Newsletter from Congregation Ner Tamid, March 2015

Oral history interview with Gene Noboru Nakanishi conducted by Ayrton Yamaguchi, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on April 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Gene Nakanishi shares his detailed family history from both his father's and his mother's families. He discusses his paternal grandfather's work on the Union Pacific Railroad, the family's internment in Wyoming during World War II, and his father's release from the camp by joining the United States Army Signal Corps. Nakanishi also talks of his maternal grandfather who was of the Bushido ("warrior") class in Osaka, Japan, and his grandfather's work with Christian missionaries. He shares details of his mother's restaurant employment in Los Angeles and her opening of Osaka Japanese Bistro in Las Vegas in 1969. Nakanishi also talks about being born and raised in Las Vegas, his musical schooling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and his graduate education at Harvard University. He discusses his work as a band teacher for the Clark County School District, his involvement in the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program band camp, and his interests in jazz music.

From the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas, OH-01039. On March 25, 1981, collector Sonny Neighbors interviewed his mother, Margo Knowles (born October 13th, 1935 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Margo speaks about growing up and going to school in Las Vegas. She also discusses her work as a telephone operator in Las Vegas, and at the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada.