Sandra Peña’s story begins in East Los Angeles, where she spent her first fifteen years with her parents (both from Michoacán, Mexico), and her younger sister. The father's managerial position at Master Products allowed the family to live rent-free in a company-owned house behind the main factory, because he collected the rents for the company's two other dwellings. In this interview, Peña recalls the family move to Porterville, in California's Central Valley, her return to Los Angeles at nineteen, and her work with Parson’s Dillingham, a contractor for the Metrolink rail system. She draws the link between the Los Angeles and Las Vegas construction communities by describing her husband's move to Las Vegas to find work; a chance Las Vegas encounter with a friend from Chino, California; her ability to gain employment in Las Vegas at Parson’s, a company that had joint ventured with Parson’s Dillingham, and her move from there to Richardson Construction, a local minority-owned company. As Peña says, "It's kind of all intermingled. Even if you go here and you go there, it's like everybody knows everybody." Throughout, Peña weaves her family story into the narrative as she describes her youth, the birth of her son, the illness and death of her father, and her family's participation in her current employment with Richardson. As she remembers the people, places, and events of her life, Peña speaks to the ways one woman of color built on her interstate construction connections and rose in a male-dominated industry.
Local news segment on an event for 500 Las Vegas residents who have lived here for over 30 years who are gathering for performances by entertainers who performed in Las Vegas in the 1940s and 1950s. Kay Starr arrives at Arizona Charlie's ahead of her performance, along with the Stardust Legends, showgirls and dancers who used to performance at the Stardust. Original media VHS, color, aspect ratio 4 x 3, frame size 720 x 486.
Archival Collection
Stardust Resort and Casino Records
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Collection Number: MS-00515 Collection Name: Stardust Resort and Casino Records Box/Folder: Digital File 00, Box 033
Lovell Gaines moved to Las Vegas from Reno in 1975, becoming the local NAACP President in early 1980s. Lovell worked at the Nevada Department of Corrections for over 30 years.
From the UNLV Special Collections Photograph Collection on Book Illustrations (PH-00170) -- Fremont Explorer for a Restless Nation, John Charles Fremont in 1850, age 37 years old.
From the Fedora Bontempi Simpkin Photograph Collection (PH-00239). Georgia Mae Thompson stands with her eleven children holding the award for Clark County Mother of the Year in 1978.