AN INTERVIEW WITH JEAN TOBMAN, MARILYN MORAN & JANIE MOORE

An Oral History Conducted by Claytee White

West Charleston Neighborhoods: An Oral History Project of Ward 1 Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of

i ©The West Charleston Neighborhoods: An Oral History Project of Ward 1 University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2014

Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV - University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Manager: Barbara Tabach Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Editors: Maggie Lopes, Melissa Robinson Interviewers: Claytee White

ii The recorded Interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of Dr. Harold Boyer. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first-person narratives. The participants in this project thank the university for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish.

The transcript received minimal editing that includes the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews.

The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.

Claytee D. White, Project Director Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University Nevada, Las Vegas

iii PREFACE

In 1953, Jean and Herb Tobman packed up their life in New Jersey and moved their family to Las Vegas. The couple had fell in love with the city when visiting Jean's parents who had already moved to the city. After initially settling in North Las Vegas, the Tobmans moved to Twin Lakes, before eventually settling in the Pinto Palamino area. Herb Tobman bought three lots in Pinto, building the homes on all three, which have housing various family members over the years. Upon moving, Jean initially assisted her mother at her rooming house, and Herb worked with Jean's father at City Furniture. Herb bought his first cab soon thereafter, and grew one vehicle into Western Cab Company, which is still family-run. After a large fire closed City Furniture, Herb worked as the general manager at Moulin Rouge, jumpstarting his career in the gaming industry. Jean and Herb were blessed with three daughters - Marilyn, Janie and Helen - all of whom still live in Las Vegas. The girls grew up keeping horses, as did many other neighbors in the Pinto area. They would ride their steeds through the desert to the Strip, sometimes for breakfast at the Sliver Slipper. Marilyn married John Moran, the sheriff's son, who served as a police officer himself. She sat on the planning commission for a decade, during the city's growth spurt. Janie spent a semester at Arizona State University before returning to Las Vegas to work at Stardust Hotel, a property co-owned by her father, who also served as the its president. Jean, Marilyn and Janie are devoted Nevadans, grateful for the opportunities Las Vegas has afforded their family. While they admit that the city has changed since Marilyn, Janie and Helen were children riding horses in their vast desert of a backyard, they are all appreciative to call Las Vegas home.

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Interviews with Jean Tobman, Marilyn Moran, and Janie Moore on November 5, 2013 by Claytee White in Las Vegas, Nevada

Preface iv Jean talks about following her parents to Las Vegas in 1953 with her family, initially living with her mother in her rooming house; father owns used furniture store; husband starts cab company. Daughter Marilyn discusses growing up in Twin Lakes before family moves to Pinto area. Janie joins Marilyn in discussing riding horses, through the desert, to casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard, while living in Pinto; mentions racetrack owned by Harry Claiborne 1-5 Marilyn eventually purchases parent's home and raises family there. Janie touches on security career at Stardust Hotel, where her father worked; differences in organizational culture within gaming industry then and now. Jean talks about why she fell in love with Las Vegas; running the rooming house with her mother; clientele; taking care of working mothers' children; work as cocktail waitress. Marilyn discusses lounge acts in 1950s; fire in father's furniture store 6-9 All three women discuss Herb Tobman's relationship, experiences on the Westside, including working at Moulin Rouge after fire at furniture store; transitioning to casino industry. Marilyn talks more about the changes in casino culture over the years. Janie mentions working with Hazel Gay at the Stardust. Jean remarks about who now runs Western Can Company 10-13 Jean and Janie describe the Pinto neighborhood, from when they moved then and over time; three lots owned by Herb Tobman; who designed the houses; about various family members, and others, who lived in homes on the street over the years. Marilyn mentions that parents' original home was same design as Myron Leavitt's. Jean describes first home in North Las Vegas; how she met her husband back East. Marilyn talks about how she met her husband 14-18 Marilyn continues talking about her husband, who served as a police officer, working the Pittman area; husband's father was sheriff. All state disliked show Vegas, disappointing portrayal of the Lambs. All discuss Las Vegas' growth over the years, differences they see, for better and worse; demise of local school system; culture of 'Sin City'. Marilyn discusses serving on the planning commission, development in northwest of city 19-23 Continue talking about city's changes, including the Strip, Fremont Street; affection for the west side of town. Marilyn mentions working at Huntridge Theater. All reflect on the wonderful people they've met in Las Vegas, the good life they've enjoyed living in city. Marilyn again v talks about planning commission work, appointed by Jan Jones; opening of several casinos. Mention Panorama Market. Offer to provide photos to accompany transcript 24-28 Interviewer describes her thesis project about women in gaming and entertainment. Try to recall showgirls from Moulin Rouge that father knew; possible renovation discussions of Moulin Rouge over time. Mention Dr. West, Sarann Knight Preddy; Dairy Queen and YMCA on Main Street; Dula Center. Talk about apartments father owned, named after his daughters; appreciation of living in Las Vegas each time return from family visit back East 29-35 Index 36-37

vi vii viii ix This is Claytee White. It is November 5, 2013. I am here in Pinto Palomino today and I am with a wonderful family. We have two generations sitting around the table. Jean, we were going to start with you. Could you please give me your name and would you spell it for me, as well? Yes. Jean Tobman; J-E-A-N, T-O-B-M-A-N. I'm the matriarch of these two young ladies. I've lived here since 1953. My parents are from Haverstraw, New York and Weehawken, New Jersey. My mother moved here first. She came on a trip and she loved Las Vegas; that was in 1950. Then I decided, with my two little children, I'm going to pay her a visit and we fell in love with it. We wanted to leave the East, and to come this far west was a big excitement for us. We traveled in a car with two little babies across the country. We came here and lived with my mother on North Eighth Street on Fremont Street; she had a rooming house. She rented to cocktail waitresses and their children, and the children lived with us and my two little children. We all slept together in this little house. My husband went to Boulder City to get a job temporarily, until we decided to go back and pack up and come back here, as a gas station attendant. Then we decided to come back. We drove back to New Jersey, packed up as quickly as possible to come to this beautiful, beautiful desert because that's just what it was. It was maybe a half dozen streets. We came and moved in with my mother right on Fremont Street. And the story begins. My father had a used furniture store on Main Street; it was called City Furniture. My husband worked with him. He obtained his first taxi from one of his best friends who worked with him; his name was Johnny Crockett from the Westside. He bought his cab and they went into the cab business and that's what I have today; I have Western Cab Company and my family works that company. It was quite a few years and it was wonderful. We enjoyed every minute

1 of it. Then there was a fire at City Furniture and my husband— I'm going to let you start right there again with the fire. That was wonderful. I have so many questions to ask you. When I come back I'm going to start with those questions, so remember. Yes. Why don't we just— Yes, go along this way. Okay, Marilyn, M-A-R-I-L-Y-N, Moran, M-O-R-A-N. To start where my mother just left off...I'm the oldest offour children. There's me, my sister Helen, who runs the cab company for us; we had a brother who passed away when he was 40; and then we have the baby sister sitting here, Janie. My parents lived in North Las Vegas when I was born and we came here. Then we moved to Twin Lakes. Most of my childhood, until I was about 12, was in Twin Lakes and then my parents bought the house on Pinto. We moved on to Pinto where we all had horses and rode our horses up and down the street, rode our horses through what is now the . That's Janie's part; that's the baby's part. Rode our horses up Pinto Lane and across the desert. There wasn't even a Valley View at that time. There was no Valley View that went through. We rode our horses all the way up and into the desert. On Sunday mornings we used to get up and ride our horses over to the Silver Slipper Hotel, which then became the Frontier Hotel—the Last Frontier Hotel and then became the New Frontier Hotel. We used to ride over there and tie our horses up and go to breakfast. [Laughing] I'll let Janie take it from there, from the neighborhood. I went to Hyde Park Junior High School and then on to Western High School. When I went to high school here in Las Vegas, there were three high schools. When I was in high school

2 I think 35,000 people lived here; there were only a few schools. The year I was a senior they built Clark High School, which gave us a choice to go there or stay at Western. I stayed at Western. As far as the neighborhood, it was a really, really wonderful place to live. It was the West. Tell me about Twin Lakes. I was raised at Twin Lakes. Where the K-mart is used to be the Twin Lakes and the two lakes. We used to walk from our house on Rancho Drive to Twin Lakes, and it was 35 cents for us to go to the swimming pool and spend the day. Where are the park is now, what was there? The two lakes were there when the park was there. It was a huge arena; it was horses, all horses, and the pastures and water going through everything. I went to Twin Lakes Elementary School. We used to walk over there. We lived on the west side of the street. I want you to remember some of the other things about that. When you said something about a store a few minutes ago, I want you to be able to tell me the locations of things when I come back, after Janie. So is it Jamie?

Janie, with an N. Janie.

YES. And would you spell it for me, please?

J-A-N-I-E.

3 Of the three, you're the one that was born here.

YES. My sister and I, WE wErE both born here. I actually grew up in the Pinto Palomino area. WE moved into our house, which wasn't quite built, but WE all moved into it anyways; I was four. When you said your sister are you talking about Helen?

My other sister, Helen, yes. I moved into the house when WE wErE four yEars old. It was great. The house wasn't EvEn done. WE wErE living on concrete floors and Everything. No furniture, nothing. WE didn't carE, though. In our backyard WE had a giant stable and all of us had a horsE-my father, my brother, my mom didn't; she didn't ride, but the rest of us. I wEnt to West Charleston Elementary School, which is right here on Palomino. It's called Howard WasdEn today, but it was

West Charleston Elementary whEn I wEnt there. Then I wEnt to Hyde Park and then Clark. So I stayed here the whole time.

Basically, like Marilyn said, WE would just get up and ride our horses. If you could imagine from whErE we're at right now, taking the horses all the way down Rancho Road to Sahara and ovEr to Las Vegas Boulevard; that was all desert, and like she said, the Silver Slipper. So at what point did you leave the desert and go into the city?

WE nEvEr did. Our house— I mean when you were riding your horse into the city, to the Silver Slipper, at what point was there development and you left the desert?

Las Vegas Boulevard. But if you wErE to go down Rancho and ovEr to Industrial, that's all dirt. That Sahara overpass...There was no Sahara ovErpass; it was just all dirt. Which year?

WE started riding our horses right away. So probably in 1962, '63.

Right on the corner of our street was a prominent judge, Harry Claiborne, who lived there forever. HE had a giant racetrack, didn't have racehorses. But right here on the corner of Rancho and Pinto. What do you mean he had a racetrack?

4 All the property there, it was a big racetrack and his home sat on the corner of Alta and Rancho. So his backyard was a racetrack?

YES, and it wEnt ovEr to Pinto. HE and my father wErE vEry good friends, so WE could go take our horses down there and

ride. HE had horses, but they wErEn't racehorses; it was just the way it was built. What you call the racetrack, was it used by anyone other than children on their horses?

No, just us, just friends, people that used to do it. Basically, I had friends from like the McNeil Manor, like you said, all the

way ovEr there, from Bonnie Brae off of Oakey, all the way up past here, Hastings, all back there. Dormack, Wesley.

YES, all those streets. OvEr by the Mormon Church, back behind there. My grandfather had had a stroke and hE was in a

convalescent homE at the corner of ROSE and Pinto. Everyday my girlfriend and I would ride our bikes down there, get him

in the wheelchair, and take him to the house or take him for rides. It was just a great neighborhood to grow up in. Our

bicycles. All my friends that lived in the arEa, WE wEnt all the way through school from ovEr at Rancho and Oakey to Mason

and all those streets. I lived there all the way until WE all left, whEn I was out of high school. Then my sister bought the

house and raised her whole family there. So you're pointing. Marilyn purchased the house.

Marilyn purchased the house from my parents; they movEd because they figured it was time for my brother and I to get

going. So they put Marilyn and her husband and then their four children and now they've been there all these yEars. That

house has been a part of our family for 50 yEars. Tell me what you did, since we're right here talking to you now, when you finished high school.

WhEn I finished high school, I wEnt to college at ASU for a SEmEstEr. My father was in the hotel business. At that time I

probably wasn't real up on going to college and so I camE back and got a job at the Stardust Hotel working for the chief of

security. I worked there forever.

5 And your father's name?

Herb Tobman. As a young girl your age with the background you've had, what was it like working in a casino?

Back then it was a wholE different ExperiEncE. My dad was onE of the owners with somE other penpie; it was like a family.

It didn't mattEr if you wErE a big boss or you swEpt the carpets; Everybody was treated the samE in the hotels. Now to mE it's like a big corporate; I don't really carE for it now. It's not the way-it was nothing working there. It was just a big family. Good. I want you to talk more about that casino culture when we come back. So Jean, when you were talking to me you said that your mother and you fell in love with Las Vegas. What was there to fall in love with? Explain that to me. The serenity, the warmth, just everybody knew everyone. There was no discrimination. Everybody got along so beautifully. That's what we liked about it. We liked the weather and the freedom, and that's what we had and it was wonderful. Fantastic. You told me that there was someone who owned a rooming house. Would you please tell me more about that? It was a little old house on North Eighth Street, and it was my mother—well, she rented it from these people; it was a living at the time for them. What was your mom's name? Addie, A-D-D-I-E. Tell me what it was like to help her run a rooming house. It was wonderful. Were the clients people who worked on the railroad or who worked in Boulder City? The hotels.

6 Oh, in the hotels. Hotels. It was young girls that came here for divorces and they had children. It was a fabulous atmosphere. What kind of entertainment did you recommend to them as they were staying here...that six-week period? Yes. What did they do while they were here? They worked all day, the night shift, all those shifts. The children were with my mother, my two children and myself. We just played in the backyard on dirt, desert, and there's swings in a little yard in the back. It was very warm; it was not a fancy living; it was just very nice and that's the way it was. So women coming here for a divorce actually got a job. Oh, absolutely. Well, they had to, immediately. They mostly were the cocktail waitresses. Very nice, young, working women, mothers. Their children were so well disciplined; they really were. Tell me how cocktail waitresses dressed at that time. Because today we go into the South Point, which I think are very risque, or we go into the Rio or Caesars, and we see the cocktail outfits that they wear now. What were they like then? It was the normal waitress outfit that you were finding all over the country. There were no miniskirts or high heels, and no heavy makeup. I mean they were made up beautifully. They were all young, beautiful women and that's it; that's what they were. Did they tell you about the kinds of tips they earned at that time? My mother was a very warm one, so they used to confide in her. Of course, she was like a

7 mother figure to them. Their tips were good. They were good. I've got to be careful what I say. They were strictly business; they weren't out hustling; they didn't do that. Oh, yes. You can't imagine; it's so hard for other people to understand that way of life. So we're still talking about late fifties, early sixties when there's the rooming house? Yes, early sixties or late fifties.

Middle to late fifties. Yes. What kind of entertainment did they have in the casinos at that time? The usual lounge—I'm just trying to think. They didn't have all these acts on the— You may help her out. Marilyn, you were about to say? They had lounge acts. Lounge acts were really bigger than the showroom. The one thing about the showroom, if you ever went, but we didn't go very much; but when we did go we were all dressed up. Everybody got dressed up. We went to see some of the shows, not as young children. But we always had a lot of relatives that came from the East and every time they came to visit you'd go to a show or take them downtown or something, and it was just a different environment. It was very dressy. My mother began to tell you something that I wanted to make a point of - that we had a big fire at the furniture store. When the fire came my father had to go to work. On the Westside, which was on Bonanza, there was a hotel called the Moulin Rouge, which was mostly black, and my father went to work there as the manager of the hotel. He was the hotel manager there when all the black stars were there. We got to go to the pool all the time and swim with people like Jackie Wilson—not Jackie Wilson. Who was it, Mom?

8 Oh, gosh, I can't think of it. Do you remember some of them? Yes, I have pictures of them. We spent a beautiful time when my father was there. Of course, it's very close to us because it was right down the street.

Also, my husband had a vEry big friendship with the Westside because they wErE customers of ours. She doesn't probably understand when you say the Westside. Do you know what the Westside— [recording interrupted] I don't know who was talking. You had said something about the Moulin Rouge. Let's go ahead and talk about the Moulin Rouge before we get back to talk about the fire. The fire has something to do with the Moulin Rouge. We had the fire; our furniture store burned down and my father had all of his records in a three-by-five file box. We lost everything and he had to go to work. He went to work at the Moulin Rouge, which is on the Westside, which we grew up in this area on the Westside; that's where we grew up. We never really understood what it was to be segregated growing up as children, all of us and our friends, because we went to Western High School. If you were on this side of the railroad tracks you were part of the Westside and we considered ourselves because it wasn't that big. We used to go over there all the time. My father used to frequent a place. There was a friend of his—what was her name? Her son is an attorney.

Oh, Ruby Duncan. Ruby Duncan was a personal friend of my father's.

And Bailey. And Bill Bailey.

9 Bob Bailey. Bob Bailey has a son who is an attorney with my son, John Bailey, who is married to Dick Thomas' daughter, who was the head of the union here in Las Vegas, the Teamsters Union. So we spent a lot of time on the Westside. I don't even think anybody calls it that anymore. Yes. But it is the Westside and we spent a lot of time at the Dula Center because my father was a high school basketball referee. Did you know Jimmy Gay? Yes. Yes, my gosh. When you say that—

And Haze!. I worked with Haze!. Oh, wonderful. That's the next story I want you to tell. When you say your father was a referee, was Jimmy Gay at the center at the same time? Yes. My father had a habit of—when he left the Moulin Rouge and went back to into the furniture business, then he went out to the hotel business—he had a habit of putting everybody to work including—who was the girl that became the councilwoman? Remember she worked behind the front desk for Dad? What was her name? Married to the judge. Yes. You know her? Yes. The beautiful girl. He had a habit of putting everybody to work. He helped a couple of his showgirls go to law school and they're sitting on the bench right now. I won't mention any

10 names; maybe they don't want them to know that. They actually—when we talk to showgirls and dancers they tell us about that. Yes. The management was very different in those days. It was very hands on. Everybody was equal. Everything was out of the pocket; everything was cash. Everything. Whatever you wanted. It was so different. It really was. I was just going to say something about when UNL Vfirst started it was NSU, which my husband graduated from, and then it became UNLV. Then, whenever the basketball players or anybody would come to town with their families in the old days, the hotels would put the whole family up. Then they had all these rules where they weren't allowed to put anybody up anymore and they couldn't take care of the family, so it made it really difficult for the families to follow their players or their children around. Did you know the Binion family? Yes. When they lived in the house on the Westside? Yes. I rode with them. The same age. And the son has had the house across from— Teddy. Teddy was a friend of my father's. He had coffee with him in the morning. So getting back to—would you please talk about Hazel Gay, working with Hazel.

YES. I worked with her—I don't rEmEmbEr—whEn I first camE back from college I worked at a clothing store in the Stardust

called Freddie's, Freddy Blessman, and Hazel worked there. They wErE all a bit older than me, so I was kind of the cashier.

But she was a lovely lady and vEry pretty. WE just worked together for a few yEars at the Stardust.

11 Did she do any window displays at that time?

She did, yes. It was right there in the Stardust whErE they had the rooms. She worked there with a few of the ladies and I

worked with her. She was vEry nice. I think she worked there through Dad because of Jimmy. She was in retail for many years.

Yes. Tell me again—I realize that the fire allowed your husband to then go over to the Moulin Rouge to work. You mentioned the fire early on. Do you know what started it, what happened? No, I have no idea. It was used furniture, so anything could have happened there, but I have no idea. On the side he did upholstery work, too. The young woman that works for me now at Western Cab Company was the daughter of the head seamstress. She was 17, Martha? Fourteen. Fourteen. And she's been working for me— She's 65. She's 65 now and still working, and she's a young woman. She works with my other daughter and they run the cab company. Four girls run Western Cab Company. It's amazing; it really is. The whole thing is amazing. That is so good. You've said so many different things, I don't even know where I want to go from here. Let's come to this neighborhood. How populated was this neighborhood when you decided to move into this house? Were all of these houses new at the time? No. Describe this neighborhood to me. Before I moved into this neighborhood, this whole block, this whole area—

None of this was here.

12 —nothing was here, desert. It was three houses and they're still standing—the corner house and that house directly across—my granddaughter lives next door—and the house. Those are the only two houses over there, and Madison Graves. Was he after? Sofa Cockus lived there and Uncle George.

That's who I'm talking about. Yes. That was all that was here. Like you see on the corner, the desert and the grass, that's the way it was throughout this whole area all the way, to the Silver Slipper.

West Charleston was there, but this was all dirt. Pinto, Alta and Rancho Circle, it all started. Right.

There was what, three houses on this street? Yes, you're right.

All this was dirt. Were all of these houses designed individually, by different designers? These houses here? Yes. Yes. My husband built this house. Who built this house? [Laughing]

This was my house first. My dad bought three lots. The house next door my parents lived in, right next door. Then my dad built this house for my husband and I and our two little kids, and we lived here for six years. We moved and then her son moved into the house with his family for a little bit. Then my dad and mom finally moved in here. Unfortunately, my dad only got to live here a few months before he passed away. But my niece, my other sister's daughter- Helen's daughter.

-she lives there. We took the gate and made it so the backyards were-somebody bought this property back here, Madison

Graves, and everybody bought a lot in there.

13 Now, Madison Graves is the person who works with the higher education— He's passed away now.

Well, he's passed away. Did he work— He was on the school board for a while. Yes, okay.

Basically that was all desert and then everyone built their own house. Then here, these three lots were the only three lots

by that time and my dad bought all three of them. Tell me about designing the houses. Did anyone have an architect actually design the house? No. Who planned this house?

I did. So you laid it out.

Right. Then a guy that's worked for my dad for 30 years, him and his son built it. So there were contractors.

Yes. And you did the same thing to this house next door.

Yes, theirs was first. And third house.

No, Mom, the third house, we sold the property. No, but he built that house, as well.

He did?

14 Yes. Did family live in the third house at one time, as well? No. We sold that off. This is Marilyn. A real funny story is that the person that built my parents' original house on Pinto, that's the house that's 60—how old is that house? Fifty.

It's 55 yEars old. It's 55 years old, that house, and that's the house on Pinto that my parents built with Myron Leavitt, who was a Supreme Court judge. He built it on that side of town; we built it on this side of town, the identical houses. So who designed that house? Myron Leavitt, my father and Lou Jolly, who was the builder. One day a guy from Utah came along with a truckload of red brick and my father traded him the red brick for a whole houseful of furniture in. And my house that I'm living in now, which was my parents', turned out to be a red brick house. That's the eastern influence. Oh, yes. Wonderful. I have to drive by your house. If you ever see us come by—I'll be driving that red car—taking photographs of the outside of the houses, we will never give the addresses, but we want people to know what the area we're talking about and how the houses look. We won't identify the house with you, but we want people to understand what we mean by this neighborhood.

My other sister lives behind Rancho Nevada, right behind Our Lady. I'm the only onE that movEd west. So she lives in Ward

I. Right, Mar? Yes.

15 I didn't know it was so strange. But our first house we bought here in North Las Vegas, it was cinder block homes. Tell me about the North Las Vegas house. Where in North Las Vegas was it? It is called College Park. That's on 25th Street, well, on the west—

Near Rancho High School. Near Rancho High School, right. When we bought the house I think it was 65 or $70,000. We thought that was unbelievable; I mean for that much money. We walked in and we see cinder block. Well, when the wind blew there, there was nothing from my house to the mountain. What is the mountain called? Lone Mountain.

Sunrise. Sunrise Mountain. The wind came right through the cinder block into the house. But we didn't care. It was the strangest feeling to live in a home like that. It was fun down there. You went to school— One year, Jefferson Elementary. At Jefferson Elementary, right. Why did you decide to move in that direction after living in— No, that's where we were first. So after you left downtown. I elevated myself. I went into North Las Vegas and I went into the first house I ever owned. Yes, okay. It was beautiful. It was also all desert. How did you meet your husband? In New Jersey. He was playing basketball right in my hometown when I met him. He was from

16 the Bronx. Did he want to move to Las Vegas? Your mother moved here first. I know. He was adventurous; he wanted to do it. See, we all went. He bought a gas station and (indiscernible) that was his first, and we just wanted to move here and that was it. Great. That is wonderful. Now I'd like for you to tell me more about—I want you to talk about the Stardust— I want you to tell me about your husband. John and I went to school together. He also lived in Twin Lakes. He lived on one side of Twin Lakes and we lived on the other side of Rancho Drive. We went to all the same schools. He went to Western High School. He was three years ahead of me in school. Then he went into the Navy, Vietnam. When he came back—

He got real lucky; he met my sister. I love it. Thank you. [Laughing] He was a nice guy. I had been dating a lot of guys and I lived in London and moved around a little bit, traveled. When I came back he was pretty square and I was pretty hip. He kind of rounded off the edges and I got a little quiet. He was a policeman. And he was a police officer, which was pretty much of a no-no around us.

And he wore white patent leather shoes. [Laughing] So tell me about being a police officer at the time that he served. It was like being a Boy Scout; I mean it wasn't even anything. He rode in a squad car and helped old ladies across the street; it wasn't anything big. His area was a place called Pittman, which is now Green Valley, but it was Pittman in those days and that was his beat. Then he

17 decided to go to law school and we moved to California. Then we moved back. That's the story. Where did he go to law school? Loyola. Then it's just the history. He was on the department and his father was the sheriff for three terms, 18 years maybe. His parents lived here. So at that time the sheriff's department had a lot of interaction with what was happening on the Strip. What kinds of stories did he tell, the father or the son, tell about those kinds of interactions? It was all very small town stuff. It wasn't any of this big worry about everything. If a policeman went into the casino and said something to somebody, they did what they said. It was so simple in those days, not at all complicated to be a police officer. His father as the sheriff, he was just as well respected as the governor. Today there's no respect for anybody, so that's the sad part. But in those days I think it was real easy for him to be the sheriff. He was a pretty good sheriff, Old West-type. How did you like the television show? It didn't run for very long, but how did you like that show? What was it called?

I thought it was terrible. I thought it was horrible. Okay. And why? First of all, Dennis Quaid couldn't play Ralph Lamb on a bad day, on a good day.

He lived down the street from us on Pinto. Yes, the Lambs. We've always been really good friends with the Lambs. So we were kind of expecting and hoping for something really wonderful. But you know that they made sort of a bit of a mockery out of Ralph Lamb.

18 Is that the way you saw it? That's the way we saw it. We didn't find it flattering to him. And we put him on a pedestal; we thought he was pretty wonderful. So were you very glad, then, that the television show didn't make it? Yes. I never watched it. My mother never saw it; it was a little late for her.

I watched it oncE. I saw two episodes and that's as much as I cared. I think most of the locals—because the funny thing is if you go out of the state, like anybody asks you, they liked it; they thought it was a great show. They had no idea of the family. Darwin, he was a senator, Darwin Lamb, Ralph's brother. Floyd. Floyd was a senator. Floyd. They were wonderful men and they were good for this state; they really were. Oh, yes. Tell me, before we go back again, since we've been talking about that television show, each one of you tell me how you feel about the growth, what you see as the major differences. So anyone can start. Please you start because you haven't said anything in a while.

I think the biggest thing—my kids arE the youngest although they're 19 and 23 now. You don't look that much older yourself.

Oh, thank you. I was worrying about my age, actually. What I think bothers mE the most is the kids that arE now going to

school. If my kids had to go to somE of the public schools here, I think the minority—I have a real problem about how the

English language is kind of becoming secondary to the Spanish community here. That's onE thing I have a problem with.

19 Just being here and being raised here it was—I probably shouldn't even say that. We're very, very loyal to the state of Nevada, all of us, and to Las Vegas, but it has changed. Yes, have we prospered? Yes, we've prospered; we know that. But we gave up a lot. We gave up the small community. We gave up our lifestyle of being so trusting. We gave up a lot to prosper. But for us, the children are getting older. If anybody would ever say to us, we would never have wanted to live anywhere. We thanked our parents every day for moving from New York to Vegas.

But I'd give anything for my kids to be able to have been raised like I was raised. Now it's just different. Most of the children are not coming back. Our children are living in other cities now and a lot of them are not coming back because there just isn't as much here for them. You know what I mean? They can grow somewhere else. And that's a sad thing for us because we loved it. Are your children or the ones that don't come back, are they going to other major cities— Yes. —or are they going to more rural? One's gone to a major city, but one of them has gone to a very quiet environment; one of them has gone to Idaho and living and raising his family there. My sister Janie 's children will probably not come back and live in Las Vegas, which is kind of a sad thing because we're a very close-knit family and we like to be all together. But it's just changed a lot. For my great-grandchildren I can't see it. I have seven now.

The school system makes you really sad when you see where we're ranked here. I mean none of us went to private schools;

we all went to public schools. My kids went to all private schools. Went to Gorman.

It's sad because this was such a great place. I think the bigger it gets it's just—and all this Sin City stuff; that just really

bugs me, with the advertisement of everything.

20 Sin City, I hate that.

It's terrible. So Jean, you've been here since 1953. Right. What are the major changes for your generation, different from your children? What are the things that you see that bother you or that make you happy? What makes me sad is, like I said, the Sin City name; that turned me off completely. What has happened with the whole element of all the young people working on the Strip and the sex and it's so open. The morals are so low. This is what...we never saw anything, even on television, everything. That's what makes me sad. Like the saying is I've just outlived my age. To live this long and to see what has happened, it makes me very unhappy about it, for my children, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and everybody else's. I wonder what kind of lives are they going to have. I know they live now for today and they will never know how we are. The grandchildren—the great-grandchildren I could say, they'll never know how good it was because this is the way they're living now and this is the environment they're in now. So it's just me particularly feel that way. It's Marilyn. One thing I wanted to say about the growth. I sat on the planning commission for ten years. When I was on the planning commission, that's when we did the northwest community. I watched so many of my friends who lived out there on ranches and had horses, and they had a whole city shoved down their throat and it was very sad. When you said the southwest community, give me— Northwest community. The northwest, out by Rainbow.

Was it the northwest? You're talking about out Rancho.

21 Yes.

YES, northwest. Oh, the northwest. Sorry. The northwest.

That was the southwest, too. It was on that side going towards Nellis. Oh, no, you come up toward Nellis, not towards— All of it, all the way towards and all that, because that was all city and I was on the city planning. I watched how the progress of Ann Road, we hadfriends that had a restaurant on Ann Road, Bob Taylor's; and also Los Rancheros belonged to the Lamb family. We watched this progress and all these people who had moved out with their horses and their livestock and everything. You sat there and watched it all happening and it was happening, but it was pretty sad to see a lifestyle change for everyone. But I would say in the last ten years it's gotten so fast, built so fast. I think about ten years, don't you think? It's been more than ten. About 1998. Yes, about ten or 12. It started to really get overwhelming. Tell he about the Strip today compared to riding your horse to the Silver Slipper. Tell me about today when there's the Bellagio and—

YES. I try to stay away from the Strip to bE honest with you. WE used to love to go to the Strip and have dinners and

Everything, or EvEn shows. It's just totally different; that's all. But that's okay because it's growth and it's good for Las

Vegas. So that's a good thing. But for mE I'm still kind of the old school as far as it was a dollar for the valet parker to park

your car and leave it up front. Now 20 bucks, you're lucky if they'll park it and you get it in 30 minutes. For mE I just kind of

stay up on my wEst End of town and go to my dinners and stuff like that. If WE all camE here as a tourist and WE stayed on

22 the Strip-it's like when we go to New York or something—I'm sure that's awesome, to just be on the Strip and do that

instead of driving from one because it's beautiful and some of the hotels are nice. And they're beautiful.

Yes, it is nice. It's just we're not used to that because we weren't raised like that. I haven't been on Fremont Street in so long. And that was my question. Tell me about downtown today compared to when you first moved here. I haven't been downtown since it's changed and it's a walking scene right now. When we went we went to the Binion's all the time and the , the Fremont. So you know that the El Cortez is still almost the same. As a matter of fact, it was put on the National Register of Historic Places. I know that, yes. But it's still not the same. Still it's not the same. You're right. It's not the same. I think the El Cortez was the end of Fremont Street. That was it. It was nice and you knew everybody as you walked down the street. There was no confusion or anything. It's hard to tell if you ask me that.

But you were also 60 years younger, too, so. Of course. The west side of town was really the place to live as far as we were concerned. The people in the west were a lot different. They were more relaxed, more open. A lot of my friends lived around the Oakey/Maryland Parkway area. By the way, I worked at the Huntridge Theater. Oh, yes. I was an usher and I used to give out everything to my friends. [Laughing] I was going to call

23 them, too, and say would you like to talk to one of the first ushers? You know that they're renovating it? Yes, I was going to call them. I'm happy about that. Yes, I'm happy about that. But Las Vegas has always been a wonderful place to live. We've loved living here. It's a little different than when we grew up. We have fond, fond memories. I'm sure my children and your children have really fond, fond memories of living here. We wouldn't have wanted to live in the East where our families are and even when we go back there. The problem is now we 're a big city. We 're a really big city and a lot of us are small town people; that's what's got us. But I can't knock it. It's been very good to us, very good to my family and me.

YES. WE'VE rEally had a lot of great friendships and WE mEt a lot of wonderful pEoplE. Yes. It's just the city itself has just gotten so tight for us. But as far as it being good to us, it has all around. We're very, very lucky that way. Wonderful. Is there anything else that you want to talk about? Do you want to talk any more about the planning commission? Anything happen while you were there that's noteworthy? Well, everything happened. Everything happened when I was there for those ten years; that was the growth spurt. We got five hotels that opened on the Strip. When you get five hotels that open on the Strip, you got 10,000jobs in every hotel. But what kinds ofjobs? That was always my thing. What kind of jobs? We were bringing into the community a lot of people, but we were bringing developers that came to the city and were they willing to put the money into the city for the infrastructure that we needed, the parks? So that was always a little bit of a challenge.

24 It was Lionel Hampton. Oh, Lionel Hampton at the Moulin Rouge. Lionel Hampton, okay. I think we even have a photograph of him there, so yes. While you were on the planning—did you do any other political things other than the planning commission? No, by choice. Because I liked that. I was appointed by Jan Jones. When you're appointed to something, you can pretty much do what you want. But when you get elected to something and you've got to go ask people to support you financially, then you've got to look at them a little different. I don't know; I liked the position I was in. I really loved it. In those days we didn't have computers. Talk about how old that was. Now they have the screen and the computers. We used to have a piece of paper, they'd give it to us and we'd go around looking at all the sites the week before to find out where everything was. Lucky for me I lived here, so I knew where everything was pretty much. I didn't have to go looking. But the only grocery store that we had in our area was Thrifty Mart, which is now the Cox.

And Panorama, but WE thought that was the wealthy pEoplE. Wealthy people went to Panorama.

Rancho Circle pEoplE shopped at Panorama Market. What was that? Panorama was on Hanson. It was a big market, grocery store.

It's the NAPA, that giant pot place on the cornEr. Yes. Ceramic pots. Yes.

25 On the corner of Hanson and Charleston? That used to be called Panorama Market, very upscale market. With a butcher and all—

And a snack bar. WhEn WE got out of school at Hyde Park, I had onE girlfriend that if her mother's car was there WE wErE

vEry excited because WE got to go Eat hamburgers at the snack bar and get a ride homE instead of walking homE. [Laughing] We walked everywhere; I mean everywhere. Yes. I can't even believe it when I tell my kids that I walked, when I used to tell them, it's like I walked seven miles in the snow, which all parents used to say to their kids, when we walked we walked to Hyde Park. It's way up this hill, past the Water District that wasn't there then. Nothing was there. I hope that was interesting. This was wonderful. If anyone has any other stories, just please let us know. Earlier you mentioned that you had some photographs. Yes. With Lionel Hampton, boy. But where is it? I'll find it. It's somewhere. Good. When you get to the black history age. We're going to transcribe this. We will send three copies so that each of you can read over it. You're going to then mail it back to us. I'll send you a postage-free envelope to mail it back to the university. If at that time you find some photographs that you would like to go into this interview, scan some of your photographs and let us put them in with the—

26 We'd love to. There may be one of City Furniture, Mom. Wouldn't that be great? Oh, yes.

With City Furniture, out in front Grandpa and Dad standing at the door. I have two of them on my wall. Oh, yes. We would love for you to scan that and send a copy of it to us. That would be wonderful. That was in 1953 he was there. Scan it in a really high resolution so that we can have a great picture of that. We'd love that as part of this. Thank you. I really would be interested to hear a little bit about your thesis that you did. I did a thesis called The Roles of Women In Gaming and Entertainment and it was black women. We did a three-prong project: One of us did dancers and showgirls, our professor on the project did owners and managers, and so I did black women. I talked about the migration of blacks from small towns in the South coming here to work in the casino industry, to work at the Test Site, and to work at BMI in Henderson, and about the community and how the Westside community exploded at that time with shacks and tents because they didn't even have time to build houses. It was about that. I'm really interested in that. That sounds really interesting to me. I work in an area of the library called Special Collections. You can actually go online and you can put my name in and you will find the name of my thesis there and you can come in

27 and read it. I'd love to. What was her name? Who? The showgirls at the Moulin Rouge that Daddy was friendly with? They used to be customers at City Furniture. She was a beautiful girl. You stayed friends with mostly everybody. We did. Some of the ones that we know of...Norma? No. I'm not going to remember the names. Anna Bailey. Oh, Anna Bailey, yes, I know her. Was Anna Bailey married to Bob Bailey? Yes. They were married. Yes. She would know because that was the same group. I'm trying to think. She was beautiful. Remember she used to come and visit? There are several others whose names— We always felt like someone in the black community should have stepped up and done something wonderful in that area, started it going, because we didn't want to see the Moulin Rouge close. We really didn't. We wanted to see renovation. When they leveled it—see, Mr. West who lived next door. Yes, Dr. West.

28 Dr. West owned the apartments next door. My father was good friends with him because he furnished that whole long, tall building. We had always said if somebody would step up and lead it and then redo the whole place. Several people tried over the years. It's been tried several times even since I've been here. But kind of too late now, don't you think, as far as the property itself? Oh, it's too late now. But it was tried several times over the years. Who was behind it all? Do you mean the closing or the— No. Who wanted to redo it? Several people tried over the years. Wendell Williams? I don't think Wendell Williams was part of either one of those attempts. But there were— oh, I can't remember the names right now. There was a man named—wow, was it Fox? I would have to go and look at my notes. Let me ask you something. What do you think about them taking D Street and turning it and changing the name? F Street. F Street. And changing it to City Center or Civic? Remember Sarann Knight Preddy? Of course. Yes, she even tried— I know she was. I know that. She was one of the ones who tried over the years to change it.

29 Yes. Because of the timing I thought it was very suspect. I didn't like it, either. In fact, we drove by there— They're building the Smith Center and all of a sudden the street has to close. So yes, that bothered me, too. It bothered us. We used to go to the Dairy Queen, which was right there on the corner, when we left Dula.

The YMCA was right— The Dula.

But I used to go to the YMCA, which was on the corner of Bonanza and Main Street. Oh, okay. There was a YMCA on Main Street.

Right on the corner, yes. I don't think anyone has ever told me that before.

That was years ago. So which side of Main Street?

It was right where now the freeway—remember, Marilyn? I mean there was a little—or was it Las Vegas Boulevard? Las Vegas Boulevard.

Because that street was up there, and then we left there and went to the Dairy Queen. We went to the Dairy Queen. But then Dula Center used to be on Las Vegas Boulevard. That was Dula.

No, YMCA was Main Street. So when you say Dula, are you talking about— I'm not talking about the second Dula; I'm talking about the first Dula.

30 Okay, so you're talking about Dula. There's also Doolittle. Oh, yes, I'm talking about Dula. Dula was basketball and everybody went there. Behind it was Squires Park, which my father played for Falstaff beer and he was a shortstop. Harry Reid's brother was on his team. We used to go there and when we got finished there we'd all go by the Dairy Queen because we lived in Twin Lakes then. Some fellow of there, some real estate person—I can't think of his name—with my husband, we bought little apartments over on the Westside; it was called the Marilyn Apartments— Marilyn Manner. Marilyn Manner. Then Helen—ooh, it's not existing anymore. Then Helen Apartments. Janie Jamaica.

I nEvEr knEW that. Four, Allen Apartments. Where were they located? They were all located off like D Street, off Coran Lane, all that area over there when there wasn't any big streets there. Martin Luther King was Highland. Exactly. Right. They were off Highland and they were strip apartments. This is the real estate (indiscernible) with Daddy that got him all those little places. A few apartments, six apartments. We bought little pieces of property. But it was all on dirt. So we named it after all the children. It was so nice. Great. I think that the Moulin Rouge right now would be great with the Smith Center. Yes, it would.

31 I think it would be fabulous. People are still talking about the same thing you're talking about. They're talking about how can we do it? There are people talking about it right now. Oh, are they really? See, I think it would be great because they'd be dumped there from the street. That's what I kept saying to my mother when they were going to bring the street into the Smith Center. They're going to reopen it. They should. Millions of dollars to reopen it. Yes. We need a big investor. Somebody's going to come along. I hope somebody does. I hope so. I'm counting on it. Yes, that would be wonderful. We've got some pictures out by the pool. That's where you've got your pictures, Mom. I want you to look at some of those photographs and scan a few of them for us. Yes, I'll look around for it now. We're going to get this transcript back and we're going to look at each other and go, really, are you for real? You're going to be so happy that you talked about all these things and you're going to think of some other things. Please make notes. Sure will.

All it was basically happy mEmoriES for all of us. I mEan Everything. Growing up was perfect. Perfect parents, siblings. I

mEan it was really a great life.

32 We thanked our parents every time I'd go back because they used to send me back in the summer to visit relatives. Every time I came back I used to say thank you for moving to Las Vegas. What was it about going back East that you— It was just like it is here now, crowded, crime. We never had any crime.

We'd pick up hitchhikers all the time on Charleston by the Holsum Bread. We would put them in the back of my brother's

truck. We would never think of doing that now, unfortunately. Remember we'd go to— But the whole world is like that. It's not just Las Vegas. It's just we never had it.

We never had it because we were small. We were small. Now we drive down the Strip and it looks like Times Square. It

does. It made for the formation of a wonderful family for me. And keeping my family together, that's what made it for us. I think it's Las Vegas that did it. It really did. And we'll end on that note. Thank you so very much. ALL: Thank you. [End of recorded interview]

33 INDEX Holsum Bread, 35 A Huntridge Theater, 25 Arizona State University, 6 Hyde Park Junior High School, 2 B J Bailey, Anna, 30 Jefferson Elementary School, 17, 18 Bailey, Bob, 11, 30 Jones, Jan, 27 Bellagio Hotel & Casino, 24 Binion family, 12 K Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, 25 Bishop Gorman High School, 22 K-mart, 3 Blessman, Freddy, 12 Boulder City, Nevada, 1, 8 L Brae, Bonnie, 5 Lamb, Darwin, 20 Lamb, Floyd, 20 C Lamb, Ralph, 20 Caesars Palace Hotel & Casino, 8 California, 19 M City Furniture, 1, 28, 29, 30 Martin, Hazel, 11, 12 Claiborne, Harry, 5 McNeil Manor, 5 Clark High School, 3, 4 Moore, Janie, 2, 3, 22, 33 Cockus, Sofa, 14 Moran, Marilyn, 2, 4, 6, 9, 16, 23, 32, 33 Crockett, Johnny, 1 , 9, 10, 11, 13, 26, 30, 33 Mount Charleston, 4, 14, 23, 27, 35 D Dairy Queen, 32, 33 N Dula Center, 11, 32 Nellis Air Force Base, 23 Duncan, Ruby, 10 New Jersey, 1, 18 New York, 1, 21, 24 E North Las Vegas, Nevada, 2, 17, 18 El Cortez Hotel & Casino, 25 O F Our Lady of Las Vegas, 17 Fremont Hotel & Casino, 25 Fremont Street, 1, 25 P Frontier Hotel & Casino, 2 Panorama Market, 27 Pinto (area), 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 14, 16, 20 G Pittman (Green Valley) area, 19 Gay, Hazel, 12 Preddy, Sarann Knight, 31 Gay, Jimmy, 11 Graves, Madison, 14, 15 Q Quaid, Dennis, 20 H Hampton, Lionel, 26, 28 34 R Twin Lakes, 2, 3, 18, 33 Rancho High School, 17 Rio Hotel & Casino, 8 U University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 12 S Silver Slipper, 2, 4, 14, 24 W Smith Center, 31, 33, 34 West Charleston Elementary (Wasden Elementary School), South Point Hotel & Casino, 8 4 Stardust Hotel & Casino, 6, 12, 13, 18 Western Cab Company, 1, 13 Sunrise Mountain, 17 Western High School, 2, 10, 18 Westside (area), 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 29, 33 Williams, Wendell, 31 T Wilson, Jackie, 10 Teamsters Union, 11 Thrifty Mart, 27 Tobman, Herb, 7, 14, 15, 16 Y Tobman, Jean, 1, 7, 22 YMCA, 32

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