always thought I'd be more urban. I would live in a downtown city. I wouldn't have a car. I would walk around. I would work on these big skyscrapers.” At one point in his life, architect Craig Galati dreamt of designing large buildings in some of the nation’s biggest cities. Instead, he was drawn back to his childhood home of Las Vegas, where he created projects meant to preserve the city’s integrity, such as the Grant Sawyer State Office Building and the first building at the College of Southern Nevada Charleston Campus. He speaks to his work in preservation at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve and in welcoming visitors to Mount Charleston with his Spring Mountains Visitor Gateway design. In this interview, Galati talks about his parents’ decision to move from Ohio to Nevada and what it was like growing up in Las Vegas. He recalls his first teenage jobs in the Las Vegas of his youth and his studies in architecture at the University of Idaho. He recounts the dilemma of struggling to find architecture work he enjoyed and how that vision drew him back to Vegas. He describes various projects in his portfolio from his early years to the present. He speaks highly of his partnership with Ray Lucchesi and the basis for their vision: “We wanted to be a place that everybody liked to work for. Buildings were just tools to do something grander. They weren't an object. We had a philosophy that was not object based, it was people based.”
On March 13, 1981, Dana Jamerson interviewed Harold McKay (b. July 27th, 1903 in Dresden, Kansas) about his life as a teacher in Las Vegas, Nevada. McKay speaks about his education, his move from Chicago, Illinois to Las Vegas and how he began his career in education. McKay focuses on how and why he founded the Teacher’s Credit Union, his time working in administration and his business school, as well as the problems related to segregation and integration in the educational system. Lastly, he talks about the growth of the gaming and entertainment industry in Las Vegas, and his volunteer work with the Senior Citizen Center.
Frankie Perez (1986- ) is an individual that constantly found himself navigating two worlds, whether it was military versus civilian; female versus male; or being Latinx in the United States. As a result of this navigation, Perez has a unique perspective on our ever more complicated world that not many individuals possess. Perez served in the military during the Do Not Ask, Do Not Tell policy which made it difficult for someone dealing with gender identity, to seek out the proper support they need. Despite the policy, and other policies that were put in place afterwards to inhibit the transgender community in the military, Perez began his transition while still serving his country. In direct contradiction of popular opinion, Perez discovered that the military easily accommodated his transition. Outside of the military Perez is an active voice in the LGBTQ community. As a member of the LGBTQ, Latinx, and military community, Perez has a unique perspective that he uses to fight for both LGBTQ and Latinx rights. Currently, Perez is finishing his degree in gender and sexuality studies at UNLV. He hopes to use his education to help people have the difficult discussions and improve conditions for his communities.
On November 3, 1978, Jane P. Kowalewski interviewed Mazie Martin Jones (born in Las Vegas, Nevada) about her father, Doctor Roy Martin, the first doctor to own a private practice in Las Vegas. Jones explains how her father first arrived in Nevada and his different investments in real estate, hospitals, and hotels. She goes on to explain her father’s hotel pursuits after retiring from medicine in the late forties.
In this interview, the cultural power couple recall their early impressions of Las Vegas, their beloved Ninth Street house built by Marion Earl, and the changes that caused them to move when spot zoning destroyed their close-knit downtown neighborhood. Lamar speaks of the founding of public radio KNPR and KCNV, of finding studio space, of obtaining grant money to build on the campus of the (now) College of Southern Nevada, and of acquiring the Peter Shire sculpture that graces the front of the studio. He talks about the vision of Charles Hunsberger, of Hunsberger's fall, and of politically appointed boards of trustees. Pat shares her experience of meeting people in a babysitting co-op and the UNLV Art Department, getting her UNLV Master's degree in public administration, and her work in cultural programming with the City of Las Vegas and with Clark County. She speaks of creating gallery, classroom, and performing space at the City's Reed Whipple building and the Charleston Heights Art Center; of founding the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre; of developing Clark County's Desert Breeze Park, Flamingo Senior Center, and the Wetlands, among others; of placing exhibits of the Clark County Museum at McCarran International Airport; of the Public Arts Commission, the Airport Arts Commission, the Allied Arts Council, and of developing Community Development Block Grant programs for the City of Las Vegas and Clark County. Throughout the interview, Pat and Lamar Marchese exemplify why Southern Nevada got lucky in 1972. As the duo grew in their knowledge of and passion for the arts, they also honed their skills at bringing the arts to the public. And we, the Southern Nevada public, continue to benefit as their legacies live on through public radio, community arts programming, and useful and accessible parks.
Born of humble beginnings to a sheep farming family in Cyprus, Greece, Stavros Anthony embodies the legacy of the American spirit and ability to reach as far as one can to achieve personal greatness. His family came to the United States in 1955 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where his father started working in the restaurant business as a cook until 1967. Moving to Detroit proved to be a benefit for the family, as his father became the executive chef for the Grosse Point Yacht Club, one of the most exclusive clubs in the country. He went from sheep herding, to peeling potatoes, to the executive and afforded his family a typical middle class lifestyle. He graduated from high school in 1975 and attended Wayne State University, earning is B.A. in criminal justice and starting his career in policing with the university’s police department. Upon graduating in 1980, he faced a frozen job industry in Detroit due to a very bad auto recession. He applied for and secured a position as a po