Transcript of interview with Adele Baratz by Claytee D. White, March 19, 2007

AN INTERVIEW WITH ADELE BARATZ An Oral History Conducted by Claytee D. White March 19, 2007 The Southern Nevada Jewish Community Digital Heritage Project Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas i ?Southern Nevada Jewish Community Digital Heritage Project University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2014 Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV - University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Manager: Barbara Tabach Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Interviewers: Barbara Tabach, Claytee D. White Editors and Project Assistants: Maggie Lopes, Stefani Evans ii The recorded Interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) 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 transcribed under the auspices of the Southern Nevada Jewish Community Digital Heritage Project. Claytee D. White Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas iii This is Claytee White and I'm with Adele Baratz. It is March 19th, 2007, and I'm in her home here in Las Vegas. So how are you today? Fine, thank you. Wonderful. A few minutes ago you were saying something about this nice warm weather that we're having. This is not your cup of tea? Well, it used to be in my youth. But now that I've gotten older, it's a little bit harder for me to take. But when I was growing up here in Las Vegas, it didn't bother me. We didn't even have air-conditioning then. So when did you move here? Nineteen twenty-eight. So may I ask how old you were in 1928 when you moved here? About two. Wow. So you have spent all of your life in Las Vegas. Practically all of it in Las Vegas. Tell me where the family came from originally. Well, originally my parents were both born in Russia, but they came to this country. My mother came when she was about fourteen by herself with a cousin who was fourteen. Oh, my. Oh, my. Because her father at the time worked for the czar and it was very hard for the Jewish people. Even then it was hard. He was afraid because my mother was somewhat of a socialist. So he thought it would be best if she got out of the country. And she had a couple of brothers that were already living in United States. 1 A socialist at fourteen? Yeah. My mother was something else. Well, tell me what is wrong with our school system because our fourteen-year-olds don't read the newspaper. They don't even know we're at war. What happened? I don't know. I don't know. But I do believe that people who have been oppressed to somewhat are more apt to look at things and look at other things than people that have had it too good. I'll tell you something. With the generation today I blame my generation because we didn't have it good when we were young. There was the Depression. I can remember in Las Vegas what I went through when we were young. And so we wanted our children to have it better and this is where the problem has come in. But you think you overly compensated. That's right. That's right. So tell me about growing up in Las Vegas. Well, I came here when I was two. As I said, we did not have any?we didn't even have swamp coolers then. Of course, my folks were quite poor when we came here. They came here when they decided to build the Hoover Dam. Now, my father didn't work on the dam. My father was from New Jersey; my mother was from New York. My father got mad at his family. My father ran away from home and joined the army when he was about fifteen or sixteen. Before that he sold newspaper on the trains. Then he went on the Mexican border with General Pershing to fight Pancho Villa. And then when First World War started, he went with General Pershing with the first expedition force and then he stayed after the war. He was in General Pershing's armor guard after the war. And he was out West. He liked it out here, plus the fact that he was a young kid and they were all young. They didn't have much to do down on the Mexican border. So they 2 used to go to fortune tellers and a fortune teller told my father one day that he would make a lot of money in raw land. So when they came to Las Vegas?because they had originally moved to Huntington Beach, California, but things didn't go well there. So they came here. My father worked for a? well, he was going to real estate, but in those days real estate was very hard because you'd make a deal one day and the next day someone would come along with another deal and so they would forget about this deal. You know what I mean? They wouldn't hold true to their word, so to speak. So he went to work for somebody who ostensibly sold grocery supplies, but it was really bootlegger supplies because this was during Prohibition. My mother cooked and sewed for people because before my mother got married she was a blouse designer. In New York? In New York, yeah. So, okay. Do you know which factory she worked in? No, I have no idea. But I can tell you this. She was a socialist to the core because she was busy when they formed the Garment Workers Union. She was busy. She was busy with you Eugene V. Debs when he ran for president. So once again, her family shipped her off to Canada where she had a sister that lived just till things...so she was there for about a year and then she came back and eventually she met my father. So do you have the story of your parents written someplace? Several people have asked me the story of my parents and I've told several people the story of my parents. There's a book coming out. It's being edited by Dr. Green from? Yes. Now, a million people have told him to interview me, but he won't interview me because I think 3 the only thing he wants is to interview people that have something to do with gambling. I really do. Because I noticed that?I know a lot of people have said, "Why don't you interview Adele Baratz?" But I've never heard from him. They've given him my phone number and everything. He's never interviewed me. But he's editing this book. Because yesterday I was at a program and they had two authors. One, his last name was Jaffe and he talked about the mob that had to do with waste materials and stuff like that and what's happening in the leaching out into the earth. And the other one was?what's his name? He wrote that Sun Sin... Oh, yes, Sun, Sin & Suburbia. I don't know his name, but I see it in the newspaper all the time. Yeah, I have his book. In fact, when I was there I bought his book. I have the book, too. I went up to him and I asked him to autograph it and I told him how long I lived here. And he says, "Well, how come I didn't interview you?" I said, "I don't know." But this Dr. Green he told me is editing the book. The man that wrote it is from Reno and it's the histories of the Jews of Las Vegas is the book. Now, I don't know when it's coming out. He had told me in the spring. But I think he broke his ankle someplace along the way and he was kind of laid up for a while. So anyhow, but I'm in that book. So how did your parents meet? My father was living in New Jersey and my mother had heard this?I don't know whether she was a distant relative or a friend of a friend who had gone to Russia to see her family. I don't know if this was after the war or before. I don't remember. It must have been after the war. So they went looking for her because she lived in Paterson, New Jersey. So they said they don't know where she is, but around the corner?and my grandmother's named Zippy?lives Zippy; 4 you can go ask her because she knows. Well, my mother went there I guess with a friend. My grandmother had four sons. Three or four; I can't remember. I think it was three sons. Anyhow, so my mother went over there and here all these boys come along. And that's how they met. So what is your mother's name? My mother's maiden name was Leeboff, Rebecca Leeboff was her name. Okay, Rebecca? Rebecca. And my father's name was?though everybody called him Al, Al Salton, S-A-L-T-O-N. So that's how they met. So now, how is your story going to get into that book that you were just talking about? Well, he was interviewing more about what the Jewish community and stuff like that when they came to Las Vegas and things. I was interviewed once before about the temple. Somebody wrote an article for one of these slick magazines and I don't know which one it was. It was about Temple Beth Sholom and they interviewed me for that, too. So I know. And then somebody asked me some questions the other day about the temple and I said, "Well, if you would have asked me ten years ago, I would have remembered more." So was the Jewish community really big as you were growing up as a little girl? No. Oh, no. The Jewish community was exceptionally small here. My mother cooked for the few Jewish men that were here that didn't have a family. So she used to cook dinner for them. That's how they were making money because we didn't have anything then. People always ask me about anti-Semitism in Las Vegas and I really didn't feel any of that except one time. I went to a birthday party of a friend of mine that lived across the street and they all started talking about religion. This one didn't like this one. This one didn't like that one. So then they said, "Well, what's left?" And somebody said, "Well, Jewish." And this one girl 5 said, "Oh, I would never want to be that." Well, I burst into tears. But that was the only time that I really felt anything like that. But I had a pretty?except for the fact that we didn't have anything?I had a pretty normal childhood. But most everybody didn't have anything. That's what I was about to ask you. Was that different? Was your family any difference than most of your friends? No, not really. Your parents' friends? No, not really. So tell me what kind of work your father did when he first came to Las Vegas. Well, he worked for the man that sold the bootlegger supplies, grocery store. [Laughing] And then after that?well, what he did?I'll tell you a little story?what he did was he saw all the vacant land, because I told you the story, and he said he's got to have this. The guy that he worked for and this attorney that he knew, the three of them went together and they bought land. Some of the land that they bought is where the MGM stands now and stuff like that, out on the L.A. Highway. Of course, we sold it before all this big boom started. That's what he did. What happened was the gentleman who he worked for paid his portion and my father worked it out. And they really didn't have that much. Wow, what an arrangement. That was great. Yeah, yeah. In fact, the gentleman that my father worked for, he told my brother one time, he said, "If it wasn't for your father, I would never be able to live the way I'm living now." Because I guess my father had the foresight to see what was?no, the fortune teller did?to see what was happening. We didn't have a car when we came here. My father eventually went into business. He 6 owned a bar on First Street, which was across the alley from where the Review-Journal used to be on First Street. So my father wanted a car. He didn't have the money for a down payment. This was a Plymouth. So he gave this guy twenty-five acres of land for the down payment and this was on what is now Tropicana. You know how the airplanes come in and fly over that area there? Well, it was in that general vicinity, this property. The guy later sold it, I think, for twenty-five thousand dollars. [Laughing] Wow. Now, was your mom a stay-at-home mother? Yes, except she cooked and sewed, but she did all of that at home. Then, of course, after my father went in the bar and started to make more money, then she didn't work. My father had slot machines and she loved to go play them. He had the bar before the Second World War broke out because he had that bar...in the thirties I think he started with that bar, someplace in the thirties. I can't remember. And my mother used to love to go play the slot machines. Oh, that's funny. She loved them. Now, do you remember any of those?you were only two in '28. Do you remember the Depression years, I guess about the middle of the Depression? Do you remember some of those years? Not too much. I remember my mother used to make all my clothes for me. As far as not having too much, I don't remember that because we were all pretty much in the same boat, most of the people. Now, some of the people that were in my class were not because the Cashmans were in my class. Winger! was in my class. You know what I mean? Yes, yes. People like that. In fact, Brinley, who was the principal, his daughter was in my class. And I 7 had friendship with all these people. But I don't remember that much because so many of the people were in the same boat. But my mother used to make all my clothes for me; that I remember. Which school were you attending? Las Vegas. What other school? [Laughing] I'll tell you I attended grammar school. Now, there was a big fire. Tell me about that. The school burned down. School was out already; we were home. But everybody was worried. Well, what happened was I was in?I must have been in about the third or fourth grade because the kids that were in the sixth grade on to the?I think it was sixth, seventh and eighth, they had to go to school in tents. And it was so hot in the tents?they didn't have air-conditioning?they used to let them bring water, jars of water and they'd put it under their seats for water. But I was lucky. I didn't have to do that because our class was one of the first classes that went into the new building, which is now a county building over there on Las Vegas Boulevard. It's the Fifth Street School is what it was called. Okay, yes. Yeah, the Fifth Street School. And then, of course, high school was Las Vegas High School. Now, they did have a small school on the west side and then, of course, later Rancho High School was built. But I went to Las Vegas High School. Tell me about the recreation that you remember as a young girl, as a teenager. Well, all the recreation more or less really centered around the school because what else was there? There really wasn't a lot to do. But you'd go to the movies and school and then you had your friends and you'd get together with your friends and that happened even in the summertime. 8 Although the last two years of high school I worked out at what is now Nellis. I worked there during the summer. So how did you get back and forth to work? I can't remember. Unless maybe my father drove me. I can't remember. But I remember my job there. The first year I worked the summertime at the base I was a messenger and I drove a little scooter all around the base. In fact, I even would go out on the flight lines and they'd yell at me to get back. But I could go almost anyplace. And the second year I worked in the rationing department where the soldiers would come in and they'd have ration coupons and they'd turn them in or we'd turn them in and I'd tell them, "Did you fill your gas tank?" No. I said, "Go fill your gas tank. Don't give me these until you fill your gas tank." And stuff like that. They even asked me, the colonel or whoever he was asked me?because I was going to go away to school and he asked me not to go away to school but to stay and work and I said no. In fact, his wife got so mad at him. Oh, for asking you? Yeah. She said, "I told him not to ask you." Where did you go to school? Oh, I'm a nurse. I went to school in Baltimore. Oh, really? Where in Baltimore? Tell me about that. I went to school?well, in those days nursing schools, most of them were in hospitals. And I went to a nursing school at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. What was that like leaving Las Vegas and leaving your family to go all the way to Baltimore? Well, it didn't bother me too much because I had family in Baltimore. The only thing is, is my 9 first year I did get quite homesick. My father came back to visit his family who he hadn't seen since they moved West. So he came back to visit the family and then he came to Baltimore to see me. And then I think we went to New York. I'll never forget this. He couldn't find a room and here I'm with him and he's going places looking for a room and here I am. And he said, "Don't come in." [Laughing] But then it was to get me a ticket home. And so my father's bar was well known. What was the name of it? Al's Bar. It was well known on the Union Pacific run because he used to have all the rails used to come in. That's what they were called in those days were the rails. And if they were drinking too much and he knew they had to go out on a run, he'd send them home because he'd say, "You can't drink anymore. You go home and get rest and everything." And then sometimes they'd come back and they'd say, "You know, I don't know what happened; I lost all my money; I don't know where it is." My father would say, "Just a minute." And he'd bring it out and give it to them because he knew that the condition they were in they were going to lose their money. So he was well known up and down the Union Pacific. So I was having trouble getting a reservation to go home. So my father went to New York to the Union Pacific offices there and he asked to speak to the person in charge. They let him in. And the man in charge?I can't remember his name?knew him. He said, "I know who you are." He said, "Everybody on the Pacific Railroad knows who you are." So he was able to make it easier for you... ? Make it easier for me to go home on the train. But that was the last time I went on the train. The rest of the time I flew home. I'll never forget my first plane ride. I think we stopped in every city between Baltimore and Las Vegas. And in a couple of them I had to spend the night because of 10 something. But they were all those little DC-3 planes. So how long did it take you to get home? It took me I think over a day just to get home. Wow. You might as well have taken the train, huh? Yeah. [Laughing] Oh, that's interesting. Which airline did you fly in on? Well, it was Capital; it was United. So Bonanza came later? Oh, yeah. Bonanza is a local airline. It was a local airline, Bonanza. Yes, that's right, because it only flew to Reno and Tonopah and a few other little places. Yeah, yeah. It was local. I think they went to Phoenix, too. I don't remember. That's right. They did go to Phoenix. Because you were here so early, did you ever hear stories about Las Vegas' beginning? Oh, well, yeah, about how it started with the land auction and stuff like that. I mean that's something that's commonplace. Of course, I remember the day that gambling became legal because that was before the repeal of Prohibition and I remember that because everybody was so happy because now they would be able to have gambling in Nevada and everybody was excited. Then, of course, with the lifting of Prohibition; that really started things rolling for Las Vegas. But the real early stuff, I probably heard about it, but I was too young. And now I'm too old to remember. [Laughing] Now, tell me more about church activities in addition to school activities. Well, see, we didn't?I think I went to every church in Las Vegas. I used to go with my friends. I had a permanent visitor's card for the Christian Science Church. I've been to the Mormon 11 Church a few times. In fact, one of my very dear friends tried to convert me to become a Mormon and I said, "It's very interesting what you're telling me, but I'm not going to convert." So she stopped that. I don't want to tell you her name. She's from a very prominent family here. Okay, good. Did you know a person named Darrell Loose? Oh, sure. His sister Jean was one of my best friends. wow. Okay. The first hardware store. No. It was an appliance store. I think they came down from Reno. That's correct. Yeah, yeah. You must have interviewed Darrell. I did, a long time ago, but I interviewed him. Once the Depression was over and things began to get better and better for your father, because I'm sure it did, what kind of things did he and your mother do for entertainment? I can't even remember. Was it mostly?oh, okay. Because, see, when the war started I think my father still owned the bar. So he had the bar and that was a twenty-four hour a day business. What my mother used to do two and three times a week...I remember this in the summertime when it was so hot here. She had this huge roaster. To me it was huge. It was big. She used to prepare a meal in that, take it up to the mountains, cook it on one of the stoves up there, and my father would sleep up there because it was too hot to sleep during the day. He liked to be at the bar at the shift change and at midnight and stuff like that. So he didn't get that much sleep in the heat of the day. Even though by that time we had moved from the house on North Ninth Street. We lived in North Ninth Street. Oh, I didn't tell you. At North Ninth Street there were four of us?me, my brother, my 12 parents?and this other family that had two kids in a four-room house, not a four-bedroom house, a four-room house. Two families lived there for a while. Oh, wow. Now, that was when we first came here. And then when your family left that location... ? When we left that location we moved to a place on South Fourth Street. And South Fourth Street wasn't too far from where the Fifth Street School was. That's how come we knew about the fire right away because we lived so close. We lived there. And then I think the people that owned that house...we were renting and they wanted it. So then we moved to a place on Second Street, which is now Casino Center, and that house is no longer in existence. But what that house had was a big screened in porch. So in the summertime at night it wasn't too bad. Of course, until my father would consent to get an air conditioner... [Laughing] He finally consented to a swamp cooler. Do you remember the railroad cottages? Oh, yeah. I had friends that lived in them. How big were those? Very small. You know that some of them are preserved? Yes, I know. I knew that, yeah. I want to know when you got back from college?first tell me your siblings' names. My brother?I only have one brother. Okay, yes. His name is Charles Salton and he passed away a few years ago. 13 Did your brother go away to college, also? Yeah, he went to a like a thing for aircraft stuff. He went to school in Southern California. When you got back from your schooling in Baltimore, did you come back to Las Vegas at that time? Yes, I came back to Las Vegas and, unfortunately, not too long?see, I stayed in Baltimore because we had to take state boards. In Baltimore we took national boards. They just started giving national boards and I stayed there until we found out that we passed. What happened was there were a group of us and the director of nurses had us...we ran a floor. We staffed it for all three shifts and everything. And we did that until we all heard and then I came back here. Well, when I came back here unfortunately my father got sick. When I came back we had a pretty good time because by then there were already Jewish people here, much more than what there were. So we had a lot of friends and we got together. But then unfortunately, my father got sick and subsequently died. He had a heart attack. Mary Kennedy saw my brother one day and she said, "What's that sister of yours doing?" Because she knew I was a nurse. And he said, "She's not doing much of anything." She said, "Well, you tell her to get her you-know-what out here." Now, tell me who Mary Kennedy is. She was years ago the director of nurses at what is now UMC. At that time it was the County Hospital? No. I think it had become Southern Nevada Memorial by then. At one time it was the County Hospital. Before you tell me about Mary Kennedy and your first job?so you didn't go to work right away; you helped with your father? Yeah, because I did not go to work right away. Well, what happened was I came back about 14 November, October or November, and he got sick in December. And which year are we talking about? Nineteen forty-seven. And he got sick and he passed away. So I worked at Southern Nevada Memorial; for about year I worked there. By then the Jewish community was built up. I should tell you about the starting of the Jewish community. I don't know if you're interested. Yes, I am, very much interested in it. Before you begin the start?and this is going to run out in a few minutes. I'm going to let you start that on the other side. What happened with Al's Bar? Oh, what happened with Al's Bar was the Golden Nugget decided it wanted to expand. See, it took the whole block from First Street to Second Street and they wanted the bar because they wanted that part of it. So he was forced out. Because he was forced out?this was during the war, I think, still. [End of Tape 1, Side A] Because he was forced out by the Golden Nugget?I think it was called the Golden Nugget? because he was forced out then, they let him retain his gambling license. They were not issuing new licenses then because they had a moratorium on them. So he was able to maintain his. A lot of people came up to him, a lot of gamblers and stuff like that, and wanted him to go in business with them for his license and he said no. He said he would never do that to the license. He said if he went into business for himself, it would be one thing, but not with other people that he really didn't know. So that's what happened with the gambling license. And did they just lapse eventually, nothing was done with them? What, with his license? Uh-huh. 15 Well, he didn't use it and then finally they started issuing more. But for a long time...because people used to come to him and I guess the reason they got to him was because they must have told them that they're not issuing licenses anymore, but somebody does have one and he's not using it. Okay, great. Now, tell me about the beginning of the Jewish community. Well, there were Jewish people here. When we got here there were a few Jewish people here. But we were the only ones that came as a family group and remained. A lot of them came and went and came and went and stuff like that. Of course, with the advent of the war and of Nellis, Las Vegas Gunnery School, that brought in a lot more. What happened was there was no synagogue here or temple or anything. So the Mack family?now, this is the Mack family from Thomas and Mack?now, Jerry Mack's father and his brothers went around to the Jewish people in town and said that they would like to build a synagogue; would you pledge? So all the Jewish people pledged. They said, "We don't want the money now. We'll wait until the building is built." Well, once the building was built, they came around and asked for the pledges. Everybody paid up their pledges. And when the building was open there was no mortgage. That was over on Carson Street, the first one. But before that the Jewish people would get together in different places and do things, but nothing to a great extent. Of course, when the temple was built, then that was... But no religious services before that time? Not organized religious. For some of the holidays, yes, they would get together and they would meet in the Eagles Hall and maybe the Elks or something like that, but nothing that was really anything that you could call organized. And then, of course, once the temple came then that became the focal point mainly for most of the Jewish community here. 16 At that point how do you go about getting a rabbi? I think they contacted either United Synagogue or the reformed?I don't think they ever contacted the orthodox. But, you see, Judaism has its three divisions?reform, orthodox and conservative. I think they contacted the conservative movement. I think they must have gone through?maybe they went through the University of Judaism in L.A. I don't know. But that's how they got their first rabbi was that way. As far as the cantors were concerned, my brother interviewed the cantor and Cantor Canori, who they had here for many years, he interviewed him and he came here. He was an extremely learned man. He was from Danzig, Free City of Danzig and then he went to London and he was a professor of music. But he had a beautiful voice. Rabbis come and go with this temple over here. [Laughing] But anyhow, that was how they...Well, for a while there before they had a regular rabbi, my brother used to do the English and then another gentleman by the name of Greenstein, he used to do the Hebrew and that's how they did it. And then my mother donated the second Torah to the temple. They had one, but it was very difficult to read. So my mother said that she would donate one. So I have a cousin that's a rabbi and he found one. He looked it over and he said, "Yeah, that's okay." Everything is kosher, so to speak. That's how they got the second one that they used for a long time. That's interesting. So tell me when you got married and how you met your husband. After my father passed away and after I worked for a while in Las Vegas, then I decided to go to go Los Angeles. So I went to Los Angeles. I was there for a few years and I met this friend of mine and she had married somebody from Philadelphia. So I came to visit her and she introduced me to my ex-husband, which was a big mistake except for my kids. [Laughing] You know how that goes? 17 Yes, I do. Oh, wow. Okay. So anyhow, and then I lived in Philadelphia for a while. My kids were both born in Philadelphia. Then things didn't go so good for us. So we thought, well, we'll come to Las Vegas. He was a salesman, but he wanted to open up a uniform shop and he thought that would be pretty good. So he opened up the uniform shop and things went fairly well for him, but it didn't go well for us. And then I got divorced and I've been here ever since. So I'm sure, then, that you went back to work here as well. No, I didn't go back to work until my daughter was graduating from high school. I was fortunate in that from what my father had done, my mother was able to sustain me. I went back to work? let's see. My daughter graduated from high school in around...I think she graduated in '74, I think. She went to Valley High School. Both my kids went to Valley High. That's when I decided to go back to work. Well, in order to go back to work, I had to have a refresher course. Well, there was no refresher course. So I got with several... with Mary Kennedy and the one that was the director of nurses at Sunrise Hospital and we talked and we put out the word that there was going to be a refresher course. So we had a refresher course. I had applied at Sunrise and they said, "No, you have to have a refresher course." So after I got the refresher course I went back to Sunrise and I said, "I took the refresher course." And then they hired me. Do you know the history of Sunrise? Well, vaguely I know the history of Sunrise. Sunrise was mainly built by money from the Teamsters Union. Adelson built that, not the Adelson from the Venetian, but Nate Adelson I think it was, because the Adelson from the Venetian?I can't remember his first name, but it wasn't that Adelson. That's how it got started I think through?because there was only that 18 hospital. There were two hospitals here before. When we first came here, there were two other hospitals here. When you came in 1928? There was two or three. There was the hospital; it was over on Eighth Street and that was Dr. Woodbury and Dr. Balcom had that hospital. There was a doctor here by the name of Dr. Fergusson and he had a little hospit