In 1990, Las Vegas became home to Ellis Landau and his attorney wife, Yvette. They moved from Phoenix, Arizona when Ellis accepted a position as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer with Boyd Gaming. The relocation also included a desire to become active in the local community. Temple Beth Sholom was one of their first connections. For Ellis the Jewish community of a newer city like Las Vegas differed immensely from his childhood upbringing in a more ethnic Jewish community outside Philadelphia. Nevertheless, Ellis soon became active on the Temple Beth Sholom board, and is a past Treasurer and President. The couple are among the founders of the Warsaw Memorial Garden at the synagogue. In 2006, Ellis was honored as Temple Beth Sholom’s “Man of the Year.” The Landaus have been significantly involved with other local organizations such as Nathan Adelson Hospice and the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Ellis’s dedication to the Anti-defamation League, both on a local and regional level, is a beacon of inspiration to others. The Landaus are sponsors of ADL’s “No Place for Hate” program. Ellis is a graduate of Brandeis University in economics and has a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University School of Business. His former career steps include Ramada Inc. and U-Haul Corporation.

In 1976, when Bob Campbell accepted the city manager position in Henderson, Nevada, he and his family had just endured nearly a month of sub-zero temperatures in their native Missouri. Southern Nevada's mild winter coupled with the promise of developing the 8,600 acres that would become Green Valley convinced Bob and his wife, Pat, to make the move. Bob came to Henderson with a degree in public administration and city manager experience in two Missouri towns, but Green Valley offered something akin to "an artist having a blank canvas on which to plan and create." In this interview, Bob talks about the ways his career in public administration blossomed in Southern Nevada. After about five years with the City of Henderson, Campbell joined Mark Fine and American Nevada Corporation to develop Green Valley; five years after that, he moved to Southwest Gas Corporation to work with Bill Laub and later, Kenny Guinn. From about 1989 to 1997, he helped develop Lake Las Vegas. In 1994, Bob and Pat together formed The Campbell Company, a private consulting firm whose clients included Transcontinental Properties' Lake Las Vegas project as well as Henry Chen's Ascaya. v Much of the interview focuses on the Lake Las Vegas project: its original visionary, false starts, and its tumultuous development as an arm of the Bass brothers of Fort Worth, Texas; their developer, Ronald Boeddeker of Transcontinental Properties in Santa Barbara, California, and Boeddeker's appointee, Alton Jones. Along the way Campbell shares the strategies employed by the Wednesday morning group of Henderson boosters who met at Saint Peter's Catholic Church and who succeeded in gaining the necessary local, state, and federal approvals to move the project forward. He reveals the intimidation, physical threats, and sexual harassment suffered by those who questioned the way Jones did business. Overall, though, he explains why he continues to respect the Bass brothers and is still proud of Lake Las Vegas, "proud that we got it on, and proud that it's turned out to be what it is."

On March 20, 1978, collector Karen Reed interviewed her grandmother, Virginia Houser (born on August 22nd, 1912 in Bartonville, Illinois) at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the interview, Virginia Houser discusses working in Las Vegas at various stores as well as changes in the Downtown and Strip areas. She also speaks about the annual Helldorado Parade and other entertainment in the Las Vegas area besides gambling.

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.

Carolyn Goldmark Goodman (1939- ) is the mayor of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. She began her first four-year term in office on July 6, 2011 and was re-elected for a second term in April 2015. She succeeded her husband of 50 years, Oscar B. Goodman, who served three terms as mayor. Carolyn founded The Meadows School in Las Vegas in 1984, the state's first nonprofit, college preparatory school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. She oversaw planning and daily operations of the school for 26 years, retiring in 2010. Carolyn and Oscar Goodman arrived in Las Vegas in 1964. Carolyn Goodman started out working in the hotel industry, and later earned her master's degree in counseling from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) while raising four children. As mayor, Goodman has focused on improving public education and the local economy. She is a board member of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and serves on the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA). She is actively involved in the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), as a member of its Advisory Board, vice-chair of its Task Force on Education Reform, and chair of the Mayors? Business Council. In 2014 Goodman received the UCSM?s Large City Climate Protection Award. As leader of the Meadows School, Goodman was recognized nationally by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the National Association of Independent Schools in 2006 with the Seymour Preston Trustee Award for Leadership. She has also been honored by UNLV, receiving the Distinguished Nevada award in 1989, an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree (PhD) in 2006, and Alumni of the Year in Education in 2010. In this interview, Goodman talks about her family background and touches upon her childhood in New York City and attending Bryn Mawr College, where she met Oscar. She discusses the growth of the Las Vegas Jewish population since arriving, efforts to build Jewish community, and her involvement, including with Temple Beth Sholom and the Jewish Federation. In addition, Goodman talks at length about her husband?s political career as well as her own, both dedicated to developing Las Vegas into a safe and prosperous city, with quality education, health care, and arts and culture offerings. She also discusses establishing The Meadows School.

In 2015, Todd S. Polikoff was named the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. (The organization is now known as Jewish Nevada). Todd is a graduate of Stockton University and earned his MBA at Cleveland State University. He has three children: Samuel, Shira and Jordan. Born in 1971 to a steelworker and hairdresser, Jack and Judy Polikoff, Todd grew up in Philadelphia, became a bar mitzvah there, and shocked his mother when he explained he was putting college on hold to move to Israel. In addition to stories about these life memories, Todd also traces his career path to decision-making to a meaningful trip to Moscow a where a defining moment helped him understand his own relationship with Judaism. To the time of this interview, Todd has invested over twenty years in leadership of Jewish Federation and AIPAC in states that include New Jersey, Delaware, Texas, Ohio and Nevada.

Interview with Irwin Molasky by David G. Schwartz, April 23, 2014. In this interview, Irwin Molasky discusses arriving in Las Vegas in the 1950s, and building the Pyramids motel on the Strip. He talks about the entertainers in various hotels on the Strip, the concept of the "star policy," and bringing Parisian shows to Las Vegas. He goes on to discuss his real estate developments, including Paradise Palms, Boulevard Mall, and Sunrise Hospital, and donating the land for the development of UNLV.

Irwin Molasky came to Las Vegas in 1951, during a time when "everyone knew everyone else," and there was a small, but strong Jewish community. An Army veteran, Irwin and his wife moved to Las Vegas after living in California for a short time. Irwin soon built The Pyramids, a Strip motel next to the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. The Pyramids opened the same day as its northern next-door neighbor, The Sands Hotel and Casino, on December 15, 1952. Irwin used his newly acquired contractor's license to become on the city's most important real estate developers. Over the next 60 years, he built everything from residential housing, including Paradise Palms to commercial properties. Projects included Sunrise Hospital and the surrounding medical buildings; Sunrise City Shopping Center and other power centers; Bank of America Plaza and much other downtown development; and golf courses. When the recession hit, Irwin began bidding on government projects across the country, successfully shielding his business and employees from the economic downturn. Irwin's real estate ventures not only had a tremendous impact on Las Vegas' economic development, but a substantial effect in social programming. Irwin donated 40 acres of prime real estate to the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) so that university could expand. Additionally, he was the Founding Chairman of the UNLV Foundation and received an honorary doctorate in humanities.