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Oral history interview with Dennis Ortwein conducted by Claytee D. White on May 06, 2009 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. Ortwein discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1956 and his various careers as an elementary school teacher, a junior high teacher, and an elementary school principal. He also discusses working at a teacher's college in Nigeria, being a church choir director, and his experience as a singer. He then talks about school integration in Las Vegas and above-ground nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site.
Archival Collection
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Culinary Union workers strike at the Frontier Hotel and Casino in August of 1991. Strikers are seen with signs marching in a parking lot. The American flag is shown multiple times, along with a portable restroom with a multiple protesting sign, including one depicting Margaret Elardi. Police officers are also seen on site. The Frontier marquee is depicted and reads: "Welcome Boilermakers, players bar 10am to 10pm, boilermakers 50 cents, bottle beer 25 cents."Arrangement note: Series I. Demonstrations, Subseries I.A. Frontier Strike Site name: Frontier Hotel and Casino
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Mike Gordon speaks about their liquor stores and lists his occupation as a bartender. Among the civic organizations that he participated in were: Young Democrats, Eagles Lodge, Lions Club, past president of Temple Beth Sholom and B'nai B'rith Lodge. Together Mike and Sallie recall the growth and changes of the valley they have witnessed between the early 1930s and mid-1970s. Among his anecdotes is one about the carrying of payroll checks to Boulder Dam to avoid "interference" (robberies).
Mike and Sallie were among the very first people of Jewish ancestry to make their way to Las Vegas. They arrived January 26, 1932 to join relatives of Sallie?s who had moved to Las Vegas when the Boulder Dam construction began. They had married in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Soon they were involved members of a small but growing group of Jewish pioneers and helped found Temple Beth Sholom, the community?s first synagogue. Mike speaks about their liquor stores and lists his occupation as a bartender. Among the civic organizations that he participated in were: Young Democrats, Eagles Lodge, Lions Club, past president of Temple Beth Sholom and B?nai B?rith Lodge. Together Mike and Sallie recall the growth and changes of the valley they have witnessed between the early 1930s and mid-1970s. Among his anecdotes is one about the carrying of payroll checks to Boulder Dam to avoid ?interference? (robberies).
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