Lupe Avelar was born and raised in the State of Durango, Mexico, and since she was little learned from her parents the love for farming and hard work. Lupe relates her childhood with nostalgia and happiness, highlighting how her childhood moments were some of the most beautiful of her life. She grew up in a poor family that solely made their living from the farming of corn and beans. She witnessed her parents make ends meet in any way possible through hard work while staying together as a family and caring for each other.
David Peinado was born March 25, 1970 in Mexico. His family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1989. He married his wife, Diana, on September 24, 1994 in Las Vegas. Peinado held a career as a bartender.
Lomie Gray Heard was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Heard arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada during World War II. She attended the Colorado College of Education in Greely, Colorado. She spent over thirty years working in education.
Yazmin Beltran Elizade was born (1985) and raised in a Mexico that was increasing in violence and danger. Over the years, her father Jose Beltran dreamed of the opportunities of a better life in the United States. Eventually, that dream became a reality in Las Vegas when Yazmin was a teenager. By then, she had aspirations to become a lawyer and fight criminal activity.
To sit with Andres Dominguez in his barbershop is to sense both the love he holds for his grandfather Julian Madrid and the passion Andres brings to the art of barbering. Andres enthusiastically remembers hanging out with his maternal grandmother as a youngster in Julian’s El Cortez Barber Shop. From 1974 to 2005, Madrid operated the El Cortez Barber Shop.