On February 14, 1979, Gregory M. Hall interviewed his coworker, LaMar Foremaster (born May 9th, 1907 in Alamo, Nevada) at his place of business, Anderson Dairy, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the changes, growth, and development of Southern Nevada from 1907 to 1979. During the interview LaMar discusses the Old Ranch, Boulder Dam, Hoover Dam, Fremont Street and the Strip. He also talks about his religious ties to the Mormon Church and his political activities in Las Vegas.
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Oral history interview with Kim Bird and Pam Fogliasso conducted by Claytee D. White on February 08, 2013 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Bird and Fogliasso discuss their experiences growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, segregation in the city, and their years attending Rancho High School, including the segregation.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Norma Friedman conducted by Barbara Tabach on November 19, 2015 and April 06, 2016 for the Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project. Friedman talks about owning Walker Furniture, her family history, and being a member of the Las Vegas, Nevada Jewish community for over 40 years.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Hugh Key conducted by Bob Bush on February 21, 1980 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Key discusses spending over thirty years in Las Vegas, Nevada. His wife, Mrs. Key, is also present during the interview and offers a few remarks.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Mike Gausling conducted by David G. Schwartz on December 7, 2016 for the Slot Operations Oral History Project. In his interview Gausling discusses his forty years in the casino industry. He talks about the positives and negatives in the field of slot management and the differences between local and Strip casino properties.
Archival Collection
As he reveals in this oral history, Roger Thomas is, among many other things, a son, a father, a brother, a husband, a student, an artist, a visionary, and a philanthropist. As the second son of Peggy and E. Parry Thomas’s five children, Roger was raised a Mormon child of privilege and civic responsibility. The banking family summered in Newport Beach, wintered in Sun Valley, and taught their children by words and deeds that it is not up for debate if you will be involved in your community; the only question is how you will apply your talents and resources to benefit your community. Roger absorbed the lessons well. As a child who struggled in school but excelled in art, he attended his last two years of high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, graduating in 1969, finally finding himself “in an environment where what I did had currency.” From there he earned his BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Studio Degree from Tufts University before returning to Las Vegas and eventually joining Steve Wynn’s team in 1981. As Executive Vice President of Design for Wynn Design & Development, he is the man in whom Steve Wynn places his trust to make real at each Wynn property the Wynn design philosophy: aim for a constituency of highly sophisticated, well-traveled, very educated people and give them a reality, a now, that is so fetching, so alluring they wish to be no place else. As he was mentored by his father and Steve Wynn, he too is mentoring those who will follow him. At Wynn, the next generation will carry forward the Wynn idea of evoca-texture, of creating “moments of experiential emotion that result in a memory so captivating and so unique that if you want to repeat that you have to come back.” At home, he collaborates with his daughter on a children’s book that has the potential to become a series; she is the illustrator, while he provides the words. Roger Thomas sat for this interview five days after his father, E. Parry Thomas, passed away in Idaho. Instead of postponing the interview to a more convenient time, Roger kept the appointment and explained, “This is for UNLV. If I’d cancelled my father would have killed me.”
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