F. Andrew Taylor has been a Las Vegas resident for over 20 years, moving to the city by way of New England and Georgia at the age of 28. Armed with a degree in painting from the Swain School of Design, got a job at a Laughlin casino as a caricature artist. After a brief stay in Laughlin and Bullhead City, Andrew moved to Ward I, where his girlfriend, now wife, lived. They soon moved to the Spring Valley area, where Andrew later learned through conversations with neighbors and his own research that the home sat on what was the old Stardust Racetrack. With Andrew’s move to the city came new professional opportunities. He got a job at CityLife as the in-house artist and graphic designer, what was then apart of Wick Communications. After a year, Andrew began reporting, initially working for the Sunrise/Whitney paper, and eventually working the downtown beat. Always feeling the pulse of the local arts and culture scene, he has attended First Fridays since it started, continues his own art,
On March 7, 1979, Lawrence R. Biggs, interviewed local sports enthusiast and blackjack dealer, Archie Curtis, (born August, 10, 1941 in Vidalia, Louisiana) at his home in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He relocated to Southern Nevada from Louisiana in 1942. The interview primarily focused on athletics in Nevada, but also covered racial discrimination on the Strip, social and environmental changes, and the local health effects of the early atomic tests. Archie recalls attending the Westside Elementary School, before attending Madison Junior High School in Las Vegas. He describes playing sports for the school teams and playing against schools, such as, the Fifth Street Elementary School, which was located on Las Vegas Boulevard North, and also J.D. Smith Elementary School, which is located in North Las Vegas. He played against schools in Virgin Valley, Moapa and Caliente.