E. James (Jim) Gans was raised in Seattle, Washington and Yakima, Washington before he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1950. Gans started in school at Bonanza Elementary, then to a new Hyde Park Junior High where he was part of the first class and on to Rancho High School where he graduated. His first jobs were mowing lawns, a paper route, and working at a dog boarding kennel for 25-cents an hour.