Born and raised Las Vegans share their memories

Family and history are important to Leanne Ferdig. There are photos of eight generations of women in her family on a table in the living room of her Sunrise Manor home. A quilt hangs on her wall ---- a gift to her mother ---- that was worked on by family members from around the world. She has the school bell her grandmother rang to call children to class in Sandy Valley in 1927, the pocket watch she used to know when it was time to start class and the flag that flew above the school.

Her Las Vegas roots run deep. Her mother, Helen Williams, was born here in 1921 to parents who moved to Nevada in 1915. Her father, Vaughan Holt, worked on Hoover Dam in 1934 and raised enough money to attend barber college in Salt Lake City, returning to the valley in 1937 to cut hair by day and earn a little extra money at night playing the clubs on Boulder Highway.

"I grew up in the house my parents built at 711 S. Seventh St.," Ferdig said. "They lived in that house for 57 years."

The property cost $350, and the house and garage cost $3,500 to build. The house is still there, although it has been a lawyer's office for more than a decade. Ferdig and a friend recently visited it and stood in her old bedroom marveling at what had changed and what hadn't.

She fondly recalls walking to Fifth Street Elementary School and to Mike's 5th Street market, on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Gass Avenue. She remembers going to Woolworths to get a malt back when Fremont Street was the main center of commerce for the town, with a wide variety of stores.

"I got my wedding dress on Fremont Street and my wedding ring," Ferdig said. "I got my first ticket taking a right turn on Fremont Street. There was a little sign over the light saying 'no turn on red,' but who could see that in front of the Golden Nugget with all the lights and signs?"

She described her parents as unassuming but consummate volunteers who were active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but didn't limit their charity to the church. She said that several times her father was asked to seek a political office or position of authority but declined, preferring to work quietly behind the scenes.

"It was a different time; we left our back door open," Ferdig said. "Panhandlers sometimes came to the door, and my mother would feed them. My father would cut their hair on the back porch after a full day's work cutting hair at the barber shop."

Her father didn't think barbering would ever bring in enough money, so he scrimped and saved and began buying property early on. In 1968, he and a partner developed land he owned at Sixth Street and Sahara Avenue, creating the 6th & Sahara Center, a shopping plaza that is still active.

The family had its share of interaction with celebrities, as Vaughan Holt worked at a barbershop on the northeast corner of Sahara Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, and many celebrities came across from the Sahara to get a haircut. The shopping center the family owned was and is anchored by two restaurants, Marie Callender's and Tony Roma's, both of which were close enough to the Strip to draw celebrities. At least one of the restaurant's patrons fell more into the infamous category.

"One night we got a phone call in the middle of the night from Metro," Ferdig said. "They told my father 'Mr. Holt, you need to get over here. There's been an explosion.' It was the car bomb that almost killed (Frank) 'Lefty' Rosenthal. It burned the back of the building."

The bombing was immortalized in the opening sequence of the film "Casino," in which Robert DeNiro played a character based on Rosenthal. Both Rosenthal and the building survived the attack.

"We kept 6th & Sahara until 2000. Mom was 80 and wanted to retire," Ferdig said. "I worked on the company's books for 30 years. We worked out of their bedroom, back when that was legal. My mother and I kept four sets of books right to the penny on old carbon."

Even after computer accounting was commonplace, her parents insisted on doing the books the old-fashioned way ---- with books.

Now Ferdig is carrying on in her grandmother's footsteps, working for the Clark County School District but in the administrative offices.

SUNRISE MANOR MAN'S FATHER CAME
TO WORK ON HOOVER DAM

Sunrise Manor resident Earl Alger's father came to Southern Nevada in 1931 to work on Hoover Dam. He was born two years later. He grew up in West Las Vegas. He remembers there wasn't a lot of time or money for vacations but lots to do right here.

"We used to go swimming at a reservoir on the corner of Charleston (Boulevard) and Rancho (Drive)," Alger said. "There was another big reservoir between 11th and 12th (streets) on Fremont (Street). A lot of men that worked on the dam camped out and lived there."

There were ways to make a little money for kids in those days. When he was 14 and 15, Alger delivered telegraphs on his bicycle. Earlier, he would hang out near the ballpark and shag foul balls and return them to the team for a nickel a ball.

"The Las Vegas Wranglers (minor league baseball team) used to play in a field that the fire station (at the corner of Bonanza Road and Casino Center Boulevard) is at now," Alger said, adding, "I don't like that they used the same name for the hockey team."

Another hot spot in Alger's youth was the Wildcat Lair, a social club on Stewart Avenue at the location of the recently decommissioned bus depot.

"We'd all go down there after football and basketball games and hang out," said Alger, who graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1952. "There was always music to dance to, and there was a side room with a pool table and a couple of pingpong tables. If you won, you got to stay on the table, so I got pretty good and could play pingpong half the night."

The Wildcat Lair was named for Las Vegas High School's mascot, but it was open to all. According to Alger, it enjoyed an amenity probably not available to youth clubs in other parts of the country.

"A lot of time, musical groups from the hotels would come out between their shows and play three or four songs for us," Alger said. "I remember seeing Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Mills Brothers and a bunch of other acts that way."

After graduating from high school, Alger attended Brigham Young University for a year before returning to Las Vegas and taking on a position as an apprentice electrician. To get to Utah, he bought a 1935 Ford at a junkyard for $25.

"When I bought it, the engine was in the trunk, so I took it up to Mission Motors, which is still there at Nellis (Boulevard) and Jefferson Street," Alger said. "I paid $500 to have them rebuild the engine and put it in for me. I drove it for two years."

Alger worked as an electrician until he was 78.

'I didn't want to sit around when I retired, so I didn't (retire) until I knew what I wanted to do," Alger said. "Now I do woodworking, and it's great. Every day is a Saturday for me."

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.