Matthew O'Brien is a journalist, author, and college instructor who is known for his nonfiction book Beneath the Neon about homeless people living underground in the Las Vegas Valley. He lived in Las Vegas from 1997-2017. O'Brien was born in Washington D.C. but grew up in Atlanta, GA, where he graduated from the University of West Georgia in 1995. He also earned an MFA from UNLV. O'Brien was a staff writer, news editor and managing editor of the alternative weekly Las Vegas CityLife from 2000 to 2008.
Jerry Duane Morlan (1938-2000) was born and raised in Victorville, California. He worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Post Office from 1960 to 1965 before his eight-year tenure as an industrial photographer at Teledyne Semiconductor in Hawthorne, California. After Teledyne, Morlan was a successful general supervisor of the graphic arts department of leading toy manufacturing company Mattel, continuing to work as a photographer and sometimes acting as a consultant for the Yankee Photo Products company.
Show producer and designer Bill Moore was born in Gateshead, England in 1926. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in the 1950s in order to make theatrical productions. Moore, who was trained as a dancer, worked with his partner George Arnold to produce shows in Las Vegas, Reno, and Laughlin, Nevada, and in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He became known for flashy costumes and extravagant ice shows.
Willard H. George (1889-1956) was a Los Angeles, California based furrier who designed, created, and supplied furs to movie studios during the Golden Age of Hollywood (1920s-1960s). George was the son of Sadie Kiel George, and great-grandson of early Las Vegas, Nevada settler Conrad Kiel, owner of the Kiel Ranch in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dr. Hale Burgher Slavin practiced medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada for more than thirty years between 1933, when he first arrived, until his death in 1965. During this time, he held a number of positions in the state's medical society while working in a large private practice.
In the mid-1980s, Gabriel E. Garcia (b 1976) was a grade schooler when his family relocated to Las Vegas from southern California. As so many others, his parents embraced the construction boom as harbinger of work opportunity. For young Gabe, it was all about going to school and making new friends. Within a couple of years, he was experiencing a Sixth Grade Center, part of Clark County School District’s plan to desegregate local schools. For his situation, riding the bus resulted in fewer hours that his parents worried about his wellbeing.
Samuel Liddle owned and operated a general store in Leadville, Nevada during 1887. Born in England around 1841, Samuel traveled to the western United States to reach mining areas where his occupation as a mining engineer and machinist kept him employed.
Morton "Mort" Saiger was born July 22, 1903, in Opatov, Poland. He fled Poland in 1920 three days before he was to be inducted into the army. Settling in Denver, Colorado with his father, he showed an early interest in show business, winning awards as a ballroom dancer, appearing in several silent films, and performing as a baritone in a 1939 Los Angeles, California production of Mozart's opera, "Bastien and Bastienne."
Florence Frost was born March 24, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. She married Robert L. Frost in 1949 and had three daughters. Not long after she moved from New York City to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1960, she joined Temple Beth Sholom, where she worked as an executive secretary for two years. Frost worked in the banking industry for many years before she earned her broker's license in 1974. That same year, she opened her own real estate office in Las Vegas, Rancho Rodeo Realty, which she owned until 2004.
Anna Bailey was born May 14, 1921 in Savannah, Georgia. Bailey arrived in Las Vegas in 1955 to perform as a dancer for the opening of the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino. Six months later the Rouge closed, leaving both Anna and her husband, Bob, without work, since Bob had been the house singer and emcee at the Hotel. Nevertheless, Anna and Bob decided to make Las Vegas their home, convinced in the growth potential of the city.