Oral history interview with Fred Gibson conducted by David Emerson on February 13, 2008 for the UNLV @ 50 Oral History Project. In this interview Fred Gibson discusses organizing Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada with his father in 1955, being a trustee director of the Nevada Development Authority, and helping with organizing an engineering school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Alan Greenberg conducted by David G. Schwartz on February 08, 2007 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. In this interview, Greenburg discusses his personal experiences with Jay Sarno. He describes attending school with Sarno at the University of Missouri and Sarno’s plan to open up casinos and hotels. Lastly, Greenburg talks about Sarno’s career in gaming, the opening of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, and recalls anecdotes of their friendship together.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Robert Forbuss conducted by Suzanne Becker on February 12, 2009 for the Voices of the Historic John S. Park Neighborhood Oral History Project. In this interview, Forbuss discusses Las Vegas, Nevada history while sharing childhood memories of the neighborhood. He also discusses his mother buying a home in 1944 in the Huntridge development, adjacent to the John S. Park Neighborhood and living there for the rest of her life. He then mentions her owning a dry cleaning business, which he later owned.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Clarence Ray conducted by Eleanor L. Walker in 1991 for the African American in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Ray provides details of his ancestry and upbringing, his education, and race relations in the western United States before 1930. He then moves on to his first visit to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1922, and his movements before settling permanently in the 1940s. He explains that the main source of employment for the relatively small Black population during the 1920s and early 1930s was the railroad, but a number were also in business. Mr. Ray provides thumbnail sketches of many of the early residents, and is particularly informative about "Mammy" Pinkston, Mary Nettles, the Stevens family, and the Ensley family. Systemic racial discrimination against Blacks developed in southern Nevada during the 1930s, and Mr. Ray provides some useful details on this along with his discussion of his career in gaming and his social and political activities.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Alex Shoofey conducted by David G. Schwartz on March 13, 2003 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. In this interview, Shoofey discusses his personal history as an orphan in Brooklyn, New York. He describes his experience with casino owner Kirk Kerkorian, opening of the Flamingo Hotel, and the clientele that junkets brought to the Las Vegas, Nevada casinos. Shoofey discusses opening the International Hotel and Casino in 1969 and talks about designing the procedures for operating the casino. Lastly, Shoofey recalls Elvis Presley performing at the International Hotel and selling the property to Hilton a year into its operation.
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Lucille Matyas conducted by Irene Rostine on November 18, 2010 and December 02, 2010 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN) Las Vegas Women Oral History Project. Matyas opens her interview by discussing her family's move to Las Vegas, Nevada and her mother's turbulent marriage to a Las Vegas constable in 1935. She then describes working at the phone company after school to avoid the dangers of her home life. She discusses learning to repair switchboards, saving equipment parts during wartime rationing, and listening in to the private conversations of repairmen. Matyas then describes family gatherings in Ohio before her family's move to Nevada. She later returns to talking about working at the telephone company and describes the issues customers had with party lines and the lack of telephone lines to serve the growing population of Las Vegas. Matyas ends her interviews discussing other memorable experiences she had working at the telephone company.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Reva Giles conducted by Claytee D. White on July 17, 2006 for the UNLV @ 50 Oral History Project. Giles discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1958, then recalls living on Decatur and the military housing at Nellis Air Force Base. She then discusses moving from Las Vegas to Okinawa, Japan for four years with her husband, and upon his retirement from the military, moving back to Las Vegas in 1964. She also discusses working in various offices at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), retiring and volunteering as an office aide to the UNLV athletic director.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Oscar Goodman conducted by David Schwartz on January 05, 2009 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. In this interview, Goodman discusses initially meeting Jay Sarno and representing him as his lawyer. He remembers the allegations of organized crimes within Sarno’s properties, Las Vegas gaming at the time, and Sarno’s involvement with the development of Las Vegas. Lastly, Goodman talks about becoming Mayor of Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Richard Erbe conducted by Marcela Yepes on March 19, 1978 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview Erbe discusses his educational background, his first teaching position as a fifth grade teacher, and his military experience. He also talks about church activity, politics, and social activities in Las Vegas, Nevada. Erbe also discusses his views on the educational system, his experiences as a principal, and some challenges he encountered at the administrative level.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Joey Trujillo conducted by David G. Schwartz on October 08, 2008 for the Remembering Jay Sarno Oral History Project. In this interview, Trujillo discusses his personal experience with Jay Sarno as his barber at Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. He recalls gambling with Sarno and tells anecdotes of their friendship. Lastly, Trujillo discusses the death of Sarno in 1984.
Archival Collection