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On March 1st, 1976, Suzan DiFederico interviewed Jack Herst (born in 1943 in Las Vegas, Nevada) in his home on 3221 La Mirada Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. During the interview, DiFederico does not speak; rather, Herst appears to read and answer questions aloud from “DiFederico’s dossier.” Herst talks about the population growth in Nevada and emphasizes the significant changes Las Vegas has experienced from its origins as a small town. Herst also discusses his personal family history, his Jewish identity and community affiliations, as well as his employment history as a dealer and broker at different casinos.

Known throughout the Las Vegas community as Rabbi Mendy, Mendy Harlig is a leader of the Chabad in Las Vegas, which was introduced to the valley in 1990 by his brother Rabbi Shea Harlig. Since his youth spent growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, where he was surrounded by Hasidic Jews, Rabbi Mendy seemed destined to become a Chabad rabbi. During the early 1990s he often visited Las Vegas and assisted his brother at the Chabad of Southern Nevada. Then in 1997 he met and married Chaya Harlig and the couple permanently relocated to the valley to be the spiritual leaders of the Chabad of Green Valley. As their family grew, so did their importance to the Chabad movement in Las Vegas. During this interview, Rabbi Mendy touches upon the nature of Chabad teachings and observance in the so-called “Sin City” persona of Las Vegas. He also shares about his participation in the Las Vegas Metro Chaplaincy program. He particularly reflective of his active role immediately after of the horror of the October 1 mass casualty at the Route 91 country music festival and his perspectives afterwards.

Until her passing in 2017, Millicent (Siegel) Rosen was the living link to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, one of Las Vegas’ most notorious links to the Jewish mob. A steadfastly independent woman herself, Millicent recalls Benjamin as a loving father to her and her younger sister. She is proud of his status as a Las Vegas visionary, though she affixes a footnote that the city of today might not be to his liking. She includes a few anecdotes about common names of the early days, including Meyer Lansky who walked her down the aisle when she married Jack Rosen. They had three children: Benjamin, Cindy, and Wendy. Millicent moved to Las Vegas to be with her daughter and her family in about 2000 and cherished her role as a grandmother. Always an artist at heart, Millicent once painted canvases for needlepoint and in 2015 promoted her clothing line.

Flo Mlynarczyk began life in Fort Morgan, Colorado. Her parents divorced and she moved with her mother first to Loveland and eventually to Los Angeles. Her mother started the first Red Cross in Bell Gardens, oversaw the building of their home, and raised money for various charities. Flo remembers when the Japanese were rounded up and interred during WWII. She was in grade school and recalls that one day they all just disappeared. Upon graduation from high school in 1943, Flo moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to live with friends. She recalls total blackouts on the streets of Kodiak due to the war, the Short Snorter Club, and her return to California after a bout of pneumonia. Back in Bell Gardens, Flo worked for a department store, married and divorced in 1945, gave birth to her son Michael in 1946, and ended up in Tonopah, Nevada, with a sister who ran a cafe there. After a second marriage ended, Flo moved to Las Vegas and began working at Phelps Pump and Equipment as a bookkeeper.

Shawn Willis (1972 - ) grew up in a culturally diverse area outside of Detroit, Michigan. She has made Las Vegas her home since 2004. Since moving to Nevada, she ?acknowledged? her Judaism and built a robust network within the Jewish community as an entrepreneur and tireless leader. From 2015 ? 2017, she held the position of Director of the Jewish National Fund of Las Vegas. The Jewish National Fund is a worldwide organization that was founded in 1901 to meet the strategic challenges of building in Israel and developing the infrastructure for ecology, special needs and heritage preservation. Among the local initiatives that Shawn led was a program on water conservation. In this oral history, Shawn candidly speaks of being a convert to Judaism. She also shares how she introduced herself into the Las Vegas community in a vibrant way through her marketing expertise and business. Shawn currently serves on the UNLV Foundation?s President?s Associates Council and is an active person in the Las Vegas community. Shawn is a graduate of University of Detroit Mercy.

On March 13, 1981, collector Mark Kevin Ryhlick interviewed local technician, Leeander Fields Hayes (born on May 23rd, 1907 in Salt Lake City, Utah) in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the history of entertainment in Las Vegas from the mid-forties to 1958. Brother Hayes, as he requests the collector to call him, specifically covers the local live music and comedy scenes. He also touches on the topic of segregation and how Black entertainers, such as Lena Horne, were treated when they came to perform in Las Vegas, Nevada.