Interview with Gil Cohen by Claytee White on August 5, 2015. In this interview, Cohen discusses growing up in Las Vegas and attending University of Nevada at Reno. He returned to Las Vegas to join the management training program at the Stardust. He talks about his friendships with Moe Dalitz and Carl Cohen, and his interest in golfing. He also discusses corporate ownership of casinos, unions, and his experiences working at different Strip hotels.
Gil Cohen came to Las Vegas in 1957, when was ten years old, when his father, Yale Cohen, was recruited by Moe Dalitz to work at the Stardust Hotel and Casino. Cohen graduated from University of Nevada Reno, and started working at the Stardust through the management-training program. In 1975, he was made hotel manager, his first of many leadership positions in Strip properties, which have included the Dunes, Aladdin, Hacienda and Monte Carlo, where he currently works as a casino host.
Landscape architect Jack W. Zunino is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and president of the Society's local chapter. He has designed many of Southern Nevada's iconic landscapes: the Rio Hotel, the M Resort, the Desert Demonstration Gardens, the gardens at Ethel M. Chocolates, the Cactus Avenue overpass, and most notably, the Springs Preserve. He's also a third-generation Nevadan from Elko, grandson of Italian immigrants who met and married in the Silver State and raised their large family in that Nevada mining town. The product of Elko schools, he graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and Utah State University in landscape architecture while earning his tuition as a road construction laborer. In this interview, Zunino tells of his employment with G.C. Wallace Engineering and JMA architects before founding his own landscape architecture firm in 1989. He speaks to the importance of planners and landscape architects on Southern Nevada's conser
Oral history interviews with Olivia Díaz conducted by Nathalie Martinez and Barbara Tabach on August 31 and September 14, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In the first interview, Díaz gives her family and personal history, growing up in Las Vegas but often visiting her family in Durango, Mexico for extended stays. She recalls her matriarchal upbringing, particularly while living in Mexico, and what life was like growing up and going to school in East Las Vegas and at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Subjects discussed include: Mexico; Latina identity. In the second interview, Díaz talks about her English language education career for the Clark County School District (CCSD) and the events that led her to run for Nevada Assembly and Las Vegas City Council. She is presently Nevada's Assemblywoman for District 11 and Las Vegas' Councilwoman for Ward 3. Olivia concludes her interview with insights into her political and educational goals for the community and the initiatives she has focused on in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oral history interview with Rabbi Sanford Akselrad conducted by Barbara Tabach on March 7, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Rabbi Sanford Akselrad discusses the response of the Jewish community of Congregation Ner Tamid to the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He discusses the healing service he led the day after the shooting, how the community paid respect to the victims, and the concert held to raise money. In addition to the actions of the Jewish community, Rabbi Akselrad discusses the congregation's work with the interfaith community to heal from this tragedy.
Oral history interview with Cristina Alano conducted by Cecilia Winchell and Stefani Evans on September 9, 2022 for the Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Alano recalls a happy childhood in Pampanga, Philippines. After attending college for a banking and finance degree, she briefly worked at a bank before marrying her husband and immigrating to the United States. She would go on to move to Colorado where she lived for seven years, and finally moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2003. Alano recalls her first jobs in Las Vegas, including Walmart, SEI Electronics, a cashier at the Riviera, and finally the airport where works as a supervisor at Hudson as well as an assistant manager at Brighton. She discusses what she has done at each job and how she ended up getting involved with the Culinary Union in 2016. Since joining the union, she has done everything from being a shop steward to canvassing, most recently flying down to Georgia to help campaign for Senator Warnock. Throughout the rest of the interview, she discusses everything from food, to festivals, and her family.