From hiding underground to going to camp, northern Las Vegans found creative ways to survive summer

From the feeling of a dripping wet swimsuit to the smell of sunscreen and campfires, nothing brings back vivid memories like summer.

As residents recall their nostalgic memories of past summer days in the Las Vegas Valley, one thing is clear — summers come and go, but summer memories last forever.

‘Animals were my heart’

Sharon Linsenbardt, owner of The Farm at 7222 W. Grand Teton Drive, was born and raised in Las Vegas and recalls spending her time underground to beat the heat.

“My dad was a prolific hunter, and every time that he would bring something home, I would bury it,” Linsenbardt said. “Soon, I started digging these big, huge holes in the ground to build forts. I would put a giant piece of ice in the ground and cover it with wood, and it would help me stay cool the whole day. It was fabulous.”

For Linsenbardt, the former Ice House played an important part of staying cool in the “scorching desert heat.” It was the place where locals could buy large pieces of ice and store extra produce or meat.

Her family would place large ice cubes by the fan to blow cool air into the house and cover all of the windows with large drapes to keep the sunlight from entering.

“You have to think cool. If you think hot, it’s going to be miserable,” she said. “I would also (and still do) wear a lot of long sleeves to keep the sun from baking my skin.”

Linsenbardt said her family was not close, so she would often spend her time alone with her horses and other animals outside looking at the Milky Way in the night sky.

“Animals were my heart because I didn’t have close family,” she said. “That’s why I’ve always been involved with animals.”

Perhaps what she enjoyed the most during those hot summer days was spending time with her horses and hanging out at Crawdad Creek near what is now the Springs Preserve.

Another local hangout was Twin Lakes, where Linsenbardt would spend her days catching fish in a jar to keep in an aquarium. She also remembers seeing Indian artifacts and dinosaur fossils on the ground.

Like many childhood memories, Linsenbardt fondly remembers spending time at Camp Foxtail at Mount Charleston for Girl Scouts.

“The chocolate and strawberry smell of the trees and the mountain animals were my favorite,” Linsenbardt said. “I don’t remember hanging out much with the people there.”

When Linsenbardt was a teenager, she worked as a lifeguard at Lake Mead and recalls being out in the triple-digit temperature, keeping a keen eye on swimmers. While she claims no one died on her watch, she said she helped search for bodies that went missing “largely due to drinking too much and losing coordination.”

The past 50 years have garnered new memories for Linsenbardt and her rescued animals at The Farm. Recent summers have been filled with cuddles from the animals and sitting in kiddie pools with her pigs to keep them cool.

“I have so much love for Las Vegas, I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” she said.

Summers celebrate culture

In North Las Vegas, things were just as hot under the blazing sun but that didn’t stop the neighborhood youths from having fun.

Gwendolyn Kaye Walker moved to North Las Vegas in 1962 from Houston. Her fondest summer memories involved her mother, the neighborhood and performance.

Walker’s mother put together a youth team called Students With A Purpose, or S.W.A.P., to keep the youths on track and busy during summer.

Keeping with the same idea, she also started the S.W.A.P.E.T.T.E. drill team, an all-female precision drill team of which Walker became the team’s first leader.

“My summer was very busy and full,” she said. “We got so popular because my mother had such high standards. She was strict on our attire and made sure it wasn’t too revealing.”

She remembers practicing for hours in a cul-de-sac and getting close with all of the neighbors.

They soon had their own clubhouse at one of Jimmy Love’s offices (the owner of the former Love’s Cocktail Lounge), where they would practice for competitions and festivals, such as the annual Helldorado Days Parade.

There were also Afro Beauty Queen contests that she remembers watching as a youth and she loved attending her favorite festival, Juneteenth, which celebrated the ending of slavery on June 19.

Walker recalls street vendors at the festival selling handmade crafts and a variety of soul foods.

When she was 13, she started collecting black memorabilia from the different vendors she encountered, which eventually led to the opening of the Walker African-American Museum, currently under reconstruction.

“(African Americans) have such rich history, and it’s always been important to me to read about it because they don’t teach us this at school,” she said.

Her stepfather also pushed her education by making her watch the 6 p.m. news and quizzing her on current affairs every day after work.

When Walker became a mother at 38, her summer memories focused on having fun with her daughter. She would go to the West Las Vegas Art Center’s summer camp and watch her daughter perform every summer.

Once her daughter became a teenager, Walker became a foster mom, and her summers were filled with children’s laughter, church activities and ice cream.

“When you’re having so much fun, you don’t think about the heat as much,” Walker said.

To reach North View reporter Sandy Lopez, email slopez@viewnews.com or call 702-383-4686. Find her on Twitter: @JournalismSandy.