In this interview, Stuart Mason discusses his family's construction business, Taylor Construction Co., and his involvement with building various Las Vegas Strip hotels including Caesars Palace and the Riviera, and remodeling the Flamingo. He talks about working within a "social contract" with the various unions, and other aspects of construction.
Stuart Mason was born in Columbus, Ohio, and moved with his family to Miami, Florida, when he was two years old. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Miami in 1958. Shortly after graduation, he married his wife, Flora, and started working for Taylor International, the family business. He came to Las Vegas in 1964 to start work on Caesars Palace as the assistant project manager and eventually took over the management of the business. Mason has contributed greatly to the city of Las Vegas over the years through his contributions in the development and construction of the Las Vegas Strip and his commitment to the community. He and Flora started the Nevada Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in 1970. In addition, they made donations to the UNLV University Libraries to benefit the Undergraduate Peer Research Coaches program, which helps undergraduate students obtain their college degrees. In addition to his work on Caesars Palace, Mason worked on the original and new MGMs, The Rivera, The International, the Stratosphere, and the Desert Inn, along with remodeling work at the Flamingo. Other company projects can be found in Miami, Jamaica, Aruba, the Grand Bahamas, Melbourne and Puerto Rico. His two sons took over the family business in 1997, the same year that Mason started as the Vice President of Development for the Venetian Hotel Casino.
Shirley Weiss describes her childhood housed in army barracks in the ghetto in Beregszasz (Berehove), Hungary. She was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and several other camps, and eventually liberated from Terez?n in 1945. She came to the United States via Sweden.
Myra Berkovits (née Mosse) was born April 10, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father emigrated from Romania to Canada, later moving to Chicago, where he met Berkovits’s mother, a daughter of Russian immigrants. After graduating from Loyola University, Berkovits married and started her career as an educator teaching at an elementary school in inner city Chicago. She taught there for twelve years before moving with her husband, son and daughter to Las Vegas, Nevada.
James "Big Jim" Cashman was born to Benjamin Franklin Cashman and Ella Mary Stovall in Ladue, Missouri on December 16, 1884. Cashman moved to Searchlight, Nevada in 1904 and began working a variety of jobs until he opened an automobile garage in approximately 1910. Cashman later sold automobiles and operated in Searchlight until the mining boom halted around 1920. As a result, Cashman decided to move his business to the growing city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Cashman met his future wife, Leah Barker, in Las Vegas and they married in 1923.