On April 4, 1976, Terri Lynn Truesdell interviewed real estate worker Charlotte M. Kelly (born July 18th, 1935 in Salt Lake City, Utah) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, about her memories of early Southern Nevada. The two discuss local history that Kelly had experienced as well as Kelly’s reasons for moving to Nevada. Kelly concludes the interview with a conversation on population growth and Nellis Air Force Base.
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Rochelle (nee Winnick) Hornsby was born in New York in 1937. Her father was a scrapyard and auto parts dealer and her mother was a homemaker. She has one brother, Roy Winnick. After high school, Rochelle attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology and then accepted a position with a T-shirt manufacturer. During this experience, she discovered her inspirational talent as a sales person. When she married her former husband, Len Hornsby, she followed him in his successful sales career. When his job moved him westward, they lived briefly in Beverly Hills, California. Soon Len saw a better career fit in Las Vegas in radio ad sales for radio. The next step was to take him into sales and management positions at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Meanwhile, Rochelle enjoyed getting involved with the Jewish community, volunteering with the Temple Beth Sholom Sisterhood, playing tennis, and starting her own business furnishing models for conventions. In this oral history, Rochelle shares stories of her various jobs in Las Vegas and of eventually thriving as a real estate agent with Century 21, a company that she continues to work for at the time of this interview. She and Len had one child, Even Scot Hornsby.
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Oral history interview with Vera Love conducted by Sophia Phillips on March 11, 1981 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Love talks about real estate development in Las Vegas, Nevada. She specifically talks about the role of women in real estate and business ownership, schools, and city growth in early Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Hazel Hedges conducted by Irene Rostine on October 29, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Hedges opens her interview by discussing her move to Las Vegas, Nevada from Kansas in 1952. She discusses what it was like to move across the country at that time and her search for employment. Hedges describes her work as a waitress at the Thunderbird Hotel and her true interest, real estate. Hedges talks about her real estate career which began in 1960, how that job allowed her to see Las Vegas grow, and her success in the industry. Lastly, Hedges discusses organizations at the time that assisted in the training of women realtors and her own community work.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Helen Naugle conducted by Irene Rostine on October 31, 1996 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Naugle opens her interview by discussing moving to Las Vegas, Nevada after she visited the city on a family vacation. She then talks about attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in order to obtain her real estate license. Naugle describes opening her own real estate office, the types of properties she brokered, and her participation in the Las Vegas Board of Realtors. She ends her interview by discussing her international business work and vacations.
Archival Collection
The Gilbert Buck Papers (1930-1986) focus on Buck's work as a surveyor and real estate broker in southern and central Nevada. Included are master reports, designs, standards, flood and drainage reports, and land specifications on water, sewer, and public lands. Papers regarding real estate include reports, housing and mobile home development plans, newsletters, surveys, and Buck Realty negotiations. There are books and information on seminars Gilbert Buck hosted in Las Vegas, Nevada on investing in raw land. Also included are awards, correspondence, newsletters, a scrapbook of Buck's early life, and information on his campaign for governor of the state of Nevada in 1974. There is include some documentation of Buck's real estate and mining interests in South America.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Glenn Sayles conducted by John Vanden Heuvel on March 20, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Sayles discusses moving from New York state to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1950. Sayles discusses his experience working for the Las Vegas Police Department and an investigator for the Nevada Real Estate Division. Lastly, Sayles discusses the process and legal aspects of working in real estate.
Archival Collection
The collection documents Gilbert Shwartz's early involvement with the Clark County Sheriff's Mounted Posse and the Elks Club in the early 1960s as well as the growth of his real estate company, Sahara Realty, from 1963 to 2008. The collection includes photographs and programs of the Clark County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Rodeo and programs for the Elks Club Helldorado Days Rodeo from the early 1960s. The collection also includes photographs of Schwartz and his home, slides of Sahara Realty/Realtors advertising around Las Vegas, and autographed team photographs of the Central Little League teams sponsored by Sahara Realty. Also included is a program for the National Association of Real Estate Brokers annual conference held in Las Vegas in 1974.
Archival Collection
In this clip, Adele Baratz talks about her parents' experiences in real estate and business ownership in the 1920s and 1930s in Las Vegas.
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Interview with Irwin Molasky by David G. Schwartz, April 23, 2014. In this interview, Irwin Molasky discusses arriving in Las Vegas in the 1950s, and building the Pyramids motel on the Strip. He talks about the entertainers in various hotels on the Strip, the concept of the "star policy," and bringing Parisian shows to Las Vegas. He goes on to discuss his real estate developments, including Paradise Palms, Boulevard Mall, and Sunrise Hospital, and donating the land for the development of UNLV.
Irwin Molasky came to Las Vegas in 1951, during a time when "everyone knew everyone else," and there was a small, but strong Jewish community. An Army veteran, Irwin and his wife moved to Las Vegas after living in California for a short time. Irwin soon built The Pyramids, a Strip motel next to the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. The Pyramids opened the same day as its northern next-door neighbor, The Sands Hotel and Casino, on December 15, 1952. Irwin used his newly acquired contractor's license to become on the city's most important real estate developers. Over the next 60 years, he built everything from residential housing, including Paradise Palms to commercial properties. Projects included Sunrise Hospital and the surrounding medical buildings; Sunrise City Shopping Center and other power centers; Bank of America Plaza and much other downtown development; and golf courses. When the recession hit, Irwin began bidding on government projects across the country, successfully shielding his business and employees from the economic downturn. Irwin's real estate ventures not only had a tremendous impact on Las Vegas' economic development, but a substantial effect in social programming. Irwin donated 40 acres of prime real estate to the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) so that university could expand. Additionally, he was the Founding Chairman of the UNLV Foundation and received an honorary doctorate in humanities.
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