The Robert B. Griffith Photograph Collection (approximately 1950-1970) contains black-and-white and color photographic prints, negatives, and slides of Las Vegas, Nevada including Fremont Street, Helldorado parades, and hotel and casino properties along the Strip including the Sahara Hotel and Casino, the Flamingo Las Vegas, the El Rancho, the Thunderbird Hotel and Casino, and the Hotel Last Frontier. Also included are photographs of Lake Mead Recreation Area and tunnel drilling within and near the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. Other Nevada locations outside of Las Vegas include Reno, Virginia City, and Crystal Bay, Nevada.
Oral history interview with George Lee conducted by Stefani Evans and Su Kim Chung on February 29, 2024 for the Reflections: the Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. In this interview, Lee describes his four decades of experience as a Las Vegas blackjack dealer (36 at the Four Queens Casino), after leaving behind a career in dance. Lee was selected to originate the role of "Tea" in a 1954 New York City Ballet stage production of The Nutcracker. He also danced in South Pacific at the Thunderbird, and with Carol Channing's revue at The Riviera, and a traveling production of Disney on Parade. After dancing in Alcazar de Paris at the Desert Inn Hotel in 1980, he quit dancing and went to dealer school. He worked swing shift at the Four Queens Hotel, and attended ballet classes at UNLV during the day. Lee, now 89, still works five days a week at the Four Queens. In this interview, Lee talks about ballet, typecasting, discipline, and being "ten times better." He discusses becoming a U.S. citizen in 1959 and changing his surname from Li to Lee.
Elaina Blake grew up in Port Orchard, Washington. She married at seventeen years old and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada that same year. She started in positions at the Sahara Hotel and Casino, and then the Thunderbird. She eventually started working in real estate and became a developer. Blake was president elect for the Chamber of Commerce in 1984, and served on the Clark County Planning Commission.
Left to right: Vicki Patterakis (wife of U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot Chris Patterakis), Pete Panos, and Gail Lynch, planning a fashion show at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Site Name: Nellis Air Force Base (Nev.)
View of Highway 91 showing the Thunderbird Hotel sign, El Rancho Vegas and gas stations. Sticker on back: "Please credit Las Vegas News Bureau, 4405."
Site Name: Las Vegas Strip
Address: Las Vegas; Clark County; Nevada
Dinner honoring Executive Housekeeper on the strip. Written on the back of the photograph: "From [left to right]; (Flamingo, Dunes)- Mrs. Thomas, (Desert Inn)- Mrs. Tallman, (Riveria)- Mrs. Dyer, (Culinary Union)- Al Bramlet + Wife, (Thunderbird)- Billie Milton, (El Rancho)- Mrs. Deeyer"