere over there, to restaurants and movies, everything, where in Kansas we couldn’t do that. Wasn’t that strange? That is. Yes. Even in high school, we weren’t discriminated because we went to Catholic school and we didn’t discriminate there, but the rest of the high schools and stuff like that, our community was all…because the Ku Klux Klan was active there, too. We couldn’t do anything because we were held down. Did you have encounters with the Ku Klux Klan? No. we didn’t even know about the Ku Klux Klan until years and years later that we read about it. When did it change, do you remember? At what age did you move from Kansas? How old were you, or what year? Late ’69, about December of ’69. I must have been about forty years old. How was it to grow up in that kind of environment in Kansas? It was terrible. We couldn’t go to the movies. We had to be segregated in movies. We couldn’t go to restaurants, drug stores. We couldn’t do anything. We had to just stay in our place. Well, if you couldn’t go to a drug store, were there Latino drug stores? We could go to the drug store, but we couldn’t sit at the counter and get a soda and stuff like that, but we could buy whatever we needed, bread and milk and candy and stuff like that. But as far as sitting down, we couldn’t sit down. 6 Was there much of an African-American community there? We hardly ever saw any. They lived way up on top of the mountain. They had a little bitty community, but we never saw any blacks. The only blacks that we saw, most of the time, is when they came to clean toilets because back in those days there were no inside plumbing; it was outhouses. They had to come over and clean the outhouses; that’s the only time we saw blacks. They had their own high school and everything far away from us. Was your high school just Latinos or you were mixed with whites? Yes, we had a few. Some of our guys and gals got to be National Honor Society students. Regardless of being held back, they rose. That’s good. Talk about high school. What was high school like for you? School was good. I liked high school. The first thing that the principal said, “Stay away from the white girls.” Later on I found out he was part of the Ku Klux Klan. “Stay away from the white girls.” And did you do that? Yes. We couldn’t go to dances. We couldn’t go to the prom. We couldn’t do anything like that. How many Latinos were at your high school? Freshman year there must have been maybe half a dozen. Then, of course, prior to that some of the older guys went to high school, some of the public schools there in Kansas City, Kansas. Yes, that was it. We were really held back. We wanted to go to school. We wanted to learn. We endured all that so it made us stronger. You kind of mentioned that you had a lot of siblings. How many were in your family? Six boys and six girls. There’s their pictures up there on the wall, over there. You want to go look at them? 7 I’ll look at (the photo) before we leave, for sure. That’s fantastic. Where were you in the ranking? I was the second youngest boy. There were four in front of me, and then me, and then Louis. Six boys, and six girls. All the girls were really good cooks, because they took after Mom. Did you participate in activities in high school? I played football and basketball and then baseball. Most of the time, my kid brother and I, all we did was play ball all the time. We’re all ballplayers. You can see them up there. You’ll see them up there. What language did you speak at home? Talk a little louder. I had the West Nile virus and I lost the hearing out of my right ear, so everybody has to talk to me in my left ear. What did you say? What language did you speak at home? Mostly English, but my parents didn’t speak hardly any English. They spoke Spanish all the time and we could understand. Actually, we spoke both Spanish and English; we alternated. Was church a big part of your upbringing? Oh yes, we went to Catholic school. That was fun. I liked Catholic school because it was a learning experience. We learned a lot about God and the saints and everything like that. Saint Apolonio was a martyr saint. So you had to live up to your name. Oh yes, I had to live up to my name, yes. When you graduated from high school, what did you do next? Well, actually I didn’t graduate. I went into the army right after my junior year, 1946—no, 1945, I went into the army and we went to France and Germany. In 1946 is when I was over there in 8 Berlin, 1946. Then when I came back that’s when I finished my high school and got my diploma, and then I continued another year in junior college. After junior college, then I went to a business school in Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri. What was your job in the army? What did you do? I was a rifleman. I pulled guard a lot, guard duty. What kind of things did you keep guard of? Buildings or people or…what did you guard? We were in the right squad and then we guarded coal because the Germans were desperate for coal. We guarded the coal, a mint, a doughnut shop, railroad, walking patrol around the city. We were always on guard duty. How long were you in Berlin? A year. Oh, speaking of Berlin, see that little elephant? Yes. I brought that from Berlin in 1946. A girlfriend gave me that. It’s an elephant. What’s the significance of the elephant? Good luck. Yes, elephants are supposed to bring good luck. Yes, that’s it. Was she German? Oh yes, all my girlfriends were all German. I learned a little bit of German. I was just like Tony. He was over in Korea and he learned some Korean. But, yes, we all learned how to get around with some German expressions and stuff like that. But I liked the army. What did you like about it? 9 It was just exciting, something to do all the time. Of course, when I went over the war had just ended, so we went over there as occupation troops. That’s what made it good because we had everything. We had breakfast in bed and all that stuff, so it was nice. You didn’t see combat. No, we didn’t see any combat. My brothers did, though, in the South Pacific. They were all in the army, also. That had to be stressful on your mother to have more than one child in the army at that time. Yes, it was real stressful for her because at one time she had four in the army at one time, and then I went in later on, and then my brother Louie went in during the Korean War. I can’t imagine. Yes. It was quite exciting times. Oh, I want to tell you a funny story. When I got into the army, we call it basic training, where they told us how to march and shoot the rifles and everything, I told this sergeant, “I went to Catholic school. To me this is nothing.” He knew how Catholic school was; it was rough. Those sisters, they’d knock us over and hit us with rulers and everything, yes. We learned. They taught us to learn one way or another. Were you a good student? Oh yes. Me and my nephew Roman, he was a year younger than me, we were all A-students in grade school and then in high school we were A-students. And then in junior college, I was an A-student in geography and in English. English and geography, those were my things. Coming back from the service, had the world of Kansas changed? When you went back to Kansas, was it different? 10 Oh, it was changed a little bit because all the guys that I knew had come back from combat over in Europe and the South Pacific. When I came back a year later, I got together with them and that’s when we decided to try to get into the American Legion. And there again, prejudice; they wouldn’t let us into the American Legion, so we had to form our own post. Isn’t that something? Yes, yes. I got my seventy-year certificate up there and I’ve been in the American Legion for seventy years, since 1948. You helped form the post? Yes, we formed our own post there in Kansas City, Kansas, the community called Argentine. We got our charter in 1948. We must have had about fifty or sixty members were charter members. I’m going back September the twenty-first for the seventieth reunion. I hope I’ll see some of the guys there that are still kicking. I’m going back as a special honored guest for seventy years, being in the American Legion for seventy years. That’s a long time. That’s a long time. Can you remember why or how you formed that post? Why it was important that you do that? Because as veterans we wanted to do our part for the community, state and nation. In the community we started a club. We used to meet in people’s basements, different houses, different named organizations, like American Veterans or U.S. Veterans, and different names with veterans in it. Eventually we tried to get with the American Legion in the home post, Post 111, and they wouldn’t let us in, so we decided we’d form our own post in 1948; that’s when we did. We got help from other posts that liked us, so they helped us get our charter. 11 What is your post number? Post 213, but here in Las Vegas it’s Post 8, and I’ve been here in the Post 8 since 1970. When we got in ’48, we look for our post and we had a fire squad and color guard for funerals and dedications, memorial services, and things like that, and we did that until I left in 1969 to come here. Then when I got here I started my own color guard and fire squad and I had it for forty years here in Las Vegas. I know that that’s a big honor to be in the color guard. Yes, yes. Does a person just volunteer to do that? Yes, volunteers. Whenever I see somebody that was interested in joining us, I’d go over there and get them, take them to the post, get them a uniform right away, and right away they liked it. But everybody likes to be in uniform. I imagine the time that I was color guard commander I had maybe close to seventy-five members that go through our color guard in our post and all that. They liked it. Some guys stayed with me for twenty-five, thirty years. Are you still in the color guard? No. They retired me back in 2012. They had somebody else come in and they took over everything. After that everything went to pot because I kept everything going. After I was gone then everything just disappeared. What brought you to Las Vegas? Tell the story about how you got to this city. We came over here. My in-laws lived here. My father-in-law was a big shot for Westinghouse and he worked at the test site. We came over here in the winter of 1969. We were swimming 12 outside and back in Kansas, four feet of snow. Back in Kansas four feet of snow and here we were swimming outside. Was that your first visit to Las Vegas? Yes, my first visit. I went back to Kansas City, Missouri, quit my government job. I’m a professional mapmaker; I’m a cartographer. How did you become a cartographer? Living there in Kansas City, I had a lot of good jobs, but they didn’t last too long. I sold women’s shoes and I was a stenographer and stuff like that. Then one day I saw an ad in a paper that said the army map service was looking for draftsmen, so I went over there and took the test and everything. They taught me how to draw and everything. They said, “Okay, you passed. Report Monday.” I reported Monday as a compilation aide GS-1. I can’t remember what the pay was, but it was very low. But it was a steady job and I loved it because we had a lot of interesting people there, a lot of guys and gals from all over the city that came there to work. We learned how to make maps for Korea, Vietnam, and for Germany and local maps. We did maps for all over the world. I did that for about twenty-five years. Then that’s when I moved to Las Vegas. I quit my job there, came to Las Vegas, and the rest is history. Then in 1972 I met a movie agent and then I started movies in 1972. That was quite a change of career path. Yes, yes. Well, in ’72 I was still working for the zoning department as a mapmaker here in Clark County. Then I would do the movies on my days off or in evenings, things like that, whenever I had time. It will show you right there. How did you get enticed to become an actor? 13 Oh, I always loved movies. I loved movies ever since I saw the first movie that I remember was John Wayne, 1933, called ‘The Trail Beyond.’ That was one of my favorite John Wayne movies. I’ve got the copy here. I’ve always liked movies. We used to work on the farm picking radishes, celery, tomatoes, just everything out on the farm, ten cents an hour. We would have to work ten hours to make a dollar, so we make a dollar or whatever it was, a dollar and a half, and then we would go to movies on a Saturday or sometimes matinees; if we had enough money we’d go to matinees or we’d buy a bottle of soda pop, five cents back in those days, or a candy bar was five cents. Everything was real cheap back in those days and that’s how we got through, by working on the farms. The Belgiums are the ones that had the farms. The Belgiums? Belgium people; they’re in Kansas. You were a young person working for them as seasonal labor? Yes, we just work whenever they needed some hands to pick radishes or raspberries or cherries or peaches or anything like that. They would bring in trucks, pick us up, take us to work for eight or ten hours, and bring us back, pay us off right there. We loved that stuff. We were young, thirteen, fourteen years old. We loved all that stuff. Were there migrant workers doing the same kind of labor? Oh no. It was just us. There were no migrant workers there, just us. We did all the migrant work. We picked the lettuce, the peas, cucumbers; anything that was growing we’d pick. The things that we hated to pick was the peas because it took so many of them to fill a basket; we didn’t like that. But we loved radishes and tomatoes. Oh, we loved to pick tomatoes. Sounds good, fresh produce. 14 We would pick tomatoes and take a little salt shaker like that, early in the morning, five, six o’clock in the morning when tomatoes were wet with dew, we would take them and eat them. Oh boy, it was so great. We had fun. Tomatoes don’t taste like that anymore. No, they do to me. That’s the way I eat them. I eat them just like eating a banana or an apple. When did you marry? What age were you? I was twenty-nine when I married there in Kansas City, Missouri. I was twenty-nine and the bride was nineteen. How long were you married? Fourteen years. We came to Las Vegas and she kicked me out. Vegas has a way of doing that to folks. Yes. Reno, too. I guess she found somebody right away and that was it. I’ll show you some pictures when I was younger. I had a lot of girlfriends. Tom Rodriguez said that one of your nicknames is Silver Fox. The Silver Fox or the Wolf. Oh, the Wolf, too, all right. Did you marry again? Oh no, I never married again. I didn’t have to marry again. There were so many women out there that one didn’t have to marry. Right, Tony? TONY: I was too young. I was eight years old. Were you raised by your dad or mom or both? My mom. How many siblings do you have? 15 My brother Chris is older than me. He’s sixty-one. Then my sister Linda is sixty-two. Then my other sister Cathy, she’s fifty-nine. I’m the youngest. Then I’ve got a half-brother. My mom got remarried in the late seventies and at forty-three she surprised her new husband with a pregnancy. It was retaliation. I had two boys and two girls. They’re right there. See them up there? Oh yes, nice family. You picked up this part-time job of being a movie extra. How did you get into that? Do you remember what your first job was? I had met a girl I knew, Teri, and we were at the Union Plaza, and they were shooting a movie there called…I can’t remember the name of it. Anyway, the movie agent was there and he liked our looks, so she signed us. After that whenever a movie would come to Las Vegas, she would call us wanting to know if we wanted to be in it. Heck yes, we’ll be in it. People don’t know, but it’s real boring. Boring, boring, boring. Waiting around, waiting around maybe for two or three hours before you get into a scene. One scene, maybe they’re doing it fifty times over and over and over and over. A lot of people just don’t like that. I didn’t care. I was just as patient as an oyster, they said. I’d enjoy it. I’d make friends with all the people around me and everything like that. I had pictures with them, took pictures. I took pictures with everybody, Liberace and Sylvester Stallone; just everybody that came into town I’d take pictures with them. I had a good career. The last movie I made was called ‘21,’ blackjack, 2007, me and Tony. Tony was in it, too. I brought him out, 2007; that was the last time they ever called me for a movie. What was your role in that movie? We were just sitting around playing blackjack. I’ve got shingles on my back real bad and I’d be sitting there and everybody would come by, “Hey, Loney.” Ooh, hit me on the back. I must have been hit maybe a dozen times in the back. It just about killed me. But we had fun. They paid us 16 and everything after. I got a hundred and five dollars, was my rate because I belonged to SAG; I belonged to the union, Screen Actors Guild, and they paid me then regular wage whereas Tony only got fifty dollars or seventy dollars; something like that. And that was for the day? Yes, for the day. Did you ever think about being a movie actor full-time? I would have had to move to L.A. because that’s where all the work is. Very little work here. When they shoot a movie here, they bring all of their equipment and all their extras with them, so they don’t hire hardly anybody from here. Only a few that are really outstanding are the ones that get the work. Talk about Las Vegas in 1969, early seventies. What was the city like? A little town. A little cow town. We could go from one end of the city to the next in fifteen minutes. No freeways, no nothing. No Spaghetti Bowl, no nothing. It was just the regular streets. Fifteen minutes from one of the city to the other, in fifteen minutes. Everybody knew almost everybody. We knew a lot of people in the hotels and things like that. What was the Latino community like at that time when you first got here? It was quite active, like the picture here of NALA will tell you. We were fairly active. One of my daughters Linda has got a picture in there. She was on the Miss Las Vegas Pageant when she was fifteen, and she’s got a bunch of pictures with the other girls. She didn’t win, but whoever won was a big shot from either the Frontier or one of the big hotels. There’s politics in everything. Yes, that was it. Did you frequent the casinos and the Strip? I worked in a casino. 17 Oh, there’s Linda. We were just talking about you. (Loney’s daughter enters his home and the conversation.) LINDA: Sorry I’m late. We were just talking about you. Yes? What? This is the beauty queen? Yes. Awesome. Oh well, I was in Miss Teenage Las Vegas Pageant when I was fourteen, so that was fun. He’s still proud. He is proud of all of us, yes. Have you been going through, what, ten years at a time? Oh yes. I told them write ev