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Minnesotan Don Laughlin landed far from the land of (more than) 10,000 lakes. His office 90 miles south of Las Vegas in the eponymous town of Laughlin commands an unimpeded view of a very different landscape from that of his youth. Here, where the Colorado River flows south through one of its narrowest channels, Laughlin arrived in about 1966 and purchased what would become the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino. The endeavor was so successful that the then-settlement of 10 to 15 people at that tiny spot on the river grew to be an unincorporated town housing more than 7,000 people in 2010. Today, Laughlin the man continues to promote and support Laughlin the town via flood control projects and infrastructure development. In this interview, Laughlin sits amid the antique slot machines in his office and enjoys the view as he recalls his childhood on the family farm in southern Minnesota, and talks about leaving the farm in the late 1940s for nearby Owatonna to do watchmaking and watch repairing while simultaneously running a slot machine and pinball parlor. After visiting Las Vegas on vacation, he arrived permanently in 1952 and bartended at the Thunderbird Hotel until he bought his own bar and restaurant in Downtown Las Vegas, which he named Laughlin’s Made Right Café. After selling the café, he bought the 101 Club in North Las Vegas. He began searching for a casino for a casino to buy, seeking only those located on the border of a state that did not allow gambling. When he found the small hotel/casino on the Colorado River he purchased it. He talks of building an airstrip across the street and making daily trips to Las Vegas to buy groceries, beer, and toilet paper-essentially, everything one would need to run a hotel, restaurant, and casino-sometimes making three trips in one day. He continues to own and manage his hotel/casino at the age of 85, and he is in his office every day, all day, seven days a week. He gave up flying last year because he claims he’s too old to pilot his own aircraft. So is especially advantageous that the town that bears his name can now supply almost everything that he and the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino need.

While offering anecdotes on Southwest Gas Company’s early years—including its flirtation with a nuclear bomb and owning a casino; its purchase of a Kingman, Arizona, ranch with an underground salt dome, and its involvement with the formation of Boyd Gaming—this oral history also reveals Bill Jr.’s role in applying his knowledge of natural gas infrastructure to promote extensive education about building codes, infrastructure, and engineered systems. In particular, Bill discusses EduCode, the internationally recognized, week-long building code institute held annually in Las Vegas that originally began more than twenty-five years ago and has since attracted worldwide participation. While Bill does not teach at the institute, he has helped organize the course since its inception and has been a consistent supporter.

In 2002, Marty Walsh and her husband purchased a home in the John S. Park Neighborhood. Three aspects attracted them to their 1941-built home: the quality construction; the aesthetics and details of the house; and the "old-fashion human element" that she associated with her grandparents. Marty describes their relocation to Las Vegas after living for nine years in Ireland and her joy of discovering the John S. Park community. For her there is a neighborliness that they found in the form of the Neighborhood Watch. She feels the neighborhood still has work to do, but the gentrification has had splendid results as new "urbanites" replace original homeowners. From her artist point of view, she also provides thoughts about the impact the artist community of musicians, painters, and creative artists has had on the neighborhood. Even though she is relatively new to Las Vegas, she is well researched in the historic aspects of John S. Park location: once a fertile plot of land where

Hank Greenspun discusses coming to Las Vegas in the 1940s, his journalistic endeavors, and some of the politics that affected him.

No release form is on file for this interview. The interview is accessible onsite only, and researchers must seek permission from the interviewee or heirs for quotation, reproduction, or publication. Please contact special.collections@unlv.edu for further information.

Oral history interview with Paul Velez conducted by Barbara Tabach on February 22, 2018 for the Remembering 1 October Oral History Project. In this interview, Paul Velez, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus officer, discusses his experience at the Thomas & Mack Center during the night of the October 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He shares his goal of creating a safe atmosphere for the survivors and providing them with all of their needs, including helping separated survivors find their loved ones and friends. Velez also describes his move to Las Vegas in 2008 and his time with the New York City police force, talking about his experience as a first responder at Ground Zero during the 9/11 attacks. He discusses the effect these attacks have had on general and campus security measures and on him as an individual.