Transcript of interview with Stanley Goldstein by Carol A. Semendoff, October 25, 1979

UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 1 An Interview with Stanley Goldstein An Oral History Conducted by Carol A. Semendoff 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 Stanley Goldstein 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 3 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 Stanley Goldstein 4 Abstract On October 25, 1979, collector Carol A. Semendoff interviewed bartender, Stanley Goldstein (born on December 5th, 1933) in his place of residence. This interview covers Mr. Goldstein’s personal historical profile as a Las Vegas, Nevada resident. Also during this interview, Mr. Goldstein discusses the Strip, gambling, prostitution, and the history of the major casinos. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 5 My name is Carol A. Semendoff and I am interviewing Stanley Goldstein, who is a bartender at The Sands Hotel, for the last fifteen years, on 25th October 1979 at 8:00 P.M. Mr. Goldstein, can you tell me the changes that have taken place at The Sands Hotel since you first started there, fifteen years ago? Well, when I first—fifteen years ago, when I first started at the Sands Hotel it was owned by a very small group of individuals headed by Jack (Unintelligible) and several others. The Summa Corporation, then known as Hughes (unintelligible), came in and bought it. Then of course with a corporation there’s definitely going to be more changes. No longer the one-on-one as you had previously. Now everything must go through corporate channels. The changes that have been made? There have been social and economic changes all through Las Vegas in the past fifteen years, not just The Sands Hotel. Changes have been made, enlargements—ah, a drop in quality of some of the entertainment, I think, in the lounges. The lounges have died. They’re slowly starting to come back. But the lounge entertainment themselves was phased out because it wasn’t a paying proposition. Next question. Have you had the very top entertainers and actresses that have come here? At one time The Sands did have the top: the Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. Oh all the top entertainment has been at one time or another associated with The Sands Hotel. Red Skelton, Carol Burnett, almost any superstar that you could name has been associated in the past with The Sands Hotel. Did you—like with the racial problems, with the different entertainers, did they have certain entrances that they had to come in and—? No. With the entertainers— Yes. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 6 There was no racial problems because at that time all the entertainers were classed under one qualification. They all used the same entrance. The entertainers were not allowed to mingle. I don’t care who they were, whether they were black, white, red, or green. There was no racial discrimination as far as the entertainers where concerned. They left the stage and whether they were white or black, they could not mingle with the audience. Now there were a few exceptions. Frank Sinatra, for example, a chairman of the board, could mingle. But the others were not allowed to. So, actually, I don’t think racial had anything to do with that. Has any of them ever come into the bar where you worked and casually talked with you? Yes. Yes. I have talked with—again, over the past years, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Red Skelton, Allan King, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Then you haven’t seen too much of the atmosphere really change that much from when you first came here? Oh, the atmosphere has changed, as much as the atmosphere has changed in the whole country. Do you enjoy your work what you’re doing here? Obviously, after being here fifteen years I must enjoy it. I enjoy people. I like people. It’s as any other occupation can be—it has its good days, it has its bad days. But if I disliked it to an extreme—to an extreme extent I still wouldn’t be doing it. It supports my family and as I said the Summa corporation is a good corporation to work for and the Sands Hotel is more than just a hotel, it’s—after so many years it has to become part of you and you part of it. And the changes in Las Vegas that you have seen over the years have—? Well, I’ve seen—well, seen Las Vegas grow—from a small town with a small town atmosphere to a small town with a big city atmosphere. I’ve seen the large increase in the population. I’ve seen a lot of bare land go, build up and into being new businesses, hotels enlarged, new hotels UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 7 built. I’ve seen the start of—I saw the end of one era and the start of another era. And when you get the large era of the large big business, you’re going to find the rising crime rate, you’re gonna find anything where there’s an increase in population. The standard stories are that the transients are the majority of our crime problem, but we’re a transient community. We have a lot of people who move in here, for gambling, for divorce, for many reasons. In their home state they can’t find work, but they do find work here. They may stay three months, they may stay three years. But it’s still—it’s a transient society and any transient society you’re going to have problems and as far as the real changes is I personally hated to see Las Vegas grow up. ‘Cause there are certain good things you have to sacrifice for progress. The old expression, ‘Nothing—no such thing as a free lunch!” Is true. For everything good thing we have gained, we’ve lost something good, and it’s up to men much wiser than I to weigh the benefits of it all. When did you first come to Las Vegas? Or when did you come to the state of Nevada? Do we really have to go into that? (Laughs) That’s so many years ago. Oh, well, let’s see—early ‘50s to Las Vegas, how’s that? Very early ‘50s. Did you really like it back then in the ‘50s? Loved it. There was no place like it in the world. What did you do back there? What did I do in the ‘50s? Right. Right. Well, I worked. And I worked at a hotel that no longer is in existence called The Royal Nevada. It’s where the—part of the Stardust is now. And before that, when the Showboat first opened, I worked at the Showboat Hotel, when it first opened. As a bartender? UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 8 Yes. I was a bartender and kept up with the city. As I said, I love Las Vegas when it was small, which is a stilted point of view but my point of view. Why did you move here? Oh, that’s a good question, really. I think majority of moves are made for economics and it was a matter of making money to live on. The northern part of the state where I was living before we moved to Las Vegas. At that time there were not that many jobs available and there was not that much money to be made. It’s a necessity to live, so I came to Las Vegas. Did you work in any of the hotels up in Reno? Ah, yes. In Reno, I worked at the Mavis Hotel and I worked at the Golden Hotel, but not as a bartender, though, I worked as a busboy. And Reno even then was small, but I also worked in the office supply house. I was a shipping clerk and I worked as a salesman. Have you ever lived in Ely? Ely? Yes. No. I’ve never lived—I’ve been through Ely. Yes. But I’ve never lived in Ely. Were you married in Southern Nevada? Yes. I was married in Las Vegas. What are some of your ideas on politics? Well, I— In other words in a hotel industry, you feel like politics has a lot to do with getting jobs? UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 9 Well, I think anybody that works in any large—any large complex that uses a great deal of employees, there’s going to be a certain amount of politics connected with it. And that goes from the automobile industry to the hotel industry to the casino industry to the boss’s nephew working for him in the corner drugstore. So, certainly there’s a small amount of politics. Otherwise, most of the people that I’m associated with that are employed by the hotels are hired on capability. And you find it quite fair? Ah, I really see no—I really can’t say I’ve seen too much unfairness in the hiring practices. Not anymore than you would find, as I said in any large corporation. What are your motivations and goals? What motivates me? Yes. Well, what motivates ninety percent of the— Yes. Male population from what I understand, is the dollar sign. I think we’re all motivated by success. Mm-hmm. But what success I have attained, I don’t know, or have yet to obtain, I don’t know. I have set goals for myself which I have not yet obtained. I hope to someday. I hope to own a small business. Definitely not a bar and I enjoy the outdoors and I out in—living a few miles away from Las Vegas, to me would be ideal. Where I can travel to Las Vegas. I do love the area, I love the city. But I would like to do what they did years ago back east, escape to the suburbs. Only here the suburbs is the countryside. You enjoy camping out, going to Kyle Canyon and—? UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 10 Oh, yes I enjoy it. Red Rocks and—? I love camping out. I think it’s one of the beautiful ways to relax, there is. Would you suggest that Las Vegas could be a nice place to raise a family, than all the negative? Oh, certainly, Las Vegas. Everybody gets this attitude, ‘Las Vegas does this, Las Vegas does that’. In the first place it’s an inanimate object. It is a city, that is all. The people that are in the center of the city that make it work and it’s the people that—it’s, your lifestyle dictates if it’s a nice place to raise a family. Ah, if you don’t like an area you’re in it’s up to you to try to get out of it to where you wouldn’t want to raise a family. I think there’s no negative aspects of Las Vegas, in raising your family. You’ve got thieves and priests come out of the same neighborhood. So, how can you really use the negative aspect of Las Vegas, doing it? What do you do for your recreation on your time off? Oh, occasionally, my wife and I and child, we’ll take short trips. Drive to Saint George, Utah, which is quite beautiful. Of course, work around the house. Do things that the normal average husband and father would do. Nothing unusual or spectacular. I’m not, I don’t gamble. So, that doesn’t fascinate me. What were some of your awards and honors that you have received since you’ve been at your job? In terms of appreciation and—you know? Well, no. I’ve got service pins for five year, ten year. Yes. Right. Bartenders don’t receive awards and recognition of—however, as long as they keep working, that’s award and recognition enough. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 11 And your education? Well, nobody has enough education. You want to know my educational background? Yes. Oh, well. Let’s see. I could say, I have a doctorate, but I don’t. I could claim a masters, which I do. My basic concept of psychology. But psychologists today if you don’t mind the ethnic humor, psychologist is a Jewish boy who can’t stand the sight of blood. It’s not a paid—a good paid profession, at all. Unless you’re willing to publish or perish, involve a new theory that’ll be disproved two years later by an upcoming psychologist. You go for your doctorate and you counsel. The difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist is about twenty dollars an hour. And the field really doesn’t fascinate me that much. It’s overcrowded. Do you remember any of the historic sites around here? You mean similar to the old Mormon Fort and—yes. Really, Las Vegas itself is not that filled with historic sites that are that well known or that popular to the majority of people. The Valley of Fire has markers and monuments in it that I guarantee you that eighty percent of the people who have gone there have never seen. Or they can come commemorate to some wagon train that crossed it and somebody lost their direction and died there. Because no sane human being would go there for any other reason—except for the fact that they got lost. It was also the Lost City Museum, which is in the Valley of Fire, which holds the record of the original Indian tribes here. Do you remember anything about the early above ground atomic tests? Yes. I can remember the first ones. And, of course it was a great wave of publicity at that time about them in the local paper. You notice I said, “Paper.” There was speculation, not too much excitement, of photographs, a lot of strange people in town. And I think for more information on UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 12 that you should ask the people of Saint George. They seem to have quite a bit to say about it now. Where you a member of any social club or any other interests—special interests groups? Special interest groups? What do you mean by special interests groups? Like—if you belong to like Democratic Party or—? Oh, at one time. Young Republicans or? Yes. One time I belonged to the Young Democrats. I belonged to it for a short while. And then, got out of that, because I’m too much of a conservative liberal. Sort of a hockey (unintelligible) and— (Laughs) I can’t lean too far with the Democratic Party and I can’t lean too far with the Republican Party. If I was going to affiliate myself with a group, I would have to be a true Jeffersonian. Not what they call Jeffersonian today but the true Jeffersonian Party—as Thomas Jefferson set it up. Have you seen any environmental changes in the Southern Nevada? I have seen quite a bit. One of them is an ugly brown cloud that hangs over Henderson that so far nobody claims to—or could really explain what it is. I’ve seen smog invade Las Vegas. And as Las Vegas expands, of course, what desert life, wild life there is, is pushed out into a tighter and tighter area. Mm-hmm. And I have seen signs of the desert wildlife diminishing because of the spread of civilization. Not because of hunters or mean little men with guns that run around shooting everything that UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 13 moves. It’s just the way civilization expands, moves them into a tighter area and they cannot survive. They don’t have enough territory. Which party do you belong to now? Well, I’m a registered Democrat—which just means I’m a registered Democrat. It does not express my political views in any way. Do you get involved in any of the church activities? Yes. I do get involved in church activities. And I gather you really enjoy living in Southern Nevada? Yes. I enjoy it very much. I’m not really that fond of the heat and all these years I never really grown fond of that heat. But I love the area. I love the convenience to everything, to the outdoors, and the atmosphere of the area itself. Do you remember anything about the Old Ranch? The Old Kyle Ranch you’re speaking about? Yes, right. Oh, no. Not really, too much. I couldn’t tell you too much of the history of that. You speak about the history previous to Las Vegas being a thriving community. Yes. Right. No. I couldn’t really tell you too much about that. Is or was gambling an important recreational activity for you or your family? No. It’s not any kind of an activity for us at all. My wife nor I gamble at all. Then in other words you stay away from the Strip or Downtown? Oh, occasionally, we’ll go see a show on the Strip. Like on our wedding anniversary we may go see a show. Or when friends and relatives come in from out of town and wish to be entertained UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 14 we do take ‘em. Otherwise, the Strip holds no fascination for us whatsoever. I mean if you worked in an automobile assembling plant would you in your free time go and watch the cars roll by? No. Same difference, really. Stanley is there a great amount of prostitution in Las Vegas? Yes. There is. As much as there is in any large city. Relative to size, I think there’s more than there should be. But again back with a transient society, and you have people from all over the country coming here. You’ll find most of your prostitution is called ‘Weekend Warriors’. I mean they come in from Los Angeles, or a great deal of ‘em from Seattle, during the weekends. And they don’t even bother getting a room. They fly in and do their business, Friday night, Saturday night, and usually leave Sunday morning, having made what they consider a lump sum. For the size of Las Vegas there’s too much prostitution. For the atmosphere, it’s probably a good, equal status, in relation to the customers that come in. They get people from out of town that come in. And usually when the gamblers are coming in, they’re looking for three things: gambling, sex, and a good time. And it’s not necessarily in that order. And you do get winners, and those winners occasionally want to celebrate and in some mind celebrating is grabbing a girl and since they are available, they take, and it’s a thriving business. Thank God for one thing in this area, we do have a lot of pimps, but not as many as let’s say New York or Los Angeles would have. There not really a necessity here. They’re not a necessity anyplace except to the prostitute. But that’s the only thing. We’re getting a large amount of sex crimes lately, but that again goes back to the large influx of people. You think they’ll really close down the chicken range in Nye County? UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 15 In Nye County? I think that’s gonna be a battle that’s gonna last for a long time. You’ve got one group that wants to close it down. Another group that wants to keep it open. I do not live in the county, so I really couldn’t offer my opinion of it. Do you think the morality of Las Vegas is worse than any other city? Believe it or not, I think it’s better. I think we have—as a whole, your permanent population has better morals than any city of comparable size. We do have a—no denying a large narcotic problem, which I’m sure, they at the university realize and recognize. Whether they pay attention to it or ignore it is another thing. I think basically it’s ignored. But the morality of Las Vegas—I think among the residents it’s almost puritanical. You’ll be surprised at the people that you run into are not connected to the Strip. But are just plain ordinary church going folk. And they frown on all the goings on, as I said. I would say three quarters of the permanent population does have a puritan complex about the whole thing. And you think the newspapers and the news media just drag it out of proportion? In other words they just blow it up more than it actually, what it is? Oh. Beyond the doubt. I think the news media is, for the state itself has degenerated into a comic strip for adults. It’s a cleaned up version of the National Enquirer. I think they have just as much facts and just as—basis of anything to go on as the National Enquirer does. Trouble is, people of my generation learn to say, “Well, if it’s in the newspaper, it must be true.” Well, unfortunately, this is not always the fact. Do you think it is a difficult city for a marriage to survive? Yes. And this depends on quite a few factors. There’s an old Las Vegas expression that if a marriage survives Las Vegas, it’ll survive any place in the world. Now if you want my personal viewpoints and philosophy on that fact, I can give ‘em to you. But the basic fact is that there is UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 16 just so damn much temptation on both the male and the female part, in this city. Especially since our main industry is gambling. The hotel industry, the casino, the entertainment industry, there is a lot of temptation thrown your ways. So my philosophy is if the marriage broke up it may have just broke up earlier than it would’ve someplace else. Because the opportunity is here. In a small town people, or another city, people hide and do things and keep their marriage together and maybe twenty-five years later get a divorce. Here it’s more in the open. There’s more temptation. They do it and they save time. But if a marriage will last here it will last anyplace in the world. So, yes, it’s difficult for a marriage to survive in Las Vegas. But it’s difficult anyplace right now. Stanley what is your favorite historic story of the Las Vegas area? Well, I think one of the most fascinating is (unintelligible) the lost Mormon treasure. And the Red Rock Canyon area, not far from here. As the story goes a group of Latter-day Saints were transporting money, which would be currency, paper currency, gold, and silver and household items of great value to another colony of Mormons that needed financial support, on its way was attacked by Indians. And there was two survivors and they came into this small town, explained that they had been attacked and wanted to file. By the time a rescue party head back, the rest of the wagon train was eliminated, all parties were dead, and the treasure was gone. It seems it’d been outlawed by Indians, sort of a wild bunch. And they had taken the treasure and buried it someplace in the area. Now there’s Indian pictographs they had found. There’s supposed to be a map to the treasure. And there’s copies of ‘em floating around. So far, nobody’s been able to translate it. In my understanding, what I’ve been told is the reason that—every tribe or every group had their own form of writing. This tribe unfortunately, nobody can read their handwriting. In the ‘50s, early ‘50s, one man spent over a million dollars for the bulldozer. Taking about destroying the ecology, he did one hell of a job of it—looking for the treasure. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 17 Course his bankroll ran out and he still hadn’t found the treasure. Occasionally, people still do go look for it. I think if it’s ever found, it’s gonna be found by some little old lady who was out picking wild cactus and trips over it. But through the years the land itself has changed, geographically and a man working with a bulldozer sure didn’t help it any. But they never found it? It has never been found. Do you think there is gold out there and silver? Oh, definitely, all through the state, there’s many places of buried—people before there were banks, worried and they either died or they forgot where they buried it. And this being the silver state, and with the economy going the way it is, there’s going to be renewed interest in mining, prospecting. There’s still old timers who are out prospecting. They’ve been prospecting for fifty, sixty years and maybe they’ve found a little bit, enough just to keep ‘em going but I think they’d be disappointed if they ever found anything, because it’s their way of life. Then there was quite a bit of silver in the state of Nevada, in the early days? Oh. Yes. Definitely. The Comstock Lode, The Silver State, the main reason for this state being adopted as a state. As you know we’re getting very close to admission day, and we’re the Battle Born State, because of the Civil War. Aside from needing its votes it needed the silver. And Lincoln figured or the Secretary of War, Staton, or whoever in Washington figured they could use the silver much better than the south could. It would help the war effort. Can you tell me a little bit more about your family history? Why you’ve been in this state here? Well, I don’t think I’ve lived long enough to have really a truly a history. Without getting extremely personal, the rest of it would be very dull, to the average person. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 18 Your dad worked in one of the hotels here, right? Yes. My father was a shift boss at the Stardust Hotel before he died and I had broke that mold by not gambling. Mm. Or going into the gambling part of the business. But you think there’s a quite a bit of history behind all these casinos that have opened up in the ‘50s? Well, there’s been quite a few books written about the casinos. The most notorious I think was the Green Felt Jungle, which was full of half-truths and some full-truths and a lot of fairytales. The real story I don’t think will ever truly be known, put down or printed. Because those who know the true stories are either dead or want to stay alive. Stanley, can you describe yourself? Well. You seem like a real interesting character. I’m a character of a good description. To describe myself, well, if I want to describe myself I’d say I was a tall Robert Redford. Blue piercing eyes, blond curly hair, utterly charming and fascinating to women, completely friendly to other men, immediately liked. But if you wanted the truth, as I look in the mirror, I am 5 foot 9, overweight, my middle forties, ah, brilliant. I consider myself a genius. Have my, definitely an ego problem there. The only trouble being a genius is that there’s no demand or pay for it. I get along well with people. I have a fair, fair to middling attitude toward the rest of the human race. I get mad at the same thing other people get mad at: government, taxes, stupidity, ignorance. I think a—I do not consider myself an average man. I don’t think any average man would consider himself average. His ego couldn’t stand it. UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 19 To be labeled the average man is sort of a blow. I couldn’t describe myself as average. No. I’m sort of—the kind of a, the description of me would be the kind that the blind dates would always go to—they’re very intelligent, but forget the looks. No. They—it’s definitely the, my ego and my character, I think is built around my mind. The history that you have read of Las Vegas, have you found it quite interesting? Oh. The history of Las Vegas, itself? Is not really that fascinating. It’s an interesting history. But we’re fairly new. Las Vegas is fairly new. Nouveau riche is a good, good description I think of Las Vegas. It really doesn’t have a tradition. I mean, it’s like the poor family inheriting a lot of money all of a sudden and flashing it. But it really isn’t old enough to have, what I would call tradition. You think someday it will be rich in her heritage? Well. Only time will retell and history, you know, is a notorious liar. But a hundred years from today there might be a tradition of Las Vegas. Who knows, there might be fascinating stories about the man who broke the bank of Las Vegas, instead of the man who broke the bank of Monte Carlo. You think gambling will be here to stay? Yes. I think gambling is here to stay and I think it’s going to open up in many other states also. They’re finding that, there are expenses, taxes are becoming too high. Gambling is an out. It pays the bills. And New York will probably have gambling very shortly. Florida probably will. So I think gambling is actually the world’s oldest profession. I know people claim prostitution is the world’s oldest. Really, somebody took a chance. So, it has to be gambling. It’s, I think the oldest profession in the world. I see it. Gambling is mentioned in the Bible. They found traces of UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 20 gambling in Rome and ancient Greece. Probably if they ever do find the lost continent of Atlantis, they’ll find a replica of a crap table or something that they use very similar. But with gambling we will get crime? Ah, with any industry that deals in a large amount of money, you’re going to get far. I can’t say gambling breeds crime. But I’m not going to say it doesn’t help it. They don’t rob casinos. They rob grocery stores, convenience stores, and usually the thieves that are caught are not people who have been out gambling and lost their money. They, if they weren’t here robbing it, they’d be someplace else robbing it. So I don’t think gambling causes crime. It may be an excuse for it but it’s not a cause. And it’s just like all these casinos, with the corruption, you don’t think that it’s that much corruption—? Corruption. I mean— Then what you hear in the papers about different casinos like the Tropicana? Corruption. Well, certainly there’s corruption. Look at Watergate. And that was a hell of a lot bigger operation than any of those casinos. So is it. We go back again. Any large operation there’s got to be corruption. And that’s a sad statement to say when I say it has to be. But that’s the way of the world. I mean, let’s face it, if (Unintelligible) was still alive he’d still be (unintelligible). There is just—where there is money, there is temptation. Where there is temptation, somebody is gonna fall prey to temptation. Now whether it be you, me, or somebody else, somebody is going to fall to that temptation. So, that’s a crime. But that’s in the individual. That’s not in the business. The Gaming Control Board here I think does an excellent job of enforcing the rules and regulations of what they have to work with. But they are not only helped UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 21 but hindered by laws. But everybody’s gonna take a shot, sooner or later. So, as far as crime goes it’s become a part of American life. You think the other states can control gambling as well as Las Vegas has? In time. We’ve had a few years to learn the lessons that they’re going to have to learn. The mistakes they made we’ve already made learned and we’ve made ‘em two or three times. We do have several things going for us, one is climate. Everybody’s complained about worrying about New Jersey. Whether Atlantic City would hurt Las Vegas, I don’t think so. From the reports I’ve gotten, I’ve never visited there while there’s been gambling. But the reports I’ve got from different people who have, it’s ridiculous. In my opinion Atlantic City hasn’t been honest in fifty years and it’s not gonna change overnight. That’s personally my opinion. And two, there’s lousy winters in Atlantic City and the summers aren’t much better. We do have the climate going for us here. We do have the desert, we do still have relatively clean air. Atlantic City is nice. But also, there are a lot of big players who come to Las Vegas to get away from their own area, their own territory. And going across the river from New York to New Jersey, they’re still in their own territory. And you may get some gentleman who owns a large corporation. He doesn’t particularly want to see—have one of his vice-president seen at the dice table or the 21 table. And if he goes to New Jersey, he’s liable to run into his secretary or who knows, the stock boy. When he comes to Las Vegas he’s relatively sure he’s not gonna run into him. Stanley can you recall some of the stories that you’ve known from different casinos that you’ve worked in? Well, I can tell you one. I won’t tell you what casino. A woman came in with her boyfriend and honestly I’d have to say that he—he would have to be bathed before he could be called dirty. From what I had gathered from the conversation, they decided they wanted to go out to get UNLV University Libraries Stanley Goldstein 22 something to eat and they had a hundred dollars. So, instead they dropped into a casino and they sat down to play. Well, strange as it seems and truthfully, within seven and a half hours, she had a hundred and fifty, a hundred and seventy thousand dollars, it was, money in front of her. She started with a hundred dollars, she’d won a hundred and seventy thousand dollars. And as she was winning the chips she would give ‘em to her boyfriend to put in the cashiers cage. And he was stealing a few each time and looking for a prostitute, and it was really a glorious mess. And she finally quit gambling, they were tired, got a room, slept that day in that particular hotel, came down th