Oral history interview with Mariano Minero conducted by Laurents Banuelos-Benitez on December 6, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada: An Initiative of the UNLV University Libraries. Minero recalls his early life and childhood in El Salvador with his family. Minero discusses the political climate of El Salvador after the Salvadorean civil war, his family's involvement in the coffee industry, which influenced his family's choice to immigrate to the United States in the 1990s. He talks about what brought him to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004. Finally, he talks about his experiences working in Las Vegas and his experiences in the local Culinary Workers Union 226. He describes the importance of the union to his own life, as well as to the larger community.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Craig Knight conducted by Adriona Jordan on December 01, 2014 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. Knight begins the interview talking about his childhood in New York, including entertainment at the Apollo Theater, religious activities, and education. He then discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1980 in order to attend Bishop Gorman High School, emphasizing its racial makeup and his time spent playing in the jazz band. He also details his involvement in minority serving community organizations, including the Urban Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Advisory Council. He concludes the interview
discussing West Las Vegas, the closure of F Street, and modern renovations in the area.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Krystal Ramirez conducted by Monserrath Hernández and Barbara Tabach on October 30, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Krystal talks about her personal history growing up in Texas and spending summers with her family in Mexico. She shares her thoughts about how Las Vegas has changed and how she has contributed to the city's art scene as a staff photographer for Vegas Seven (a local magazine), the New York Times, and the Marjorie Barrick Museum. Subjects discussed include: Texas; Chihuahua, Mexico; Latinx Identity; Vegas Seven; Beat Coffee House; Downtown Las Vegas.
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Ken Hanlon oral history interview conducted by Cynthia Cicero on January 17, 2014 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Hanlon discribes his background, talking about his childhood in Maryland, his early interest in music, and the opportunity to study with the same band teacher through middle and high school. He talks about starting to play a baritone horn before switching to the trombone, his early experiences playing with dance bands, starting private lessons, and eventually matriculating to the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. He continues, relating his five years teaching middle-school music after graduating from college, and his decision to move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1968 to seek work as a full-time musician. After talking about some of the difficulties he faced finding work, he discusses his time in a road band and deciding to apply to teach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He explains that he was hired to teach as an adjunct in 1970 and two weeks later was offered the job of department chair, a role he held for 16 years before moving into university administration. During this period he continued to perform, playing trombone in the Sands Hotel and Casino house band under the direction of Antonio Morelli. Finally, he discusses Morelli at more length, and concludes by talking about endowments for music education and the Arnold Shaw music collection at the Arnold Shaw Center at UNLV.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Gene Collins conducted by Claytee White on August 31, 2000 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview Gene Collins speaks about how his family lived in West Las Vegas, Nevada, which at the time was a thriving community where African Americans owned their own businesses. Gene talked about how the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. led to a riot and how it inspired him to run for state assemblyman where he was instrumental in getting the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday bill to pass. He spoke about his time as the president of the Las Vegas National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where he addressed the lack of African Americans in the gaming industry in addition to filing the largest equal employment opportunity commission suit filed in the state of Nevada against the Mirage Hotel and Casino.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with the family of Joe Louis conducted by Claytee D. White on November 18, 2014 and February 06, 2015 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In these interviews, the family of Joe Louis discuss his life and career as a famous African American boxer from the 1930s to 1950s. They describe charity fights he held to raise money for the Navy Relief Fund during World War II, which later became an issue for him when the Internal Revenue Service claimed he still owed taxes on the money he raised despite it being donated. The family discusses what it was like growing up and meeting celebrity friends of Louis', such as Frank Sinatra and Muhammad Ali, Louis' involvement with the Moulin Rouge Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Louis' status as an African American sports hero. They also detail his eventual retirement from boxing, his job working as a greeter at Caesars Palace, and his death.
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Oral history interview with Rodney A. Colton conducted by Richard Colton on October 01, 1973 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Colton discusses general history of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas, Nevada from his arrival in 1918.
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Oral history interview with Jacqueline "Jaki" Baskow conducted by Barbara Tabach on October 24, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Baskow shares stories of entertainers that she has worked with in Las Vegas, Nevada to build her business, Baskow and Associates. She also mentions mentors such as Bobby Morris, Frank Sinatra, and Jilly Rizzo.
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Oral history interview with Clara Alvarez conducted by Norma Flores and Claytee D. White on October 25, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Brian "Paco" Alvarez also participated in the interview. Clara Alvarez describes her family background and her childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She recalls dropping out of high school to work, memories of early jobs, and why she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1966. She secured her first position at the Sands Hotel as a maid during a time when that job position was held almost exclusively by Black women. Alvarez describes her time working at the Sands Hotel, and recalls meeting Frank Sinatra and his wife. After working as a maid, she was recruited to deal games in clubs and casinos, and was the first woman to deal at the Las Vegas Club. Then, Alvarez explains the changes in racial discrimination in the city, and says she never felt discriminated against in Las Vegas. Lastly, she talks about moving back to Florida and what she did while living there.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Yazmin Beltran conducted by Rodrigo Vasquez and Barbara Tabach on February 4, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Beltran discusses her early life in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico and her childhood and upbringing in Mexico. In 2003, at the age of eighteen, she and her mother joined the rest of her family in Las Vegas, Nevada. After attending College of Southern Nevada and taking English as a Second Language classes, Yazmin began to write as a Spanish contributor for a publication in Reno, and became a writer for Spanish publications in Las Vegas, including El Tiempo, El Mundo, and Univision. Beltran's work for Univision led her to Texas, where she covered events and crises including the 2018 child separation occurring at the United States border, which she discusses in the interview. Finally, Beltran talks about being a journalist for The Nevada Independent and the importance of continuing to report in Spanish.
Archival Collection