Santo was born in the Bronx, New York in 1937. Santo’s family includes his father who was a butcher, and his mother who mostly stayed at home to raise the children, as well as a brother who currently lives with Santo. Santo recalls that it was great growing up in the Bronx, and he spent most of his life there until he joined the Air Force when he was 17. Santo’s immediate family was not musically oriented, but he learned to play the drums from a cousin. Music came easy for Santo, and he started getting paid for playing when he was 12. At 17, Santo joined the Air Force with a group of friends. He auditioned for and was accepted into the Air Force band where he played drums for four years. Santo was married with a child and another child on the way when he ended his military career and moved to California. After jobs working as a security guard and on an assembly line, Santo knew he just wanted to play and came to Las Vegas in 1960 to play with a band. It took several years before Santo was able to get on with a permanent band. Once Santo broke into the scene in Las Vegas, he played for six years at the Flamingo. Following that he was on the road for a couple of years with Paul Anka. Upon returning to Las Vegas, Santo worked for 14 years at the Sahara. Santo talks about when “the boys” had the hotels before the corporations came in and how everything changed. Currently, Santo does a lot of work with trumpet player Carl Saunders, frequently traveling to Los Angeles to do recordings together.

George was raised in Mattapan, a suburb of Boston, by his mother and father. George had four siblings and was the second youngest. George shares fond memories of growing up and playing softball and tennis in the neighborhood park with his numerous friends. George could listen to a song on the radio and play it on the piano by ear when he was as young as four years old. George had several jobs to earn money growing up, including working in a record store and as a busboy. Eventually George and his brother joined a trio with Steve Harrington and performed in clubs. In 1958, George joined his brother and Paulette Richards in Las Vegas where they had a contract to play at El Rancho Hotel & Casino where they played until it was destroyed by fire. Following the fire, George and his brother parted ways and each did their own thing. In the 1960s, George began playing with the band at Caesars Palace. George used his background in accounting to do some bookkeeping and payroll for some of the ban

Adelaide was born in Manhattan, New York to a father who was a pianist and arranger and a mother who was a dancer on Broadway. She grew up as an only child in the theater district where she was exposed to the arts from a young age. Her parents insisted she be well rounded. To that end, she began piano lessons at age six and was frequently taken to museums. Adelaide was always drawn to music and began working professionally by the age of 12. She attended the High School of Music and Art for four years along with others who went on to great fame. While in high school, she earned awards for composition. Her knowledge and abilities of the bass earned her a full scholarship to the Eastman School of Music. All of the jobs she had during high school and college were music related; playing gigs or teaching. While working towards a triple major at Eastman, she felt over-extended and eventually transferred to the Manhattan School of Music who was honored to have a transfer from Eastman. Also because of the extra credits from Eastman, she was able to obtain a master’s degree inside of a year. Adelaide went on the road with Buddy Rich’s band where they played in Chicago and Los Angeles before finding their way to Las Vegas. Adelaide was always the only woman in the band, and there were difficulties of being a woman in the field of mostly male musicians. The band found their way to Las Vegas in 1967. She never realized how well known she was until she arrived in Las Vegas. Adelaide came to Las Vegas on a trial run and ended up staying. The first job she had in Las Vegas was playing solo piano at Guys and Dolls before moving on to playing as a rehearsal pianist for a Broadway show. Over the years, Adelaide played many venues with many famous musicians. She is not hopeful for the future of musicians in Las Vegas, feeling the casino owners would rather replace live musicians with canned music. However, Adelaide’s career is not over as she is still performing for a variety of events. With her two degrees from very prominent music schools, Adelaide feels she may have gone further in career if she had stayed in New York, but she has no regrets about coming to Las Vegas.

Ethiopian business owner Mahamed Youssouf became an American citizen in 1986. Born in Harar, Ethiopia, he recalls the hardships he had to endure during the Ethiopia-Somalia conflict. Coming from a family of tailors, he began making clothes with his father at a very early age. Mahamed’s recollections concerning his journey from political refugee to successful businessman demonstrates his resilience and determination to overcome obstacles and achieve his goals. Mahamed moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1985, where he rented a storefront in North Las Vegas. The name of his store was Uniform Plus and he focused mainly on making children’s clothes. His efforts proved lucrative as he began buying wholesale in Los Angeles, California, and selling clothes in Las Vegas on the weekends at the outdoor Swap Meet. After a fateful encounter, Mahamed became business partners with Eugene Hoffman, owner of Village East Cleaners. Mahamed firmly believes that communication is the key to socio-economic success. He views education as an investment and states that, “to have dialogue means better relationships.” When the Ethiopian government was overthrown, Mahamed returned home to Africa for a visit. He met his wife while there, got married, and started a family. Mahamed returned to America and bought a family home in Las Vegas. He dedicated his time to teaching his American born children more about Ethiopian culture and taught himself more about American culture— including the African-American experience in Las Vegas, racism, the Moulin Rouge, and the Westside.

During the 1950s, Dr. Jacob Paz grew up in an agricultural environment in Israel where he attended a very famous high school in Israel called Kadoorie where Yitzhak Rabin was a student. After his graduation, Jacob joined the Israeli army building his skills so that he could get into technical school after he fulfilled his army service. For two years he attended technical school and then started working for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission in Dimona, Israel making atomic bombs in the 1960’s. After working in Dimona, Jacob was accepted into UC Davis and moved to the United States to study veterinary medicine. After one semester, he realized that he preferred history and left California for New York City, There he earned degrees in Jewish history and chemistry from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He quickly moved onto graduate school and earned his master’s degree in marine science and environment from CW Post, Long Island University in Greenvale, New York. In 1972, he returned to I

Jane Greenspun Gale-actor, activist, writer, magazine publisher, philanthropist, and farmer- has filled her life with accomplishments such as the Animal Foundation and Springs Preserve. It has also been a life filled with adventure - from “looking for John Lennon” during her time living and studying acting in London to learning to raise chickens on the acres of the Gilcrease Farm she owns with husband and photographer Jeff Gale. Everyone calls her Janie. Born Jane in 1949, she is the third of four children born to community leaders Barbara and Hank Greenspun. In this oral history, Janie captures the fun of growing up in Las Vegas under the watching eye of Hank. As a teen she and her friends cruised Fremont Street. Several years later she wanted to be arrested protesting the Atomic Test Site, when Hank diverted her into reporting about the event instead. Her Jewish foundation was at Temple Beth Sholom, where her parents were among the founding members. As the Jewish population grew, the tastes in synagogues grew to reflect the change. When Janie’s children preferred the Reform approach at Congregation Ner Tamid, a new family tradition began. She is proud of her background and shares loving stories of time spent with her grandparents as a child and pride in the heroic and dramatic story behind the naming of Hank Greenspun Plaza in Israel. Even her love story with Jeff is a tale made for movies. It unfolds in this engaging oral history interview along with anecdotes that are plucked from her personal history and preserve a reflection of growing up in Las Vegas, one of the Greenspun family of local fame.

It was 1964 when Jack Simon met Marcy Stiel at a mutual friend’s wedding. Smitten from the beginning, the couple married shortly thereafter. Thus began their loving partnership that has flourished in business, community involvement, and most importantly in raising their two sons, Ron and Steven. The Simon’s can be a modest power couple. However, they are clearly capable of making things happen. When they first married, Jack was a California electrical contractor and homebuilder and Marcy became his business administrator. The Simons through their Electrical Company, Expo-Tech Electrical & Plumbing Services, Inc. won the contract to provide all of the electrical services for the entire 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, encompassing (26) twenty six venues located in California spanning from San Diego to Stanford University. The trajectory of the business was extraordinary, establishing twelve offices nationwide to provide temporary electrical and plumbing services for conventions and special events. Expo-Tech was eventually bought by industry giant GES. Their success was due in large part to Jack’s technical knowledge and Marcy’s administrative and marketing skills. With entrepreneurial zest, and over the period of eleven years, the couple found their way into the ownership of four local casinos in Elko and Wendover Nevada. Marcy was one of the first women in Nevada to hold multiple gaming licenses. In total, she held four Unrestricted Gaming Licenses. The Simons hosted Passover Seders for the Elko Jewish Community during their ownership of the casinos. In 2004, Marcy and Jack sold the four casino operations. Since moving to Nevada in 1994, the couple has made a warm and lasting impression, being generous in their focus for the well-being of the Jewish community. They are among those that actively paved the way for SB26, which outlaws government bodies from conducting business with companies that boycott Israel. They continue to be tireless advocates and philanthropists in Jewish organizations of Las Vegas and Nevada.