Oral history with Chris Davis, Debbie Davis, and Mynda Smith conducted by Claytee D. White and Barbara Tabach on May 24, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Debbie and Chris Davis and Mynda Smith discuss the murder of their daughter and sister (respectively), Neysa Davis Tonks, at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival on October 1, 2017. They discuss plans to form Fifty-Eight Loved and Never Forgotten, a foundation to help educate the children of the 58 families affected that night. Neysa, a single mother, left behind three sons, 24, 18, and 15 years of age. The family members recall how they were first alerted to Neysa's death, and having to locate and identify her body at the coroner's office twenty-four hours later. Chris, David, and Mynda reflect on Neysa's life, her work, and legacy. Debbie, Chris, and Mynda believe that "darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. Neysa's light will shine forever."
Oral history interview with Tony F. Sanchez III conducted by Barbara Tabach and Claytee D. White on August 31, 2018 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. In this interview, Sanchez describes his role as the Senior Vice President of NV Energy, and his past experience working for Senator Richard Bryan. He discusses his educational background as a University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) graduate and attending Arizona State University Law School. Sanchez also describes his role as a past president of Latin Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Information about the Aruba Hotel (Thunderbird) sign that sits at 1215 S Las Vegas Blvd. Site name: Thunderbird Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas, Nev.) Site address: 1215 S Las Vegas Blvd Sign owner: 1215 Las Vegas Blvd LLC; C.F. Saticoy, LP Sign details: The building was constructed in 1964 (Assessor). A vintage postcard from 1967 shows the Lotus Inn Motel and a Sambo's restaurant (VintageVegas.com, 2017). The hotel was renamed the Monte Carlo Inn in 1979, but reverted in the 1980's to the Lotus Inn (VintageVegas, 2017). In 1985, it became the Tally Ho (VintageVegas). Casino owner Bob Stupak renamed it the Thunderbird in 1986 or 1987 (VintageVegas). Stupak proposed building 15-story, $400 million resort hotel called the Titanic on the site, but vocal opposition from residents of the nearby John S. Park neighborhood and a trademark controversy derailed the project (Knightly, 2014). The property was renamed the Aruba Hotel in the early 2000's and became the Thunderbird in 2016 (O'Brien, 2016; VintageVegas). As of April 2017, a 15-story residential building was planned for the site (Carter, 2017). Sign condition: Condition is 5, excellent. The lower portion of the sign is wrapped in plastic. The exposed upper portion of the sign shows the cabinet, paint and neon all in new condition. All of the neon tubes are intact and functioning. Sign form: Blade Sign-specific description: The lower portion of the rectangular metal cabinet is wrapped in black plastic. "THUNDERBIRD" is spelled out in white blocks and red serif letters which run vertically down both sides of the plastic wrap. The upper portion of the cabinet is exposed. The cabinet is topped by a bird shape facing the street. The bird and visible part of the rectangular cabinet are painted forest green. Both sides of the bird are covered in white, blue, pink, yellow and green skeleton neon. Underneath the bird , a horizontal yellow skeleton neon tube is visible. Sign - type of display: Neon Sign - media: Steel Sign environment: Las Vegas Blvd north of the Strip. Property is surrounded by other motels and wedding chapels. Sign - date of installation: c. 2007 Sign - thematic influences: Tropical, Caribbean and Old Vegas. The parrot on top of the sign closely resembles the symbol of the former Thunderbird hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The property has used the Thunderbird name intermittently since the 1980's, even when it was the Aruba hotel and the word "THUNDERBIRD" appeared over an "Aruba" sign. (Vegas24Seven, 2012) Survey - research locations: Assessor's website Survey - research notes: Carter, J. (2017 April 27). Fights are brewing over a proposed 15-story building downtown. Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved from https://lasvegasweekly.com/intersection/2017/apr/27/fights-are- brewing-over- proposed-building- downtown/ Knightly, A. M. (2014 August 31). A history of landmarks never built. Las Vegas Review Journal. Retrieved from https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/a-history- of-landmarks- never-built/ O'Brien, J. (2016 January 21). Thunderbird Hotel reopening with former Arts Factory owner at helm. Retrieved from http://vegasseven.com/2016/01/21/thunderbird-hotel- reopens/ http://www.vegas24seven.com/substance-cd- release-sinicle- the-great- circuiting-mechanical- death-a- sinners-confession- at-the- aruba-hotel- saturday-june- 30th/ Vegas24Seven.com. (2012). Substance CD Release, Sinicle, The Great Circuiting, Mechanical Death, A Sinners Confession at The Aruba Hotel Saturday June 30th . Retrieved from Vintage Vegas. (2017 February 16). Archive: Lotus Inn Motel, c. 1967. Retrieved from http://vintagelasvegas.com/post/157345077754/lotus-inn- las-vegas Zeitzer, I. (2007 June 29). On The One, The Aruba Hotel " Las Vegas, NV- 6/22. Retrieved from http://www.jambands.com/reviews/shows/2007/06/29/on-the- one-the- aruba-hotel- las-vegas- nv-6-22#ixzz4rBUwxlkh Surveyor: Mitchell Cohen Survey - date completed: 2017-08-30 Sign keywords: Blade; Neon; Steel
Alan Clancy grew up in Sydney, Australia, the second son of famous ballroom-dancing parents. He recalls that he had incredible energy as a child, and, therefore, his parents enrolled him in the Shirley de Paul Studio to learn gymnastics, tap, ballet, and jazz. He also became a soprano singer. This training did well for him for as he went through high school he won trophies in sports and participated in musical productions. Eventually, because of a neighboring friend, Kay Dickerson, Alan moved to the Rudas Acrobatic Studio where he received further training and eventually contracted with Tibor Rudas to participate in an entertainment group called “The Las Vegas Dancers”. He was only seventeen when the group boarded a ship for Hong Kong in an enterprise which would eventually allow the dancers to entertain around the world for approximately two and a half years. When the group returned, Alan auditioned for the Tommy Leonetti television show and then for Les Girls in Sydney. Eventually Tibor Rudas appeared with a contract for Alan, when he had just turned twenty-one, to fly to Las Vegas to work in the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. When he arrived in Las Vegas, he was surprised at the size of the city and the hotels but was overly impressed by the neon signs, the showrooms with their nude dancers, the costuming, magnificent sets, the choreography, and the dress of the patrons. He remembers his first night performing in the Folies and the amount of stars in the audience, for example, Elvis Presley, Liberace, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Alan goes on to describe the many people that he met in Las Vegas, working in various shows, and the many friendships made over the years. However, he eventually became interested in opening his own vintage clothing store, Vintage Madness, near the Strip. He talks about his many customers, the stores around him, his creative ways of acquiring items to sell and the success that was made. Unfortunately, during the middle of one night the store burned to the ground which left Alan devastated. Eventually, however, he purchased three buildings on Fourth Street and opened an art gallery, a coffee shop, and a small stage. His mercantile interest allowed him to leave show business and briefly open a store in Laguna Beach, Southern California. It wasn’t long until Barclay Shaw asked him to work in “Splash” at the Riviera Hotel in Vegas and, therefore, he returned to show business. However, Shaw, his friend, died and so did his mother and he lost interest in his stores, renting them out. Consequently, he returned to live in California and began working with Aids patients. Alan returned to Las Vegas for the reunion of the cast of Folies Bergere and noticed the many changes made in Las Vegas from when he first arrived to perform at the Tropicana Hotel.
Interview with Justice Michael Cherry by Barbara Tabach on September 19, 2014. In this interview, Justice Cherry talks about how he came to Las Vegas and his work as a public defender and as a lawyer in private practice. He also discusses his involvement with Jewish organizations in various capacities, and his involvement with high-profile cases such as the MGM Grand and Las Vegas Hilton fires, earning him the nickname "master of disaster."
Justice Michael Cherry was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and went on to spend his childhood in the Jewish neighborhood of University City. He attended University of Missouri and became a leader in his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a committed ROTC cadet. By the time Justice Cherry graduated from Missouri and was heading to Washington University School of Law, he was a second lieutenant; halfway through law school, he was promoted to first lieutenant. It was also during law school that he married his college sweetheart, Rachel Wolfson. When a bad back prevented him from becoming an active air force officer, he and his wife decided to follow his mother to Las Vegas. Justice Cherry worked both as a law clerk with the Public Defender's Office as well as a security guard at Wonder World when he first moved to the city. After passing the Nevada bar, Cherry took at position with the Public Defender's Office, and later went into private practice as a successful criminal defense attorney. Cherry was elected as district judge in 1998 and 2002. In 2006, he won his campaign for state Supreme Court justice. Justice Cherry was reelected to office in 2012 for another four-year term. He is currently the highest-positioned Jewish official in the state of Nevada. Throughout his years in Las Vegas, Justice Cherry has been an extremely active and influential member of the Jewish community and served as chairman of the Anti-Defamation League and is active in the Jewish Federation. Justice Cherry attributes his commitment to service to his mother. In addition to his service to the Jewish community, he has been active in numerous other service organizations, including March of Dimes, Olive Crest, Adoption Exchange and American Cancer Society.
Narrator affiliation: Downwinder (Western Shoshone); Security guard; Protester Access note: May not quote in any form without written permission from interviewee
The Nevada Mining Collection is comprised of records that document mining and mines in Nevada from 1842 to 1966. The majority of the collection includes records of various mines and mining companies located in the Esmeralda, Lincoln, Clark, White Pine, and Nye counties, dating from 1900 to 1928. The collection includes financial, administrative, and business related records; photographs of miners, mining camps, and towns; correspondence; maps; newspaper clippings, pamphlets, newsletters, and booklets.
The collection is comprised of architectural records (1947-2001) of American architect, Homer Rissman and the architectural firm, Rissman and Rissman Associates Ltd, a partnership of Homer Rissman and his brother Marshall. The collection includes 825 items from over 40 major projects and over 110 minor projects. The Rissmans' work represented in the collection focused on Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Los Angeles, Southern California, and Arizona, with Homer's early career design work in Chicago, Illinois. The materials feature hand-drawn architectural drawings, ranging from pencil and ink on tracing paper preliminary sketches to ink on Mylar (TM) construction documents, and a number of artist’s renderings, used for presentations and promotional materials. The drawings also contain work from a number of consultants, engineers, and other architects who collaborated on the development of the various projects. The collection includes architectural drawings for: hotels, casinos, integrated casino resorts, office towers, multi-family residential developments, and custom single-family homes.