Landscape architect Jack W. Zunino is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and president of the Society's local chapter. He has designed many of Southern Nevada's iconic landscapes: the Rio Hotel, the M Resort, the Desert Demonstration Gardens, the gardens at Ethel M. Chocolates, the Cactus Avenue overpass, and most notably, the Springs Preserve. He's also a third-generation Nevadan from Elko, grandson of Italian immigrants who met and married in the Silver State and raised their large family in that Nevada mining town. The product of Elko schools, he graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and Utah State University in landscape architecture while earning his tuition as a road construction laborer. In this interview, Zunino tells of his employment with G.C. Wallace Engineering and JMA architects before founding his own landscape architecture firm in 1989. He speaks to the importance of planners and landscape architects on Southern Nevada's conser

Coming from humble beginnings, Elaina Blake grew up in Port Orchard, Washington, where her father was in the logging industry and she involved herself in the love of horseback riding. After becoming engaged at age 16, she married the following year at 17 and moved to Las Vegas where she started as a statistical typist at the Sahara Hotel and Casino. This led to a position her to become an executive secretary at the Thunderbird where she dealt with the rampant sexual harassment that was typical of the executive office environment in the industry at the time. The rejection of those advances led her to start her career in real estate with Roberts Realty where she sold her first group of homes off of Nellis Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. In 1976, she made the entrepreneurial move by buying into Roberts Realty, becoming an owner, and eventually buying out Young American Homes. She started giving back to the community through her service as being the first woman elected to president elect for the Chamber of Commerce in 1984 and also served on the Clark County Planning Commission for four years serving as vice chairman and chairman. She did such a wonderful job running the chamber, she was approached to run for Lieutenant Governor. Her involvement with the community increased during this time as she got involved with the United Way, saved the YMCA from closure and started the Focus School Project in 1989 with former superintendent Brian Cram where businesses adopt schools and provide money and volunteer. This project is still in operation today and has given back $8 million dollars to CCSD in volunteerism. During her time with the Chamber, she continued to work with major local builders such as Pageantry Homes, Heers Brothers, and Christopher Homes, which led to her taking another entrepreneurial milestone by taking a small team to create Blake and Associates. In 1996, Blake leveled up to become a developer starting with office buildings. As a champion for the inclusion of women, she never felt held back because of her gender and she always encouraged women in the Chamber to give more of themselves, even if it was for ten minutes because the men did so. In a male-dominated industry, Elaina Blake has been a trailblazer for women in business and the housing industry in the valley.

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.

Throughout his career, former Clark County School District Superintendent (1989–2000) Brian Cram took his father's words to heart. He heard them repeatedly over the years as he watched and later, helped, his father clean classrooms at Robert E. Lake Elementary School: this place—the classroom—this is the most important place. Cram was born in Caliente, where his father worked on the railroad. In 1939, when Cram was a toddler, the family moved to Las Vegas and his father found work first as a sanitation engineer at a hospital, and then at CCSD as a custodian. The elder Cram, who spent his formative years in the Great Depression, prided himself on doing "good, honorable work" as a custodian, because the work—the classroom—mattered. Even so, he wanted more for his son. Cram largely ignored his father's advice during his four years at Las Vegas High School, where he ran with The Trimmers car club, wore a duck tail and a leather jacket, and copped an attitude. Cram's swagger, though, d

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.

On March 1st, 1981, Glorialyn Gutierrez interviewed Emily McKinley (b. April 28, 1930 in Las Vegas, Nevada) about her life in the Las Vegas Valley. McKinley begins by speaking about her childhood, her siblings and her extended family. McKinley gives a variety of anecdotes about being raised in Las Vegas, her family’s economic hardships and the house she grew up in. Lastly, McKinley talks about the businesses she owned with her husband, their hardships and her time working multiple jobs.

On March 15, 1981, Marie Carmichael interviewed Jack L. Monroe Jr. (b. 1937 in St. Helena, California) about his life in Las Vegas, Nevada and his work as a cook among many other topics. Monroe speaks initially about his time working alongside his family in the restaurant business, with his father working as a cook, his mother a waitress and himself as both a busboy and a cook. He discusses the working conditions of cooks, the competition between casino restaurants and the relationship between workers, bosses and the public. Moreover, Monroe speaks about life in Las Vegas as a youngster, the significance of YMCA, summer camps and other recreational activities, and the school system. Lastly, he talks about the changing infrastructure of the city, the paved roads and public transportation, how casinos made their profits and the attachment residents develop towards the city of Las Vegas.