The Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas, Nevada Records date from approximately 1980 to 2009 and contains the organizational records of the Urban Chamber of Commerce of Las Vegas, Nevada (UCC), one of the many chambers of commerce in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. The mission of the Urban Chamber of Commerce is to create and foster an environment that promotes development of members and Black-owned businesses. The collection is comprised of publications, financial and administrative records, various event information, and photographs of events and membership.
Aaron Williams Papers (1965-1981) consist of scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, certificates, newspaper clippings, reports, and programs. Many of the clippings and some of the correspondence contain references that give insight into the role of women in North Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The scrapbooks and newspaper clippings document Williams' career as well as issues he dealt with as councilman and commissioner. These issues include those related to community and infrastructure development, such as airports, sewage treatment plants, senior citizens, health, and urban planning as well as North Las Vegas and Clark county political activities during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
On February 26, 1979, collector Pete Wahlquist interviewed William McCullough (born May 9th, 1905 in Kansas City, Missouri) at his home in Boulder City, Nevada. In this interview, Mr. McCullough discusses moving to Nevada and working on the building of Hoover Dam (Boulder Dam). He also speaks about Boulder City during the time of building the dam, as well as the growth he has seen happen in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Born in Chicago and raised in small Illinois towns, Dorothy Karper met her future husband, Doug Pitzer, when they went to rival high schools. She began nurses’ training in Dixon, Illinois, and immediately after her 1950 graduation, Dorothy and Doug married. Although he never had to go overseas, the Korean War interrupted their married life, and Doug enlisted in the Air Force and went to basic training in Texas. The couple arrived in Las Vegas in July 1954, when Doug was transferred to Nellis Air Force Base. Dorothy worked as a nurse at Las Vegas Hospital and Clinic 1954-1957 and later worked for a private obstetrics practice. From 1954 until Doug’s discharge in 1957 the Pitzers lived in Kelso-Turner Terrace military housing. In 1956 they purchased a new house in Twin Lakes, but they didn't move in until 1957, after the streets were put in. They remained in their Twin Lakes house until they moved into Dorothy’s present house on Burton Avenue, between West Charleston Boulevard
Mike Pinjuv sired one of Las Vegas’s early families after arriving in 1917. Mike Pinjuv arrived in Las Vegas via the Union Pacific Railroad and brought Ivan Pinjuv and his family to town (although Mike’s sons do not know the familial relation between the two men). Mike and his wife, Frances Malner, raised six sons and two daughters to adulthood through World War 1, the Great Depression, and World War II. The oldest five brothers attended Las Vegas High School, while Fred, the youngest brother, and the two sisters attended Rancho High School. In this interview, their three younger sons recall how they, their parents, and their siblings navigated the social and physical changes in the Las Vegas landscape. Over the near century that the Pinjuv family has lived in Las Vegas its members have contributed to the city in countless ways. In the early years Mike owned a gas station and a grocery store and worked several jobs before going to Nellis Air Force Base as a civilian. Of the Pinjuv sons
Santo was born in the Bronx, New York in 1937. Santo’s family includes his father who was a butcher, and his mother who mostly stayed at home to raise the children, as well as a brother who currently lives with Santo. Santo recalls that it was great growing up in the Bronx, and he spent most of his life there until he joined the Air Force when he was 17. Santo’s immediate family was not musically oriented, but he learned to play the drums from a cousin. Music came easy for Santo, and he started getting paid for playing when he was 12. At 17, Santo joined the Air Force with a group of friends. He auditioned for and was accepted into the Air Force band where he played drums for four years. Santo was married with a child and another child on the way when he ended his military career and moved to California. After jobs working as a security guard and on an assembly line, Santo knew he just wanted to play and came to Las Vegas in 1960 to play with a band. It took several years before Santo was able to get on with a permanent band. Once Santo broke into the scene in Las Vegas, he played for six years at the Flamingo. Following that he was on the road for a couple of years with Paul Anka. Upon returning to Las Vegas, Santo worked for 14 years at the Sahara. Santo talks about when “the boys” had the hotels before the corporations came in and how everything changed. Currently, Santo does a lot of work with trumpet player Carl Saunders, frequently traveling to Los Angeles to do recordings together.
The website for Freed’s Bakery happily displays the headline: Baking Sweet Memories Since 1959. Today the third generation of Frieds (correct spelling of the family surname) is hard at work creating incredible wedding cakes, cookies, and delightful desserts for the Las Vegas valley. For this oral history interview, Joni Fried, her daughter Sarah Fried, and nephew Max Jacobson-Fried sit to share stories of working in the family business started by Joni’s parents Milton and Esther Fried. Joni has handed the reins over to the third generation who invest their delicious souls into maintaining this Las Vegas tradition. Their tales range from childhood memories of holidays baking and cleaning to their personal favorite desserts. They also explain the impact on their business as early adapters of computer technologies and social media marketing. In October 2017, Freed’s Bakery landed a TV show, Vegas Cakes, on the Food Network.
In the years following this interview, Kerr continued entertaining, although he never returned to the Las Vegas Strip. Kerr performed at OUTfest Phoenix, at Palm Springs’ Awesome August celebrations, Las Vegas’ National Coming Out Day event, and for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center’s Youth Service’s Division. Kerr also gave shows at small bars and restaurants such as Café Nicolle and DeStefano’s in Las Vegas, the Wilde Goose in Cathedral City, California, and the Plush Room in San Francisco. There were rumors that Kerr was set to replace emcee Joey Arias in Cirque du Soliel [2004] and Frank Marino in La Cage [2005], but neither turned out to be true. Instead, Kerr performed in such local gay nightclubs as Flex, Sasha’s, Krave, Suede, and, on July 31, 2012, at the Onyx Theatre in Commercial Center. In 2006, Kerr made peace with his former rival, Frank Marino. Kerr’s son, Kristin Vidal, made Kenny a grandfather with his own son, Alexander. It was clear during his July 2012 performan
In this interview, Joyce Mack discusses meeting her husband, Jerry Mack, in Los Angeles,their early life as a couple, and moving to Las Vegas at the suggestion of Jerry's father, Nate Mack. She discusses how Jerry met Parry Thomas and their banking and real estate investments. Mrs. Mack talks about the opening of the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV, and the development of the strip hotels, and discusses her children.
Joyce Mack: wife to Jerry Mack and matriarch of one of the most influential families of Las Vegas history. During this oral history conversation, she begins by tracing her family ancestry from Kiev to New York to Omaha and then Los Angeles, where she was born and raised. At a UCLA fraternity party in the early 1940s, a teenage Joyce Rosenberg was swept off her feet by her older brother's friend Jerry Mack. Jerry was from Boulder City, Nevada and had attended school in Las Vegas. In 1946, the couple married and took an extended honeymoon throughout the United States and Cuba. Soon afterwards, Jerry's father Nate Mack, a businessman and real estate developer encouraged the newlyweds to come to Las Vegas. She tells of Jerry sharing his vision of the valley's future. Thus began a successful journey that traverses decades of Las Vegas history and breathtaking growth in which the Macks were active participants and leaders. Joyce recalls the people the first met, who they raised their children side-by-side with and became lasting friends. These people were other Las Vegas pioneers including the Greenspuns and mostly importantly her husband's partnership with Parry Thomas which created the Bank of Las Vegas. It was their partnership she explains that reduced the presence of the mob element. As members of the small Jewish community of the late 1940s, the Macks would participate in the founding of Temple Beth Sholom.
On November 1, 1974, collector James M. Greene, interviewed widow and mine leaser, Bertha Gresh (born August 29th, 1883, in Cedarburg, Wisconsin) in her home in Nelson, Nevada. This interview covers early mining days, Bertha’s personal history, and the history of Nelson County. She also discusses her art, social activities, and the prizes she won as a visual artist in Nevada.