Search Results
Transcript of interview with Alfred "Al" Guzman by Barbara Guzman, March 1, 1981
Date
Archival Collection
Description
On March 1, 1981, Barbara Guzman interviewed her father, Alfred “Al” Guzman (born 1932 in El Paso, Texas) about his life in Southern Nevada. Guzman first talks about his occupational history, including his then-current career in public relations for the Sands Hotel and Casino. He then talks about Las Vegas, including social changes, changes in the gaming industry, and mob influence in the casinos. He also talks about Reno, how his job affects the public, and the MX Missile system.
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Photographs of Desert Moon Motel sign, Las Vegas (Nev.), April 18, 2017
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Site name: Desert Moon Motel (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Site address: 1701 Fremont St
Sign owner: Jerzy and Celina Kosla
Sign details: The building was constructed in 1942 (Assessor). According to one commentator, the Desert Moon motel opened on the site in 1952 (Roadside Architecture.com). The cars on a vintage postcard of the motel appear to date from the late 1940's or early 1950's (Ebay). The same vintage postcard (Ebay) shows the motel as a member of United Motor Courts, an early motel referral chain founded in 1933 which published a travel guide until the early 1950's (Wikipedia). Based in Santa Barbara, California, United Motor Courts was made up of "a friendly group of independent owners of motor lodges..." (Historic Highways). The Quality Inn motel franchise was a spinoff of United Motor Courts (Wikipedia). The motel has been renovated by its current owner, Polish immigrant George (Jerzy) Kosla (Glionna, 2017).
Sign condition: The sign is Condition 4, good. The paint appears slightly faded but there is no flaking or peeling. The cabinets, reader boards, and fiberglass moon are all in good condition. The neon is intact.
Sign form: Pole sign
Sign-specific description: The sign pole and metal cabinets are painted pink. The design and lettering are the same on both sides of the sign. The trapezoid-shaped lower cabinet extends horizontally toward the street. It contains a rectangular white plastic lightbox which states "FREE ADULT MOVIES" in red sans serif letters and "FLAT SCREEN TV'S in smaller black san serif letters. To the left of the letters is the black silhouette of a female figure. On the metal below the plastic screen are clear sans serif neon letters which spell out, "NO VACANCY" in red when illuminated. The upper metal cabinet hangs from the street side of the pole. White painted san serif letters, covered by clear sans serif neon letters which glow red when illuminated, run vertically down the cabinet to spell out, "XXX MOVIES". Five metal cabinets attached to the street side of the sign run vertically to spell out, "M-O- T-E- L" in white painted sans serif letters covered by yellow sans serif neon letters. On top of the pole is a white p
Sign - type of display: Neon, Lightbox
Sign - media: Steel, Plastic, Fiberglass
Sign - non-neon treatments: Lightbox
Sign environment: East Fremont Street, surrounded by other motels.
Sign - date of installation: c. 1950s
Sign - date of redesign/move: The now pink or faded red sign cabinets were painted blue in a 2003 photograph
Sign - thematic influences: Desert, Space Age, Western
Sign - artistic significance: The current sign appears to have taken the Western/Lunar theme from the previous sign and transformed it into a 1950's/1960's Space Age/Lunar theme
Survey - research locations: Assessor's website
Survey - research notes: Ebay. Las Vegas NV Desert Moon Motel roadside Nevada vintage linen postcard ca 1940s. Retrieved from https://picclick.com/LAS-VEGAS- NV-Desert- Moon-Motel- Roadside-Nevada- 141923576051.html Glionna, J. M. (2017 April 23). Motel, once a haven, now a crime-ridden jungle in downtown Las Vegas. Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las- vegas/downtown/motel-once- a-haven- now-a- crime-ridden- jungle-in- downtown-las- vegas/ Historic Highways. (2007 July 14). Archive for the "Motel Associations" category: Looking for a motel in 1933. Retrieved from https://historichighways.wordpress.com/category/motel-associations/ Roadside Architecture. com (n.d.). Las Vegas Signs: Desert Moon Motel. Retrieved from http://www.roadarch.com/signs/nvvegas.html RoadsidPeek.com. (n.d.). Downtown motels Las Vegas: Desert Moon Motel. Retrieved from http://www.roadsidepeek.com/roadusa/southwest/nevada/vegas/lvmotel/lvdownmotel/index5.htm Wikipedia. (n.d.). Motel: 2.6 R
Survey - other remarks: A postcard circa early 1950's features a different sign with a saguaro cactus and quarter moon (Ebay). The current sign appears to have taken the Western/Lunar theme from the previous sign and transformed it into a Space Age/Lunar theme, which may indicate that the sign dates from the date from the late 1950's or 1960's.
Surveyor: Mitchell Cohen
Survey - date completed: 2017-08-22
Sign keywords: Neon; Steel; Plastic; Fiberglass; Pole sign; Light box; Sculptural
Mixed Content
Dr. Alvaro Vergara-Mery oral history interview: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Oral history interview with Dr. Alvaro Vergara-Mery conducted by Barbara Tabach on October 28, 2020 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Alvaro discusses his personal history and his upbringing in both Chile and the United Kingdom before immigrating to the United States; due to political unrest in Chile, he moved to the U.K. where his mother was born before attending university in the United States. Alvaro talks about his work as a medical interpreter for University Medical Center (UMC) as well as his college teaching experience at University of Nevada Las Vegas and California State Berkley.
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Transcript of interview with Bruce Woodbury by Claytee White, February 25, 2009
Date
Archival Collection
Description
When Bruce Woodbury, native Las Vegan, attorney, and former county commissioner, looks back on growing up, he immediately says: My first memory of a house here in Las Vegas was in the John S. Park area. The Woodbuiy family lived in two houses in the neighborhood and attended only two schools, John S. Park Elementaiy and Las Vegas High School. Bruce's recollections begin in the 1940s, when they lived on the edge of town. Bruce has what he calls a "nostalgic yearning for the old Las Vegas, even though today it's an exciting, vibrant community in many ways." And during this oral history interview, he recalls the safe feeling of the times—unlocked doors and children allowed to roam more freely than today. The Strip was a "separate world" where kids like himself might go to a show occasionally with their parents, celebrate a prom dance or, as he did, get a part-time job. One of Bruce's jobs included being a busboy at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino where he confesses to learning and
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Virginia Houser interview, March 20, 1978: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
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.
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Transcript of interview with Jack W. Zunino by Stefani Evans and Claytee White, August 30, 2016
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Landscape architect Jack W. Zunino is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and president of the Society's local chapter. He has designed many of Southern Nevada's iconic landscapes: the Rio Hotel, the M Resort, the Desert Demonstration Gardens, the gardens at Ethel M. Chocolates, the Cactus Avenue overpass, and most notably, the Springs Preserve. He's also a third-generation Nevadan from Elko, grandson of Italian immigrants who met and married in the Silver State and raised their large family in that Nevada mining town. The product of Elko schools, he graduated from the University of Utah in psychology and Utah State University in landscape architecture while earning his tuition as a road construction laborer. In this interview, Zunino tells of his employment with G.C. Wallace Engineering and JMA architects before founding his own landscape architecture firm in 1989. He speaks to the importance of planners and landscape architects on Southern Nevada's conser
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Southern Nevada Jewish Heritage Project
"The goal of this 2014-2015 project is to build a web and mobile resource that will connect researchers from around the world to thousands of historical items—photographs, brochures, scrapbooks, letters, drawings, videos, and more—detailing the lives and contributions of Jews in Southern Nevada. It will include carefully researched biographies, timelines, and histories of institutions, events, and prominent themes showing the integral roles Jews have played in the history of Southern Nevada.
Corporate Body
