In this interview, Milton Schwartz discusses his life in Las Vegas and his business investments. He worked at the Flamingo Hotel right after World War II, and he started Valley Hospital as an investor in 1970. Schwartz has a Hebrew academy named after him in Israel, and owned the Yellow-Checker-Star Cab Company. He was active in the Republican Party.
Milton I. Schwartz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He enlisted in the Army the day after Pearl Harbor (age 20) and did a five year stint in the Pacific as a repeater specialist. After the war he returned to his job as a refrigeration mechanic in Brooklyn and was soon offered a job out in Las Vegas at the Flamingo Hotel, which was owned by Bugsy Siegel. After three months in Las Vegas, during which time he had several conversations over dinner with Beldon Cattleman, Milton returned to New York to work with his father in the fixture business. After ten years he sold that business and bought into Design Equipment Construction, which brought him back to Las Vegas. Milton started or bought many businesses over the years, but the one he's proudest of is Valley Hospital. He and his partners brought the first medical helicopters into Nevada and he feels that many lives were saved because of that. He also invested in Yellow-Checker-Star Cab Company, which he still owns. Two on-going concerns that are important to Milton are his involvement with the Republican Party and the Milton I. Schwartz Hebrew Academy in Israel. Of the many awards and plaques he has earned over the decades, he is proudest of the birthday acknowledgements from the Academy. He believes strongly that the most important achievements of his life revolve around his religion and the children being educated in it. Milton shares many stories, facts, descriptions, and anecdotes about Las Vegas in the decades since 1946. He built a house in the Scotch 80's, contributes to UNLV, and approves of city growth and the proposed changes in the downtown area. He has contributed much to the growth and stability of the Las Vegas valley.
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From concentration to ownership of Las Vegas casinos, Meyers owned the Cashbah and the and Queen of Hearts in downtown Las Vegas. Interview dates: 2/12/2012, 2/29/2012, 3/27/2012, 4/16/2012, 4/24/2012, 5/3/2012, 5/9/2012, 5/16/2012, 10/19/2012, 11/16/2012, 12/7/2012.
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Interview with Nafeesa Sallee by John Grygo, March 21, 2013. Sallee moved to Las Vegas from Cleveland in 1978 and entered into a 34-year banking career from which she retired in 2013.
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Interview transcript with Johnny Griffin by Claytee D. White, September 13, 2010. Griffin grew up in Mississippi where he held a job as a golf caddy. He earned a golf scholarship to Jackson State University, and moved to Las Vegas in 1982. He became involved in Municipal Golf Course and the Tiger Woods Foundation.
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Transcript of interview with Ricki Y. Barlow by Claytee D. White, April 10, 2013. Barlow is a native of Las Vegas, attended Vo-Tech High School and served as student body president. He is a graduate of UNLV, and in 2007 was elected as Las Vegas City Councilman for Ward 5.
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Trish Geran is too busy to pigeonhole herself into one role. The activist, author, daughter, engineer, filmmaker, public speaker, and student was born and raised in Las Vegas’s Westside community as the fifth and youngest child of Hazel and Johnus Geran. She and her sister attended Catholic elementary school and Bishop Gorman High School, and her brothers went to Madison Elementary School, Roy W. Martin Junior High School, and Las Vegas High School. In this interview Trish discusses the feelings of not belonging that shaped her world view: she was different from her white, wealthy schoolmates, and as a private school student she was different from her neighbors. She found balance through excelling in sports, drill team, and academics. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and cashing in an IRA to work on Barak Obama’s presidential campaign, Trish found out from her mother that the City of Las Vegas was going to close F Street, main link between the Westside
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Audio clip from interview with Jocelyn Oats on November 20, 2012. In the clip, Jocelyn talks about the beginnings of Nevada Partners, and her work with the teenaged youth of Las Vegas in the 1990s.
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Part of an interview with Debbie Conway conducted by Claytee White, March 13, 2013. Conway reflects on strides made locally during the past two decades and gives credit to others in the community for their leadership,
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Part of an interview with Estralita Williams by Leon Green on February 13, 2012. Williams discusses a sit-in by black students to participate in school events and how she accidentally became the sit-in's spokesperson.
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Part of an interview with Helen Anderson Toland by Claytee White on February 21, 2007. Toland discusses her husband, civil rights activist Jim Anderson, and the people who worked in the Las Vegas NAACP.
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