Southern California native and lifetime resident, landscape architect Chuck Degarmo evokes the Golden State's iconic theme park as he reflects on forty years in the landscape industry and the ways his work has shaped the way Southern Nevada looks and works. It is fitting he would do so. Degarmo forged his professional ties to Las Vegas in 1993, during the heyday of the Las Vegas Strip's "family-friendly" era, when Kirk Kerkorian's MGM Grand Hotel and Casino hired Degarmo's firm, Coast Landscape Construction, to design and landscape their planned 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park. In this interview, Degarmo outlines his work history, which draws upon the combined skills of a salesman, an artisan, a problem-solver, and an entrepreneur. Having owned his own firms and worked for industry giants Valley Crest Companies and BrightView Landscape Development, he discusses an array of topics from running union and non-union crews; Tony Marnell and design-build projects; importing plant material into Nevada; the Neon Museum and Boneyard; The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and Symphony Park; Steve Wynn, the mountain at Wynn Las Vegas, and Lifescapes International; the Lucky Dragon; Cosmopolitan, CityCenter, and the Vdara "death ray", and the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA). Throughout, Degarmo articulates his work through the lens of a lifetime Southern Californian whose talent has contributed much to the Southern Nevada landscape.

In twenty-first-century, urban America, Randall "Randy" Walker is one of the few fathers who can say he raised his children in the same house in which he grew up. Walker did not inherit the house at 443 Republic Street, in Henderson. Instead, Walker bought the house from his parents after he graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah, worked with Exxon Oil Company in Houston, returned to Southern Nevada to work in his first government job as a budget analyst for Clark County, and sold the house he previously owned. He did not have to move his wife and children far-their previous home was at 442 Republic Street, directly across from his parents. In this oral history, Walker shares why his family came to Henderson in 1952, describes growing up in the small town of his youth, and tells what it was like to have his father as his high school Spanish teacher. He focuses on his career in government and how he applied his accountant mindset to the various positions he held with Clark County, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the City of Las Vegas, and McCarran Airport. Along the way he shares his experiences with large governmental building projects such as the first 911 Call Center, the Downtown Transportation Center, the Regional Justice Center, and at McCarran Airport, the D v Gates, Terminal 3, and the airport tunnel and connector roads. He explains how his work with these various projects brought him into interaction with such diverse fields as architecture, accounting, construction, design, infrastructure, public art, public safety and local, state, and national politics. Throughout, Walker displays the collegial and common-sense approach to government, leadership, and problem solving that grounds the decisions he makes and explains why Richard Bunker wanted him at Clark County, why Clark County leaders recruited him to be county manager (and why that did not happen), and why McCarran Airport was able to accommodate without interruption Southern Nevada's record-breaking growth in residential and tourist traffic, and why, even in his absence, McCarran was the first major airport allowed to reopen following the 2001 September Eleventh terror attacks.

José Armando Elique was born on February 14, 1944 in New York City. Born to Puerto Rican parents that immigrated to the United States in the 20s, Elique spent his childhood in both New York and Puerto Rico. Raised in the South Bronx, Elique’s family were part of the first pioneros from Puerto Ricans to settle in New York City in the twentieth century. Elique served as a radar man in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War on the USS Purdey. After his service, Elique applied to the Port Authority Police Department where his first big assignment included going undercover and investigating gang activity. Over the course of the next 22 years, he rose through the rankings becoming the assistant chief in charge of overseeing six facilities in the region. Elique is the first and only Latino to reach such rank with the Port Authority. Elique moved to Nevada in 2000 and became the chief of UNLV Police Services. Prior to coming to UNLV, he served as the University Director of Public Safety for the City University of New York (CUNY). Elique is also a member of the National Latino Police Officers Association, an organization that helps train Latino officers on contemporary issues and promote the advancement of Latinos in the police force. As police chief, Elique has fought for the hiring of new police officers to better serve UNLV’s campus and student body. As Chief of Police, Elique oversaw the response of his team to secure the campus and to provide for the needs of those seeking refuge at Thomas and Mack Center on the night of October 1, 2017. Chief Elique is also part of the Remembering 1 October oral history project where he reflected on that night, the role of campus police, coordination with Metro Police, purpose of the Fusion Center, command post, Emergency Operation Center for business continuity, and preparedness of urgent situation and active shooters. He is a graduate of Adelphi University and of Northwestern University’s Traffic Institute of Police Administration and the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police.

Randy Lavigne, Honorary AIA, has every reason to smile. Since 1995 she has been the Executive Director for AIA (American Institute of Architects) Las Vegas professional organization; she works daily with her daughter in a beautifully restored historic building in the heart of downtown Las Vegas; and the architects with whom she works so value her contributions they compiled and submitted documentation in order to surprise her with honorary AIA membership. In this interview, Lavigne recalls growing up in segregated Emory Gap, Tennessee, where her grandfather bought all the schoolchildren new shoes every year. She details the cross-country trip that brought her to Las Vegas in 1994 and eventually to the AIA in 1995. The bulk of the interview focuses on the building where the AIA is housed and the history of the organization. In 2008 the AIA moved from its former home at UNLV’s School of Architecture to the historic Fifth Street School in downtown Las Vegas. Lavigne discusses the history of the building and its significance to the City of Las Vegas. She reveals plans to examine the architectural history Las Vegas to celebrate the AIA Chapter’s sixtieth anniversary. She also talks about diversity in the profession, the process of licensure, publications, continuing education, organizational records, and the now-defunct auxiliary organization, the Architects' Wives League.

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.

On March 5, 1979, Randy Martin interviewed William George Hanson (born 1937 in Huntington Park, California) in his home at 4506 West Del Oro Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada. The interview begins with Hanson providing a brief overview of the different addresses that he has lived at as well as his personal background and interests. Hanson describes his experience playing on a racially integrated youth baseball team and his perception of the western side of Las Vegas; Hanson later recalls a rumor he had overheard about Howard Hughes. The two then discuss recreation in Las Vegas; specifically, jazz entertainers that would perform at lounges on the Strip, and swimming in hotel pools. The interview concludes with Mr. Hanson describing a pizzeria that he used to frequent in the 1950s.

On March 1, 1980, Gloria Banks interviewed her business acquaintance, Kenneth F. Johann (born 1924 in New York City) about his work life in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two discuss the origins of Johann’s business and early land prices in Southern Nevada. Johann explains the history of his investments as well as how land development progressed in Las Vegas from the 1950s and onward.