The Vista Group records are comprised of The Vista Group's legal, financial, and correspondence records from 1986 through 2001. The records include information about real estate developments The Vista Group was involved with in Las Vegas, Nevada. The majority of the records are financial and legal documents related to The Vista Group's ventures.
Oral history interview with Jeffrey Coller conducted by Claytee D. White on July 25, 2017 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Coller discusses growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. He recalls attending Bishop Gorman High School, becoming an emancipated minor, and his employment at the El Cortez Hotel and Casino. Coller talks about joining the United States Marine Corps, relocating to Reno, Nevada, and his experience in the hospitality industry. Coller describes the various jobs he had at Harrah’s Reno, advancing up to assistant hotel manager, and his career shift to real estate development. Later, Coller discusses his work in production housing, building communities, and returning to Las Vegas in 1992. Lastly, Coller talks about the growth of his real estate business and getting involved in real estate syndication.
Oral history interview with Randy Char conducted by Cecelia Winchell and Stefani Evans on December 15, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Randy discusses his family history, his childhood growing up in California, and his undergraduate education. He shares his employment history that ranged from selling life insurance to trading stocks and finally selling luxury real estate. Randy talks about pursuing an MBA program at Pepperdine University during the 2008 financial crisis and how his capstone project idea of luxury real estate lounges helped him to open his own brokerage in Las Vegas in 2014 before becoming a real estate broker for Sotheby's. Randy also shares his thoughts on diversity within Asian cultures and different Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations that helped him to "reclaim his Asian identity" including the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) and the Leaders Forum.
Rochelle (nee Winnick) Hornsby was born in New York in 1937. Her father was a scrapyard and auto parts dealer and her mother was a homemaker. She has one brother, Roy Winnick. After high school, Rochelle attended the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology and then accepted a position with a T-shirt manufacturer. During this experience, she discovered her inspirational talent as a sales person. When she married her former husband, Len Hornsby, she followed him in his successful sales career. When his job moved him westward, they lived briefly in Beverly Hills, California. Soon Len saw a better career fit in Las Vegas in radio ad sales for radio. The next step was to take him into sales and management positions at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Meanwhile, Rochelle enjoyed getting involved with the Jewish community, volunteering with the Temple Beth Sholom Sisterhood, playing tennis, and starting her own business furnishing models for conventions. In this oral history, Rochelle shares stories of her various jobs in Las Vegas and of eventually thriving as a real estate agent with Century 21, a company that she continues to work for at the time of this interview. She and Len had one child, Even Scot Hornsby.
Oral history interview with Debra March conducted by Lisa Gioia-Acres on February 21, 2007 for the UNLV @ 50 Oral History Project. March discusses attending the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in the 1970s and becoming the deputy administrator for the Nevada Real Estate Division in Las Vegas, Nevada. She also discusses being hired by UNLV and directing the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies in 1996.
Oral history interview with Jeannie Olsen Burgwardt conducted by Irene Rostine on February 07, 1997 for the Women's Research Institute of Nevada (WRIN). Burgwardt opens her interview by discussing moving to Henderson, Nevada just after World War II to sell insurance and real estate to the fledgling town. Burgwardt describes assisting her husband with the business and eventually taking over the office when her husband became ill. She discusses the methods to make land suitable for building in Henderson, women in real estate, and life as a working mother.
Oral history interview with Philip St. Marie conducted by H. Keith Beall on July 28, 1975 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, St. Marie discusses moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1952 and his career as a real estate agent. St. Marie describes how Las Vegas has changed and how the local real estate market has evolved. He also talks about President John F. Kennedy visiting Las Vegas, nuclear weapons testing, natural disasters, and segregation in the city.
On March 5, 1979, Danny Winegar interviewed Helen M. Clark (born 1921 in Memphis, Tennessee) about her experiences in Nevada. Clark first describes why she and her family moved to Las Vegas and then explains why she was homeschooled. She then talks about her secretarial work for a prominent real estate agent in Las Vegas and some of her work in that field. Clark also discusses the beginning of tract home building, gambling, and the building of Hoover Dam. She also mentions life during the Great Depression, prostitution in Block 16, and the Helldorado celebration. The interview concludes with Clark’s recollection of the first hotels and casinos that were built on the Strip, including those who built them and the mob influence over them, and a brief mentioning of her experience as a real estate agent.