Interviewed by Elsa Lopez and Barbara Tabach. Cuban refugee family by way of Spain and then to the US; arrived in Las Vegas in 1973 when Nora was 9 years old. Struggled in youth but rises up as embraces educaton. Currently is Assistant Director of Academic Partnership at CSN.
Flo Mlynarczyk began life in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Her parents divorced and she moved with her mother first to Loveland and eventually to Los Angeles. Her mother started the first Red Cross in Bell Gardens, oversaw the building of their home, and raised money for various charities. Flo remembers when the Japanese were rounded up and interred during WWII. She was in grade school and recalls that one day they all just disappeared. Upon graduation from high school in 1943, Flo moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to live with friends. She recalls total blackouts on the streets of Kodiak due to the war, the Short Snorter Club, and her return to California after a bout of pneumonia. Back in Bell Gardens, Flo worked for a department store, married and divorced in 1945, gave birth to her son Michael in 1946, and ended up in Tonopah, Nevada, with a sister who ran a cafe there. After a second marriage ended, Flo moved to Las Vegas and began working at Phelps Pump and Equipment as a bookkeeper.
Roberta “Bobbie” Kane (1932 - ) is the first known Jewish child born in Las Vegas. Her parents, Sallie and Mike Gordon, were liquor stores owners and among the founders of the first Jewish congregation in Las Vegas. Bobbie’s childhood remembrances are as a young girl who was fully aware that “Friday nights were reserved for religious services. Saturdays were always reserved for gin rummy.” In the late 1940s, as a teenager at Las Vegas High School (and 1950 graduate), Bobbie recalls Las Vegas as a small town and a joyful place to grow up. She briefly attended University of Southern California before marrying and beginning her family. In time, life brought her back to live with her parents. She pursued a career working for the Desert Inn group of hotels and helped open the Stardust in 1957. She was mentored by Mark Swain, “a six foot-four hunk of a cowboy” who worked for Moe Dalitz. This experience included driving Mark’s pink Cadillac to pick up hotel guests. This provided her with a
Kerin Rodgers was born in 1936. She recounts her family history and stories of her youth growing up in Boston, MA, and shares how the family relocated to Seattle, WA in the mid-1940s. She talks about her enjoyment of theatrical arts and politics, and about being a resourceful divorced, single-mom and entrepreneur. In 1958 she opened a retail fashion store and modeling agency with a friend in Santa Monica, CA. Kerin had a knack for fashion and interior design that would assist her then and into the future. She also shares the story of arriving in Las Vegas as part of retail job with The Broadway stores in 1966—a two-week stint that seemed to have no ending. Her transition into Las Vegas included remarriage, a 1974 Keno win that enabled her to put down money on a home ( a house built by Paul Huffey) in the John S. Park neighborhood, and making close friends in the community. Her interview is sprinkled with tales of activities and personalities from the neighborhood's past and present. Kerin was involved with the Focus Youth House, speaks about First Fridays and art, as well as gives a perspective of police, criminal behaviors and changes in the neighborhood over the years. She hosted a local television show and enjoyed being a community activist.
Kerin Rodgers owned a retail fashion store and modeling agency with a friend in Santa Monica, California. She came to Las Vegas in 1966 to work at The Broadway department store. She bought a home in the John S. Park Neighborhood in 1974. Popular radio personality; active in local and national politics.
Deanna Stefanelli and her family moved to Las Vegas when her husband John Stefanelli accepted a position as a professor in Food and Beverage at UNLV. She took a part-time job in the admin office of the university's library in 1981. It was also an ideal time for her to return to college to finish her degree. Eventually she became full-time and enjoyed the growth and change of UNLV and the library. Deanna recalls the physical and personnel changes of the library. She describes some of the fun activities that kept them a close work community—from the Friends of the Library to book sales and pancake breakfasts, to a newsletter and learning to make sushi with Myoung-ja Kwon.
Patricia and Herman van Betten met in Pittsburg through their volunteer work on the John F. Kennedy Campaign. After their Connecticut wedding and Herman's studies at the University of Texas and the University of Southern California, they and three small children moved to Las Vegas. Their fourth child, a native Las Vegan, was born in 1968. In 1967, Herman acquired a position at the Nevada Southern University, which is now the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Beginning in the 1970's the couple worked diligently to make the Las Vegas community a great place to live. They participated in The League of Women Voters, The Consumer League, the Welfare Rights Movement, and the Community of a Hundred. Patricia served as the President of the Consumer League and Herman was elected to the local school board. They were jointly appointed by the ACLU as Civil Librarians of the Year, 1990-1991. Currently retired, they engage in civic, environmental, and historical activism in the village of
Art Marshall is one of the founders of the Marshall-Rousso chain of women's dress shops that started in casinos in Las Vegas. He is also a banker, a member of the Nevada Gaming Commission, is active in the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, is an art collector, and is a philanthopist, especially for Jewish faith-based causes and for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Daytime and nighttime views of the Greek Isles Hotel and Casino signs. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Data Sheet. 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
On March 19, 1978, Philip John Mile interviewed former chef, Harold R. Hunter (born 1901 in Norwich, Kansas) about his life in Southern Nevada. Hunter discusses his different experiences working in early Las Vegas restaurants during the thirties and forties. Hunter also discusses the rapid growth of the Mormon community during this time.