Abstract
Oral history interview with Rosenda Gomez conducted by Stefani Evans on July 24, 2024 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Gomez describes her childhood and youth in General Luna, Surigao del Norte, Philippines. She shares about her family's financial struggles, becoming pen pals and eventually marrying an older American man, moving to Texas, and having a daughter. Desparate to leave an abusive marriage, she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1993 and worked at the El Cortez making change. After working in a number of casinos, including Imperial Palace, Stratosphere, and Sunset Station, she returned to El Cortez in 1998. Gomez describes how she later became more involved in the Culinary Workers Union (Local 226). In this interview, Gomez describes the physical work of cocktail service; the duties of shop steward and the benefits of Union membership. She recalls San Tomas celebrations in her town and annual Philippines Independence Day celebrations at home; her favorite Filipino foods, and Spring Mountain Road as it was when she arrived in 1993. She also recalls anecdotes of Jackie Gaughan, owner of the El Cortez. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Finding Aid PDF
Date
Extent
Related People/Corporations
Scope and Contents Note
Oral history interview with Rosenda Gomez conducted by Stefani Evans on July 24, 2024 for Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Gomez describes her childhood and youth in General Luna, Surigao del Norte, Philippines. She shares about her family's financial struggles, becoming pen pals and eventually marrying an older American man, moving to Texas, and having a daughter. Desparate to leave an abusive marriage, she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1993 and worked at the El Cortez making change. After working in a number of casinos, including Imperial Palace, Stratosphere, and Sunset Station, she returned to El Cortez in 1998. Gomez describes how she later became more involved in the Culinary Workers Union (Local 226). In this interview, Gomez describes the physical work of cocktail service; the duties of shop steward and the benefits of Union membership. She recalls San Tomas celebrations in her town and annual Philippines Independence Day celebrations at home; her favorite Filipino foods, and Spring Mountain Road as it was when she arrived in 1993. She also recalls anecdotes of Jackie Gaughan, owner of the El Cortez. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Access Note
Collection is open for research. Where use copies do not exist, production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish. Some transcripts do not exist in final form, therefore any editing marks in a transcript (deletions, additions, corrections) are to be quoted as marked.
Preferred Citation
Rosenda Gomez oral history interview, 2024 July 24. OH-03926. [Cite format consulted: Audio recording or Transcript.] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Permalink
Acquisition Note
This interview was conducted and transcribed by the Oral History Research Center (OHRC) which is part of the UNLV University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Division.
Processing Note
Interview materials were processed by UNLV Libraries Special Collections and Archives in 2024. Sarah Jones wrote the collection description. Access copies were created for born-digital audio files. The audio has been minimally reviewed and all readily available information has been included in the description.