Roger always said “our clients are all friends” and that is still the way we feel today.  The following are Roger’s memories of some rather interesting clients and events that have happened over the years:

Virginia Hill was the girlfriend of gangster Bugsy Siegel.  Roger prepared her tax return for several years while she lived in Spokane.  He remembers her as ‘a very nice girl’.  Virginia told Roger interesting stories about the financing and construction of the first gambling casino in Las Vegas, The Fabulous Flamingo.

Tony DeCarlo became the General Manager of The Fabulous Flamingo Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1963.  Roger and Tony had chummed around in junior high school.  Tony worked for the Davenport Hotel until he got his break and went “big time” in Las Vegas.  Roger heard several interesting stories from Tony about his survival in “Sin City”.

Helen Grayco was a family friend of Roger’s and he got to know her while in Los Angeles.  She married the famous west coast bandleader Spike Jones.  His band was called The Musical Zanies and Helen was the lead singer.  One year when the Lilac Festival entertainment plans fell through at the last minute, Roger phoned his old friend Helen and asked her to come to Spokane and perform.  She accepted and the band gave a memorable performance at that year’s festival.

From 1916 to 1933, the prohibition years in Washington State, Trent Alley was the place to go if you wanted to drink.  While cleaning up the basement of the building in recent years, Roger discovered a bricked in archway on the southeast wall.  He asked an electrical engineer friend what it was for.  The friend informed him that there used to be a freestanding brick building behind the Galaxy Hotel on Main Street.  The archway had framed the tunnel entrance that passed under the alley into that building – in fact; it had been the only entrance to that building.  The friend also added that it had been a Chinese gambling house where alcohol and gambling were the only things on the menu.