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Audio clip from interview with Mustafa Richards by Claytee D. White, March 10, 2013

Audio file

Audio file
Download ohr000853.mp3 (audio/mpeg; 1.49 MB)

Information

Date

2013-03-10

Description

In this audio clip, Mustafa Richards talks about his job as a casino porter and his promotion to bell captain at the Imperial Palace.

Digital ID

ohr000853_clip
    Details

    Citation

    Mustafa Richards oral history interview, 2013 March 10. OH-01563. [Audio recording] Oral History Research Center, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nev

    Rights

    This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. It may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproduction and use (https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/research_and_services/reproductions) or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.

    Standardized Rights Statement

    Digital Provenance

    Original archival records created digitally

    Language

    English

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Format

    audio/mpeg

    I was a casino porter. Then Ralph Engelstad's brother, Richard, came and asked me one day actually, it was the casino head who came and asked me, but Richard had told him to. He said do you want to go to the bell desk? He said we're going to go up to the big hotel; do you want to be a bellman? I said bellman? I said no; I'm satisfied here. He said you don't like money? I said do bellmen make more money than a casino porter? He said yes. I didn't know anything about Vegas. The shift didn't bother me; I didn't care. Yeah, but they put me on the bell desk. I went to the bell desk and I stayed in that bell desk for about twenty-five years, which I was the only black bellman for a long time. I was the first black bell captain and the only black bell captain, at least when I was there. That became a very good job for me. I became a Muslim while I was there. I stopped drinking when I was there. Because I was running luggage at that point, I was studying, had little notes in my pocket and I'd study the Arabic as I was walking back and forth to rooms. It just became a good experience. When I became bell captain and worked the bell desk, it was a very good experience both from a financial point of view although I didn't save any money; I made sure of that. I told my wife one day, I said, I saved you and my daughters from that awful lifestyle of those who are rich; I protected you from overabundance of wealth.