Oral history interview with Sachiko Young conducted by Mikaela Nettlow on December 5, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project. Sachiko shares her upbringing in Fukoka, Japan and how she and her family moved frequently as a child. She talks about meeting her husband, an American military man, while visiting family in Tokyo. Sachiko discusses their marriage and birth of their child, their move to San Jose, California, and their travels back and forth from Japan before settling in Las Vegas, Nevada. She shares stories of visiting casinos with friends, working in hotel coffee shops, and what life was like for her and her family. Sachiko also talks of how she and her husband both faced racial prejudice from their families and the difficulties of learning English as a second language.

Session 1: Interviewed by Marcela Rodriguez-Campo. Barbara Tabach also participates in the questioning. Session 2: Interviewed by Rodrigo Vazquez. Monserrath Hernandez also participates in the questioning. Patricia Vazquez was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV and shares her experiences growing up in the Valley as a Queer Latina. At a young age, she remembers traveling back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. to visit family. When she started school she shares how her home language, Spanish, became her family's "secret language" as she began to learn English. During elementary school Patricia was tracked into the special education program, and remove from the mainstream classroom. She would find her love for learning in books and libraries as she taught herself how to read in English. Despite being tracked into less advanced courses, Patricia would end up taking AP/ Honors courses in high school after forging her favorite teachers signature, which changed her educational trajectory. After coming out to her family, Patricia went nearly a decade distanced from her mother and continued her college education at Arizona State University. There, she would complete a bachelors in painting and a masters in comparative literature. Her work with the Chicano Studies program at ASU helped her develop her Chicana identity and begin her involvement in social activism. In Las Vegas, she worked to fight for marriage equality and LGBTQ rights with the American Civil Liberties Union , and later with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. She also conducted several lectures for the Latino Youth Leadership Conference on sexuality, gender, and homophobia for over a decade. She has served as an English Professor at the College of Southern Nevada for the last 20 years and is an avid hiker, traveler, and painter.

Dennis McBride interviews Eddie Anderson (born 1946) about his role in advocating for LGBT rights, specifically his participation in the various political and social movements during previous decades. The interview begins with a discussion of Anderson’s background, including his experiences growing up in children’s homes and living with his grandparents. Anderson mentions marching with his grandparents for both workers’ and women’s rights as some of his first political involvements. Anderson also discusses his original aspirations for becoming a priest as well as his memories of meeting President John F. Kennedy during a visit to his high school when Anderson was student body president. Anderson then discusses travelling to the South, specifically in Selma, Alabama, during one summer while in high school in order to help register Black voters. Anderson then discusses his friendship with Nevada Senator Bill Raggio and his wife, and his joining of the U.S. Navy, where he met President Ri

Twenty years after her birth in Utah in 1924, Marie Horseley met and married her husband who was an engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad. They settled in Las Vegas, his home town and soon purchased a home for $9800 in the new John S. Park neighborhood. Sixty years later Marie, twice a widow, remains in the home. Up the street four doors, one of her granddaughters lives with her three children. Marie recalls the new housing development that appealed to railroad workers. The roads were dirt and there were no streetlights, but soon a community blossomed. Marie is a self-described quiet resident; her life was about raising her three daughters and being a member of the LDS church. However, she knew everyone on her street no matter their religious affiliation. Today the businesses are gone. Homes have changed appearances over the years as owners have changed. Ethnic diversity is apparent and the sense of community closeness has slipped away for her. Yet she loves her place there, feels safe and secure. When asked about the ides of John S. Park being designated a historic district, she is not all that wowed by the idea of restrictions that might be included in that. Nevertheless, she has no intention of relocating from the comfort of the place she has called home all these years.

Leonard Raizin was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1930. His father was a cattle dealer. At an early age Raizin knew he wanted to be a doctor and after attending medical school he married his wife Carol Raizin born in Toronto, Canada. Leonard Raizin attended the University of Toronto for medical school in 1948. He met his wife Carol on a blind date. He started his internship at Sinai Hospital of Detroit in 1954. After a trip to Arizona and a feel of the desert weather the Raizins' with their four young daughters moved to Las Vegas, NV in 1961. When arriving in Las Vegas Dr. Raizin practiced at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (currently University Medical Center) and also at Sunrise as an anesthesiologist. There was a time while practicing in Las Vegas Dr. Raizin was the only anesthesiologist in the area, and experienced for the first 6 months of life in Las Vegas an extremely immersed schedule that never allowed him an entire night at home. Carol Raizin graduated as one of the first students at UNLV with a degree in Psychology in 1973. Carol eventually worked alongside her husband in their office handling bookkeeping for eight anesthesiologists. Dr. Leonard Raizin and Carol Raizin after a very successful life in Las Vegas are now retired. They still have a home in the Las Vegas area, however they spend their winters skiing in Park City, Utah and their summers fishing in Idaho.

Judy Smith was a teenager when her family relocated from Barstow, CA to Las Vegas in 1958. It was a wide open setting, an ideal location for riding her horse. It was also an era of growth as the city became a gambling destination and the Strip became dotted with early casinos and hotels. Judy attended Las Vegas High School, worked for the Las Vegas Sun and earned a scholarship to UNR. By 1967, she was married and moving back to Vegas with her young family. They chose the John S. Park Neighborhood as the place to call home. For Judy living in John S. Park is about a "sense of place" and "a sense of timelessness." She describer the evolution of the neighborhood and the greater Las Vegas community from the pioneers to the contemporary leaders. In 2006, Judy's home was gutted by a fire. Her life was saved by an observant neighbor. She could have relocated at the time, but chose not to move from the area that she has called home for over 40 years.

JoNell Thomas grew up in a large Utah family, went to Utah State and law school at University of Utah. She moved to Nevada in 1992; first as with the Nevada Supreme Court and then as a staff attorney with a Las Vegas firm, and currently is an attorney with the Clark County Special Public Defender's office. She and her husband, Billy Logan and their twin daughters have lived in the John S. Park Neighborhood since 2001. Their residence was constructed in 1956 on a large corner lot with lots of trees and a fifty-year-old swimming pool. JoNell offers her observations on a variety of JSP events: Stratosphere's failed rollercoaster across the Strip idea; the proposed high-rise complexes; the Monorail lack of convenience to locals; effects of dropping home prices and downturn of economy; the homeless population and closing of Circle Park. She helped create the early online community called the Downtown Neighbors website which provided information regarding , part activist, part pra