Transcript of interview with Madeline Kadin by Kathy Mandel, March 8, 1975

UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin i An Interview with Madeline Kadin An Oral History Conducted by Kathy Mandel 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 Madeline Kadin ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 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 Madeline Kadin iv Abstract On March 8, 1975, Kathy Mandel interviewed housewife Madeline Kadin (born in New York) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also present for the interview is Madeline’s husband, who is referred to as “Mr. Kadin.” The three discuss differences between early Las Vegas and the present. The Kadins also explain the history of Helldorado and how it has changed over the years.UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 1 Informant is Madeline Kadin. The date is March 8th, 1975, at 7 P.M. The place is 1611 Curtis Drive, Las Vegas Nevada. The collector is Kathy Mandel, 3586 Villa Knolls, Las Vegas. The project is Local History Project: Oral Interview Number One. Mr. and Mrs. Kadin moved here in 1949 from Chicago, Illinois. When—you came in 1946, where did you come from? Well, my husband came out here first. He was originally from Chicago, I’m from New York. But he was in the Army and so he came out here to go work in California. And he landed in Las Vegas and went to work at the Golden Nugget when it first opened up, and I came out here in December of 1946. And you’ve lived here ever since, yes? Well, it was about—how many people were living here, about six thousand, huh? Oh, it was around four thousand. I don’t think so. (Unintelligible) Six to eight thousand people I think. This was a small area at that time. Out where Nellis Air Force Base is now where (unintelligible) the McCarran Airport used to be out there where the highway is. It was a small airport. I didn’t know that. Oh. Then, have you ever worked in Nevada here, or just your husband? I never worked, no. And he worked at the Golden Nugget? He went to the Gold Nugget when it first opened up. And now— UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 2 And there was nothing on the Strip then; but, the Las Frontier, and the Flamingo opened up January of ’47? December of ’46. December of ’46, Flamingo Hotel, that was all the hotels that were on the Strip. I didn’t know that the Strip was that recent. I thought it had been here quite a bit longer. When we came here there were three hotels. Two hotels and the Flamingo. And then the Downtown area, was that there? (Unintelligible) was the big area then. And then did he transfer to the landmark when it opened, or? You’ve got to interview him. Tell him about that. Did you go to the landmark when it opened? Hmm. The landmark’s only been open five years, maybe six years. It’ll be six years in July. Oh I thought it was much longer than that. Oh it was built, I don’t know how many years prior to that, but they never opened it up. They couldn’t open it. They ran out of money and they ran into some kind of difficulty and never had enough money to get it— Once the bankruptcy, ‘cause they were on it twice and then , just follow the goat, he couldn’t get it open, he tried and tried, but he just didn’t have the money behind him to open it up. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 3 Not only that, when they finished the landmark, he was so much in debt that they had to take a man like Hughes to come in and buy it. He saved a lot of people. He bought that—that’s the time I really don’t remember a lot of that, but was that the time when he was buying up all the hotels in the area— Oh absolutely. But he bought— The first one he bought was the Desert Inn. So he now owns the Desert Inn and the Landmark? He owns the Desert Inn, the Frontier, the Sands, Silver Slipper— Castaways. Castaways and the Landmark, here in Las Vegas. And he owns Harold’s Club in Reno. Wow. Besides all the land and everything he owns here. He owns a lot of like, undeveloped land here too? Oh yes. He has the El Rancho property. The El Rancho? Where they burned—they just cleared it out. It used to be a whole region of hotels on the Strip. It burned down years ago, and it was an eyesore for years. They finally just cleared it out for the land there. It’s right across from that, right by the Sahara. I think I saw that. It used to be like bungalows and little houses in there. There’s a sign there now that they’re tearing it down or something. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 4 Yes. I drove by that last night. Yes, that used to be the El Rancho hotel. They had a windmill up there and Peggy Lee sang there. No, later on she did. Entertainment wasn’t very big out here at that time. What do you mean? They had Liberace, Sophie Tucker— Later on! Later on! In a couple years! In the fifties! I’ve got pictures of her in the fifties! The first hotel that had big time entertainment was the hotel at Bonanza and Main Street. (Unintelligible) the furniture store. The Nevada Biltmore. Hmm. It was called the Nevada Biltmore. The property was owned by Horace Heights. (Unintelligible) Mm-hmm. And some fella’ from Detroit coming out here and he brought in the first—remember we went to see (Unintelligible)? Yes. But— And (Unintelligible)? Yes. And (Unintelligible) was the Williams Brothers. Oh, (Unintelligible)? (Unintelligible) There were four brothers that sang with her. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 5 That was the first big-time entertainment that came. Now when the Flamingo opens up, they started bring in big entertainment. But remember that we saw Liberace at the Frontier? The old Frontier. Yes, but he came in later, after the Flamingo was built. It was in the fifties. But there wasn’t big entertainment like, in the Downtown area? There wasn’t – Mm, well the Golden Nugget, ever since thy opened, they always had lounge entertainment, didn’t they? I’m sure all they had was piano players— None of the Downtown had much entertainment. They had some western music. Northing big. Right. More just like what they have now? Mm. ‘Course, this was more like a Western town when we came here. Everybody got the cowboy shirts and boots. Western pants, the stuff everybody used to dress with each year in Helldorado. You knew everybody in town. You’d walk Downtown and you’d really see cowboys with real cowboys with their boots and their hats. You’d see old prospectors that would come into town with their burros down on Fremont Street there. In the forties and the fifties they would still bring their burros into town? Oh yes, you’d see prospectors on their burros, or the old (unintelligible)— Oh, that was just one die— Oh, it was quite a few of them, and it was really like a Western town. Everybody dressed Western. You could go into the hotels and the Strip with the Western shirt and jeans and you didn’t see people dressed up like you do now. You know— UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 6 (Unintelligible) It was free casually. Especially during Helldorado. Everybody in the stores, and in the clubs— Why don’t you show ‘em the pictures? (Unintelligible) You had the Golden Nugget where they all, the dealers and everybody dressed Western. What is the Helldorado? We have some pictures. If you don’t mind getting ‘em out. So it’s El Dorado? Helldorado. Haven’t you ever heard of Helldorado? Is it like a rodeo type—? It’s in conjunction with the rodeo. But they used to have free parades. They had the old-timers, and the old-timers parade, they’d have, oh, old covered wagons, and wagons from Death Valley where they used to drive the Borax. And then the burly pioneers here would dress up in old-time costumes and they’d have the school kids in there. And historical floats, and then they’d have the beauty pageant, and all the hotels used to enter big floats like they enter into the Rose Parade and stuff like that. And then the rodeo, they’d have (unintelligible) like Rex Bell the movie star, when he used to have a sporting goods— The first Helldorado that the Golden Nugget had when we all dressed up in Western, old-time gambler’s clothes. Wow, it really looks like something out of the old west. Now the Golden— Yes, the girls dressed like old-time dance hall girls, all there with their costumes on. Those were the cocktail waitresses. This here, he was one of the bosses. (Unintelligible) and that’s another picture. And there’s a picture of, in the gambling room. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 7 (Unintelligible) All the people, all the men are dressed up and everything. The workers, but I mean, even just the ordinary— Those are just ordinary people? These are just ordinary people, you see how they dress western and how they dressed them? Yes. You see a lot of western people dressed western. I just always imagined it being like it is now, because I’ve just been, you know— Well, it’s so sophisticated now compared to what it was. ‘Cause that was all, all desert town. You know, we all had a real western flavor about it. And it was small enough that the people would all cooperate at Helldorado. They always had Helldorado in the first two weeks or last two weeks of May? In May. It’s coming up now. And the Elk’s. Those two—they still do have it now? Oh yes. Yes. The Elk’s used to run it— They’ve cut it down a little, not like it used— They used to have an old bear cage and they’d put it out in Fremont Street and you had to buy a Helldorado button. They’d raise money for it. And it was a button assisted Elk’s Helldorado. And if you were Downtown, and they had cops, the Elk’s had their own sheriff’s deputies out, and if they see you, catch you without a button, they’d take you and throw you in the UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 8 (unintelligible) and yelled at you until you bought your button and somebody bailed you out and bought you a button. You know, it was more horseplay and everything like that. Yes. Well have you always lived in this house here, or have you moved around a lot in (unintelligible)? Well, no—well, it was hard to find a place to live when we first lived here because people were starting to come here. It was after the war and they had to start building. We moved here in 1949 but before that, we used to live right next to—you know where the Elk’s Club is on Fifth Street there? I’m not— Where it used to be stadium there, before they built the Elk’s Stadium. They used to have a baseball pit in there, we used to live right next door—used to go watch the baseball, the Las Vegas Wranglers Baseball team. Oh, was it professional? Yes, semi-pro. It belonged to the (unintelligible) circuit like that, next to Cali, and a couple towns in California based schools. It was a Class-C Circuit, I guess. It was a pretty good little baseball team. People would go to the ball games. Hmm. We lived there and then we lived on Second Street for a while. We lived on Second Street first, next to the house I rented. Where we lived, we lived around 900 Second Street, and on the corner there, it was mostly all Desert, all the way out from there. From the corner of Charleston and Second, all the way out, it was Desert. Out here was mostly desert. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 9 Yes. Like Tenth Street—do you know where Tenth Street is? Mm-hmm. North side of Charleston and Tenth Street was just gravel road. (Unintelligible) (Unintelligible) Around Eighteenth Street or Seventeenth Street, they’d have a little old section in there that they built some homes, some mobile homes. And after those were here, small homes in Huntridge. Mm-hmm. And then from then out it was all desert. Well, I’ve noticed even now, that like, you’ll be in a residential area, and then right next to it will be open desert. Yes. And then you get into another residential area. Not so much in this area right here— No, not here. But in the outskirts. Yes. Which is where we were living— (Unintelligible) These houses were built up, it was all desert and all back in through that pathless track. It was desert all the way up to Oaky Boulevard. Gradually built it in. Is or was church activity an important part of your life? And if so, which church? Well, when I lived over next to the stadium—I’m a Catholic, and I went to Saint Bridget. I think it was Saint Bridget church. We used to go to church in the old north, Ninth Street School. They didn’t have a church then. They had the (Unintelligible) church Downtown, and the Saint Anne’s UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 10 Church which is in this Parish, now had a little church on Maryland Parkway, right near the corner of Oaky, and they built this new Church that they got on Maryland Parkway and Saint Louis. Yes, it’s the big pretty one? Yes, its modernistic kind of big shape with the big mural in front. That’s not too—I guess that’s been built in the late fifties. Or early sixties, not too old. Yes. When I first came here, the Joan of Arc was the main church, and that’s Downtown on Second Street. Is that still there now? Yes, it’s still there. It’s the oldest Catholic Church here in town. Do you remember, I didn’t know that any of the presidents had come to visit this area? President Roosevelt was here when Hoover Dam was built. My brother back east was stationed at Death Valley and he had some pictures of President Roosevelt visiting Hoover Dam when it was dedicated. It was quite a few presidents here. What other president came through here? Johnson was here one time, wasn’t he? Oh even Truman was here. When was Hoover Dam built? That was in the thirties. The thirties? Haven’t you ever went down there and seen that movie on how they built it and all— I haven’t been there in about eight years and I don’t remember it. Oh. I want to go down there, and soon, but we’ve just been so busy since we moved. (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 11 Go on to Boulder City and they show that— (Unintelligible) And they show the movie and that show, and I think that show is one of the (unintelligible)—and they dedicated the Dam and everything. The only part I remember is when you go through and they show you how they make the electricity. Yes. And that’s about the only part I remember. Well it’s more interesting if you go in there, into Boulder City into the Visitor’s Center and see the movie first. See the movie first, and with the visitors here—we’ve seen it a bunch of times. Were you—you mentioned the Elk’s Club, are you Elks? No, no. Are you active in any other club like that? I’m a life member of the Las Vegas Bowling Association. I was secretary at one point. We started—I was secretary back in ’60, we had about four to five hundred members. We got over six thousand members now. That’s just people here in Las Vegas? Or is that nationwide? Just in Las Vegas. We held the international tournament here in ’73—we broke all the records. We had more the teams here than any city—than they ever had. About six million women in the American Bowling—the WIBC. Do you bowl? I’m learning now. I‘ve (unintelligible) but (unintelligible) to enter the classic school next year. Do you bowl at the Sailboat? Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 12 Are there any other bowling lanes that are here in Las Vegas? There are two out in the theatre in Charleston, the Decatur Westfield—Charleston Heights. There’s one out in North Las Vegas College Park. There’s one in Henderson. The Showboat is the main—the biggest—? I wouldn’t say—well it’s the biggest one now. But they’re supposed to build a couple more of these things. One at the Flamingo and out west of the Flamingo. I know you work at the casino, at the Landmark. At the Twenty-One Pit. Are you a Twenty-One dealer or Pit Boss? Pit Boss. Do you like to gamble just for fun? Or have you gotten over that after living here for so long? Oh, I gamble every now and then. I don’t really do it as much as some of the people, believe me. If I gambled all the time it would be a waste of my money. Even the ones that have (unintelligible)— Except they were pretty good too. (Laughs) Maybe not anymore, but years ago— And you had the boat? You said that you used to fish and bowling. Do you have any other recreation activities? Do you go out in the desert at all? Or? Oh, (unintelligible). We used to when we first came here. Like, we’d take up a ride up to the Valley of Fire up at Overton and we’d go out in the desert in the springs and walk ‘em up to Mount Charleston. But we don’t much anymore. He works six days a week and on the Seventh UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 13 day goes fishing, so, we don’t have much time to go out. Six days a week with only one day off, there’s just not much that you can do. Yes. But we’ve seen it so many times— We’ve seen it so many times, you know. When we first came here we did, we flew out and through the little gold mines and— A ride here and a ride there and— Ride to— Los Angeles quite often. There wasn’t no department stores or anything. We’d just go to Los Angeles and do all our shopping. It was a few women’s shops—the Sear’s (Unintelligible) was the biggest store. It used to be down on Fremont Street. And I think it was two floors on it. They didn’t have a department store in the town so they started building all these discount centers and neighborhood shopping centers. They—I used to have my (unintelligible) accounts at the main company and Broadway and I’d order either through the mail. And then we’d go Downtown and go into Los Angeles a couple times a year to do our shopping. And when you’d first come here, even the regular newspaper would come out a couple times a week. That was before the Las Vegas (Unintelligible) Review Journal were here—what was it, the Las Vegas (unintelligible) or something? A lotta people used to get the Salt Lakes’ paper. What about just gauge—that would be— No, they had the Los Angeles paper. The grocery store in town on Fremont or just off of Fremont. Right. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 14 It was— (Unintelligible) Outside the other—maybe on first and Fremont? And there was another grocery store off of Fremont Street. The guy that had the one across from the Safeway there, remember, what was his name? Cliff, no not that one. He’s got that one around there. That’s all there was. There was a Safeway here then across the street there was another market on that street there! Mary and I used to go in there. (Unintelligible) and then there was another one right down on Fremont Street, another couple blocks down. Yes, on First Street. No, I don’t think it was First, I think it was Fourth. Third or Fourth. Only one or two drug stores. Yes. There was that Cross Drug Store. Well, didn’t they have drug stores in the hotels? There wasn’t no hotels. I mean Downtown. Okay like— There were no hotels Downtown. I’ve been down—I mean, like the Mint and— Yes, but the Mint in the forties, the only hotel that was Downtown, you know where the Horseshoe Club is? Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 15 There was the Apache and the (Unintelligible) Hotel on the corner of Main and Fremont and with the big railroad station that came on—a train used to be run through here. All them big hotels have been built since the sixties. They’re not all old. Well then, like the—what was around the Golden Nugget? I mean— There was other little clubs. Little ones? There was the Boulder Club, then where the Horseshoe— The Golden Nugget was on the corner of Second and Fremont. Next to the Golden Nugget, there was a drugstore. Next to the Golden Nugget, there was a bar. Next to that was the Frontier Club. How about the Las Vegas Club? Then there was the Western Union that was a good restaurant. Western Union was on Second right next to the Bowling Alley. No, that wasn’t—Western Union was on Fremont Street. Then there was a California Club. Mm-hmm. On First and Fremont, across the street from that was the Pioneer Club, which is still there. But the Golden Nugget is one of the old, old ones then? No, the old ones were Boulder. No they weren’t— It said 1905 on it but it opened in ’46. (Laughs) Boulder Club was older than that, but Boulder Club isn’t even there anymore. Horseshoe Club is there— Then there was the Monte Carlo Club. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 16 The Monte Carlo was the 49er and then it was Las Vegas—it just changed so many times. On the Strip they had the El Rancho and the Last Frontier. It was called the Last Frontier. All western. They were all western style, in the bars. The horn rooms were all horns. Everything was western style. Was there a ranching a lot in the desert? I mean, around here, was there a lot of ranching? What’s that thing on Bonanza coming through till there? On what? On the west there used to be all pretty where they kept horses and stuff. And I guess there was, I don’t know. Not too many ranches out here. You had to out to Overton or out in the small towns for the real ranches. But there was ranches in town here. People kept their own horses and stuff. You can see people riding around the desert. And even the Strip. All the Strip was, was a two lane highway with a ditch on each side. Yes, and (Unintelligible) used to have a big ranch off the Strip way in the back, and the Last Frontier, they used to have their own stables and you used to be able to go on horseback rides and things like that. Where Paradise Valley is now there was a lot of guest ranches for divorcees. You know— For these six weeks they would go to these “Dude” Ranches or Guest Ranches and they had horseback riding, and swimming pools, and you know, barbecues and things to enjoy themselves as they waited. Do they still have that six-week wait here in Nevada? Yes. I’m pretty sure they do, don’t they? Do you remember anything about the early aboveground atomic testing? UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 17 Oh yes. I remember, I could go out in my backyard and see them. You could see the bomb when it went up the line. And you would hear the blasts—I had my bedroom windows open and the window shades would blow in. People down on the corner there, they set one off one time and all the soot flew out of their fireplace all over. (Laughs) Did it break, like the windows or kind of? A lot claimed that it cracked their walls or something but it never bothered us. When was the— Well the first one to come off, I was working at the Flamingo then. That had to be ’48 or ’49. Yes. And— But they used to shoot em off every— (Unintelligible) the window panes that was going in and out and the doors were swinging. Wow. We all walked outside and watched the flames— You could see the ball, the mushroom. Mm-hmm. You could see the light from the mushroom, and of course it was so far away, but I could go back to my backyard and of course, it wasn’t built up because there wasn’t so many trees out there. I was looking for that book I have where it (unintelligible) but I guess I gave it away to (Unintelligible) nephew. That’s my old books and stuff from— I’ve seen some, but mostly the history books, are mainly centered around the Reno area. Yes, yes. And there doesn’t seem to be too much Las Vegas history. And that’s why we’re doing this. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 18 Left this book in there about Nevada—(unintelligible) That’s Nevada Ghost Towns. Does it say anything about Las Vegas in there? Eh, probably. It has a lot of (unintelligible) If you don’t mind, taking it out, it’s on the book case over there. What changes have you noticed about the economic situation in Vegas? Like now, you get a lot of your rich, rich people coming in. But at first, it was mainly the (unintelligible) People come in here with more money then than they do now. Really? Yes m’aam. I thought that with all the cowboys they would keep— Yes, but that’s Downtown. But on the Strip, they used to have a lot of rich people come in here. As far as money goes, in the Dealers and stuff, they used to get bigger Tokes and stuff because right after the war, a lot of people had a lot of Black Market money and they’d come in here and spend it. There was a lot of money in Town. You would see people gamble more money then, than you do now. It was nothing to see people standing at some tables and gambling big stacks of chips. ‘Course I don’t know, I don’t go around the hotels. But I know Downtown, I used to see women there play them—of course we had all silver Dollars. You know, the real silver dollars. Mm-hmm. Not these fake ones. And then she’d stack the Silver Dollars that high and play it on the roulette and Twenty-One. Well now, I think— Of course, we didn’t have as many people. Of course, there wasn’t as many hotels either. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 19 Right. It wasn’t easy to get here either. No, it was just as easy to get here, because we had— (Unintelligible) probably in ’64. But this was the way that the El Rancho looked. That’s the one that’s on the Strip, right? That’s the one that burned down. Right, because that part there looks familiar. And this is— Oh that’s the Nevada Centennial book, isn’t it? Mm-hmm. ‘Course we had that sports town in Nevada— It’s a hard paper book. Nothing much to do but— (Tape one ends) History of Nevada. I’m looking for some kind of—(unintelligible) It’s something, somewhere— I had another book, I’m thinking it’s somewhere off— (Unintelligible) Oh that was in the old days when they used to look through the gold fields. Oh. Goldfield, Nevada. That’s where Jack Dempsey and (Unintelligible) had their big fight, didn’t you know that? Nevada was the battle born state. Now this is the Arizona Club, this was on Second Street. Uh-huh. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 20 No, First Street. Really? Yes, First Street. Oh you know, First Street, before we came here, the back—I’d say back in the thirties that used to be a line there of cribs— you know, prostitutes. In the First Street. That was before the war or after? Before the war and just when they had the Air Base there, they closed ‘em up. That was before we came out here. This was all different counties in the state. Mm-hmm. (Unintelligible) I mean, if this one interests you, you can look at it, but I want it back. I will, I’ll bring it back. But I would like to look at it, because I’m getting quite interested. I think this will be more interesting than Ghost Towns. Yes, more pictures. It’s got more images. See now, this is the Flamingo with (Unintelligible) played there. There’s the El Rancho and there’s the Sands Hotel. This is still the Sands. This is the way Downtown looked. This was the Golden Nugget and Fremont. Mm-hmm. And of course, but Fremont isn’t too old. There’s the Dunes when it was first built. It looks a lot different. Without the high rise. Right. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 21 Here’s the Tropicana when it was first built. And the Desert Inn. And the (Unintelligible)—now this is—practically when all the hotels were built. The Riviera’s there, the Sahara’s there. When you got here in ’46, with the—lights—I mean everything is lit up now. At night. It’s bright at night, there’s— Well no, because there wasn’t any places— Even, but then— Downtown it was, it was pretty well lit up. They did light it up then? Yes, this here, her fought for the Middle-Weight Championship for the world. He worked with me at the Thunderbird when I worked there. Down there. That’s not there anymore is it? Tally ho, no. That’s the Aladdin. It had opened work as a Tally ho without (unintelligible) and they made the Aladdin out of that. (Unintelligible) He used to cuddle up and find all that uranium. And they just lost and they made him declare bankruptcy— Oh, trying to sell the four million dollar house or something? And this is up in Lake Tahoe. Well it’ll be more of a scene if he just (unintelligible) at home. Here you go. Bring it back now. (Laughs) I promise. (Laughs) What about social changes here in Las Vegas? Have there been a lot? Oh yes. I remember when years ago, people (unintelligible) neighbor (unintelligible) would say, “Oh they have no culture or activities in Las Vegas,” or “There’s nothing to do here.” We didn’t have no university. I remember when they came around door to door. I gave them five dollars UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 22 and they were getting a collection then to get the university started. They, they were going to put up a plaque with all the regional donors. They had a hard time even getting a university started here. They had one high school, which is the old Las Vegas High School. And a few grammar schools. Out on the Westside of town, you know, we were visiting Lorenzi Park out there. Oh there used to be, in Twin Lakes, they used to have a natural pool there, pond, with the goldfish. Then they had a swimming pool and they took it out there to swim. They only had one swimming, municipal swimming pool in town. If you wanted to go swimming, you had to go out to Lake Mead and to the beach out there. The hotels had swimming pools. Well the hotels, but I mean for the people who live here, what good are the hotel swimming pools? The people in the area, did they want the university? Well certainly they wanted the university. But the idea is that it takes money to get a university started. But I—the state helped with it though, eventually didn’t they? Oh I don’t know. But where does the state get most of their money from? (Unintelligible) Well they get most of their money from Clark County and from Reno and most of it from Clark though. Stop it. They get more taxes and revenue from Clark County than they do from all over Nevada. Well, because the northern part of the state was several before this one. Right. UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 23 And all the political powers got— Small towns and stuff, but they have no revenue. They have to turn out to us for their revenue. I know that, what we’re studying now, they said that when Nevada became a state, Vegas was not even part of Nevada. It didn’t become part of the state till later. Well that’s what they say. In fact, a couple times, it came out in the paper, that it didn’t belong—it didn’t really belong to Nevada. Right, we are not within their state boundaries. Right. Now I would be, my teachers and the others, wanted to come back and have a longer interview, would you be willing to participate in that? Well I don’t work, I have quite a little bit of time on my hands. But my husband works six days a week and it’s pretty hard for him. But all I could give information that would the gambling industry. So I don’t think there’s (unintelligible). Okay. So she can give you all your information and everything else. Do you remember anything about the Old Ranch that was formerly known as the Stewart Ranch and? Yes, we used to live right by it. That’s what I’m talking about. When we lived next to Cashman Field, the Old Ranch was right alongside Cashman Field. It used to be Cashman Field. And that’s where they held the rodeo, so there’s—for a while there, they had a swimming pool in there. I had a girlfriend of mine who used to give swimming lessons to the kids there. And they UNLV University Libraries Madeline Kadin 24 kept the (unintelligible) in there, they kept it in the historical. You could go throu