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Transcript of interview with Joshua Abbey by Barbara Tabach, June 6, 2016

Date

2016-06-06

Description

Joshua Nathaniel Abbey was born in 1956 to artist Rita Deanin Abbey and author Edward Abbey. While much of Joshua?s early childhood was spent in the southwest following his father?s job, Hoboken, New Jersey, was where he attended elementary school and where his Jewish foundation took shape with his maternal grandparents. In 1964, the Abbey family moved westward again to Las Vegas. Though his father moved on and became a distant influence on Joshua?s life, his mother, Rita, remained and became an artist and art instructor at UNLV. Upon graduating from Las Vegas? Valley High School, Joshua set his sights on an acting career. His creative and industrious energies would inspire him to move about: from Los Angeles to New York and back to Las Vegas. He traveled the world, met the love of his life Yve Eiholzer-Abbey, a fellow Thespian. Eventually the couple made Las Vegas their permanent residence. In this interview, Josh recalls his life?s journey and the many career steps, friendships and accomplishments he has experienced along the path. Among Josh?s local contributions is the creation the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival, which began in 2001. He also was founder of CineVegas Film Festival in 1998; a member of the Nevada Arts Council, City of Las Vegas Arts Commission and Director of the Desert Space Foundation, a local non-profit foundation committed to assisting emerging arts groups. He has also worked with Blue Man Group, for Jewish Family Service Agency, had a brief speaking part in the movie, The Natural, and been an activist opposing the Yucca Mountain waste repository-and much more. Joshua is a graduate of University of Nevada Las Vegas (Theater Arts 1980) and American Film Institute (1993).

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Transcript of interview with Priscilla Schwartz by Barbara Tabach, June 16, 2016

Date

2016-06-16

Description

In this interview, Schwartz talks at length about her passion for compassionate hospice care, and her broad involvement with the Nathan Adelson Hospice, from volunteering to serving on the board to philanthropy, which included opening the Walter Schwartz Center for Compassionate Care. Schwartz also talks about other philanthropic giving which includes establishing scholarships at George Washington University and University of Michigan as well as support to Temple Beth Sholom gift shop.

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Transcript of interview with Oscar Goodman by Claytee D. White November 10, 2014

Date

2014-11-10

Description

Oscar Baylin Goodman (1939- ) is the former mayor of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, serving 12 years until 2011, when he swore in his wife of over 50 years, Carolyn Goodman. Oscar Goodman is the official ambassador of Las Vegas, and the chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) Host Committee. He is also known as one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the United States, and spent 35 years defending alleged Mob figures such as Meyer Lansky, Frank Rosenthal, and Anthony Spilotro. Goodman is the primary visionary and a member of the board of directors of The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, which opened in 2012. Goodman was born June 26, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his undergraduate degree from Haverford College in 1961 and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1964. That same year he moved to Las Vegas and in 1965 he was admitted to the Nevada State Bar. He served as Clark County?s chief deputy public defender from 1966 to 1967. Goodman was elected as mayor of Las Vegas for the first time in 1999. During his three terms (the legal limit), he contributed to the economic and cultural development of the downtown area by supporting projects such as the arts district and Union Park, a high-rise residential and business project he helped to secure 61 acres of land for. He helped to begin what he called the ?Manhattanization? of downtown, which included the construction of taller buildings for better use of the area?s prime real estate. In this interview, Goodman discusses the role of Judaism in his life, from childhood to adulthood to parenting his own four children. He touches on his involvement with Temple Beth Sholom, including serving as its president, as well as in local development projects like the Lou Ruvo Cleveland Clinic Brain Health Center, Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and Mob Museum. In addition, Goodman discusses the impact of Jewish residents on the city and its development, and mentions leaders in the gaming industry, legal profession and in politics.

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Transcript of interview with Doug Unger by Barbara Tabach, August 26, 2014

Date

2014-08-26

Archival Collection

Description

Interview with Doug Unger by Barbara Tabach on August 26, 2014. In the interview, Unger discusses his schooling, his family's mattress business, and his endeavors in the company and the mattress industry in Las Vegas. Unger becomes involved in Holocaust education and the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center.

Doug Unger was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up working summers in a mattress factory, a family business started by his maternal grandfather. After graduating from high school in Cleveland, Doug attended the University of Cincinnati until moving to Steamboat Springs, and enrolled in Denver University, though ended his college career one class away from graduation. Eventually, Unger moved back to Cleveland, then to Las Vegas. In 1976, Dough bought Supreme Mattress and moved to Las Vegas to build his new business. Outside his successful career, Doug was always an active member in the city's Jewish community. He joined Congregation Ner Tamid, where he was a trustee. He became involved with the Jewish Federation, serving as treasurer and later as president. When he moved to Reno, Doug joined Temples Sinai and Emanu-el, and also became heavily involved with Guide Dogs for the Blind Friends Committee, serving as its director for a period of time. He was also the co-chair of the Governor's Advisory Council on Education Related to the Holocaust (GAC). Doug was instrumental in establishing the Library for Holocaust Studies as a successful organization, independent of the Jewish Federation. The Library is now located in its own, donated space, run by trained staff, and receives $200,000 from the state biennially.

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Transcript of interview with Jean Tobman, Marilyn Moran and Janie Moore by Claytee D. White, November 5, 2013

Date

2013-11-05

Description

Interview with Jean Tobman and two of her daughters, Marilyn (Tobman) Moran and Janie (Tobman) Moore by Claytee White, November 5, 2013. In this interview, Jean Tobman recalls coming to Las Vegas with her husband and two young children in the 1950s, and the life they established in the Pinto area of the Westside. Her husband, Herb, owned City Furniture and a cab company near downtown. Marilyn and Janie discuss their youth and the enjoyable time they had growing up in Las Vegas. Marilyn talks about how the city has grown and her time on the planning commission. Janie also discusses the growth of Las Vegas and her nostalgia for old Las Vegas.

In 1953, Jean and Herb Tobman moved from New Jersey to Las Vegas. The Tombans settled in the Pinto Palamino. Upon moving, Jean initially assisted her mother at her rooming house, and Herb worked with Jean's father at City Furniture. Herb bought his first cab soon thereafter, and grew one vehicle into Western Cab Company, which is still family-run. After a large fire closed City Furniture, Herb worked as the general manager at Moulin Rouge, jumpstarting his career in the gaming industry. Marilyn, Janie and Helen are the children of Jean and Herb and all still live in Las Vegas. The girls grew up keeping horses, as did many other neighbors in the Pinto area. Marilyn married John Moran, the sheriff's son, who served as a police officer himself. She sat on the planning commission for a decade, during the city's growth spurt. Janie spent a semester at Arizona State University before returning to Las Vegas to work at Stardust Hotel, a property co-owned by her father, who also served as the its president.

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Transcript of interview with Miriam "Mimi" Katz by Barbara Tabach, December 10, 2014

Date

2014-12-10

Description

In this interview, Mimi Katz discusses growing up in the Boston area and her schooling, and moving to Washington, D.C. working as a physiotherapist. She returned to Boston and met her husband, and she talks about moving to Las Vegas and adjusting to life here. They became involved at Temple Beth Sholom, and Mimi worked as a conventions coordinator at the Sands and the Sahara. She discusses moving around in Las Vegas from an apartment to a house in the John S. Park neighborhood, working for the Jewish Federation, and helping to develop the Holocaust education program with Edythe Katz, conducting oral history interviews with survivors. She continued working at the Convention Center in the 1980s, and is involved in the Lou Ruvo Center.

Everyone knows her as Mimi. She was born Miriam Green to immigrant parents in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1926. As a youngster she danced, excelled at school and enjoyed an abundance of sports. To pay for her higher education at Massachusetts School of Physiotherapy she worked at Raytheon Manufacturing. In 1957 she married George Katz who swept her away to their honeymoon in Las Vegas. It's a story that she loves to recall-they never left. She sent for her things and energetically settled in to her new hometown and marriage. Mimi found employment with the Clark County School District, began having children (three daughters), and making fast new friends. Many of these friends were from the founding days of Temple Beth Sholom, which roots her to the history of the local Jewish community. In addition, for a decade she worked in community relations for the Jewish Federation. She valued community activism and volunteered over the years for many organizations; such as Easter Seals, Jewish War Veterans, Parent Teachers Association and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and many more organizations over the subsequent decades.

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Transcript of interview with Arne Rosencrantz by Claytee White, February 9, 2010

Date

2010-02-09

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 interviews with Louis Wiener, Jr. by Eleanor Johnson, January-February, 1990

Date

1990-01-24
1990-02-01
1990-02-09
1990-02-23

Description

In this multi-part interview, Louis Wiener, Jr. discusses coming to Las Vegas from Pittsburgh at a young age, attending Las Vegas High School and University of Nevada Reno. He attended law school at University of California at Berkeley and passed the Nevada State Bar in 1941. He established a practice, Jones, Wiener and Jones, with Bob Jones and Cliff Jones and later with Herb Jones. He had another practice with Neil Galatz and Dave Goldwater, retiring in 1988. Wiener had other business ventures that allowed him to do pro bono work as a lawyer. Wiener discusses his family, including former spouses, his children, and various aspects of his career as an attorney in Las Vegas, representing hotels in the Greenspun antitrust lawsuit, and as an attorney for Bugsy Siegel. He says of his success, "I'm just lucky. I was here at the right time and I picked the right people to help."

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Transcript of interview with Adele Baratz by Steve McClenachan, March 3-4, 1979

Date

1979-03-04

Description

Interview with Adele Baratz by Steve McClenachan on March 3 and 4, 1979. In this interview, Baratz talks about growing up in Las Vegas and her her schooling. She graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1944, and discusses the rationing that took place during World War II. She went to Maryland for nursing school and returned to Las Vegas in 1947. She describes some of the hotels and casinos, and tells the story of her father trading property for an automobile in 1935. She also recalls the building of Hoover Dam, swimming in local pools, and going to Mount Charleston in the winter. The interviewer asks her about travel between Las Vegas and California and the impact of Atlantic City on Las Vegas tourism. Baratz then talks about her nursing career and starting a re-certification program in 1974 and the different hospitals in the area.

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Transcript of roundtable interview with the Holocaust Resource Center: Myra Berkovits, Susan Dubin and Doug Unger, by Barbara Tabach, September 4, 2014

Date

2014-09-04

Description

Interview with Myra Berkovits, Susan Dubin and Doug Unger of the Holocaust Resource Center. In this interview, the group discusses the beginnings of what is now the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center. Edythe Katz-Yarchever is discussed as the catalyst for establishing the center and getting others involved with the Governor's Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust. Berkovits talks about her role as a liason for Holocaust education in the Clark County School District and the student-teacher conferences held each year with funding from Sheldon Adelson. Unger discusses expanding the outreach to the Washoe County School District with assistance from Atlantis Hotel (Reno, Nev.) owner, John Farahi and Judy Mack. They talk about the previous locations of the Holocaust Resource Center on Maryland Parkway, then Renaissance Drive, and the affiliation with the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Family Service Agency. After funding and personnel issues around 2011, the advisory council and the library went through a re-structuring and hired Susan Dubin who organized and catalogued the library collection. The library is now accredited by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

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