Transcript of interview with Marshall Mack Dawson by Robert Maichle, November 1, 1979

UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson i An Interview with Marshall Mack Dawson An Oral History Conducted by Robert Maichle 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 Marshall Mack Dawson ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2017 UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 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 Marshall Mack Dawson iv Abstract On November 1, 1979, Robert Maichle interviewed Marshall Mack Dawson (born 1938 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about his experiences living in Las Vegas. Dawson first talks about his early education, his family, and the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort. He then describes the changes he has noticed over time, the atomic testing, the Helldorado parades, Red Rock, the development of the Strip, and the changes in the Downtown area. Dawson also discusses some of his work for Nevada Power, the early movie theaters, his opinions on journalism, and various other topics. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 1 The narrator is Mickey Dawson, and his real name, Marshall Mack Dawson. The date is November 1st, 1979. It’s nine PM. The place is 5251 Pearl in Las Vegas, Nevada. The interviewer is Robert Maichle of 5251 Pearl, Las Vegas. The project is A Local History Project, Oral Interview: The Life of a Las Vegas Old Timer. Mickey, you might tell us a little bit about your birth. Okay, I was born in 1938, Las Vegas, Nevada, and location was, best if I can remember was Ogden and Fourth Street. Probably 201 North Fourth Street, probably the best address, but I’m not exactly positive of the address. You were born in the living room of your house? That’s not right—well, not the living room, front bedroom. Front bedroom. You’re youngest of a family of five. That’s right. Two brothers, two sisters, and myself. You went to school here? That’s right. What school did you go to? Let’s see, kindergarten was, I guess the first (unintelligible) to kindergarten, and first, all four grades up to the grade four, I was at (Unintelligible) Elementary School, which I don’t believe is in operation anymore. It’s on, I guess, Sixteenth and about Charleston is a good location for it. Then I attended Las Vegas Grammar School—Fifth Street Grammar School, I think, what it was called, which is not on Fifth Street anymore; it’s now on Las Vegas Boulevard, which is the same street. Then, Las Vegas High School, which is down on Seventh and Bridger. You moved from Fourth Street down to Fifteenth Street, is that correct? Well, I think we went to, yes, First Street first. I don’t remember that address. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 2 (Unintelligible) When we moved down to Fifteenth Street, I was five years old, which would make it 1943, right in the middle of the big W-W-II. You remember a lot of things from (unintelligible)—I don’t imagine you have much recollection before that? (Unintelligible) I shook my head no. (Laughs) Let the record show. Do you want to tell us about your family and your folks, how they come to be over here, what your older brothers did—well, Don fought in the war—what you remembered about the fact that he was gone, and do you remember him before he went off to war? Yeah, sure do. Of course the best part I remember is that when he was fighting the big one, he used to send stuff back—he sent a big Navy knife, or a Marine knife—I think it was a Marine. It was a big knife anyhow. Of course, at five, six years old, anything with a blade on it was big. And it was; I think it was a Marine assault knife, which I thought was really great. And, ‘cause up to that time, there’s not too much memory because, you know, five years and under, you don’t remember a tremendous amount. But I remember that part, especially the bit about the knife. You remember your brother coming home, I’m sure? Oh, sure. And you can’t remember the mood of the people as the time grew and Henderson took place. Henderson? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 3 You don’t remember Henderson? Where’s Henderson? (Laughs) Okay. You might tell us a little bit about when your folks came to Las Vegas, what they had done before. Well, I can’t tell you much about when they came here, ‘cause I wasn’t born yet. Okay, well— But my best memories tell me that they were, came down from Salt Lake City, and my dad, I believe, he had a business in Salt Lake, and he had a business in Cheyenne first, the Army post; he was a tailor. And I guess he—I don’t know when—but he went from Cheyenne to Salt Lake and Salt Lake down to Las Vegas—been here ever since. That was sometime in the thirties? Yes, I think they must have come down in ’36, I would think. Your father’s originally from England, is that correct? Manchester. And your mother’s from? Sheldon, Iowa. Iowa. And her folks are from Scotland. Folks are from Scotland. And they met (unintelligible)? I would think so. Anyway, you continued your education here in twelfth grade, then you went to University of Nevada in Reno? Right. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 4 Do you remember— There wasn’t any UNLV then. Right. Do you remember some of the earliest recollections you have of Fremont Street? Yes, I can remember quite vividly, when I was about five years old, very interesting thing about Fremont Street is that Fifth and Fremont was, I believe, three gas stations, one in each corner. But behind the gas station on the northeast corner, there was a swimming pool, and I can’t remember the name of that swimming pool. That was, of course, of great interest to a five or six or seven-year-old—that’s be about seven or eight about that time—that was a great interest. Did you ever go down to the old ranch? Many times. Can you tell us anything, any specific incidents that happened there? Yes. That’s where I was when they signed the armistice, World War II. I was down at the old ranch swimming pool, swimming. Very nice place down there at the time, especially for kids. It was really quite (unintelligible). The old creek, Las Vegas creek, still ran through town before it dried out. And right by the Mormon Fort, and by the swimming pool down there. And there was all kinds of big trees—big elm trees, cottonwoods, and the creek had all kinds of wildlife. We used to call ‘em crawdads—don’t know what they were, but they were some kind of a fish, and we could chase those. There was a lot of other growth, wild grapevines—and there was farms nearby where heaven forbid you’d get figs. And there was hay fields and alfalfa fields, but quite a bit of farms right through that area. Down on Foremaster Lane and like that. Can you remember any individual who worked there, associated with the old ranch or anything? Sure can’t. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 5 Can you describe any of the buildings? Did you ever play in any of them, or? Did nothing particularly that was of any interest that I can remember outside the Old Mormon Fort, which (unintelligible). Now, I guess it’s a museum; us kids used to play Cowboys and Indians there, before it got to be a museum of course. Was there any walls around it? You know, the fort that’s there now is just a house, but there weren’t walls at one time? Well, of course, my memory’s not too accurate being seven, eight years old. I remember it had walls and roof. If we took you there, do you think you can locate any oak trees or plantings and say, “I was here.” That’s all gone. It looks like a desert out there now. The creek’s even gone. Yes. Okay, the swimming hole and the interest in knowing the tricks—at one time, you related to me about a way of swinging out on a tire or something, some way to splash out into it. Not the old ranch, don’t remember anything like that. It seemed like a pretty big pool at the time, and when I came back many years later, it wasn’t very big. (Laughs) Okay. It wasn’t a hole; it was an actual commercial swimming pool. Did it cost money to get in? Yes, sure did. Do you remember how much? No, I sure don’t. It wasn’t very much, though, if you went there. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 6 Oh, it seems to me I used to get fifteen cents, and that would cover my bus fare and the swimming—probably cost a nickel, I don’t know. It seemed like a lotta money then, but I’m sure it seems like a paltry sum now. Did they have places to change, or did you have to wear your suit when you went there? It was very commercial; they had a shower room and a place to change. Did you rent swimming suits? I don’t remember. Do you remember some of the other places around Las Vegas, like, oh, up where the springs are—oh, I guess you’d call it West Fremont now, on the left hand side where the water district is—did you go up there any play? Oh, you’re talking about—oh, heck, I can’t (unintelligible). There was a pretty good-sized swimming pool up there, too. That’s the Twin Lakes area. That’s what I thought you were talking about, the Twin Lakes area. Did you ever go up there? Certainly. That’s a very interesting place. They had two lakes you could go out there and row out on a boat, (unintelligible) skis the whole bit. I guess it didn’t change much when I went there; I went there many years later, but you could rent boats and you could do all sorts of fun things. Do you remember any of the people that were there, or any (unintelligible)? No, sure don’t. I do remember the Las Vegas Creek right up there alongside Bonanza behind those houses. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 7 That was the area I was talking about, where the springs formed and where the water district was—did you ever sneak in there and do any?— No, no. Never got up that high. All my sneaking around already took place at what we called Casabian’s Ranch, which is now on the corner of Sahara and Spencer. And that was way out in the desert. The artesian well—he made himself a lake, and that whole area out there had a lotta artesian water—water come up out of the ground, (unintelligible), like wild grapevines and these little (unintelligible) kids go play in, built forts out of. Out there, it’s Sahara and (unintelligible)? San Francisco—it used to be San Francisco Street. Sahara and Spencer. Oh. Do you remember anything about the people? Were they friendly, or did they like kids? Sometimes they were. It depends on how friendly your little kids were. Okay. (Laughs) You said you’ve been around here all your life—can you think of some of the changes that you can remember? Well, of course the tremendous growth of the town. When I was about eight years old, which, back in ’43, ’44, I can remember getting on the bus and riding way out of town to go to the dude ranch they put in, dude ranch way out of town was the El Rancho Vegas, which of course now is Sahara and Las Vegas Boulevard, or the Strip, Sahara and the Strip—(unintelligible) not very far out of town anymore. You related a few stories to me in the past about going out there in later times and getting parts for a motorcycle and some stuff like that; perhaps you could tell us what you remember of the El Rancho Vegas. That was the Last Frontier. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 8 That was the Last Frontier? Last Frontier, they had an old time village they out there for a while, and (unintelligible) nice. They had a street, and they had an old jail and an old (unintelligible) and penny arcade, and the street was lined with old cars. There was an old motorcycle out there that was—(unintelligible) one we used to ride was the neighbor across the street had a 1924 Indian Scout, which was pretty old even then, and I think he got the (unintelligible) Indian Scout that fit on his ’24—I guess it was ’25 (unintelligible) ’24—it was pretty cute, ‘cause he used to let us ride it in and park it ‘cause it fit in with the rest of the scenery. He used to give the tourists quite a thrill—they used to crank it up and drive it off. Did you ever get off—you said you went way out of town to go there? Well (unintelligible) too far; they had a set of trains there. They had some original steam engines set up on the tracks with the old (unintelligible). They had the wooden benches in it; they had seats, seatbacks from one side to the other, so you could sit facing the front or facing the rear. It was really quite old, even had little sings on the side that said, “Do not shoot the (unintelligible).” I think it was original—I’m not positive—but I think all that stuff was original. How old were you at this time? Oh, I think I was probably about twelve, thirteen about that time. Do you remember the first atomic bomb? Yes, sure do. Whether it was the first one or not, I couldn’t tell you, but it was when they first started testing, and they had some aerial bursts. I think I was in the fifth grade at the time, and we all went outside and looked towards Mercury and at the right time, we could see the blast, which we did, and we felt the ground shake (unintelligible) we saw was the flash on those clouds. I can UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 9 remember being woken up early in the morning for those big air bursts, shaking and rattling the windows. What was the general feel at that time among your friends and the teachers and stuff that you had? Was there any fear, or? No. Us kids thought it was neat. Do you remember any famous people coming here or any things like that? No, I can’t remember any famous people coming. Do you remember when Kelso Turner ran into the mountain? Sure don’t. Did he get hurt? He got killed. (Laughs) (Laughs) That’s hurtin’. You have never been active in politics, have you? No. Ever been in social group clubs and stuff that you’re in now—when you were an adolescent, you were in Boy Scouts and stuff like that? That just about sums it up, though. Oh, I think I was in the YMCA for a while. Do you remember every going on trips or anything around there, or old places? Yes, but we didn’t go any place that was any more interesting that somebody else didn’t go. I can’t think of—no, just Death Valley and Valley of Fire, (unintelligible) that’s pretty standard stuff. You don’t remember when Carole Lombard’s plane crashed, do you? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 10 No, I wasn’t of much interest. Is that the one that crashed on the side of Potosi? Yes, you being about five years old, five or six. Yeah, I think that’s probably too far, in fact, for me. I have knowledge of it, but nothing personal. Okay. You said that you were at the old ranch the day the armistice was declared—was that BE or BJ? I think that was BJ. And could you tell, in general, what you remember about that day? Well, it just seemed that everybody knew it was gonna happen. They were happy it happened, but it didn’t seem to be a big surprise. (Unintelligible) as usual. Just about—well, from my viewpoint. Do you remember the old Helldorados? Yes, sure do. Those were quite a high point for youngsters; of course, as I got older, I can’t keep up on ‘em. But it was tremendous as a kid because were at the carnivals. You got to dress all up to (unintelligible) and march in the kids parade, and I was in grade school, of course, we had grade school bands. Naturally, all the grades ended up at the Helldorado Village where they had the carnival, which was the greatest fun. That brings back memories. Do you remember when they reopened Las Vegas air station called Nellis? When they reopened it? Yes, after the war. I think it was never closed. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 11 Maybe it wasn’t. My sister used to pack her (unintelligible) during the war, and as far as my memory is, it never was closed. As far as I can remember, it’s always been there. Okay. What changes have you noticed or seen happen, besides, obviously, the town growing, with the attitude of the people? Well, sure, it’s a tremendous change as the town has grown up. You’ve got to fix any problems now (unintelligible). You got your congestive traffic, congestive pollution, and oh, heck, back thirty-five years ago, you didn’t bother to lock your front door; now, you better. That’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed. That’s about all. Have you noticed the people are just as friendly or they got more remote, or? Oh, I couldn’t say there’s been much change, not in my viewpoint, because (unintelligible) people I know is the people you know. Now if I dealt in a type of business that met a lotta people to deal with people, then I’d probably have a better idea, but I don’t. So I don’t. You work for Nevada Power now for twenty-seven years? About fifteen. Just fifteen? Isn’t that enough? Well, you have told me somewhat of your experiences before you went off to school, and then your time in the Army—did you have any other recollections as a boy of things happening? Do you remember when they first (unintelligible) the Catholic church on the dump and it sunk? Yes. Do you go down there and play, or? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 12 Years before that I did, ‘cause it was a city dump. There wasn’t a lot down there—got down there anyhow. But that was kind of a funny thing—I remember my folks talking about that, couldn’t understand why they even built it there because that was the old city dump. I guess somebody (unintelligible) become a contractor, (unintelligible) dig it up, put a lotta fill in there so they could do it right. I guess they finally wound up tearing it down and making a part out of it. Yes, that’s quite something. You don’t remember ever going out of town at that time and the condition of the roads, do you? Well, when I was sixteen, I do. I can remember going to St. George, and the roads are very, very narrow, very windy. There’s still some evidence out there, probably you’ve seen it, just, I guess the whole road’s about as wide as one of our lanes now. In fact, I remember coming back in the rainstorm and passing a diesel truck. And I’m sure there wasn’t enough room for the both of us. That’s some fond memories (unintelligible). The old L.A. Highway’s still out there, too, (unintelligible) piece of that. Remember how narrow that is. Do you remember the one that was on Paradise? No, sure don’t. Well, I think I was—(unintelligible) on Paradise, isn’t? Sure, the one that’s all chopped up. I (unintelligible)—I mean the old L.A. Highway, the one out by Paradise. The one that went out Paradise and (unintelligible) that stone house that’s still standing out there. Yes, that’s the one I’m referring to. That is pretty (unintelligible); it was paved. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 13 Remember Mt. Charleston was a dirt road, too. That was a windy mountain road up through there. Best thing I remember about Mt. Charleston is we used to be able to go up there in Kyle Canyon, camp out overnight, and they’d have these nice stone barbeque pits that you could fire up and barbeque—we can’t do that now. They fixed it up; now you can’t use it. The government is— Little shot at the BLM, or Forest Services. Forest Service. Forest Service. Do you ever go out to Tule Springs or anyplace like that at that time? No. Never knew Tule Springs even existed then. You remember going out to Bonnie Springs, though (unintelligible)? Or did you (unintelligible)? Yes, but it wasn’t called Bonnie Springs out there. Wasn’t that old Krupp Ranch? You went to the Krupp Ranch? Yes, I think so. I don’t remember exactly what they call those places out there, but I can remember going out in that area, what you’re talking about, where the Bonnie Springs Ranch is. Riding your motorcycle? No, I went out there with the Boy Scouts. Oh yeah? And we camped up there alongside that reservoir in the bushes up there where they had wild grapevines. Interesting. Do you ever smoke a dried grapevine? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 14 No, I never have. Don’t inhale. (Laughs) That’s what we used to do as kids, used to get those little dried grapevine stems and cut ‘em up I little lengths like a cigarette, light it up, and it’d burn just like (unintelligible). You had to have a little suction to make ‘em go. (Laughs) I’m sure nobody could inhale one, at least not more than once. Do you remember going out to any of the, like, Henderson, Boulder City, negative things about them at all? Yes, but I don’t think of anything specific (unintelligible) clear. I remember when I was, oh, fourteen or fifteen, my brother-in-law lived out there in Victory Village, but Henderson was just a little town. I guess it’s still a little town. Gotta get the (unintelligible). (Laughs) What—have you done gambling, or do you like gambling, or? No, I surely don’t gamble. I tried it, oh, many years ago. I’m so unlucky at gambling that (unintelligible) no interest, ‘cause after you lose twenty nickels in a row, (unintelligible) come along and just lose interest. What do you do for activity and hobbies and stuff? Oh, I’ve got many hobbies, fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever the case may be. Amateur radio is one, and motorcycle riding’s another, which pretty well takes up a lot of time, as you probably well know. And I know you play tennis a lot. Yes. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 15 Do you remember some of the changes from the time—you went off to school in Reno about 1958? 1957, I think it was, or ’58—’57. And when you got out of school, you went to Europe for two years and (unintelligible). Right. Did you notice a big change when you came back after that? Yes, the town just grew tremendous (unintelligible) between ’61 and ’63. I think you probably remember yourself, that was back when they overbuilt, and there was just apartments and houses all over town that were just left vacant—hasn’t happened since either, (unintelligible). But it was tremendous. When I came back, there was streets and markets that I never saw before, just in a two-year period. That reminds me of the time I went into the service, the same thing—do you remember some of the markets and stuff that were around then and what’s happened to them? Yes. Of course, market of greater interest is the one that is next to where I live. There’s a market now on Fifteenth and Fremont Street; it used to be called Park Market, I believe, and then later on, it changed to Food Land. I guess, oh, maybe three or four years, it (unintelligible) and now they’re out there, I think they’re building apartments there now. That market has been there for a long time. I think they built that market just about the time I moved down in that area, about 1943. Across the street, they built a little drugstore, Fremont Drug, which is still there. When I moved down to Fifteenth Street, that was really quite—for a five-year-old, that was a great adventure, you move further out of town. And there wasn’t anything between Fifth Street, which is now Las Vegas Boulevard, and Fifteenth. It was practically all just dirt. That high school? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 16 Well I guess the high school must’ve been there, but I don’t remember it, ‘cause it was on Seventh Street. I can remember going out to Fifth Street Grammar School, and going up and down Bridger, which is right Downtown, that was just a rocky dirt road. It used to give us a real tough time trying to ride a bicycle over there, bouncing off the boulders. That subdivision that you’re in was called? Mayfair. Mayfair, that was— Right. I guess it’s getting to be an old subdivision. And you lived there ever since. Yup. Do you have any remembrances of the changes in the town when Howard Hughes came? Well, yes, but not too direct, just more mainly what I’ve heard other people say, like, for instance, how does the story go?—the petty, the crime, the petty theft has gone up tremendously, because before Howard Hughes came, (unintelligible) the operators or the (unintelligible), whatever—they didn’t stand for that kinda stuff. And you got a guy crashing your rooms or knocking over your customers in the parking lot, they give you a hotel with a bad room. So they didn’t call the cops; they just took you down in the desert and got rid of you. Effective if— Very effective. Oh, I can remember our sheriff—who was that sheriff? I remember when he got voted out of office, the new sheriff came in and found out that he used to run the call house, the cat house out there at Four Mile, which is a trailer park now—I can’t remember who that sheriff was. Cliff Jones[SIC]? Or is he the sheriff that came in? UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 17 He may have come after—I don’t remember who the sheriff was now. But he used to go up there and raid it every month or two to make it look good. That was during the war? Probably. How did you know such things when you were so young? Oh, the kids knew everything—at least we thought we did. That was way out of town, too. That was off limits, was made off limits for the Las Vegas Air Station, as I remember. Oh, you heard of it, too? Yes, us kids knew everything. (Laughs) (Laughs) Did you ever get out, when you older, driving out into Paradise Valley, what is now (unintelligible)? Oh, I suppose I did. You might relate some of the stories then, you first got your car and places you went and things you saw that have changed now, that you remember? I only remember going around Red Rock—ever been up to Blue Diamond—to Red Rock? That used to be quite a ride, ‘cause it was all dirt road. I can remember us doing a little road racing out there in that dirt, taking a few shortcuts across the desert after you missed a turn. And (unintelligible) now, we used to have a floating dragstrip—I think it’s probably out there on Desert Inn now—(unintelligible) some of the old roads, and out there used to be called Bond Road. I don’t even know where it went to now. That turn into Sunset? Bond is what now is Tropicana. Tropicana? That’s Bond. UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 18 That was— That’s not even as far as I thought it was. (Laughs) Do you remember any of the incidents, like in the fifties, the late fifties, that stand out internationally, maybe, how this town reacted to them? You were in the service during the Cuban Crisis, but— Right. Well, I remember when we had the conflict in Korea, of course. It was quite a concern because they were calling out a few people from the reserves. Anybody that was in reserves was really quite excited about it. But it didn’t bother me any; I was much too young for that. And I could never—I don’t remember exactly what it was, but the big highlight was when Tommy (unintelligible) came through town (unintelligible). It was gigantic (unintelligible), and he had to have two drivers—it was double (unintelligible) one in the front and one in the rear, and it pivots (unintelligible) driving around the corner. That was sometime in the early fifties, I think. Let’s see, in 1953, went down to Los Angeles with the Boy Scouts and the jamboree, and (unintelligible) floating around out in the bay and ran into the, I guess— [Recording cuts out] Continuing on side two of the tape, we have an interview with Marshall Dawson of Las Vegas, Nevada. Do you remember anything that you can tell me about the Strip or how its changes have appeared to you, starting from your earliest recollections and going through (unintelligible)? Back in the early fifties or late forties, the hotels were far apart—nothing in between but desert. So there was the Desert Inn, Flamingo, and of course the El Rancho Vegas, Last Frontier, and of course, later on the New Frontier, which, I guess, (unintelligible) of the Last Frontier where the old Silver Slipper was. It seemed like it just filled in with all kinds of motels in between. It was a UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 19 great advantage, again, to us kids. We used to go out there all the way out to the one that was the farthest one out—at that time, I believe it was the Flamingo. And we’d go hit that swimming pool up, (unintelligible) for about an hour or two before the lifeguard figured out that you’re not part of the hotel residents, and we’d get tossed out. Then we worked onto the next one. And you get a lotta swimming in three or four hotels—next day, you come back and continue on. So we used to get a lotta free swimming that way. Of course, they all had swimming pools, and we used to see a lot of film (unintelligible) people out there. I can remember Jimmy Durante, ‘cause he used to say he used to work for free, and he’d work Las Vegas, but he’d lose his entire paycheck at the gambling tables. When he got to a crap table, you know, “Baby needs a new pair of shoes,” you could hear him all over the casino. Of course, I’d listen from outside. That’s about it for the Strip. How about the same with Downtown? Do you remember your earliest grocery stores and other stores turning into casinos and stuff? Yes, grocery stores still down there—there’s one there on Las Vegas Boulevard about half a block north off of Fremont. That son-of-a-gun’s still there. And it was the El Portal Theatre, which is no longer there, but it’s been there for quite a few years. And right alongside the El Portal Theatre, there was two houses, was built back off of the Fremont Street, just like they were, I guess, back in the days when they were built. And for the longest time, these houses were there—when (unintelligible) Fremont Street was building up with all types of commercial stores and (unintelligible) houses remain there. I can remember going up to the theater there, walking by and watching the people sitting out in the front porch watching the world go by. Both sides of them were just commercial buildings all the way up and down Fremont. And there was the old UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 20 train station. I used to go up and watch the steam engines go in and go out (unintelligible) on the track. Of course, that’s now (unintelligible) where the— Union Plaza. Union Plaza, right, Union Plaza. It used be part of the cruising area—you go up Fremont Street, go around the loop there past the train station, and back down Fremont Street again, which is Downtown. And then Golden Nugget was the biggest thing in Fremont Street in those days, and I guess they put up—well, they didn’t put it up—was it the Las Vegas Club put up the big Vegas, big sign? It used to say, “Howdy, partner,” and blow smoke up in the air. And I remember Benny Binion’s Horseshoe Club. I may have gone full circle—isn’t that Benny Binion’s again? Yes. It wasn’t Benny Binion’s for a while. He spent some time in— Somewhere. Somewhere, right. After you went to Reno and you got your degree in electrical engineering and you went in the service for two years, you came back and you went to work for Nevada Power as a, oh, what you’re still doing right now? Communication engineer. And in working for Nevada Power, you’ve seen an awful lot of growth. From that aspect, perhaps we could discuss the problems and stuff that you’ve seen, faced, maybe from more of their side than us as a consumer side. Hmm, gee, I don’t know. This tremendous growth is tremendously hard on the power company. They have to come up with more poles, more substations, more generation plan, and we can’t—when the number of houses grow and people demanding the power, you can’t turn it town. You UNLV University Libraries Marshall Mack Dawson 21 gotta connect ‘em up, and if you don’t have that po