Oral history interview with Wayne Tanaka conducted by Ayrton Yamaguchi, Vanessa Concepcion, Kristel Peralta, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on March 12, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Wayne shares his family's heritage and history as Japanese Hawaiians and discusses his father's internment during World War II. He shares his background growing up in Lahaina, Maui, Hawai'i and how he came to live in Las Vegas. Wayne discusses his career as an educator for the Clark County School District and talks about his life in Las Vegas with his wife and daughters.
Subjects discussed include: Las Vegas Buddhist Sangha; Executive Order 9066; Sunset High School; Boulder Dam Area Council
On March 1, 1979, John L. Bennett interviewed Dan Hill (born May 20, 1914 in Illinois) in his home at 2130 Walnut Road, Las Vegas, Nevada, about his memory of Southern Nevada. In addition to the collector and informant, there is an unidentified woman present during the interview. Hill explains that he originally came to Nevada in search of work. He briefly moved to Europe during the First World War where he served in the Army; at the end of the war, Hill returns to Las Vegas to work at the Nevada Test Site. Hill then goes in-depth about his experience as a worker at the Nevada Test Site and different mining sites that he had also worked at. The two briefly discuss the different sheriffs that had been in charge of Las Vegas, and how many people came to Las Vegas to work at the Henderson Magnesium Plant and Hoover Dam in addition to the Nevada Test Site.