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Brooks, Robert Lee, 1907-1995
Robert Lee "Bob" Brooks, who owned the Seven Seas popular Polynesian nightspot in Hollywood, California, built the Nevada Biltmore at the corner of Main Street and Bonanza Road in Las Vegas, Nevada. It opened on June 22, 1942 to much acclaim and attracted top names in entertainment. It consisted of a hotel, casino, and 32 detached bungalows. Brooks recreated his Seven Seas nightclub at the resort. He sold the Biltmore in 1944 and the property then changed hands several times. It reopened briefly as a resort for African Americans in 1949.
Person
Taylor, F. Andrew
F. Andrew Taylor was born June 06, 1963 and was raised in Connecticut. He moved to New England and Georgia before arriving in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1991 at the age of 28. Armed with a degree in painting from the Swain School of Design, Taylor got a job at a Laughlin, Nevada casino as a caricature artist. After a brief stay in Laughlin and Bullhead City, Arizona, he moved to Ward I, Nevada, where his girlfriend, now wife, lived.
Person
Schwartz, Milton I., 1921-2007
Milton I. Schwartz was born in 1921 and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1946 to help build the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. After moving back to New York for a while, Schwartz returned to Las Vegas in 1971 to found Valley Hospital and serve as its board chairman. He was involved in many businesses in Las Vegas and worked in real estate development. He also owned and operated a cable television company called MISCO, Inc. and was a partner and director of Yellow, Checker, and Star cab companies.
Person
Kelley, Fiona
Dr. Fiona Kelley was born and raised in Connecticut. Her parents were both teachers (though her mother quit teaching to raise their two daughters), and the family would take European vacations every summer, exploring castles and enjoying picnic lunches.
Person
Brooks, Robert Lee, 1907-1995
Robert Lee "Bob" Brooks, who owned the Seven Seas popular Polynesian nightspot in Hollywood, California, built the Nevada Biltmore at the corner of Main Street and Bonanza Road in Las Vegas, Nevada. It opened on June 22, 1942 to much acclaim and attracted top names in entertainment. It consisted of a hotel, casino, and 32 detached bungalows. Brooks recreated his Seven Seas nightclub at the resort. He sold the Biltmore in 1944 and the property then changed hands several times. It reopened briefly as a resort for African Americans in 1949.
Person
Simone, Ronald, 1935-
Ronald Simone was born on June 6, 1935 in New Haven, Connecticut to Florence and George Simone. Simone played trumpet in high school and went on to play piano for his profession. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his friend, violinist Joe Mack in 1960. He played in the Riviera showroom for five and a half years, in the exclusive Monte Carlo Room in the Desert Inn where he played for stars such as Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. for five years, and for nineteen years for all the Casino de Paris shows, line numbers, and production numbers at the Dunes.
Person
Meyers, Anna Sipl, 1943-
Ann Meyers (born Anna Sipl) was born on April 26, 1943, in Krindija, Yugoslavia, now Croatia, near the Danube. Her family was part of the ethnic German population that was persecuted, massacred or expelled by Marshal Josip Broz Tito’s Partisans to the neighboring village of Gakowa, which became a concentration camp during World War II. After struggling for years in Austria, Meyer’s father applied to immigrate to the United States. They were refused asylum twice, the first time because of her Oma's [grandmother’s] and again because of Michael's infirmity.
Person
Transcript of interview with Alfred "Al" Isola by Stephen Kalish, March 15, 1976
On March 15, 1976, Stephen Kalish interviewed Alfred “Al” Isola (born August 3rd, 1917 in Oakland, California) in his office about his garbage company and early Southern Nevada. The two discuss Las Vegas’ lack of a unified garbage system and how dumping sites have had to adjust their practices in order to limit their impact on pollution. Isola also explains the different disposal protocols for wet and dry trash. On the second tape of the interview, an unidentified woman enters the conversation.
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Transcript of Interview with Michael Drakulich by Jane Finfrock, May 8, 1979
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Tommie Knight oral history interview
Oral history interview with Tommie Knight conducted by Claytee D. White on December 14, 2021 for the African Americans in Las Vegas: A Collaborative Oral History Project. In this interview, Knight shares her experience living in the Windsor Park neighborhood for over twenty years, and having her home slowly sink as the foundation cracked. Knight recalls her childhood in Emerson, Arkansas, living in California for a brief time, then settling in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1969. Digital audio available; no transcript available.
Archival Collection