James “Jim” Bonaventure worked from thirteen years of age, entering the hotel casino industry at sixteen. The weekend buffet at the Hacienda was not his cup of tea but he hit his stride at his second job, the Horseshoe, and stayed there for seven and half years. But it was the work at the Union Hall that he loved. He stayed there for over thirty years developing the grievance department into today’s state-of-the-art entity that negotiates between employees and employers. Bonaventure served on the front lines of major disputes including strikes. In the beginning, the Las Vegas Police Department sided with hotel casino owners but over the years as personnel changed, they became more egalitarian in the treatment of strikers. The 1984 strike was one of the most contentious and up to that time, the largest in the history of the union. More than 17,000 workers walked off their jobs to protest conditions at 32 Hotel Resorts. Arrests were plentiful. As soon as the leadership reached the picket line, they were immediately handcuffed. The bitterness did not end when the 9-month strike concluded. Bonaventure remembers Bally’s putting up $100,000 to fight grievances. Still, the union won 85% of the cases. Then several downtown casinos reared their collective heads. The Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas Club, and the Plaza Hotel Casino were dubbed the Downtown Three. Strained relationships turned into a lawsuit where the Culinary Union was paid $40,000. Then in 1989 Fitzgerald’s Hotel Casino’s actions called for a picket line. Bonaventure and other leaders agreed on a Noise Night. Union member brought pot and pans and banged on them. The night ended with a lawsuit filed by police officers claiming hearing loss. From the bottom of his heart, Bonaventure is a Union Man. It has been his life’s work. He is most proud of and humbled by his work as a trustee of the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas. Anyone can train there for most positions in the hotel industry and be hired into the industry upon graduation. And it’s the place when U.S. citizenship classes are given to all those ready to apply. During this 2014 interview Jim Bonaventure was thinking about retirement or at least slowing down. I would not be surprised if he’s still at his Culinary Workers Union Local 226 desk handling more grievances than anyone else in his department.

This photograph has three images. The first one (0272_0040) reads, "Early morning on grave-yard shift, day shift coming on, notice lunch boxes. Hardway Johnnie (John Armitage) the graveyard Asst. Super. Coming down to see why they are slow getting to their jobs - that's me right behind him." "The men nicknamed me Hardway Jr. I relayed his orders. He had a hard time walking those 2x12 boards on top of the forms - they did install rails later, as you can see, but didn't weather the rough treatment - (xx) elevator shaft." "I got a lot of learning under John Armitage. He sent me to relieve on so many different jobs. Had clean up crew for three months - also I ran the pours with #5 hi-line until it could reach the dam no more, with the angle it sat. Tied steel on intake towers two nights." "Most fearful job was relief hook tender on the stiffleg. The job was situated on a pad on the upstream face of the dam, about level with the low-mix trusel, with just enough room for two of the 8 yd. buckets - the stiffleg would leave a bucket of mud - pick an empty one - No.6 hi-line would leave and empty one and pick up the empty. The men stood as flat as they could - during the exchange with the bucket down. The men would grab the swinging steel cables in one hand, the 12 pound hook that felt like 50 pounds. Place cable on eye in bucket, then twist hook down and slam in place - no guard rails." The second one (0272_0041) reads "Intake towers growing. The bottom of the picture shows a finished pour - it must cure for 12 hours in the hot weather, and 48 hours, cold weather - 300 ft. down if you step off the end of this panel (see arrow)," as a handwritten inscription. The third one (0272_0042) reads "The morning after my first night of work, with Dickey" (dog).

Sign animation: Chasing, flashing, oscillating
Notes: The logo cabinets which adorn the entrances on the elevated walkways: The letters start with both rows of text in the off position. The top row flashes on, while the bottom row is dark then the bottom row illuminates, as the top row goes dark. Once the top row flashes off it flashes back on so that both rows of text are briefly illuminated simultaneously before they both go dark and the sequence stars over again. While this is going on the incandescent bulbs which line all of the raceways are chasing each other from left to right on the horizontal planes, while the arched sections chase each other downward. The triangular peaks which radiate around the top of the logo sign, flash on and off in a sequence which chase each other downward. First the top center peak flashes on, then the next sequential triangular channel on both sides illuminate simultaneously, flash off, then the next two in the series illuminate. The resultant effect is a chasing pattern starting from the top. The sister animation is located on almost the exact same design on the porte cochere. I would think the previous smaller sign would be based on the larger porte cochere. The other variance besides obvious size difference is the that the channel letters are filled with incandescent bulbs instead of neon. The animation is a bit simpler as well. The incandescent bulbs oscillate continuously while the triangular pan channels which create the radiating crown, animate. The neon in the channels chase each other as described in the smaller walk way version, while the text continues until the entire text flashes off, then on, off, then begin to animate once again. All of the bulbs, which line the raceways of the exterior edge of the porte cochere, as well as the encrustation of bulbs on the brass bull nose portion, animate in rapid succession. All the raceway bulbs chase each other while the bulbs on the brass portion continually oscillate. Animation continues on the east face of the building with the entrances first. The principle for these two signs is oscillation and chasing. All bulbs on the underside of the entrance, as well as in the logo, oscillate rapidly. All bulbs on the raceways chase each other. Further on the surface of the building as well, the Pepsi cola wall sign is found displaying a very unique form of animation, seen here on the strip. The signage for the Pepsi ad is located on the eastern wall. (Detailed in specific description) The Incandescent bulbs which fill the inside of the text that spells Pepsi, chase each other from left to right, leaving all the bulbs in its path illuminated, as if writing out the word Pepsi. The neon bars located within the tilted bottle of Pepsi are illuminated, and chase each other downward, leaving the bars it its path dark. As this sequence in taking place, the waving tubes of neon illuminate, flashed subtly making the neon appear as soda pouring out of the bottle. As the tubing flows then the vertical neon bars in the cup illuminate one at a time making the cup appear as if it is filling up. The text above each of the painted fires head, flashes back and forth as if talking to each other as well. ESPN ZONE animation: The letters in the vertical blade portion of the ESPN Zone illuminate one at a time, starting from the top. Once the entire phrase is lit, in flashes off then on then off, before restating. The orange and red neon tubing which resides inside the pan channels that represent flames flash on and off in a relaxed manner as if to animate the flickering of the flames. The small incandescent bulbs on the black portions above the main matrix reader board flash on and off subtly.
Sign keywords: Neon; Backlit