10-4 Magazine July 2024

Trucker Talk: By John & Kim Jaikes A Las Vegas High School senior back in 1953, Art Goldstrom had already bought his first Ford when he was 15, and his passion for cars was born. That school year the woodworking class was moved to a new building, and the old space was used for an auto shop class. The students were allowed to bring in their own cars to work on, but they learned more than just how to change oil, change tires, and repair cars – they were allowed to experiment with making their cars go faster, and Art loved it! It was a very different time in Las Vegas back then, and Art preferred to hang around with the older guys, along with some of the guys from the nearby military base. A group of them would drag race on the outskirts of town and on desolate roads so the cops wouldn’t catch them and give them tickets, but even when they did, they would still work with them for safety’s sake. Art Goldstrom and Shirley Gilmore were classmates who became high school sweethearts. They chose to elope and started their married life journey without much more than love and a very strong work ethic. I am sure they never could have imagined back then the mark they would make on Las Vegas. Back in 1869, Nevada legalized commercial gambling, which was mostly card and dice games played against the house. By 1909, due to progressive opposition, the state criminalized it. Trying to deal with the effects of the Great Depression, on March 19, 1931, Governor Fred Balzar signed into law A.B. 98, which brought back “wide open” gambling. It paved the way for establishments to bank games once more. Saloons and hotels could again offer games like craps and blackjack. Years later, it would be the reason for the city’s unprecedented growth, creating the need for new neighborhoods, for the workers (and businesses) to support this growth. In 1908 the Pacific Fruit Express Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad, constructed the Las Vegas Ice Plant. It was the only facility of its type on the rail line between San Bernardino and Salt Lake City. The facility supplied ice to the railroad before the invention of refrigerated rail cars. It also provided ice to the community of Las Vegas, as well as providing cold storage, for perishable products. In 1941 the Las Vegas Army Air Field was put into operation, and in 1947 it was placed on temporary standby status. It reopened in 1949 as Las Vegas Air Force Base, and then on April 30, 1950, the base was renamed Nellis Air Force Base in honor of Lieutenant William Harrell Nellis, a Las Vegas High School graduate. He was a Nevada native fighter pilot who flew 70 aerial combat missions, saving countless lives, before being shot down near Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. Art not only hung out with some of the men stationed there, but later, when his trucking career began, it was one of the places he often delivered to. In 1952 the Sahara Hotel and Casino, as well as the Sands Hotel and Casino, opened for business. In 1953, KLAS-TV signed on the air as the first television station in Las Vegas. In 1959, the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign made its debut. Designed by Betty Willis, another Las Vegas High School graduate, she was a pioneer in the field of neon design and lighting. Art started hanging around Lincoln Welding Works when he was a kid because the business was close to his house. He was there so much they eventually put him to work doing odd jobs, and when he got old enough, Art worked his way up to driving a truck, making local deliveries. It was from here that he took the leap of creating his own business, but for him, it was like leaving his family. With Las Vegas expanding rapidly, Art and Shirley got their start with a truck and a loader, tearing down things 74 10-4 Magazine / July 2024 A FAMILY OF GIV ING