Workers installing the now-famous Vegas Vic sign on the front of the Pioneer Club. Stamped on back of photo: "Photo by Desert Sea News Bureau. Las Vegas, Nevada." Transcribed from photo sleeve: "First Highrise Hotel -- Center of action downtown throughtout the '30s was the Apache Hotel which boasted an elevator and a nitery downstairs. The corner is now Binion's Horseshoe, but the spot has undergone many name changes from Tony Cornero's 'S.S. Rex' to the Eldorado where the mobs were fighting for control of the race wire. Bugsy Siegel's influence was first felt here in the early '40s."
Site Name: Pioneer Club
Address: 25 East Fremont Street
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Oral history interview with Michael Young and Jeffrey Young conducted by Stefani Evans on October 05, 2017 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Michael and Jeffrey discuss their upbringing in Salt Lake City, Utah. They talk about their family business, Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO), and the various jobs they held at the company. Michael and Jeffrey describe the first signs YESCO completed for early downtown Las Vegas, Nevada properties, and the company’s growth during that time. Later, Michael and Jeffrey talk about the significance that YESCO has in Las Vegas, and becoming stewards of the company. Lastly, Michael and Jeffrey discuss the ownership model that YESCO has established.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Henry Schutte conducted by an unknown collector on an unknown date in approximately the 1980s for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. In this interview, Schutte discusses working on trains since childhood and explains the type of maintenance he performed. Schutte then describes his career at the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO).
Archival Collection
Oral history interviews with Harold Bradford conducted by Claytee D. White, Camille Morris, Anna Frederick, and Remy Chwae on April 24, 2017 and June 10, 2017 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: a Collaborative Oral History Project. In the first interview, Bradford discusses his early life in New Orleans, Louisiana. He recalls going through a segregated school system, and his experience with integration. Bradford remembers moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1985, his employment for the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO), and becoming an art director for YESCO. In the second interview, Bradford discusses his initial interest in neon signs, and his work ethic as a visual artist.
Archival Collection
The Neon in Nevada Photograph Collection contains black-and-white and color photographic slides of neon signs from cities and towns in Nevada dating from 1913 to 1989. The collection includes slides from Las Vegas, Reno, Boulder City, Laughlin, Henderson, Lovelock, Winnemucca, Elko, Wells, McGill, Ely, Eureka, Austin, Hawthorne, and Carson City. The collection also includes slides from the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) that depict the "sign graveyard" in Las Vegas, Nevada of broken and retired neon signs.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Thomas Young Jr. conducted by Stefani Evans on October 20, 2017 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Young Jr. discusses his early life in Ogden, Utah and his father’s sign manufacturing business, Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO). Young Jr. recalls the company’s growth, the management style that his father used, and the early signs they designed. He talks about the jobs he held at the company, the use of neon gas in signs, and bringing their company to Las Vegas, Nevada. Lastly, Young Jr. describes the early signs that were done for Las Vegas properties, moving neon figure signs, and building a headquarters in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Dave Pugsley conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on October 21, 2016 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Pugsley discusses his early life in Salt Lake City, Utah and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1963. He talks about his father’s employment with Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) and the Nevada Test Site. Pugsley recalls his initial interest in architecture, drawing a construction document for the Home Builders Association while in high school, and attending the University of Utah for a degree in architecture. Pugsley then talks about building planning for schools in Clark County, the process of designing a school, and the challenges that arise. Lastly, Pugsley discusses building planning for Lied Library and the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Archival Collection
Photographed as part of the UNLV Special Collections and Archives' Building Las Vegas collecting initiative started in 2016. This photo is part of a series documenting ongoing construction work at Circa Las Vegas, the first new casino built on Fremont Street since the 1970s.
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