Interview with Max Goot by Charles Collins, March 22, 1976. In this interview, Goot talks about how he came to Las Vegas in 1945 and purchased Stoney's Jewelry, which he sold in 1951, and then bought Tinch Furniture Store. He was friends with Hank Greenspun and active in local politics and community affairs, including Temple Beth Sholom. He talks about selling the former Beth Sholom building at 13th and Carson Streets to the Greek church, and other fund raising activities. He speaks briefly about atomic tests, and the growth of the city.
Interview with Arthur "Art" Lurie by Cheryle Bacot on April 25, 1986. Lurie talks about his family and upbringing with Kenny Washington, who was the first African American to sign with the National Football League. Lurie discusses knowing everybody in Las Vegas in the 1950s, being in the service/retail sector and watching the city grow. He operated several businesses including grocery stores and the liquor department at Wonder World. He talks about his love of boxing, serving on the boxing commission, and advantages of living in southern Nevada.
Arthur C. Lurie lived in Las Vegas for 33 years at the time of this 1986 oral history. He and his wife Eleanor had relocated from Los Angeles area to help run his brother-in-law's food market. Over the years his career would include the grocery, bar (Art's Place) and restaurant businesses; including being co-owner of the liquor store at Wonder World. He shares memories of adjusting to the more laid back culture of small town Las Vegas and how he feels like a native after watching the city grow over the past decades. Art was a founding member of Temple Beth Sholom, where he served as an early vice-president. Being in the non-gaming sector provided gave him the opportunity to work with youth programs and he started the Golden Gloves gym in Las Vegas. He judged over 40 title fights and had a long career on the Nevada Boxing Commission. Arthur Lurie past away in 2014 at the age of 96.
Interview with Elaine Galatz by Barbara Tabach on April 22, 2015. In this interview, Galatz talks about growing up in Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin where she was an English major and active in Hillel and the Sigma Delta Tau sorority. She met her husband, Neil, while traveling through Las Vegas on several occasions, and sparks finally flew when she visited him in Tucson on a whim. She describes Neil's background in law, moving to Las Vegas together, and her job teaching second grade. She describes the small Jewish community in the 1960 including the Katzes, Brookmans, Freys, Molaskys and Greenspuns, and the current direction of the Jewish Federation. Galatz discusses raising her children, some of the cases that Neil worked on, their group of friends, and her love of horses.
Elaine Galatz was raised on a farm outside Madison, Wisconsin. Her father was a Russian immigrant father and her mother a young American born bride. Her father died when she was a teenager and her mother remarried a man who enjoyed gambling and that would lead her to first encounter with Las Vegas. Las Vegas would coincidentally become the center of her life when she and her husband of 51 years, Neil Galatz moved here in 1961. Elaine taught school briefly and worked in Neil's successful law firm for a number of years. Neil was a significant litigator in the MGM fire and PEPCON explosion cases. The couple also shared in the growth of Las Vegas Jewish community. Elaine served as Jewish Federation president, the second woman to hold that office. Among their favorite shared family activities was a love of Morgan horses, which continues to present day for Elaine.
In this roundtable discussion, members of Temple Beth Sholom discuss the history of the long-established congregation. Interviewees are Sandy Mallin, Oscar Goodman, Jared Shafer, Joel Goot, Arne Rosencrantz, Jerry Blut, Jackie Boiman, Gene Greenberg, and Flora Mason, with Shelley Berkley joining in later in the interview. Most of the interviewees have been involved in the leadership of the congregation. They discuss relationships with various rabbis over the years, and successful fundraising efforts to build the original synagogue. Other early leaders in the congregation were Edythe Katz-Yarchever, the Goot family, Stuart Mason, Herb Kaufman and Leo Wilner. Until the 1980s, Temple Beth Sholom was the only synagogue in Las Vegas, but after a dispute over the burial of a non-Jew, a new synagogue formed (Shareii Tefilla), and at nearly the same time, Temple Beth Sholom began investigating a move from their site on Oakey Boulevard. Most have nostalgia for the former location, but discuss the changes in the neighborhood that necessitated the move to Summerlin. Then they discuss the other initiatives that were borne out of Temple Beth Sholom, such as bond drives for Israel, B'nai B'rith, and the Kolod Center. They share other memories, then discuss the leadership and Sandy Mallin becoming the first female president of the temple. They credit Mallin with keeping the temple going through lean years, and helping to recruit Rabbi Felipe Goodman. The group goes on to mention other influential members of the Jewish community including Jack Entratter and Lloyd Katz, who helped integrate Las Vegas.
Interview with Harry Sax by Barbara Tabach on April 8, 2015. In this interview, Sax discusses his family history and upbringing in Chicago, and his military service in Munich. He returned to Chicago and became business partners with Michael Schulson, with whom he opened several Arby's outposts, and expanded to Las Vegas in 1968. He talks about life in Las Vegas in the 1970s and the competition in the fast food industry. He then talks about the reform congregation in Chicago and his connection to Judaism throughout his life. He describes himself as a "closet Jew" before becoming president at Congregation Ner Tamid in 2007. Sax discusses the programs at Ner Tamid for all ages, and his continued involvement in the community.
In 1939, Harry Sax was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son to first generation American Jews. He spent his childhood on Chicago's South, where his family belonged to a progressive Reform congregation. After graduating from Hyde Park High School, he continued his education at Indiana University. In college, Harry was a member of the ZBT Jewish fraternity, participated in a singing group, and was a cadet in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Upon graduating from college, Harry was stationed in Munich, Germany as a second lieutenant in the Quartermasters Corps. In addition to his required military duties, he also participated in an after-hours acting group; through this group, he was hired as an extra and for small roles, including The Great Escape. When he finished his service, Harry returned to Chicago, where he connected with a high school friend, Mike Schulson. The two became partners and purchased Arby's franchises in Chicago and Las Vegas. Thus, in 1968, while his partner remained in Chicago, Harry moved to Las Vegas and opened two franchise locations in two weeks. Though it took a few years to stabilize the business and overcome competition, he opened a third location in 1972 on South Decatur, what was then the western edge of the city. Today, Harry has nineteen locations in Las Vegas, with additional franchises in Reno and Barstow, California, and employs nearly 300 people. After about twenty years as a "closet Jew" in the city, Harry reconnected with Judaism and joined Congregation Ner Tamid in the late 1990s. He served on its board, eventually becoming vice president and then president (2007-09). He also dedicated himself to have a bar mitzvah, following up on his Jewish education and confirmation as a teenager. Harry has also served on the Anti-Defamation League's board as well as an active member of the Chamber of Commerce.
In this interview, Phyllis Friedman reflects upon her extensive work with the ADL in Las Vegas. She discusses the city?s relatively low anti-Semitic activity, and how this allowed the Las Vegas ADL office to focus its efforts more broadly than in other cities. She also touches upon her family history, and how the community of Las Vegas has evolved since first visiting in 1963.
A Chicago native, Phyllis Friedman first came to Las Vegas in 1996 to become the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas? first foundation director. After two years, Friedman moved to year Los Angeles to work for ORT. Itching to get back to Las Vegas, in 2007, Friedman returned to the city to became director of the Nevada regional office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). In this position, she worked with schools as well as law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), teaching about tolerance and justice. She is a recipient of the FBI?s Las Vegas Division Director?s Community Leadership Award as well as the first awardee of Jewish Federation?s Jewish Professional of the Year. Three weeks into retirement, Friedman gave this interview, reflecting upon her extensive work with the ADL in Las Vegas. She discusses the city?s relatively low anti-Semitic activity, and how this allowed the Las Vegas ADL office to focus its efforts more broadly than in other cities. She also touches upon her family history, and how the community of Las Vegas has evolved since first visiting in 1963.
Bracken's response to Jeffers who had asked about accounting problems. Las Vegas was undergoing a massive boom, and the urban growth represented the difference in numbers.
In 1976, Jacqueline "Jaki" Baskow was an aspiring actress when she and a friend accepted an invitation to worked in a movie studio in Las Vegas. She had three-hundred dollars to her name, a dream and lots of dynamic energy. Though the movie studio offer did not quite materialized as she hoped - the invitation had come from Batman co-creator Bob Kane - Jaki's trajectory into Las Vegas, working with talents and planning events became an over forty year career. In this interview, she talks about growing up Jewish in Camden, New Jersey where her father was a murder victim; her tenacious effort to find the perpetrator included the help of celebrity detective Joe Schillaci. She shares stories of the colorful array of A-list entertainers she has worked with to build her successful business, Baskow and Associates. She has built a niche of handling large corporate events, hiring talent and attention to details for exciting events. She reflects on the people and moments that impelled her on; mentors such as Bobby Morris and Frank Sinatra and Jilly Rizzo.
Lovee Arum is the Chief Financial Officer of the Morris A. Hazan Family Foundation and Director of Hospitality for her husband Bob Arum?s boxing promotion company Top Rank. She holds a Nevada Real Estate Broker Sales License and was a partner in Western Linen (a Las Vegas linen rental and laundry company) for many years. Arum is a volunteer and philanthropist in the Las Vegas, Nevada community and works with organizations such as Temple Beth Sholom and the Nathan Adelson Hospice. In this interview, Arum reflects upon her childhood in Beverly Hills, California, and first experiencing Las Vegas after her father, Morris Hazan, established Western Linen. She discusses adjusting to Las Vegas life after moving to the city with her first husband, Larry duBoef, in 1963, and raising her daughter and son within the local Jewish community. Arum also talks about meeting her current husband, Bob Arum, and her various philanthropic activities, including Junior League, United Jewish Appeal, Keep Memory Alive and establishment of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
Diana Saunders was born Diana Salshutz in the Bronx, the northern most borough of New York City. She was raised in a Jewish neighborhood and recalls how her maternal grandparents pickled pickles, tomatoes and other traditional Jewish delicacies for Wolfie?s Deli. By the time she was twelve years old, Diana was bustling through the city to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer. Encouraged by her mother Rose?her father Sidney was not as eager for this pursuit?Diana was accepted into High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. In addition, she was accepted at the School of American Ballet where she studied classical ballet during the leadership of renowned choreographer George Balanchine. Her first professional performance was in the Nutcracker for American Ballet. At the age of seventeen, Diana was on her own, confident in her dancing potential, and eager to study jazz dancing. This led her to Matt Mattox and to her important mentor, Luigi (Eugene Louis Faccuito). In time she was a featured dancer for Steven Lawrence and Eydie Gorm?s show Golden Rainbow. This was soon followed by a position on Sammy Davis Jr.?s television show in the 1960s. Diana also studied musical acting and showed talent for comedic performance. In the 1970s, Diana crossed paths with Las Vegas venues. She relocated to Las Vegas in 1974 when Donn Arden offered her a dancer position in Hallelujah Hollywood at the MGM. She met and married musical theater actor/singer Joe Bellomo, whose career spanned four decades. He passed away of complications of early onset Alzheimer?s in 1996. Always true to her personal mantra?Wake up; Dress up. Show up?Diana maintains a busy schedule. At the time of this of this interview, she is currently a manger of gondoliers at the Venetian. She brings to life that career and also talks about being a part of the former Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. Diana shares stories of long career as a dancer, from substituting in the black dancer line to continued study of dancing with Anglo Moio. She also talks about the AIDS fundraising event Golden Rainbow, having dinner at Rabbi Shea Harlig?s home and observations of local theater.