Mike DeJong grew up in Michigan and moved to Las Vegas in 1990 at the age of 21. DeJong attended and graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and entered the casino industry as a pit clerk at The Mirage. He also worked as a floor representative for Club Mirage, the casino’s players club, before going into the MAP program which allowed him to learn about and transition into supervisory roles. DeJong became an assistant shift manager at The Mirage and eventually became shift manager at that property until moving to Bellagio as it was opening to become a slot manager in 1998. DeJong then became director of slot operations at Bellagio and in 2005 went to the New York-New York property as director of slot operations and marketing, which eventually led him into the position of vice president of casino operations and marketing. DeJong currently works at Wynn Las Vegas as vice president of slot operations and marketing. In his interview, DeJong discusses the different aspects of his various positions in Las Vegas Strip casinos, and he talks about the qualities of both good and bad slot managers, specifically in terms of making decisions and interacting with customers. He also describes his philosophy on what makes a good slot floor and how target clientele is considered. DeJong also talks about the transition from coins to ticketing in slot machines and his experience witnessing both resistance and the realization of benefits from that change. He also discusses how the casino industry has changed overall and what he believes the future of the slot floor will look like in ten years. DeJong finalizes the interview by talking about his personal gambling experiences and also by providing advice to young people who want to go into the slot industry.

Justin Beltram is a native Las Vegan who grew up on Sunrise Mountain and graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Beltram entered the gaming industry in 2000 by becoming a slot analyst at The Mirage. He would later become both manager and director of slot operations and marketing at that property before becoming executive director of slot operations and marketing at Treasure Island. In 2008, Beltram moved on to become vice president of slot operations and marketing at Bellagio and in 2011 went to work at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore as vice president of slots. Beltram is currently the vice president of slot operations at the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, a position he has held since 2014. Beltram’s interview begins with a brief description of his background and his progression in the casino industry, including some of his early duties in slot analysis. Beltram also describes his experience in moving to Singapore, the differences between Las Vegas and Singapore, and how he eventually transitioned from a property role to a corporate role. He mentions some of his mentors throughout his career and also describes the qualities of both good and bad slot managers, from shift managers to higher management positions. He also discusses his different approaches to local and transient customers in addition to his dealings with slot vendors. Beltram also discusses his experience during the transition from the use of coin to ticketing in slot machines among other major changes in general to slot machines since he started in the industry. The interview concludes with Beltram’s thoughts on the future of slot operations, particularly skill-based gaming and amenities stations, and also a discussion on Beltram’s personal experience with gambling and his advice to young people who are interested in getting into the slot industry.

Will Provance was born in Mississippi and grew up mostly in St. Louis, where he earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Missouri before earning a Master’s in Business Administration from Shiller University. Provance would eventually attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where he earned a Master of Science in Hotel Administration. He started in the gaming industry as a pool manager at Sunset Station, where he would eventually become slot analyst before entering Station Casinos’ management development program. Provance then trained in various positions at Red Rock Resort prior to moving to Green Valley Ranch as a shift manager. He then went back to Sunset Station to become slot operations manager and was promoted to director of slots at that property. Provance is currently the director of VLT operations at Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park in Northfield, Ohio. Provance’s interview begins with his discussion of the various roles he has held in the gaming industry, including the types of duties he was assigned at the different properties. He then describes the difference between managing slot machines in his earlier positions and video lottery terminals (VLTs) in his current position in Ohio. Provance then mentions some of the mentors he has had in his career, and he describes what he believes are the qualities of both good and bad slot managers. He also discusses what he believes makes a good slot floor, including the process of working with slot vendors in getting new slot machines for the slot floor as well as working with other departments in the casino. Provance then talks about how slot operations has changed since he started in the industry and what he thinks the future of slot machines will be, specifically regarding skill-based gaming. The interview concludes with Provance’s discussion of his personal gambling and his advice to young people who want to go into the slot industry.

Architect Thomas J. Schoeman was born in 1949 in Brooklyn, New York, and was the first of his four siblings to graduate high school and attend college. Schoeman attended Nassau Community College and then transferred to the University of New Mexico in the early 1970s, from which he graduated in 1974. After spending his first five years out of college working as an architect in New Mexico, Schoeman received a job offer from Jack Miller and Associates (later, JMA Studio) and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1979. He stayed with JMA for many years, eventually becoming partner, president, and Chief Executive Officer. While at JMA, Schoeman designed, among many other iconic Las Vegas buildings, the original UNLV Dickinson Library, the Nevada Power building, One Queensridge Place, and World Market Center as well as expansions to McCarran International Airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center. Before he retired at age 62, Schoeman negotiated the sale of JMA to Baker International, an engineering and architectural firm, for which he worked for a short time as architectural director of. He also arranged for Baker International to agree to donate many early JMA records to Special Collections at UNLV Libraries. In his retirement he designs multifamily dwellings and other buildings that will help create community and revitalize Downtown Las Vegas.

World War II Naval officer, outdoors man, viola player John Watkins arrived in Las Vegas in 1955 fresh from his fellowship at UCLA, as the town’s first urologist. In this interview made two years before his 2011 death, Watkins talks about his schooling, his medical career, and medicine and medical practitioners in Las Vegas from the mid-1950s. He recalls how he met his wife, Frances (née) O’Rourke, and the Las Vegas places he, Frances, and their sons John and Brian lived. In particular, he describes their Desert Inn Country Club neighbors and neighborhood, where he and his family lived for fourteen years near the third tee. Watkins talks about his musical education and playing the viola in Antonio Morelli’s Christmas concerts. He also shares his experiences as a mountain climber who climbed Mount Charleston several times before deciding in his seventies to climb the highest peak in each of the fifty states. By the time of this interview, he and his son Brian had conquered forty-three state peaks. According to his obituary, he completed one more climb before he died at ninety years of age, for a total of forty-four highest state peaks. In an Appendix, Watkins shares his detailed wartime journal covering nine “terrible days” on a U.S. Naval ship in an undisclosed battle zone in the Pacific Theatre, 28 December 1944 – 6 January 1945.

Gladys Neville's story begins in Crowley, Louisiana, in 1915. She grew up as one of eleven children, graduated from high school in 1933, and entered nursing school at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. After earning her RN in 1937, she continued to work at Charity for four years, then joined the Army and served in the European Theater for three years. Gladys details her experience in nursing school, explaining that students were given on-the-job training. With that training and four years of nursing after that, she was well qualified to join the 24th General Hospital overseas deployment in WWII. It was during her stay in Florence, Italy, that she was married and not too long after that, the war ended and she and her husband were transferred back to the States. Her husband's work for Bank of America took them to Laguna Beach, Salt Lake City, and Idaho Falls. Their children were bom during this period and Gladys took a 20 year hiatus from nursing. In 1962 they moved to Las Vegas and in 1964 Gladys decided to take a refresher course at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (now University Medical Center). After that refresher course, Gladys was hired for a full-time day shift at UMC. She and the interviewer share many details about the hospital's physical appearance, the staffing, location of surgeries and burn units, and how the RN's encouraged LPN's to continue their training and become nurses. Gladys concludes her interview with further recollections of her military nursing experience. She also gives more details about her war-time wedding. Among her final comments, she mentions the stress of working full time when her husband was ill.

Pamela and Steve Grogan met via Match-dot-com and married in 2004. They purchased a house in Scotch 80s with its own colorful history and enough storage for Pam’s extensive collections of cookbooks and cooking supplies. In Scotch 80s Pam has made a name for herself as a cook and hostess, and Steve serves as president of the Scotch 80s Owners Association. In this interview, the couple discuss their house, their neighborhood, urban pressures, and methods of maintaining atmosphere and traffic flow in a neighborhood they have grown to love. Pam moved to Las Vegas from Lockport, Illinois, with some friends in 1999. She had sparked her passion for cooking and cookbooks in Illinois, and in Las Vegas she developed both interests further when she began working as assistant manager for Sur La Table cooking store on the Las Vegas Strip. Steve became interested in Las Vegas after he advised the campaign committee to pass legalized gambling in Colorado and became the first executive director of the Colorado Gaming Owners Association. He left Denver for Las Vegas in 1989 after pursuing successful political and entrepreneurial careers in his former city.