Patrick P. Keenan interview, February 28, 1977: transcript

UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 1 An Interview with Patrick P. Keenan An Oral History Conducted by Clyde C. Caldwell 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 Patrick P. Keenan 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2019 UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 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 Patrick P. Keenan 4 Abstract On February 28th, 1977, collector Clyde C. Caldwell interviewed Patrick P. Keenan (born January 24th, 1905 in New York) at his house in Henderson, Nevada. Mr. Keenan discusses Las Vegas and Henderson in the 1950s. He also speaks about working on the Strip and the changes he has seen in Las Vegas over time. UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 5 The informant is Patrick Keenan. The date is February 28th, 1977. Time and place of interview 85 Lake Mead Street, Henderson, Nevada. Name of collector, Clyde Caldwell address, 430 Federal Street. Name of project is Local History Project Two One Interview: Life of a Las Vegas Old Timer. Okay, when did you first come to Southern Nevada? March the 15th, 1952. Where from? From St. Louis. St. Louis? Okay. You mentioned something about some of the incidents in Boulder City when you came. We were from a farm. We had to travel for coming into—we left St. Louis and went through Memphis a little while, Oklahoma City, I can’t think of it, drove through Albuquerque, and then were stuck at Flagstaff in the snowstorm for three days. We came to Boulder City and ran out of gas when we got up to a hill, and stopped at a gas station. The gas station was closed so we had just parked there at the pumps and went to sleep. And waited till the guy came next morning and set up the gas, and continued down to Las Vegas. Do you remember how big Boulder City was? It was very small. I think about four or five thousand people, something like that. Now you say you came to Vegas. What part of Las Vegas did you stay in? We came down Boulder Highway, passed through Lake Mead, and saw a sign that said Kingman’s Trailer Park, and we continued down, checked every trailer park in Las Vegas, and North Las Vegas, and they didn’t have any openings. It was Saturday so we turned around and went back to Kingman’s Trailer Park and stopped there. UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 6 (Laughs) We found a parking spot there and the lady that was renting the place to us asked my name. I told her Patrick Keenan. And she says “It can’t be!” And I go, “Sure, I’ll show you my driver’s license.” And she said two weeks before, her son-in-law name was Patrick Keenan and he had just died. So I thought that was kind of weird. (Unintelligible) Pretty coincidental or something. I mean I parked there from like three months (unintelligible). In the meantime, I had gone to work at the Western Electro Chemical Company in Henderson. You mentioned to me that you were on your way to California? Yes, to see my brother. We just stopped to see what Las Vegas looked like. Just stopped to see what it would look like and you ended up staying here? We didn’t intend to stay. You lived in Whitney three months before you moved to Henderson. Okay. What was the population of Las Vegas when you first—? They told us it was thirty-five thousand. And what about Henderson? You said—? Henderson must have been around ten thousand. Okay. It was small. You worked in some of the plants here in Henderson? Well, Western Electro Chemical Company. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 7 Seven years, I went in, and while I was there they—American (unintelligible) bought ’em out. (Unintelligible) Mm-hmm. I see. What was your reason for leaving American (unintelligible)? Well, the plant went on strike. And I was a foreman, and I refused to cross the picket line so they had to fire me. So, I went to work with the plumbers, worked there a month, and they went on strike. (Laughs) And I got a job in the meantime while they were on strike as an operating engineer at the Stardust. And what year was that? Nineteen fifty-nine, in July. And when the plumbers strike was over, I—my wife wouldn’t let me go back to the plumbers so I stayed at the Stardust and worked there for ten years as an operating engineer. And then I retired. The Strip was pretty small at the time? Oh boy, it was getting big. The Stardust was the first big one. It was open for a year before I had to come to work there. It opened in 1958 in July. And it was immediately a big success. It was the first of the really big Strip hotels that was built. Mm-hmm. It had 1400 rooms, and there was (unintelligible) operation that— At that time? At that time it was the biggest and most successful operation on the Strip. And after that, they began building the other big ones, the Hilton and MGM. Okay. Of the unions—what were the unions pretty strict? Yes. The Operating Engineers Union men was—we were the Local 501, and had one hundred locals (unintelligible). The Operating Engineers Union Locals 501 till Los Angeles took them UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 8 over, then it was more successful after that. It was very good. That’s the way it is today. And I worked—after working at the Stardust for ten years, I retired, and that was (unintelligible) today. (Laughs) Did you get much of that—any of the episodes of Howard Hughes while he was working out there? Oh, yes. We were right in the middle of it. He one time had purchased the Stardust, but they wouldn’t let him go through with the deal. And the same people that sold the Desert Inn to Hughes at that time owned the Stardust. And he wanted the Stardust too, but the gambling commission wouldn’t let him. So he backed away from it. But, Moe Dalitz was the head man in the Stardust and the Desert Inn. Moe Dalitz? Moe Dalitz, yes. We were talking about the test site, the nuclear test site above ground out there. You used to watch? Yes. You could see the mushroom clouds. Of course, it was—they waited till the weather was just right, no wind or anything. And they blew that mushroom cloud. You could see it for hours after it went way up. That was in 1952 late, and 1953, while some of 1954, and then they stopped it for—Eisenhower, Russians got together on some kind of an agreement and then they stopped. The people—the people didn’t mind? The people didn’t mind. There was no effect from it here. You could feel the shock of the explosion so many minutes after it, it was a hundred miles away and so many minutes, but after you could hear the windows—. (Unintelligible) Do you remember when the El Rancho Vegas burned down? UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 9 Yes. In 1962 or 3, I don’t recall which year, but right along in there. And the reason for—the reason they say it burned down was because? Faulty wiring. Mm-hmm. Were most of the people that lived in Henderson working at the Henderson plants? At the Henderson plants and the test site. Awful lot of them worked at the test site and on the Strip. On the Strip. What was the main transportation for people working out at the test site? They used their own transportation, carpools and like that. Did they come back the same day that they went out or—? A lot of them did, yes. And some of them had trailers parked out there and stayed out there till the weekend. Come home weekends. Okay. What was—during the summer months here—what was the, what were some of the methods of keeping cool for people? Well back then, the coolers were there, widely used. They didn’t have too much air conditioning at that time, in those small units. They came later. Were the Mormons pretty strong in religion? Oh, yes. Yes. (Unintelligible) In fact, Mormon Tabernacle Choir (unintelligible). I think that was in ’54. The Mormons had a lot to do with politics too? Oh, yes. Yes. Very much. Okay. UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 10 And they still do. When you went to see the—some of the big movie stars and things like that around the Strip, do you remember the cost of the shows at the theater? Very cheap. You could see the best shows in town for a couple bucks. You could see them, even (unintelligible). Okay. And what about the McCarran Airport. Was it—how big was it when you first came to Southern Nevada? Oh, it wasn’t nearly as big as it is now. Yes. (Unintelligible) Yes. The entrance used to be on Las Vegas Boulevard South. Then they changed it to Paradise Road and (unintelligible). Was Hughes Airport connected at that time? There was no Hughes Airport. It was all just McCarran back then. And Hughes took over the area of McCarran Airport, and then they built the new one on site. He just bought the old one? Yes. He was also (unintelligible). The Boulder City Airport was pretty important back then, wasn’t it? Well, for small planes—just small planes. Couldn’t handle any of the commercial airplanes. Can you tell me some of the important political leaders Southern Nevada had at the time when you first came here? Well, the mayor was—what’s his name. I can’t remember his name. Cragin was mayor. Of Las Vegas or—? UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 11 Of Las Vegas. And the senator was Pat McCarran. And the other senator was Molly Malone. His name was Judge Malone, they called him Molly Malone. And Howard Cannon was city attorney. He’s our present senator. He was city attorney at that time? He was city attorney of Las Vegas, yes. And Henderson wasn’t a city at that time, and (unintelligible). They just had a police department with post office and the sheriff, the Clark County Sheriff’s Department. The congressman was Walter Berring. That’s just about all the political figures that I knew then. Okay. Was gambling an important recreational activity for you at the time? Not so much. We found out quite quick you couldn’t beat ’em, so they— (Laughs) Mm-hmm. Yes, but a little. You know, not (unintelligible) were big gamblers. (Unintelligible) No. Okay. What about radio and TV? Was there—? There wasn’t any TV until 1954, I believe. And KLAS went on the air. There was two or three radio stations at that time. So that was the main thing at night? Oh, yes. It was just, listen to the radio. When filing for a home site, what was the maximum allowed land you could file for at that time? Ten and a half acres. In the spot, the section that we wanted, ten and a half acres. There were differences (unintelligible). UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 12 Okay. What—where was this section that you filed for? Where was the section? Just south of what’s the name of the, Paradise Spa is it? Yes. Unknown Speaker: Paradise Spa. Half a mile south of Paradise Spa. Paradise Spa? Yes. We still have it. The past was probably not even considered (unintelligible)? Oh yes. It was about five thousand acres. What were some of the major changes you have noticed since you’ve lived in Vegas, in the Vegas area? Where the convention center is now, that was a racetrack. I think it only operated a short time (unintelligible). And there were a lot of people (unintelligible). Really gave it to the city of Las Vegas for the convention center. When they built the convention center (unintelligible). Right where the racetrack was at? Yes. And (unintelligible) was part of the racetrack. (Unintelligible) What about the hotels and everything? Oh, you see all the big high rises. There’s the Sahara and (unintelligible), the Riviera, and Stardust, and (unintelligible). The president himself was (unintelligible) when he came here. And then they built the Sands, and then the Last Frontier, the New Frontier, then they had just the Frontier that (unintelligible) across the way from both the Sands Hotel and the Holiday Inn, the Aladdin, the Dunes, and then MGM Grand, Caesar’s Palace, and Tropicana, and Hacienda, and I don’t know. So we’ve seen all of them built in the last twenty-five years. Since you’ve moved here, has the weather changed any? Is it very humid now? UNLV University Libraries Patrick P. Keenan 13 I don’t think so. It just seems to be the same weather. It really gets pretty hot in summer, but you got your house fixed up fairly well, then you’d be fine. Okay. When it rained, did they have the major problems with the flooding back then (unintelligible)? (Unintelligible) One time it went through our yard here, about two or three feet. (Laughs) Hm. (Unintelligible) We haven’t had any floods in quite a while (unintelligible). Hm. (Unintelligible) Just keep it out. But we haven’t had a really bad flood here in the (unintelligible). Okay. That should do it. Okay. Do you think the time that you have lived in Southern Nevada was profitable for you and your family or do you think you might have been happier somewhere else? Oh, absolutely. (Unintelligible). We tried other places but—(Laughs) You’ve tried to (unintelligible)? Nothing, no point (unintelligible) Okay. Thank you.