Native Las Vegans in Centennial Hills remember simpler times

Whether it was cruising on Fremont Street or jumping off the cliffs at Lake Mead National Conservation Area, Las Vegas natives discuss the things they did as kids to stay entertained and what they've passed on to their children.

Cinnamon Nelson remembers riding her bike to Lone Mountain, ENJOYING NATURE

Cinnamon Nelson was born in 1969 at the Women's Hospital in the northwest valley. Nelson grew up near North Buffalo Drive and Lone Mountain Road and graduated from Western High School in 1987. She said a lot of people attended her 10-year reunion . She studied medical technology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and got a job at University Medical Center immediately after graduating.

She said she spent much of her time growing up at Lake Mead jumping off cliffs and that now she cannot jump off because there is not enough water.

The biggest change has been the growth, she said.

"When I lived out there, it felt like a day's drive to get to Sunset Park . It felt like miles and miles of desert," she said.

She would ride her bike up to Lone Mountain when she was in seventh and eighth grade with her best friends.

"It felt like we were all alone, it was so peaceful," she said. But things have certainly changed, she said.

"It's good; growth is good. My deal with what people think of Vegas vs. Sin City in general - that's not what it is like," she said. "No, it's not Sin City . You can raise a family here and have a normal life. "

When her father's family visits from Long Island, N.Y., she shows them the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and Mount Charleston . They love the mountains, she said.

"I remember when (U.S. Highway 95) used to be from South Jones Boulevard to Las Vegas Boulevard South. It just amazes me," she said.

She said she would eventually like to retire in Fort Collins, Colo. She has two sons, 17 and 19, and a daughter, 16.

Holly McGarrow Guedry said outsideRS still surprised people live in Las Vegas

Holly McGarrow Guedry graduated from Clark High School in 1972. She studied social work at University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1982 and became a medical records coder. She was born at University Medical Center in 1954, and her first job was there.

"The nice thing I see is that we have a lot more parks," she said, looking at how the city has changed.

"To look at it, it absolutely changed, but being a local it's still the same - you go to work, go to the grocery story, kids go to school - it's just the same."

She said it was a treat to go to Lake Mead to jump off the cliffs during childhood, and she said it has not changed - that she still hears about teenagers jumping off the cliffs, even if there is less water. She does not gamble but spent time going to Hoover Dam, the Strip and downtown when she was younger. She and friends would try to pool-hop on the Strip before the days of hotel key entry.

"They just think it's all about the Strip: 'Oh, people live there?' I wonder if that's the curse anymore when 2 million people live here," she said.

There's even more to do in the city than before, she said.

"There was always something to do, something for kids," she said. "These people pay thousands of dollars to come here, and all I have to do is drive a couple of blocks."

Occasionally, she'll have a staycation and stay downtown and play tourist. She said she misses the formal attire for shows, disappointed that people now wear jeans .

She said she remembers watching Black Sabbath at the Rotunda Convention Center in 1970 and listening to President John F. Kennedy at the Rotunda when he ran for office.

"I remember learning to drive the freeway. You got on Sahara and it ended downtown," she said.

Her mother would never drive it.

"I would never leave here. My family is here - this is where I'm from," she said.

She would shop at Sears and JCPenney downtown, and her mother would take her to get an ice cream at Woolworth s.

She said she would cruise Fremont Street until she got out of high school. She cruised in a 1968 Spider Fiat Convertible Roadster. She always took her dog because it was a conversation starter, she said.

She said it was a big deal when the Boulevard Mall opened, and her first job was at the Broadway anchor store there, and then she moved to Sears, where she made more at $1.60 an hour. She also worked at the first McDonald's on West Charleston and South Decatur boulevards, she said.

"If you don't remember the Huntridge (Theater), you haven't lived here long enough," she said .

"I'll never leave Las Vegas. As you get older, the taxes are good, weather is good and all these things get important when you're older."

She said she'd like to see the city grow but not too quickly.

Corrina Padilla McKinney looks back at some of her favorite casinos

Corrina Padilla McKinney, a Southern Nevada Vocational-Technical High School graduate who studied culinary arts, took her passion for food to one of the hottest spots for restaurants in the country : the Strip.

Her first job was in the kitchen of the Aladdin for six years, and she moved on to the Dunes before it was imploded. Afterward, she worked at Bally's for 10 years when she was made sous chef at Mandalay Bay , but in 1998 she was in a bad car accident that made it difficult for her to stand on her feet in the kitchen. She started a new career in PBX operations in 2000, again working for the casinos.

She's currently at Harrah's and will be start work at Bally's soon. "It's amazing how things go back in circle," she said.

Growing up, she lived off of South Nellis Boulevard and East Tropicana Avenue and moved to the northwest from Henderson

"I've seen this town grow from nothing. To go from Henderson to Vegas, it felt like you were going on a trip - it felt so far away," she said.

Times were different, she said. She could sleep with her doors unlocked.

"I love this town, but I don't like it anymore," she said.

She said she's disappointed that some of her favorite casinos - the Dunes and Stardust - have been imploded, she said.

"It's not personal anymore . Even now that I work in the hotel industry, it's not about the customers anymore," she said. "The only reason I stay here, and it's sad to say, is that the money is good."

She does not plan to retire here . She said she would like to move to "anywhere but Vegas ." She has two children, and her youngest daughter recently moved to Washington, which she would consider.

Growing up, though, she couldn't have imagined anywhere better, she said. The city used to have more for children to do, she said .

"I enjoyed growing up here. It was the greatest place to grow up," she said. "The schools were great, the people were happy and I had a great childhood here."

When family members visit, she said they usually skip tours of the Strip and instead plan big barbecues.

"We don't take them anywhere because there's nowhere really to go. Wet 'n Wild is gone, and everything is so expensive," she said.

She has two grandchildren living here, too . At Christmas, she said she enjoys taking them on a sleigh ride on Mount Charleston and occasionally going fishing at Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs.

As a teenager, she would cruise Fremont Street with friends.

"Fremont Street was the hangout, like how the Strip is," she said.

Her dad had a yellow 1957 Chevrolet, and her mother had a 1965 Dodge Charger she would cruise in with fellow cheerleaders.

"It was fun. Curfew was at midnight, and we didn't get into trouble. It was all pure fun. We'd cruise to see whose car looked the best, but of course everybody's car was Mom and Dad's," she said.

She said she misses the Desert Inn, too, where the Wynn currently stands.

"El Cortez Theater, the Horseshoe, the Fitzgeralds, now everything is gone," she said. "I don't go on the Strip until I have to go to work."

Kate Sorom talks about
her dream job at Red Rock Canyon

Kate Sorom spent most of her life near South Rainbow and West Charleston boulevards, when there was nothing past Buffalo Drive but desert. Ten years ago, her family found a house she liked in the northwest and could not believe how far out they moved - at least that is what she would have thought as a little girl. She remembered going past a nursery on West Cheyenne Avenue and thinking, "It's almost to Mount Charleston," but she's well beyond that now : the turnoff for the mountain is only two miles away.

She was born at University Medical Center in 1969 and attended Bonanza High School. She studied at the University of Nevada, Reno, but only because the University of Nevada, Las Vegas did not offer environmental studies at the time.

"Vegas will always be home, but I think I want a different experience," she said.

She wants to travel when she retires but thinks she might like to retire somewhere with a slower place.

After graduation, she held a temporary position at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area that led to her to becoming a park ranger.

"Always, growing up, I wanted to be a park ranger . I always wanted to work there," she said.

She's been at Red Rock Canyon for 17 years. She said she has the most fun on her job when she works with kids, particularly pre school through second-grade children who aren't afraid of getting dirty.

Since she started, she said the biggest change has been the renovation of the visitor center and the number of visitors . When she first started, the park usually had 1 million visitors a year, and now it's almost at 2 million visitors a year, she said.

"I used to go up out in high school and go picnic up there and do a little hiking," she said. "I always thought it was a cool place to work, but I never really thought I would."

She said the biggest misconception about people who live in Las Vegas is that they spend a lot of time in the casinos. She said she rarely does.

"Growing up, you kind of knew it was there, but it wasn't so in your face. People back then knew how to find them . Now you don't need to even look."

As a teenager, she spent a lot of time at the Tropicana 's dollar theater shows and not on the rest of the Strip. Still, she said the Strip has attracted some of the country's best chefs, and that is one of her favorite features of Las Vegas.

"The food is good. It's neat to see we're beginning to bring world -renowned places, and they're not just opening up on the Strip," she said.

When family members visit, she said they'll often take them to see the conservatory at the Bellagio, Red Rock Canyon, Lake Mead National Conservation Area, Hoover Dam and Mount Charleston.

She said in high school, her history teachers returned from a convention where peers asked them if they actually taught in schools, assuming students were taught in hotels.

"The misconception is that people think we all live and play in the Strip," she said.

She said she thinks Las Vegas is missing some of the larger family activities, such as a neighborhood miniature golf course, and she thinks the city went from one extreme to the other -- from wanting to be family-friendly to creating a logo that says, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." She said she would like to see more family activities.

"They don't have anything to entertain middle and high school kids - they don't want to go to the library on Friday night," she said.

Her children are 14 and 17.

"There isn't really anything for families that are really on a tight, strict budget. I'd like to see more affordable, family-friendly events," she said.

Jerry "Skip" Miller looks back
at his days as a firefighter

Jerry "Skip" Miller and his family lived in Hyde Park until 1951, when someone attempted to break into their house. He said his mother went outside with a gun, and the would-be robber received a few bruises.

Being in the Boy Scouts of America and becoming an Eagle Scout was a big part of growing up in Las Vegas, he said.

In 1955, he hiked with his Boy Scout troop to Tule Springs from South Decatur and West Charleston boulevards. In his pack, he carried canned goods and water. His pack, unlike modern ones , had a wooden back and a heavy canvas sack.

He said they ran across a few snakes on the way. He said his troop also camped at Mount Charleston when the boys tried to warm up their sleeping bags and managed to set them on fire.

His father, a firefighter, built many block walls that are still around today along South Decatur Boulevard, he said. In 1970, after serving in Vietnam, Miller became a firefighter, too.

"Vegas was a boom town. There were lots of fires because of all the construction going on," he said.

He remembers fires that seemed to stick in all natives' minds - the MGM Grand fire, the Hilton fire and the PEPCON disaster in Henderson.

He was part of an engine company when the MGM fire broke out and said he remembers trying to get into the building on the south side and that it was nearly impossible to climb the stairs because of the people rushing down.

"We were trying to get to the roof to keep the roof from collapsing," he said.

He said people tried to use the hose to escape and even started using bed sheets.

He spent 12 hours fighting the fire and said the worst part was collecting the bodies of those who had died and carrying them to the roof to be taken by helicopters.

The following week, he was on guard at the building.

"It was totally void of color . All that was there was black and white," Miller said.

He said the week stuck with him because typically, as a firefighter, he didn't have to deal with the aftermath of the flames, just the fire .

As a teenager, he would cruise Fremont Street from the Blue Onion down the street, turning around at Union Pacific Railroad Park, he said. He always had a love of custom cars and became a car salesman outside the Landmark in 1978.

That same year, he and some friends from Las Vegas Fire & Rescue cruised in a 1933 hearse wearing a Halloween monkey mask and an old man mask. He said police officers pulled them over but only to get a better look at the car.

He said he still likes to visit Fremont Street but does not appreciate the people dressed in costumes. He said the personalities in Las Vegas have changed.

"It's pretty dog-eat-dog right now ," he said. "Back then, everybody was trying to help."

He said he misses Silver City the most and its 99-cent breakfast with two eggs, bacon and hash browns.

"What I really miss is a miniature golf course at this end of town because there's nothing for kids on this side of town," he said about the northwest.

Even though Miller also has a residence in Hawaii that he built, he said Las Vegas is home. His father still lives in Boulder City, his children are here and his wife and her family, too. He does not anticipate leaving anytime soon.

Ernie Alegre remembers
cruising the Strip to Circus Circus

Ernie Alegre grew up in Spring Valley but moved to West Cheyenne Avenue and North Durango Drive with his kids, 7 and 14, and wife because he wanted an involved neighborhood and a larger property. He said the northwest offers a lot of children's activities, from skate parks to Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs to the trail system. He said he loves being so close to the mountains and takes his children fishing and snowboarding whenever he gets a chance.

He said growing up he had the typical childhood - biking, skateboarding and playing street football with neighborhood kids.

"Contrary to what people think, Las Vegas is a pretty conservative town, and Spring Valley was very conservative," Alegre said.

His mother was a front-desk clerk at the Sahara , and his dad was a bellman at the Sands. He met his wife while lifeguarding at the Sands, and she was a tourist.

"I get that they have to move forward and blow up the hotels - I understand," he said. "But you still get nostalgic about the life experiences that happened at the hotel."

As a teenager, rather than cruising Fremont Street, he and his friends would cruise the Strip. They would jump in cars and go to McDonald's and then cruise around Circus Circus .

Now, most of his wife's family moved from Iowa to Las Vegas to be close.

When people come to visit from out East, he said he takes them to the mountains because most of them envision Las Vegas as a flat desert until they actually visit.

While he said Las Vegas is misunderstood by outsiders, he said he thinks the city should focus on building more of its own culture. He is thankful for The Smith Center for the Performing Arts but wishes there were more institutions like it in the valley . He would also like to see more of a focus on diversifying the economy, he said.

Kelli Ross remembers the first date with CITY Councilman Steve Ross

Born in 1963, Kelli Ross moved all over Nevada as her dad worked in the hotel and casino industry but Las Vegas was always home, she said.

When she married Ward 6 Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross, they lived in the northwest and just kept moving farther north, she sad. Her oldest son asked to do an Eagle Scout project at Tule Springs, she recalled, and she told him he couldn't because it was too far away. He reminded her that it was only 10 minutes away, and she said she was flabbergasted.

She said a lot of the activities she did with her kids are the same ones she did growing up - climbing Mount Charleston, visiting Red Rock Canyon and camping in Zion National Park. With 11 grandchildren in the area, she said Las Vegas is home and will be for a long time.

In third grade, Ross moved back to the area from Lake Tahoe and attended Twin Lakes Elementary School. In seventh grade, she said she went on her first date with her now husband. His mother took them rollerskating near the Huntridge Theater: Kelli fell , she said, and Steve Ross had his tennis shoes stolen.

It was years until they went on another date. She moved again, and they both married other people soon out of high school. It was not until years later when they ran into each other at a country dance that they reconnected. She said she overheard him telling his friend, "That's Kelli. I've been in love with her since the third grade."

Las Vegas is not as neighborhood-oriented as it was when she grew up, she said.

"There are a lot more people, and it's not as neighborly as it used to be when we would walk the block walls around the neighborhood after school," she said.

She said she had plenty to do as a child because she would play outside until the streetlights came on, and she does not see that anymore. She said to try to combat the trend; she and her husband walk the neighborhood to introduce themselves whenever they can.

When her kids grew up, she did not want them playing on the Strip so she made sure her house was open to them and their friends by stocking an extra freezer with food - a habit she cannot stop, even though the kids have moved out, she said.

When she moved around the country, she said she ran into people who thought she lived in a hotel or did not have a bicycle because they believed Las Vegas was only the Strip.

But the misconceptions never got to her.

"I can't even imagine living anywhere else," she said. "As I see the beauty of other places, I get so excited to come home. Vegas is home."

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter Laura Phelps at lphelps@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.