Isabella Jessie Curtis was born February 26, 1922 in Monroe, Wisconsin. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada when she was 25 years old because her husband had a job as a cook in a restaurant called the White Spot. She worked as a waitress in multiple casinos throughout Las Vegas, including the Tropicana Hotel, the Showboat Hotel and Casino, and the El Cortez Hotel.
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On February 15, 1979, Andrew Levy interviewed Isabella Jessie Curtis (born 1922 in Monroe, Wisconsin) about her experiences in Southern Nevada. Curtis first talks about her career in waitressing at several restaurants and casinos in Las Vegas before describing some of the early businesses in the Downtown Las Vegas area. The interview then moves to discussions on Curtis’s involvement in politics, her early recreational activities, and the atomic testing. The two later discuss the first telephones in Las Vegas, the Helldorado celebration, and her work at the Tropicana Las Vegas. The interview concludes with Curtis’s description on living in Sandy Valley, Nevada, and some of her first memories of the Union Pacific train depot in Las Vegas.
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