Bob Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank boxing promotions company in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in New York, Arum is a former attorney and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He promoted his first fight for Muhammad Ali in 1966 and moved Top Rank’s headquarters to Las Vegas in 1986. He has produced countless fights in the city and helped to make it “The Fight Capital of the World.” In this interview, Arum talks about the path that led him to a career in boxing promotion, from childhood in Brooklyn, New York, to education at New York University and Harvard Law School, and finally meeting Muhammad Ali while working at New York law firm. He discusses his work with Ali, as well as other boxers, including Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Durán, George Foreman, and Oscar De La Hoya, and the growth and evolution of the sport over the past forty years. In addition, Arum talks about the role of Judaism in his life, his involvement with the local Jewish community, and the importance of the Chabad movement.

For nearly two decades between 1950 and 1970, only one dentist of Jewish ancestry was known to be licensed to practice in Nevada. That was Dr. Joe Chenin. Finally, in 1971, the steadfast and easy mannered Dr. David R. Wasserman (1944 - ) broke through the barrier to become the second Jewish dentist serving the Las Vegas community. Over the following years, Dr. Wasserman built a sizeable following and immersed himself in the Jewish community of Las Vegas. Among his achievements is his participation and leadership in the formation of Las Vegas’ first Reform Jewish synagogue, Congregation Ner Tamid. He also would be active in the Jewish Federation. In 1992, as the HIV-AIDS epidemic affected dental offices throughout the nation, Dr. Wasserman saw an opportunity to get ahead of the infection. With the help of his wife Juanita Davis-Wasserman and his father-in-law Warren Davis, he developed, patented, manufactured and distributed a disposable tip for a treatment instrument commonly found in dental offices called a tri-syringe. This disposable tip brought sanitary options and great financial fortune to Dr. Wasserman and his family. In this oral history, Dr. Wasserman reflects on his joy of living in Las Vegas. He is a highly regarded dentist and leader in the Jewish community.

As we go about our days, running errands and getting things for our households, we often don’t think too much of the story behind the commercial real estate and retail stores we frequent. Only when those stores aren’t there and the neighborhood demographic changes do we embrace the nostalgia that goes into the story of the neighborhoods where we live and shop. Hank Gordon is the man behind those memories of those shopping centers we frequent not only in the Las Vegas Valley, but in Washington, Oregon, Montana, California and Alaska as well. Gordon was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from USC in 1956, when he went to work for a home builder in the San Fernando Valley selling his houses to make some extra weekend money. It was during this time he fell in love with real estate and had to break the news to his parents that he no longer was going to be a doctor. Feeling the urge of leadership he told his mentor that he didn’t want to sell houses-he wanted to develop homes instead. Shortly after that he bought a subdivision of lots in Van Nuys and started building 7-11 and Goodyear stores in the early 1960s. In this interview, Gordon talks about building his first shopping center in 1967 and moving to the Pacific Northwest. He moved to Las Vegas in 1988, when he bought 23 new national retailers to the Valley. He was responsible for bring Home Depot in 1999 and Costco and Best Buy to some of Las Vegas’s longest-standing shopping centers; Best of the Boulevard on Maryland Parkway and Best of the West on Rainbow Boulevard. He speaks of the changes to the market after the Great Recession, how retailers are having a hard time keeping afloat because of online shopping, and his days on the planning commission for the City of Las Vegas during the 1990s, when Jan Jones was mayor. It is without a doubt that Hank Gordon is one of the best in the business and there isn’t a lot of competition at the top.

The interior of the green house at the end of the cul-de-sac envelops the visitor. Every room exudes comfort and encourages conversation even as the lake, lapping quietly on three sides of the house, beckons. Cindy Coletti revels in this house and its interiors, all of her own design, especially because they are so different from the daring, opulent, and award-winning custom homes for which she is known. Arriving in Las Vegas in 1988 as a single mother, Cindy immediately submitted a successful design for the first Southern Nevada Street of Dreams event and began networking. She established Sun West Custom Homes in Nevada by applying the design and contracting skills she had successfully honed by building nearly seventy houses in California, Florida, and Colorado—all the while grooming her son Danny—from the time he was in his teens—to eventually take over the company. In this interview, Cindy's husband, David Fordham, shares his background, his reasons for relocating to Las Vegas, work in commercial real estate, meeting Cindy, and living at The Lakes. Cindy then recalls the experiences that brought her to Las Vegas; shaped her ideas of self-help, friendship, design, and business, and instilled in her the confidence to succeed in a man's world. Cindy has retired from building and now enjoys traveling with her husband, but Sun West Custom Homes continues to thrive under the capable ownership and leadership of Daniel S. Coletti.

Louis La Porta served on the City Council of Henderson, Nevada and the Board of Clark County, Nevada and oversaw periods of great growth. He was born in 1924 in New York City, but his service in the United States Air Force pulled him out West. After settling in Henderson, Nevada, with his wife Elayne, La Porta became interested in insurance sales and local politics. While in office, La Porta oversaw the development of critical roads for Clark County, the Henderson Historical Society, and Henderson Libraries. He recounts each of these major developments in his interview, chronicling the evolution of Henderson, Nevada, into a major city.

As Sari and Paul Aizley recall their separate childhoods and journeys to Las Vegas, their work and volunteer histories, their efforts to build a better society, and their life together they speak to each other as much as they respond to questions about their observations on the growth of the Las Vegas urban environment and their contributions to Southern Nevada's cultural development and a just society. In this interview, Sari and Paul speak to the cross-town commute and the physical UNLV campus in the late 1960s; the growth of the UNLV Math Department; the evolution of UNLV's Continuing Education; the State's North-South funding rivalry as reflected in the built environments of University of Nevada in Las Vegas and in Reno; plans to build a paleontology research facility at Tule Springs National Monument; the Review-Journal's "Ask Jessie Emmet" Real Estate column; local ACLU offices and politics; Fair Housing; transgendered persons; the Nevada State Assembly, and Class! magazine for Clark County high school students. Sari and Paul smile at each other as they recall how the editor/publisher met the bearded math professor and fell in love—despite the fact that they tell slightly different versions of their initial meeting(s). Sari passed away November 1, 2017, three days shy of one year after she participated in this interview.

Multicultural advancements in Las Vegas cannot be mentioned without speaking on the monumental contributions of Dorothy Eisenberg. From 1971 to 1998, she was involved with over 25 local organizations and committees and had the honor of having an elementary school named after her. Eisenberg’s beginnings start in the midst of the all American melting pot experience though immigration. Her mother came to the United States from Russia at age twelve and her father from Austria at age sixteen to go upholstery school. Upon marriage, they settled down in Philadelphia after the World War II. They raised Dorothy and her siblings to contribute to the community despite the anti-Semitism that was displayed there on a regular basis. Signs that said, “No dogs and Jews allowed” were common place. After her first husband died, leaving her as a single mother of four little girls, she didn’t allow herself to be trampled by her circumstances by enrolling in Temple University to be a teacher at a time when the university had stigma towards older students. Upon her marriage to her second husband, the family moved to Las Vegas where she found a spiritual home for her family at Temple Beth Sholom, where her children went learned to deeply appreciate their Jewish heritage and attended Hebrew school. Having always been involved with politics in Philadelphia, she faced personal discrimination due to her religion when she was searching for organizations to involve her time. She eventually found a home with the League of Women Voters in 1965 and became involved with the Observers Corp and became aware of what was going on with the African American community from community based research and dialogue. She played a key role as president of the organization and faced heat for her involvement in the desegregation of sixth grade centers with the Kelly vs. Guinn decision in 1972 and was involved with the Welfare Rights Movement. She met Ruby Duncan and Jane Fonda, and she even showed up to the march with her daughters. Eisenberg was heavily involved with her namesake school through meetings with principals at least once a year, reading to students in the classroom, and bringing latkes to the school on Hanukkah. She continues the intergenerational legacy of educational involvement set forth by her parents with supporting her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in the school as well. Dorothy Eisenberg is a true role model for Nevada and a pioneer for equal education in Las Vegas.