Transcript of interview with Vaughan O. Holt by Lee LaVecchia, February 22, 1977

UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt i An Interview with Vaughan O. Holt An Oral History Conducted by Lee LaVecchia 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 Vaughan O. Holt ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 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 Vaughan O. Holt iv Abstract On February 22, 1977, collector Lee LaVecchia interviewed musician, Vaughan O. Holt (born December 2nd, 1912 in Central, Utah) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the history of Southern Nevada. Mr. Holt offers an overview on marriage and family life in Las Vegas, local transportation, education, and occupations. Pollution, tourism, railroads, and the development of the Las Vegas Strip is also discussed. Mrs. Holt is also present during the interview. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 1 The informant is Vaughan O. Holt. The date is February 22nd, 1977, 8 P.M. The place is 711 South Eighth Street. The informant’s home. Las Vegas, Nevada. The collector is Lee LaVecchia, 3288 East Russell Road, Las Vegas, Nevada. The project is History of Nevada, 117 Project One, Oral Interview, The History of Las Vegas. (Unintelligible) Are you a native of Nevada? No. I was born in Central, Utah, just above Saint George, and spent my childhood there. And then, I went to high school and grammar school in Saint George. Then I came down here just after junior college, and in about 1936. And I taught school one year in Utah before I came down here. I’d graduated as a schoolteacher, and majored in music. Oh really? Yes. And then, I came down here in 1936, and I taught one year here, and couldn’t make a living at it. And then I joined the Musicians Union. Mm. And I had learned the barber trade while I was going to school in the summer time, and got a license in 1937, as a barber. Oh. And went to work in a barbershop up on Fremont Street. Right across the street from where the Mint Hotel sits today. There was a little line of stores on both sides of the street there. They were shacks. Really? They were just wooden shacks. And the only bank in town sat on the corner, right on the corner of First Street there and Fremont Street. And there was a—the only cement block building on the UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 2 whole street that I knew of, besides some homes that was made of cement block, further down the street. Hm. There was big homes on Fremont Street on—further down the streets there. Further down the street on Fifth Street and Fourth Street, and some of the main people in town lived in these homes. They were—they were—some of ‘em were frame buildings and some of ‘em were block buildings. The Beckley’s lived there, and the Wingarts. Are those—? Who are they? Oh, they’re—they were in the banking business and they were—the head of the water company. The water company used to be owned by the Brackens. The Brackens? And two or three others. Those are—? These are people’s names? Yes. Oh. And they lived along there on Fremont Street in these big houses there. We thought they were big. They were just ordinary houses, but they were bigger than the common house, in town. (Laughs) By quite a bit. They were big, then. Big then. Yes. Wow. They were big. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 3 (Laughs) And I went to work in this barbershop right across from the Mint. And the grocery stores used to be on Fremont Street. There was a market down the street there, about on Third and Fremont. Mm-hmm. And then there was one down about, right along on Fifth—Fifth Street, where Fifth Street is now. And they call it Las Vegas Boulevard now. But the street was—Fremont was the only paved street. Really? When I came here—with the exception of the highway that came from Los Angeles, which was just a ribbon of black taupe out of town. So—? And that’s all. That was the only paved street? That was the only paved street, yes. Hm. That’s something. Can you give me a rough background of your family tree? Well, as I say, I was born in Central, Utah. Mm-hmm. In 1912, December the 2nd. And I—I had seven sisters and two brothers. And I was the baby. (Laughs) Of the family, so you know, how old my family is. Uh-huh. And my dad went broke in the sheep and cattle business in the Great Depression of 1929. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 4 And believe me, I scrambled, had to scramble for everything to make a buck. Mm-hmm. That’s how I came to Las Vegas. Ah, because you couldn’t make it in Utah. You couldn’t make it. And couldn’t make any money up there. And I had a sister that came down here in 1923. And older sister, and her husband went to work on the railroad and over on the railroad, they used to have the back shops and the roundhouse, over there where they used to service all the steam engines. Oh, you had steam engines. The trains were pulled (unintelligible) steam engines. And they used to service them in this shop and roundhouse over there, and my brother-in-law worked as a steamfitter over there on these old, old railroad locomotives and I lived with them and slept in the garage. (Laughs) And I worked for him in the daytime. He ran a service station on the side. And I worked in the service station for a dollar a day, and played at night. And as I say, I got my barbers license in 1937. So you were really busy? Yes. The railroad station, where was that? The railroad station was set right there, approximately where the Union Plaza sits now. It was—that was the end of Fremont Street. That’s as far as you could go west. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 5 You run into the railroad station. And that used to be quite a deal going up there. We used to go up there and watch the trains. Oh, really? That’s really want I mean. Occupations, in the evening. Oh. (Laughs) Were many people—? Did they get many jobs there, working there? Yes. There was a lot of people—the town was primarily a railroad town at that time. And all the houses, and some of the old houses still sit on Third and Fourth Street up there, and they’re made of block, cement block. There’s a few of them still in there, and old railroad houses. Oh really? And—and there’s a few of the old shacks that was made of a frame that’s still on Main Street. There was a lot of them on Main Street there. Shacks? Yes. Just—just frame shacks, you know. Mm. That the railroad people lived in and the different worker’s lived in, on Main Street, South Main Street. Hm. And then, as I said before, you go to the north of town and Ogden was about the—as far as it went. And there was a few things went as far as Stewart Street. And they built the old post office there, what year was that built in now? The old post office building, it still sits there. Oh, (unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 6 It—about 1936. And then, on North Second Street, in about the two hundred block was the Red Light District. Oh, what’s that? That’s where the girls— (Laughs) (Laughs) The girls hang out. It was legalized prostitution, it’s called the Red Light District. And—at that time, and they closed it up when Nellis Air Base came in here. And just after the start of World War Two. Hm. And they never—well, it’s never been (unintelligible) since. Oh, so I never even knew that it was legalized in Las Vegas. Where was that? The Red Light? The Red Light District. Mrs. Holt: Well, actually it wasn’t legal. Well. It wasn’t legal. (Laughs) But they did it. It was there. Yes. It was there. But it wasn’t legal. It was there. But they (unintelligible) And that was located on? UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 7 On North Second Street. Oh. In about the two hundred block. Mm. That’s—that’s really something. The whole block, along there was—was brothels, is that what the call them? Brothels. Brothels, yes. Hm. And their girls. Can you give me a description of what Southern Nevada was like compared to today? Well, as I say, the houses was—was mostly all, it was desert. This whole country in here was—was nothing but desert. There was about—four thousand people lived in Las Vegas, and they were all concentrated right Downtown. Most of ‘em between Fifth Street or Las Vegas Boulevard— Mm-hmm. West. And the railroad station—I mean east, and the railroad station on the west was as far as they could go. And about Garces on the south and about Stewart Street on the north. That constituted the town. And then, there was a big population lived over across the tracks in what they called, “Old Town.” Old Town? Old Town, they called it, Old Town. But that’s where the—most of the colored people are, today, is in Old Town. What they used to be—that was really the original— Oh. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 8 Las Vegas, was Old Town, and it was across the track. Hm. So all together you just had four thousand people? Right around four thousand, thirty-five hundred—four thousand people, that’s all there was here. Hm. And is it still called Old Town, today? No. It’s called West Las Vegas. (Laughs) That’s what it’s called, today. Yes. Oh, okay. Can you give me a description of the type of clothing you wore, then? Well, we wore—a lot of us wore western clothes then. That is, they wore the genuine cowboy boots, and the genuine cowboy hats, and jeans and western shirts. Oh, really? And it was a western town. Mm-hmm. And the Helldorado, that they have every year in May, it used to be, I think, up a little further, as in April, if I remember correctly. And it was a big celebration, and an annual celebration, and everybody got into the act. Really? (Laughs) And it was generally held in tents. The—which was pitched on the ground right there, where the El Cortez Hotel is now, on both sides of the street. Oh. And so that was a very big activity, then, in April? Big activity, yes. Hm. Are you married? UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 9 Yes, I am. And what is your wife’s name? My wife’s name is Hellen. And is she a native of Nevada? She was born in Las Vegas. Oh. And— The house she’s born in, she wasn’t born in a hospital, she was born in a house. And the house still stands, down here on South Ninth Street. Oh really? Yes. In the—in the three hundred block, two hundred block. Mm. Do you know the people who live there? (Laughs) No. Not now. We pass it once in a while and she points it out to me, that that’s the house she was born in. Oh. That’s really something. How long are you married? I’ve been married— (Laughs) Thirty-six years. (Laughs) Did—when you got married, did you get married here? Yes. Oh where? I got married in my sister’s front room, on the two hundred block and North Seventh Street. (Laughs) Do you have any children? UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 10 Yes. I have four children: two girls and two boys. Oh. That’s nice. They all were born right here in Las Vegas, at the Las Vegas Old Hospital, on North Eighth Street. And Dr. Hardy, was the doctor for all four of them. And two of ‘em—my oldest son, and my youngest daughter lives here in Las Vegas. My oldest daughter lives over in Logandale. Oh. That’s over here in Moapa Valley. Her husband’s a schoolteacher, and he commutes back and forth, to Clark High, every day. And there’s about twenty-five or thirty schoolteachers live over there that travel back and forth, with him every day, from Logandale. That’s— He’s been doing that for about seven years now. That’s a big trip. Yes. Its sixty miles. But they do it, and now they have a bus. The guy has a franchise and they ride the bus. Mm. And then, my youngest son is a junior at Brigham Young University. And he’ll graduate next spring. And he’s getting married this June. Oh, how nice. When your children were young, did they all go to the same elementary school and junior high school and high school? Yes. Pretty much the same. They went to the old—some of them, the early ones went to the old Fifth Street School down here, which is now part of the Federal building, down here on in the three hundred block on South Fifth Street. Was that their elementary school? UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 11 That was the elementary school. And then, the high school here—they all went to this Las Vegas High School and then some of the younger ones went to John C. Fremont, down here. It was built after the younger ones came along. Oh. Was that a high school or—? Junior high. Junior high school? Junior high. Oh. And what school was the first school? The old Las Vegas—they call it the Las Vegas Fifth Street School. And they tore it down and they built the federal building in there. That’s where the new federal building and those county officers is in there. That’s part of the old school, they remodeled that old school, and made those county offices out of it. On the three hundred block on South Fifth. Oh. That’s right. Or Las Vegas Boulevard. Hm. What is your occupation? You mean now? Or what did I do when I first came here? When you first came here, and now. Well, when I first came here, as I stated before, I was a barber. A school teacher first and then I worked at the barber trade for thirty years, and I was a musician. And I was a member of this Musicians Local, for about twenty years. And played on the Boulder Highway, and also Downtown and some out on the Strip. Mm. On the early part of the Strip, when it was first opening up. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 12 Mm. Were you also involved in mining for the—mining? Well, I was involved when I was a real young man in doing assessment work on mining claims in certain parts of Nevada. But my wife’s father— Mm-hmm. Was in the mining business and she was raised—although, she was born in Las Vegas, she was raised at Good Springs out here—thirty miles south of town. And her father was primarily a miner. Oh. That’s the way he made his living. Hm. What type of problems did the married people and the young people and the single people have in Southern Nevada yesterday, as compared to today? Well— As for instance crime rate, and alcohol and drugs. The crime rate was way down in Las Vegas when I came here. Of course, they had their drunks but not like it is, nothing like it is today. And you could sleep out in your front yard without any fear. We used to do it all the time. And we never thought of locking our house. Never? No. That—we, locking your house was just a thing that’s come along in the last ten or twelve years. Hm. In Las Vegas. And we used to never think anything about it, and the people were friendly then. We knew everybody in town. You could walk down the street and you’d see people on the street you knew and you’d stop and talk to ‘em, and—lots of old-timers, lots of characters. Lots of— UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 13 Hm. Lots of real character people and real western people in town, when we first—when I first came here, and when I was raising my family here. And it was a different town than it is today, which I think. But it’s still a good town to live in. But the crime rate is a problem, and—which it is in all of the country. Not only here. Mm. But every place else. That’s true. And the smog is going to be a problem. It is a problem. And it’s gonna be a real problem if we don’t do something about it. And what the solution is, I really don’t know. And water is gonna be a problem. Because if we grow at the rate we’re growing now, we’re gonna run out of water. There’s no question about that. Mm-hmm. In time. What do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages of living in Southern Nevada, just today, as compared to living in a big city, such as New York? Well, like I stated it—years ago, it used to be a small town. And it had this small town atmosphere, which it was an ideal place to live. We didn’t have any welfare problem, to amount to anything, and everybody that lived here was working and they was drawing a paycheck. And we had very little transient problem, and it was just a good town to live in. But—and we didn’t have the smog problem. We didn’t have the crime problem. Or any water problem. Mm-hmm. By the way, when I came here, all the water that the town used came from artesian wells. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 14 Oh really? Right up here on Artesian Heights, a lot of people didn’t know that. But the water all came from artesian wells, when I first came here. Mm. This was a—you could get an artesian well on almost any place in the desert that you wanted to drill. Oh wow. Years ago. Water would flow free out of the ground. In fact, I think one of these wells, and I still think they have the picture of it down here in city hall. The last time I saw it down there, it was supposed to be one of the biggest flowing wells in the world. Oh. The pressure was so great on it that it took ‘em, that they couldn’t cap all the water off for a long time. And there used to be a big stream of it— Oh yes? Coming from that well that run down here by the—what they call the Old Ranch. Or the Mormon, Old Mormon Fort. Where the Old Mormon Fort is. When I— And you used— First came here. You used to have water streaming up? Streaming down there—old creek water coming from this one well. Oh. (Laughs) Up there besides what they had going in the pipe. That’s something. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 15 Yes. Can you tell me something about the Mormon Fort? Well, it was built by the Mormons. I can’t tell you the year because I’m not good at dates. (Laughs) But it was way back and the leader of the gang that came in here was named Bring Hurst. He was the man that brought the first colonies over. And the Mormons came in here first. And then they were run out and left on account of the Indians. Oh. And then they came back the second time and built the fort, down here at what they call the—used to call it the Old Ranch. Oh. About to where Bunker’s Mortuary is. Right across the street to where, from where Bunker’s Mortuary is now. Down in that area. And then, they built a fort and it—they’ve restored most of the Old Fort. And it’s a monument now. Oh. Anybody can go down there and look the thing over and go through it. That’s very really interesting. They’ve— Oh. They farmed that area down in there. That’s good ground in there and that’s where they got the water. There used to be a stream of water running down there. And, they called it—in Spanish, I think, Las Vegas means meadow. And that’s what it was, it was a meadow. Oh. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 16 Down in there. That must have been beautiful to see. Mm-hmm. And cottonwood trees, big cottonwood trees. Lots of shade. Mm. What type of transportation did you use when growing up in Nevada? Well, not growing up—while living here? Well, we used lots of horses. Horses? Yes. And everybody had horses. To? They rode ‘em, around the desert. And then we had, of course the old cars. The Model T and the Model A. And you fix a flat tire (unintelligible) every time you went around the block. Mm-hmm. They drove ‘em. And that’s what they used—was the old time cars—mostly. Did many people own horses? Well, yes. A lot of people owned horses. They were very calm. Mm. But other than the horses and cars there was no other type of transportation (unintelligible)? Well, and the train. Oh, and the train. And the train, yes. And, a lot of people rode the train. Train tracks (unintelligible) How would—did you use the train for transportation? Yes. The train was very popular for transportation, then. They had passenger trains running through here at both directions all the time. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 17 Oh really? Yes. Yes. It was a popular—popular form of transportation. What do you think made them stop using the trains? It became—just finance. It wasn’t financially sound. They couldn’t compete with the buses and the airplanes. Oh. The airplanes—that’s, that was the main reason. And it’s too slow and people want to move faster. And then, of course, the private automobile. Mm-hmm. And the new highways, is moving people themselves, when they go by car. Oh. Okay. Have you noticed any weather changes in Nevada when you first came here, as opposed to today? Well, it seemed to me like it used to rain a lot more than it does now. For example, when we built this house, that we live in—we built it in 1940, and they got the framework up and it rained so much that it, they couldn’t—it took ‘em three months to get the weather good enough to finish the plaster. Really? Yes. It rained so much, that spring. Boy. And it seemed to me like we used to get more snow on Mount Charleston than we get now. And I—I used to think that the wind blew a lot more. I’m sure it did. (Laughs) ‘Cause it seemed like the wind blew every day. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 18 Really? Yes. Oh boy. I think the big high buildings and all that has had a barrier on the wind, I think it’s broken up, especially Downtown Las Vegas. The wind don’t blow as much as it used to. How about the hot summers? Well, of course, they didn’t have air conditioning when I came here. And the summers were hot. (Laughs) What—what did you do? (Laughs) We slept outside. That’s why we slept outside. (Laughs) To get away from the heat. And the desert coolers didn’t come and they were the first, and they came about 19—in the late 1940s. Oh. And swamp coolers. And we thought they were heaven. (Laughs) Really, because we had never had any air-conditioning. And now everything is air-conditioned, and we— It’s very comfortable. We’re very comfortable. Why, in fact, you suffer less with the heat here, in the summertime where you have air-conditioning, than you do in lots of places where they don’t think they need air-conditioning. (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 19 Yes. Where you go, like when I go up where I was born and raised, in Southern Utah, where they don’t have air-conditioning in some of the places, I suffer the heat a lot more than I do down here. (Laughs) That’s—that’s true. Yes. How about the skyline? Did the skyline change, at all? (Laughs) It changed. (Laughs) It’s not even the same— (Laughs) Place at all. There was nothing—there wasn’t a two story building in town, I don’t believe, I can’t remember one. Unless it was the post office. (Laughs) Or I think the post office on Stewart was the only two story building in town, and the high school—and the Apache Hotel. And where was that located? It sits, the Apache Hotel sits where the Horseshoe sits today. Oh. Downtown on Fremont Street. And there was nothing out south of town but once in a while a clump of trees where a well was flowing. Where there was a flowing well. Mm-hmm. That was flowing out there, there was cottonwood trees. We used to go out in the desert out there and have picnics around these wells. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 20 Oh. That used to be flowing out there. Yes. And where was that, where you had these picnics? Out in Paradise Valley. Oh. Yes. Where— Paradise Valley? Paradise Valley is now. And out even—out here where the—where the Sahara Hotel is, and where the Hilton Hotel is, there used to be wells and farms out in there. People used to raise chickens and rabbits out in there. Oh boy. Have little farms, you know. That was— So they had many farms? Well—scattered around through there. Hm. Through Paradise Valley, there was little farms scattered all over there. In where the good soil was and where the water wells where. And there was a bunch of Japs down in there, used to raise chickens, and rabbits, and vegetables. Hm. And we used to go out there and buy ‘em, right from the Japs. Oh. Vegetables. And chickens and rabbits and you name it. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 21 They had it. Uh. So to you the skyline really changed. Yes. It really changed. (Laughs) Yes. How do you feel about that? Well, it’s alright. Las Vegas is still a good place to live. I’ve been around a lot of places and spent— (Tape one ends) This is a continuation on how Mr. Holt feels about the skyline, the changes of it. Well, the skyline as I say has really changed. And the big tall buildings in both Downtown Las Vegas and out on the Strip, has really changed the skyline. And it looks like a big city now, which it really is. That’s true. Now what else do you want to know about the skyline? (Laughs) That’s all. (Laughs) What type of pollution changes have you noticed since you have been here? Well, it’s been quite a change. When I first came here, there was no pollution at all. We didn’t even know what it was. And about the only pollution it was, it was a dust storm came up once in a while and then that would fill the air full of dust. But there was no admission from automobiles or any kind of vehicle like that, which you have today. But it’s a problem, but I think they’ll eventually overcome it. And if the wind blows, well, it cleans it out. But if it’s real still, well, UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 22 then it does hang around over the Valley, and it does create some problem. I don’t really think that’s it alarming, yet. And I hope that it don’t become that way. Was Nevada affected in any way during the Depression? If so, in what way? Well, Las Vegas area was very fortunate during the Depression days, because they were building Hoover Dam, they called it now. They called it Boulder Dam at that time. And they were, there was work here. Mm-hmm. And people came from all parts of the country. And I can remember up here on the old courthouse lawn, of the people coming in here, and they couldn’t find rooms or any place to stay. So they slept on the lawn. (Lawns) And they were almost head-to-toe up there, sleeping on the lawn. But— Boy. There was very, very little crime. And people respected one another, and you were safe. We slept out in the front yard. Hm. In the summertime, on account of the heat. And nobody every bothered us. And they had a place up there right around South Third Street, and the post office and the city, and the county courthouse, where they hired these people. It was a hiring office. Oh. And I’ve seen a line there a block long. Hm. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 23 Where people were trying to get a job. And they did hire an awful lot of ‘em. In fact, I got a job there one summer. And really, actually worked on the Boulder Dam. Oh. At the conclusion of it. In about 1936, I worked out there one whole summer. Oh. Cleaning up, doing manual labor. And the pay was pretty good. In fact, it was the most money I’d ever made, at that time. Hm. On a job. Were you here when President Roosevelt came to dedicate Hoover Dam? Well, I was in the state, at that time. But I was up north on a job, with a little orchestra. Oh. As I told you before, I was a musician. But my wife was here and she saw—she went out and saw this, when President Roosevelt was at the dam. Mm. And its—my family, my brother-in-law and sister was here, and I think that they went out and saw President Roosevelt, too. And it was quite a deal. Lots of people were talking about it, all over the state. Do you feel there is a distinction between Las Vegas and other towns throughout the country? If so, what are the major reasons? Well, there really—Las Vegas really isn’t too much different than any other town. Mm. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 24 There is—it’s a good place to live. There’s two different kinds of life here, or living conditions. There’s the part that the tourist never see. That’s true. Which is very normal. And people live here just like they do any place else. They have a job, and they raise families. They make a living. And then there’s the tourists that frequent the gambling halls. And—but we, we don’t have very much of a, more of a problem here than they do in most metropolitan areas our size. And—although crime is quite high, it’s high all over the country. And we still get along very well. And it’s still a nice place to live, I think. One of the better places to live in the country, is right here in Las Vegas. Because we have the climate. Mm. And most people here are good people. I find here, they’re good people. Uh-huh. Raising families and doing what any other family would do in any other part of the country. I’m very happy to hear you feel that way. Yes. How do you feel about tourists coming to Las Vegas? Do you resent it? No. Not at all. Tourists is our life’s blood. (Laughs) And we need them, and we’ve got to have them, to exist. That’s our major industry, is tourism. And people—we’re making a drive, a real effort to treat tourists nice. And to be kind to them and friendly with them, and not take advantage of ‘em. That’s one of our big industries, and I’m very—I push it very much. Hm. UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 25 And I like it—like to see it grow. And I’d like to see the tourist industry increase. And they are—the chamber of commerce is doing everything they can, and some other organizations, to promote tourism. And we promote it, with our conventions. Our— Hm. At our convention. That’s one reason why we built the convention— Center? Center out here, is to get more tourist, and more people in town. Mm-hmm. Because it is our life’s blood, and everybody that’s conscious, should be conscious of the fact, and take care of it. That’s the way I feel about it. (Laughs) What are your feelings about newcomers, from all over trying to establish residency in Southern Nevada? Well, I don’t resent them. I came here primarily because of the climate and because I could make a living. And the economy here has always been kind to me, and I think that most people that come here and tend to their own business and work and take care of their things, I think they’ve found the same thing. And I believe that Southern Nevada is gonna grow tremendously in the next decade. And just like all of the west and the southwest is gonna grown in the sunshine states. Everything that I get in the literature that I get in my business, points that direction, and Nevada, and especially Southern Nevada is gonna be right up there amongst the top growing areas of the country. And as some—it’s gonna be right in the class with Arizona, and New Mexico, and Southern California, in growth. It’s certainly quite a difference from when you were here. Have you visited any other places other than Nevada? And if so, how do you compare them to Southern Nevada? UNLV University Libraries Vaughan O. Holt 26 Well, we’re real spoiled here in Southern Nevada. Mm-hmm. We have access to the best entertainment there is in the world. That’s right. Without a doubt. And the best food. Mm. And we’re always making comparisons every time we go any place with the—with the other place, parts of the country with Southern Nevada. And we get spoilt. We don’t even want to leave. Because where can you go that you can get what you can here in Las Vegas? No place that I’ve ever been that even compares with it in any way. And so I’m very partial towards Las Vegas. And the conveniences and the entertainment and everything that we have in this town. If you want to go out and see the best show in the world, you can go to see it. If you want the best food