Judy Bayley at a public event relating to the Trailrides at the Palomino Room at the Hacienda Hotel and Casino. The unidentified man standing behind Judy Bayley is wearing a badge that says "Judy Bayley's 4th Annual Las Vegas Hacienda Trail Ride Thru Paradise Valley 1971." "Participant" is stamped on the attached ribbon. Judith “Judy” Bayley, namesake of the Judy Bayley Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was once known as “The First Lady of Gambling.” Judy and her husband Warren “Doc” Bayley opened the Hacienda Hotel and Casino on October 17, 1956. After Warren’s unexpected death from a heart attack on December, 26, 1964, Judy Bayley took over the ownership and operations of the Hacienda. By doing so, she became the first woman in Nevada history to be the sole owner and operator of a hotel-casino. An avid horsewoman, as a publicity campaign, Judy started “The Hacienda Trailrides.” Which some considered the social event of the year. The first trailride was held in December, 1968 to commemorate Pearl Harbor. The ride began at the Valley of Fire State Park and Ended in Overton, Nevada. Judy donated all proceeds from the trailride to benefit the local Veterans of Foreign Wars. Four Trailrides were held over the next four years, leaving from Tule Springs (now Floyd Lamb State Park), and from the Hacienda itself before they were discontinued after her death. After Judy’s death from cancer on December 31, 1971, the Hacienda was sold in 1972. The Hacienda’s doors closed to the public on December 10, 1996. The hotel was imploded on December 31, 1996 on the 25th anniversary of Judy Bayley’s death, and was broadcast on the Fox news network as part of their New Year’s Eve 1996 telecast. In March 1999, it was replaced with the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.
John Wilhelm, past president of UNITE HERE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union), settles in at Union headquarters in Las Vegas and recalls highlights from his forty years as a union leader and organizer. After sharing his discontent with his freshman year at Earlham College and Midwestern Quakers, he reveals the curious manner in which Yale University accepted him, how he became a community organizer, and, following graduation, the way he began his union career and his efforts to organize the workers at Yale. He expresses gratitude to his mother for her insistence that he get a good education and to Betsy, his wife of forty-five years, for her unfailing support of his work and the union cause. He also discloses the reasons he commutes between Las Vegas and Santa Barbara, California. After explaining the history of the union in hospitality he speaks to the fluidity of problems with race, gender, and labor with the corporatization of the hospitality industry. He highlights union issues, strikes, and campaigns: arrests, card check, guaranteed work week, Union Again, and Walk and Work. He talks of negotiations with Las Vegas owners or managers like the Binion family, Bill Boyd, the Elardi family, Jackie and Michael Gaughan, Terry Lanni, Bob Maxey, and Steve Wynn. Mostly, he fondly remembers stories of and contributions by union leaders Geoconda Arguello, Jim Arnold, Joe Duarte, Edward T. Hanley, Ardella Roberts, Phil Schloop, Vincent Sirabella, Myra Wolfgang, and Steve Yokich of United Auto Workers. Throughout, his stories involve D. Taylor, who followed Wilhelm as president in 2012. Although he stepped down from the presidency, he continues to work on pension and healthcare issues.