Oral history interview with Hamed Ahmady conducted by Stefani Evans on March 22, 2023 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Interviewed by Stefani Evans. Culinary Union Local 226 organizer Hamed Ahmady recalls his childhood as the oldest of six children in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan. As an child, he remembers hearing about the September 11, 2001 attack in New York while living in a Taliban-controlled city on a television connected to a concealed antenna that received signals from Uzbekistan. He recalls how, one month after he graduated high school, he became an translator for the U.S. Army, which he did for more than four years. He talks about securing his Special Immigrant Visa (SIV); landing in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moving his family to the United States; and supporting his siblings and parents in Afghanistan. He also discusses relocating his family from California to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018, finding a mosque community, and working with Culinary Union Local 226.
Oral history interview with Maila Aganon conducted by Kristel Peralta, Cecilia Winchell, and Stefani Evans on June 10, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Maila Aganon discusses her childhood, family upbringing, and immigration to the United States from the Philippines when she was a college student. She shares how her parents moved to Las Vegas first and Maila followed a decade later, investing in real estate and eventually taking up permanent residence. Maila talks about her employment history with Allstate Insurance, Bank of America, AAA, Caesars Entertainment, and finally Aon as a Senior Vice President. She also shares her thoughts on the growth of Las Vegas and the growth of the Asian community and cultural influence within the city. Subjects discussed include: anti-Asian violence; Filipino grocery stores; Filipino foods; remote work.
Interviewed by Monserrath Hernández, Rodrigo Vazquez, and Laurents Benitez-Bañuelos. A native of Jalisco, Mexico, moved to Las Vegas when he was about 20-year old in 1987. Attended CSN and UNLV. His history with Las Vegas is embedded in the 1980s Las Vegas gay scene and education for AIDS. He is and activist and the Executive Director of Aid for AIDS of Nevada. He and Theodore Small are the first same-sex marriage in Nevada.
On February 12, 1975, collector Laura Bell interviewed her neighbor, plant mechanic foreman, Neil H. Holmes (born on November 16th, 1897 in Chicopee, Kansas) in the collector’s home in Boulder City, Nevada. This interview covers the construction of Boulder (Hoover) Dam. During this interview Neil also discusses local living conditions in 1931.
Emilie Wanderer was the first woman to establish a law practice in Las Vegas. She also helped to start a family court in Nevada with a social worker and a marriage counselor on staff. She and her son John were the first mother-son team to practice law in Nevada.
On February 28, 1979, collector Alick Dziabczenko interviewed Jack Leavitt in Las Vegas, Nevada. In this interview Mr. Leavitt talks about his childhood in Las Vegas. He also talks about his family life and his career in the city, as well as some of the many changes he has seen in Las Vegas.