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Transcript of interview with Stephen Nasser by Barbara Tabach, January 17, 2018
Date
Archival Collection
Description
At the age of thirteen, the incredible life journey of Stephen “Pista” Nasser (b. 1931 - ) is preserved in his heart. His ordeal begins when his family are ripped from their home to be interred in a Nazi concentration camp in 1944. Fifty years later, he sits in his Las Vegas home and reflects on his calling to write and speak about his survival and losses. His ordeal is preserved in his book My Brother’s Voice (2013) and in his follow up stage production Not Now Pista. He is also the author of a companion memoir, Journey to Freedom. Stephen and his wife Francoise are tireless in their travels throughout the United States and the world. At the time of this 2018 oral history interview, Stephen had done over 1092 presentations about his harrowing life story to thousands of people of all ages and denominations. Each presentation fills a spot in his heart as he honors his brother and reminds listeners that such devastating episode in history should not be forgotten, and should never occur again. The timing of this interview also coincided with the premiere of a 20-minute documentary based on his writings and the play production. It was shown at the 2018 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival. Note: the photo above of Stephen and Francoise Nasser was taken shortly after this interview on their next cruise. (2018)
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Transcript of interview with Lynn Leshgold Rosencrantz by Barbara Tabach, January 7, 2016
Date
Archival Collection
Description
In this interview, Rosencrantz discusses at length her involvement as a founder of the city?s Jewish Federation?s Young Leadership Program, including other local leaders she worked with to promote Jewish community engagement in Las Vegas. She also talks about her spiritual journey as an adult, leading to her participation at Stillpoint Center for Spiritual Development.
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Transcript of interview with Arne Rosencrantz by Claytee White, February 9, 2010
Date
Archival Collection
Description
In this interview, focused on the John S. Park neighborhood of Las Vegas, Arne Rosencrantz discusses his childhood growing up in Las Vegas. He talks about local businesses, including his father's furniture store, as well as schools and churches in the neighborhood.
Arne Rosencrantz remembers living on Beverly Way from 1954 to 1970. Like so many others from that era, he attended Fifth Street School, John S. Park Elementary School, John C. Fremont Middle School and graduated from Las Vegas High School. As a Jew, he was in a small minority, but fondly recalls growing up in the dense Mormon population of John S. Park Neighborhood. As a youngster, life in Las Vegas was filled with fun. The desert provided opportunity to hunt lizards and rabbits. Kids walked to school without concern. They played ball and found the Strip casinos welcoming to locals. He tells how the social issue of segregation of the 1960s did not affect him personally, but how local movie theatre owner Lloyd Katz fought to make his Huntridge and Fremont theatres integrated. He also reminisces about his father opening Hollywood Furniture and later Garrett's Furniture, which Arne operated until retiring in 2001. During the interview, he lists other furniture companies and the strong assortment of other retailers and restaurants that served the neighborhood.
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Transcript of interview with Jacque Dvorak by Barbara Tabach, March 09, 2017
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Jacque Dvorak was born in London, England, in 1944. Two years later, her family immigrated to Canada and then in 1953 they fulfilled their dreams to reside in the United States. The Dvorak family settled in Long Beach, California where Jacque?s brother was born. In 1957, the Dvorak family relocated to Las Vegas when Jacque?s father, Sam, opened a 24-hour barbeque restaurant in Market Town with his brother Harry. While growing up in California, Jacque enjoyed dancing and being on stage. She found herself drawn to performance much like her mother, Irene, who was an entertainer in Great Britain. This enthusiasm served her well in her future retail career which included the opening of the MGM. Jacque attended Las Vegas High School and graduated in 1962. Taking full advantage of being a teenager in Las Vegas, Jacque remembers the days when the need to lock your doors didn't? exist. Though, Jacque describes being keenly aware of being Jewish and forming strong bonds within the Jewish community through BBYO and other Jewish organizations. She also recalls protesting during school prayer recitations in the 1960s. In this interview Jacque gives an insider?s perspective of growing up in Las Vegas and Jewish life in the city. Her stories range from tales of teenage fun to dealing with modern anti-Semitism in Las Vegas to the joy she has found in friendships in the community. Jacque has two children, Harry Fagel and Lisa Sokoloski.
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Gene Leavitt interview, February 28, 1979: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
On February 28, 1979, collector Monte Leavitt interviewed Gene Leavitt (born October 6th, 1923 in Mesquite, Nevada) at his home in North Las Vegas, Nevada. In this interview, Mr. Leavitt talks about his career as a truck and bus driver. He also talks about the life in Southern Nevada, the soldiers stationed here, and gambling.
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Al McDaniels interview, February 28, 1980: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
On February 28, 1980, Rodney Goosby interviewed Al McDaniels (b. 1940 in Muskogee, Oklahoma) about his life in Las Vegas and his career as an athletic coach. McDaniels, referred to as Coach by Goosby, speaks primarily about his time as a coach for track and field at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, his community involvement and the city’s recreational activities. Moreover, McDaniels speaks about his education and his current research as he works on a doctoral degree in physical education. Lastly, he talks about the city’s growth and the move from empty desert spaces to housing and shopping center constructions.
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Transcript of interview with Evelyn Miller McDonald by Maylene C. Cabatingan, February 26 & 27, 1980
Date
Archival Collection
Description
On February 26, and 27, 1980, Maylene C. Cabatingan interviewed Evelyn Miller McDonald (born 1905 in Alderson, West Virginia) about her life in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also present during the interview is Maylene’s step-father (name unknown) who occasionally participates in the conversation. At the time of the interview, McDonald had lived in Nevada for over seventy-two years and described early Las Vegas as a small-town railroad community with few amenities. McDonald discusses her occupational history, and how her father started the first car garage in Las Vegas. She goes on to talk about the impact of the Great Depression on Las Vegas and how Hoover Dam’s construction reduced the severity of the financial depression in comparison to other cities. She then recites the hotels that were built and the appeal that Vegas had to tourists and divorcees. McDonald later discusses how prostitution was accepted by the community, and recalls a story about how local businessmen rallied together to ensure that a minister would preach the funeral for a young woman who had died, despite being a prostitute. McDonald concludes her interview with a brief discussion of her goals in life and her pride in her daughters.
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Sandra Gray oral history interview: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Oral history interview with Sandra Gray conducted by Elsa Lopez and Barbara Tabach on December 13, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Dr. Gray discusses her family history, and describes how her parents are immigrants from Durango, Mexico and moved from East Los Angeles, California to East Las Vegas, Nevada in 1991. After getting her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) she started a behavioral health agency that provided rehabilitative mental health services to children primarily in the foster care system. She went on to earn a master's degree in mental health counseling, a master's in psychology, and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology. She is the founder of Empower LV, which strives for equitable access to sports and tutoring. Dr. Sandra Gray is also the owner and operator of Innovation Behavioral Health Solutions, LLC.
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Photographs of Greek Isles signs, Las Vegas (Nev.), 2002
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Site address: 305 Convention Center Dr
Sign owner: Mark IV Realty
Sign details: The property which is at the eastern end of Convention Center Dr., is one tower at the east end of the property, and is attached to a low-rise structure which reaches westward along the east side of Convention Center drive. Various signs adorn the facade of the Greek Isles including a small pylon sign, a porte- cochere and two wall/logo signs. The stucco surface of the front of the building is painted with images of rustic Mediterranean cottages, as well as the rising or setting sun image seen on the pylon as well.
Sign condition: Structure 5 Surface 5 Lighting 5 Notes: The signage for the Greek Isles is essentially brand new, with exception to the porte-cochere. The Porte cochere was left over from the previous establishment with a bit of standard upkeep.
Sign form: Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère
Sign-specific description: At the east end of Convention center Blvd The Greek Isles casino resides at the old site of establishments such as The Paddlewheel, and The Debbie Reynolds Hotel Casino. The signage consists a pylon sign, a porte- cochere and two wall signs. Located on the south side of the street, the signage is located in relatively small span of space along the north face of the establishment. At the western most end of the property, a section of the low rise structure radiuses outward creating a giant white, convex stucco canvass. A golden sunset has been painted on the entire surface of this rounded wall. A bright white round section represents it with the color blending from an intense yellow into a burnt orange on the top edge of the building. At the top of the wall along the surface, "Greek Isles is spelled in shallow blue channel letters, with each letter set upon a white cabinet which mimics the shape of the font. Incandescent bulbs fill each channel letter, surrounded by a border of blue neon. The text is very angular, also mimicking ancient Greek text and the text utilized in Caesar's Palace. Just below the text on the surface of the wall. A wall sign in the shape of a rectangle with scrolls on the either sides. The resultant effect is a two-dimension representation of an Ionic top of a column. The outer edge of the sign including the spiraling scrolls on either side is created with a narrow blue channel. Tubes of blue neon line the interior of this channel. The open rectangular space left in the banner of the sign reads "Hotel &Casino," in red channel letters, lined with red neon on the interiors. Further east on the surface of the building, the white stucco is treated with a mural of broken tile overhangs and open shutters. Column, and corbels are other elements represented in the mural of a Greek village. Another sign is located on the wall between the western most sign and the central Porte cochere. This sign is two parts. Pair of concrete columns support a cabinet, crafted in the same fashion as the secondary portion of the previously mentioned sign. The details of the scroll are created by gold raceways lined with incandescent bulbs. Painted in red , all capital, letters, the text "Restaurant &Lounge Show," lies horizontally across the white surface. Neon is crafted over the tops of the letters. Sitting on top of the cabinet is another set of channel letters. The shallow blue letters are filled with incandescent bulbs. The shadowing cabinet, behind the letters is painted gold. Blue neon borders each one of the letters. On either side of the text, three slightly arched rods angle out of the body of the faux scrolled cabinet. The rods are lined on the surface with one single tube of blue neon. A pair of gold, polished, doors lie underneath the sign between the columns. The main entrance of the building is underneath the porte-cochere, continuing east along the property. The surface of the awning is illuminated with lengthy backlit cabinets, lined on the top and the bottom with gold raceways lined with incandescent bulbs. Blue tubes of neon line the top and the bottom edges of the surface of the cabinet. The underside of the awning is divided in clear plastic covered recessed cubes, forming a grid over the surface. The interiors of the cubes are mirrored, and sloped to a point in the negative shape of a pyramid. The centers are adorned with incandescent bulbs. The borders that periodically broken up with polished, reflective panels of a bronze hue. The property continues east still, until a north/south drive separates the building from the pylon sign for the establishment. A pair of white painted steel poles are capped with a white cabinet, sculpted itself to add elements to the poles themselves. The left and right bottom edges of the cabinet are crafted to look lime the scrolled column capital, represented in the two logo wall signs on the east surface. The scrolls are created with blue paint, n the white surface, as well as the address painted in the center. The combination of the sculpted cabinet and supporting poles create a solid base for a giant black cabinet which housed a color LED message center. Atop the cabinet, another horizontal cabinet sits wider in length than the LED cabinet. The cabinet is crafted like the two wall signs as well, with bulbous radius ends, adorned on the surface and edges with the channel raceways creating the scroll shape. This channel is lined with blue neon. All capital, red channel letters, filled with red neon, reads "Hotel & Casino." A top this cabinet another sculpted cabinet hold the main logo text of the sign. The sign is crafted as a half circle, creating a cabinet with the entire outer edge being a single radius. The surface of the sign is painted in the same fashion the sunset mural on the east end of the building. The sign starts as a dark orange at the bottom and fades to a yellow at the top. The edge of the radius is interrupted by the main text. "Greek Isles" is spelled in the same fashion as all the other signs. The mimicking backing cabinets for the letters are painted white as well. The outer edge is also lined with gold polished raceways , and incandescent bulbs. The width of the sign from the LED cabinet on up is painted black
Sign - type of display: Neon; Incandescent
Sign - media: Steel
Sign - non-neon treatments: Graphics; Paint
Sign animation: none
Sign environment: The Greek Isles is on the unique street line of Convention Center drive. To the east there is a nightclub, a chain motel, The Las Vegas Hilton, and the transplanted Riviera pylon. To the west, on that side of the street, is a bank complex and the Casino Royal. Across the street the vast expanse of the Hilton Convention Centers parking lot, makes the Greek Isles seem much larger for it's relatively small set of signage.
Sign manufacturer: YESCO
Sign - date of installation: 2000
Sign - date of redesign/move: The Greek Isles signage is the same since its initial installation, but replaces other vestiges of the previous properties, most recently the Debbie Reynolds Hotel and Casino.
Sign - thematic influences: The theme of the property is quite evident in its name as well as in its facade. The exterior is made to appear with elements of a rustic Greek village utilizing a white stucco finish treated with mural designs of wooden shutters and other village amenities. On western end of the property, the large round, surface of the wall is treated with graphic paint representative to a rising or setting sun. This element also adds to the apparent ambiance of the serene village. The text for the property is crafted in the generalized angular style of the ancient Greek text, not that much dissimilar to the Caesar's Palace logo text. In fact they are almost identical in fashion.
Surveyor: Joshua Cannaday
Survey - date completed: 2002
Sign keywords: Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère; Neon; Incandescent; Steel; Graphics; Paint
Mixed Content