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.
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On a pleasant spring evening at sundown in April 2017, a Pop-Up Shabbat draws a crowd of Jews to the Jackie Gaughan Parkway at the El Cortez Hotel & Casino. Proudly, and quietly, watching from the sideline is Kenny Epstein, owner of the El Cortez. He seeks no recognition, but is enjoying the gathering for Sabbath services and the music that will fill the air. Kenny Epstein is also a classic enthusiast of Las Vegas history. The nostalgia is evident as one walks through the casino and reinforced by the stories of a man who has experienced the city’s growth since moving here in 1959 at the age of 18. The timeline of Kenny’s teen years begins with his bar mitzvah in Chicago and a story of prizefighter Rocky Marciano giving a brief toast. When he was 15, his parents, Ike and Adele Epstein, took the family to visit Las Vegas. About three years later, his father became an executive at the Stardust. Kenny’s own imprint on Las Vegas history was just beginning. In this brief interview, he mentions an illustrious list of mentors and recalls many historic moments from the history of the Las Vegas Strip. All of which led to his ownership of The El Cortez—advertised as the longest continuously operating hotel/casino.
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Oral history interview with Paul Velez conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 22, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Paul Velez, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus officer, discusses his experience at the Thomas & Mack Center during the night of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He shares his goal of creating a safe atmosphere for the survivors and providing them with all of their needs, including helping separated survivors find their loved ones and friends. Velez also describes his move to Las Vegas in 2008 and his time with the New York City police force, talking about his experience as a first responder at Ground Zero during the 9/11 attacks. He discusses the effect these attacks have had on general and campus security measures and on him as an individual.
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The Howard Cannon Papers (1958-1988) contain the personal, administrative, and legislative papers of Howard W. Cannon, U.S. Senator from Nevada between 1959 to 1983. The collection primarily pertains to Cannon's time in office from the 86th Congress in 1959 to the 97th Congress in 1983. Materials include correspondence, speech transcripts and supporting research material, press releases, reports, memoranda, newspaper and magazine clippings, and Senate voting records. The collection also includes constituent correspondence and casework related to legislative issues such as foreign relations, social security, veterans, tax reform, labor, aviation, nuclear testing and waste, civil rights, and environmental protection.
For a detailed inventory, please contact Special Collections and Archives (special.collections@unlv.edu).
Archival Collection
The Peg and George E. Crockett Family Photographs (approximately 1940-2008) are comprised of aerial photographs of Alamo Airport (later McCarran International Airport) and the surrounding Las Vegas Valley in the 1940s and 1950s. Photographs of the interior, exterior, and airfield at Alamo Airport document the early stages of what is now one of the busiest international airports in the United States. The collection also contains audiovisual material, which depict events including the Miss Rodeo America pageant and the Sahara Cup boat races on Lake Mead, and locations including Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada and Hoover Dam. A significant portion of the collection consists of photographs of the Crockett family at various events, on family vacations, and their home in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Archival Collection
The Maria Burston Wheeler Papers date from approximately the 1850s to 1933 and record Maria Walker's childhood and voyage from Liverpool, England to Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States through her manuscript "My History." The manuscript details her and her family's trans-Atlantic journey as well as her own journey as a married woman, Maria Burston Wheeler, to Las Vegas, Nevada to establish the Mormon Fort located there. Her manuscript details daily life at the fort.
Archival Collection