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Transcript of interview with Valerie Wiener by Barbara Tabach, January 20, 2015

Date

2015-01-20

Description

Valerie Wiener is an accomplished state senator, business owner, president and founding member of the Public Service Institute of Nevada and the Valerie Wiener Foundation. She was born October 30, 1948 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her service as senator for 16 years and her role as a public servant led her to become the first woman assistant majority leader of the state senate in Nevada. She graduated with a bachelor degree of Journalism at the University of Missouri/Columbia within the School of Journalism earning a Masters of Arts in Broadcast Journalism and a Master of Arts in Literature at the University of Illinois in Springfield while attending law school at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento in the 1970s. Her generosity is also seen through scholarships and activities at the Louis Wiener Jr. Elementary School. In addition, Valerie is a professional speaker, consultant, and internationally published author. She is the recipients of many awards, such as: ?Women of Achievement Award? in Media; ?Healthy Schools Heroes?; ?Public Affairs Champion Award?; ?Legislator of the Year?, and the Nevada Secretary of State?s recipient of the ?Jean Ford Participatory Democracy Award.? She stays active through her commitment to the Nevada Senior Olympics for both Fitness and Weightlifting earning 17 gold medals from 1998 to 2007. In this interview, Wiener discusses her childhood and being raised in Las Vegas in the 1950s as well as the academic path that led her career into politics. She shares memorable insight into the life of her father, Louis Isaac Wiener, Jr., an accomplished attorney and business man who represented the infamous Benjamin ?Bugsy? Siegel during the construction and opening of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino in 1946. Throughout Wiener?s interview, she highlights the traditions of the small, but growing Las Vegas Jewish population in the 1960s. Among the people she recalls most vividly is her grandmother Kitty Wiener. Wiener also discusses her community service work and her life mantra of giving.

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Transcript from interview with Mike Unger by Barbara Tabach, January 21, 2016

Date

2016-01-21

Archival Collection

Description

In this interview, Unger reflects upon his long and successful career in hotel management in Las Vegas and also in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He shares stories as a local celebrity, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked at Caesars Palace, as well as the big projects he oversaw, including organizing the first big fight nights, World Series of Tavern Poker and Grand Prix race. He talks about working with Morris Shenker, Moe Dalitz, Cliff Perlman and Billy Weinberger, and the role of the Jewish community in the city, and specifically in the gaming industry. Unger also discusses his non-gaming industry ventures which have included a satellite communications business and a bagel business.

Mike Unger was born in Queens, New York in 1947, and spent most of his childhood in Long Island, growing up in a predominantly Jewish and Italian community. As a young adult, Unger was already working hard, running one of his family?s restaurant after school. When he was in high school, his family moved to Los Angeles to accommodate his father?s health needs, and eventually end up in Las Vegas by 1967. Over the next two decades, Unger would work at nine properties in the city. Unger is one of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas? first hotel management graduates, and started his career with Summa Corporation in its management training program at the Frontier Hotel and Casino. After a brief stint at the Airport Marina Hotel in Los Angeles in 1972, Unger returned to Las Vegas, serving in management capacities at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, Summa Corporation headquarters and Landmark Hotel and Casino. In 1978, he joined Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino management team, and was integral in creating the city?s first large boxing events, the World Series of Tavern Pool, and the Grand Prix race. Unger also ran properties for the White Mountain Apache and Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona, as well as the Showboat Hotel and Casino. In this interview, Unger reflects upon his long and successful career in hotel management in Las Vegas and also in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He shares stories as a local celebrity, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked at Caesars Palace, as well as the big projects he oversaw, including organizing the first big fight nights, World Series of Tavern Poker and Grand Prix race. He talks about working with Morris Shenker, Moe Dalitz, Cliff Perlman and Billy Weinberger, and the role of the Jewish community in the city, and specifically in the gaming industry. Unger also discusses his non-gaming industry ventures which have included a satellite communications business and a bagel business.

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Article, The Jewish Community of Las Vegas by Jerry Countess, September 1987

Date

1987-09

Archival Collection

Description

In this essay, Jerry Countess provides narrative context for a demographic study of the Jewish population in Las Vegas, and addresses the services and community needs revealed by the study and the growing Jewish population.

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Invitation and program for Temple Beth Sholom building dedication, September 2000

Date

2000

Archival Collection

Description

Temple Beth Sholom invitation and program for the building dedication includes a guide to the Judaic art in the synagogue and a list of past presidents.

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Transcript of interview with Michael J. Shane by Barbara Tabach, October 26, 2016

Date

2016-10-26

Description

Michael Jay Shane is a natural musician and entertainer. Born in New York City in 1961, Shane is a graduate of the famous High School of Performing Arts, and later attend Peabody Conservatory of Music, before leaving to launch his musical entertainment career full-time. Shane has had a varied and full career ever since as a musical entertainer, working as emcee, comedian, voiceover actor, and musician, showcasing the piano, guitar, saxophone, clarinet as well as vocals. He moved to Las Vegas in 1995, and jobs have included playing the piano at Wynn?s Tower Suite Bar, Bootlegger, and currently, Italian American Club. In this interview, Shane shares about his family and a childhood filled with music. He discusses his career trajectory, and the influence Judaism has had in his upbringing and work. He details differences between working in New York City and Las Vegas, what makes Las Vegas unique for any musician or musical entertainer, and talks about changes in the local entertainment scene since corporations took over the gaming industry. He also shares stories about his career, including working with Jerry Lewis and following Andrew Dice Clay?s standup act.

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Transcript of interview with Shelley Berkley by Barbara Tabach, February 13, 2015

Date

2015-02-13

Description

In this interview, Berkley shares her family history, from her great-grandparents? immigration to the United States to her immediate family?s own migration from New York to Las Vegas. She reflects upon her childhood experience in Las Vegas, including her varied leadership positions with Jewish organizations as well as at school, from junior high school through college. Berkley also talks about her involvement as an adult within the Jewish community and more broadly as a public servant, in all levels of government.

Former United States Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley represented Nevada?s 1st Congressional District from 1999 to 2013, an area that includes most of Las Vegas. During her seven terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the district benefited from millions of dollars of federal funding for education, transportation, and other projects. She also successfully fought against storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Shelley Berkley was born Rochelle Levine in New York City in 1951 and moved to Las Vegas during junior high in 1963. She practiced law in Las Vegas and served in the Nevada Assembly for two years. She was also a member and vice chair of the Nevada University and Community College System Board of Regents. Berkley attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she served as student body president and graduated with honors in 1972 with a B.A. in political science. After obtaining her J.D. in 1976 from the University of San Diego, she returned to Las Vegas to practice law. From 1976 to 1979 Berkley was Deputy Director of the Nevada State Department of Commerce. She provided legal counsel to several casinos at various points in her career, served as national director of the American Hotel-Motel Association, and founded the Southern Nevada Association of Women Attorneys and the Senior Law Project. In 1977 she married Frederic Berkley and had two children, Max and Sam. She remarried in 1999 to Dr. Lawrence Lehrner of Las Vegas, who also had two children from a previous marriage. Before being elected to Congress, Berkley served on the board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She continued her vocal support of Israel in Congress and was heavily involved in all matters related to the Middle East. She was a member of several committees, including: Foreign Affairs, Veterans Affairs, Ways and Means, Small Business, and Transportation. Building a new Veterans Administration medical complex in Southern Nevada and sponsoring many pieces of healthcare legislation are also among her accomplishments as a U.S. Representative. In 2013, she was appointed CEO and Senior Provost of the Touro College and University System?s Western Division.

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Temple Beth Sholom Master by-laws, February 12, 1998

Date

1998-02-12

Archival Collection

Description

This document establishes the purposes and duties of the board of directors and the make up of the membership of Temple Beth Sholom.

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Minutes from Temple Beth Sholom Board of Directors meetings, May 1973 - May 1974

Date

1973 to 1974

Archival Collection

Description

The meeting minutes of the general membership and board of directors of Temple Beth Sholom include the proceedings of meetings held from 1973 to 1974.

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Transcript of interview with Gilbert Shaw by Barbara Tabach, May 3, 2016

Date

2016-05-03

Description

In this interview, Gil Shaw recalls milestones at Congregation Ner Tamid?first bat mitzvah?and anecdotes about leaders, first rabbis, donation by Moe Dalitz, services being held in Protestant churches, and even a controversy over colors for the new temple building of Ner Tamid.

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Transcript of interview with Ron Lurie by Barbara Tabach, June 5, 2015

Date

2015-06-05

Archival Collection

Description

Interview with Ron Lurie by Barbara Tabach on June 5, 2015. In this interview, Lurie discusses his family and his time in politics, campaigning for office, and some of his accomplishments while in office as mayor and in the city council. He also talks about growing up in Las Vegas and attending Las Vegas High School, and working for his father, Art Lurie, in the grocery store business.

Ron Lurie was a rambunctious teenager when the Lurie family moved to Las Vegas from California. He adapted quickly to Las Vegas and made fast friends. He is a 1958 graduate of Las Vegas High School. His father, Art Lurie, a supermarket businessman, was also a well-known professional boxing judge and a former Nevada Athletic Commission chair. In 1987 Ron became the first person of Jewish ancestry to be elected Mayor of Las Vegas. Previously, he was fourteen year member of the Las Vegas City Council and served on many community boards and commissions. Since political office was not a fulltime position, Ron's career path developed in a couple of different ways. He tells the story of becoming a butcher and the opportunities he experienced becoming a successful salesman of gaming machines for Si Redd, IGT and others. His over three decade gaming career continues as of this oral history. He is executive vice president and general manager of Arizona Charlie's Decatur location. In this oral history he reflects on some of his political accomplishments as mayor and city councilman. He also served six years on the State of Nevada Wildlife Commission and is a member of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn.

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