Reno, Nevada: History and Description
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Reno
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Reno-Sparks
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The famous Reno Arch, third edition.
On a fine spring day in 1928, Reno held a great municipal celebration at
the railroad tracks in honor of paving the two-lane highway over Donner
Summit to California. As the band burst into a brassy ragtime, and the
bankers, bootleggers and other leading citizens beamed with pride, neon
letters on the new iron arch spanning Virginia Street blazed with light for
the first time. “RENO,” they bragged against a downtown skyline of
Edwardian brick, “The Biggest Little City in the World.”
The iron arch is gone now, replaced by a brighter version much jazzier
than the Jazz Age original, and Reno’s golden age of society divorcees,
bootleg whiskey and basement gambling rooms is gone with it.
Modern Reno dates from another fine spring noontime, almost 50 years to
the day after that gaudy little celebration, when an enormous tan tower
rose 26 stories from its bright, light-bejewelled base on an enormous
asphalt pad near the edge of the airport. The $131,000,000 MGM Grand Hotel
greeted every incoming flight to Reno-Cannon International the same way the
old arch greeted every train at the railroad depot downtown.
The MGM Grand – it’s the freshly painted Reno Hilton now – was the
flagship of Nevada’s gamblinghouse fleet, the most magnificent pleasure
liner ever launched on Nevada’s desert sands, and its crew was the pick of
the industry. There were glamorous big-name stars and the fabulous Hello,
Hollywood review, a magnificent arcade of expensive shops and a gambling
floor as big as two football fields. It was the class of the wagering
world, and if the title has since been taken by the astonishing new resorts
being built in Las Vegas, the huge hotel is still a potent reminder that
Reno offers every pleasure a fun-seeking visitor could want, from world
class cuisine to pee wee golf.
Reno’s River Walk adds sparkle to the Truckee River.
Let’s start downtown, at the spot where Reno was born as Lake’s Crossing,
where Myron Lake’s bridge brought the Virginia City road across the Truckee
River. The mothballed hulks of the Riverside and the Mapes face one
another glumly across the Truckee River, gushing at last with Sierra
snowmelt after so many years of drought. Busy Virginia Street is the old highway that connected the California Trail with the mines of the
Comstock Lode. This is where Myron Lake built his bridge and where the
railroad built its depot and created a new townsite in 1868.
A River Walk extends in both directions. Eastward it follows the river all
the way past the Hilton and through Sparks nearly to the enclosing hills.
You’ll pass trout fishermen if you walk this way. To the west it leads
past the little amphitheater where the pleasing noon concerts are performed
in the summer months, and on across Arlington Street into the “City of
Trembling Leaves” (as author Walter Van Tilburg Clark described it) where
cottonwoods and elms shade rambling Victorians, left over from a time when
divorcees waited out the six-week residence required for their freedom.
Continue on another pleasant half-mile to Idlewild Park with its rose
gardens, broad lawns and ducky ponds. The trail proceeds on, and on, and on
and on about as far as you’re prepared to hike, with a small picnic and
rest area at its end, miles from Lake’s Crossing.
To the north, Virginia Street between the river and the railroad track is
brilliant with names famous in the annals of gambling: Harolds Club, with
Pappy Smith’s beloved “mural” out front, the glittering Harrah’s, the 1950s
time capsule called the Nevada Club. Newcomers have added to the city’s
downtown dimensions: the Eldorado, the Sundowner, the Flamingo Hilton,
Circus Circus and the might Silver Legacy. Smaller gambling spots have taken over what were once the
prime retail locations in the city so that these downtown blocks of Virginia Street are a bright arcade.
Reno is still the Biggest Little City in the World.
So let’s have something to eat. Any choice you make will be enjoyable,
but speaking strictly of food alone, here are a few suggestions:
The Eldorado. Here you can choose from one of the state’s finest gourmet dining rooms, La Strada, or the city’s most highly praised buffet, or six other stylish and distinctive dining choices. The Carano family has adopted the strategy that brought John Asquaga his fame and success in Sparks: serve the best food. Harrah’s and the Flamingo Hilton offer first class gourmet dining also, the Cal-Neva always has an inexpensive special or two, and the Circus Circus buffet is a bargain.
You don’t have to find a casino to have something to eat, of course. One
of the city’s finest restaurants is Adele’s, the exquisite New York French
restaurant at Liberty and South Virginia. If you prefer New York Italian
there’s Colombo’s on the river for dinners. Deux Gros Nez, upstairs over the Hermitage Gallery at California and Humboldt streets, is the inspired
setting for a cup of fancy coffee or a cool beer from England. The Santa
Fe Hotel on Lake Street is one of Reno’s best-known Basque restaurants,
having served most of four generations of local folks their hearty
working-man’s family style suppers. Louis’ Basque Corner, at Fourth and
Evans is another local favorite.
A few suggestions a little farther afield from the center of town: The best cheeseburger in Reno is either at the Keystone Cue & Cushion, at Fifth
and Keystone, or Juicy’s at 310 S. Wells (and other locations), you choose.
Wheel’s Roadhouse Cafe at the National Automobile Museum provides a unique
setting for a light lunch with patio service during pleasant weather and
inside seating when it’s cold. The collection itself, pure automotive
confection, will intrigue and delight.
Art abounds in downtown Reno above and beyond the arresting colors,
carefully sculpted shapes and gleaming surfaces of these wonderful cars,
and there are two more places where you can combine a snack or a meal with
a unique collection of colorful artifacts. One is the Liberty Belle Saloon
on south Virginia Street beside the Convention Center. Here you can have
an informal lunch or dinner and see the magnificent collection of slot
machines assembled by the grandsons of the man who invented this
entertaining device. And the Harolds Club Gun Collection has been an
attraction at the downtown club for decades and still draws interested
visitors to the second floor of the casino – during a recent visit I met a
young Indian man inspecting the tools used to kill his grandparents at
Wounded Knee. “Look at the size of those bullets,” he said
For art without the calories, the Sierra Nevada Museum of Art occupies two near-downtown locations. At the E.L. Weigand Museum, 160 W. Liberty, the exhibits are an eclectic mix of traveling shows and local artists. The Stremmel Gallery on south Virginia
Street is a busy showplace of leading artists.
The University of Nevada Reno campus adjoining north Virginia Street is another locus for artists, exhibits and performances of every kind. Campus events are listed at the Jot Travis Student Union (Tel-784-6589). The Gutzon Borglum statue of Comstock mining tycoon John Mackay has been a landmark for 80 years, and you’ll enjoy the minerals collection inside the
Mackay School of Mines building behind him. If you’re a late-night movie
watcher, you may feel a shock or recognition as you cross the great lawn of
this classical quadrangle. It’s not merely that it’s modeled after Thomas
Jefferson’s University of Virginia, it’s – can it be? Yes! This is where
Andy Hardy went to College! (in the 1937 movie starring Mickey Rooney.)
The more recent “Peavine Installation” by John Mason invites your visit:
park at the Lawlor Events Center parking area on North Virginia Street, and
walk uphill until you see the black and white rectangles planted in the
lawn outside the Lombardi Recreation Building.
When you’ve finished playing eye games with the beguiling piece, walk a
little farther up the hill and calm down at the Nevada State Historical
Society. You’ll find handsomely mounted and informative exhibits depicting
the physical and social environments established in the ebb and flow of Nevada history, as well as research collections and facilities.
The oddly shaped building across the way is the Fleischmann Planetarium.
Inside is a specially constructed domed theater where a unique cinematic
process provides visitors with the “experience” of space flights, an
eagle’s eye view of the growth and development of a fluffy wisp of cloud
into a ferocious thunderstorm, the birth and death of a star, and other
cosmic wonders of the universe.
The Rancho San Rafael a few blocks west of the University is an enormous
county park, with open green space, playgrounds and a gallery devoted to
the interests of Wilbur May, the May Co. Department Store heir whose
charmed life ended peacefully a few years ago. The exhibits center on the
animals whose lives he ended on hunting trips, and on the art which he
collected as avidly as he collected heads. The autumn Great Reno Balloon
Race ascensions are made from here in a scene of magical frenzy.
Speaking of green space, no law says you have to confine your graveyard
strolling to old mining towns. You can enjoy a half hour at Mountain
View Cemetery, accessible from Stoker Avenue via west Fourth Street. Only
a few of the old-fashioned angels, lambs and obelisks survive the trend to
gang-mowing, but this burying ground contains the earthly remains of some
of Nevada’s greatest figures from the past. Pay your respects to Senator
Pat McCarran, Mayor Ed Roberts, the Pittman Brothers, Bill Stead, Alf Doten
and thousands of others more or less prominent in their lifetimes. Their
present serenity belies the passions that once stirred them, and the neat
rows and simple plaques bear no relation to the complex and sometimes
tangled lives they lived. Mausoleums of the rich and famous still stand in
great gloomy rows, and a dirt-surfaced Potter’s Field on the downslope
behind the maintenance sheds provides additional food for thought.
And for miniature golf, there are three fantastic courses at Magic Carpet Golf, four miles south of downtown on Virginia Street, and it’s open every day, weather permitting.
Reno
Calendar of Annual Events
JANUARY
Gymnastics Team Challenge702-827-7705
FEBRUARY
Reno Air Indoor Track & Field702-827-7705
JUNE
West Coast Wine Tasting800-FOR-RENO
Celebrate the River702-334-2077
Reno Rodeo702-329-3877
JULY
Skyfire702-323-3138
AUGUST
Hot August Nights702-829-1955
Nevada State Fair702-688-5767
Reno Basque Festival702-329-1476
SEPTEMBER
Great Reno Balloon Race702-826-1181
National Championship Air Races702-972-6663
OCTOBER
Championship Chili Cook-Off702-329-6114
Great Italian Festival702-786-5700
NOVEMBER
National Senior Pro Rodeo Finals702-746-0141
Welcome to Reno
These businesses are pleased to welcome you
LOCAL AREA INFORMATION
RENO NEWS & REVIEW
Available Free at over 400 locations. 702-324-4440. Your best guide to life and lifestyles in the Reno/Tahoe area. Incisive
and insightful news and commentary, combined with a detailed calendar of
what’s going on. The News and Review is the only print alternative in the
area, and it’s an indispensable part of life in Western Nevada.
GREATER RENO-SPARKS Chamber of Commerce.
405 Marsh Avenue. 702-686-3030. The Chamber is a strong organization of over 2,200 member businesses from
the northern Nevada area. The Chamber’s mission is to protect and promote
the free enterprise system, advancing the economic well-being of the
regional business community, consistent with supporting a high quality of
life.
OVERNIGHT ACCOMODATIONS
ROOM RESERVATIONS
for Reno and Lake Tahoe. 800-843-5061. Call to book the
best hotels & casinos in Reno and Lake Tahoe. Great rates and casino
coupons. Rental cars, dinner & show packages and more! In Reno: Silver
Legacy, Circus Circus, Reno Hilton, Sands and more. Lake Tahoe: Caesar’s,
Timber Cove Lodge, Lake Tahoe Inn and more. Western Discovery
International. 507 Casazza, #C, Reno, NV 89502.
UNIVERSITY INN.
1001 North Virginia Street. 702-323-0321. If you are
looking for comfort and hospitality in a hotel, you are looking for the
University Inn. We offer complimentary coffee and the friendliest staff
this side of the Sierras. We are located on the beautiful campus of the
University of Nevada, Reno and four blocks north of downtown.
SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS
NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM.10 Lake Street. 702-333-9300. Display of over
200 antique, classic, vintage and special interest automobiles in 4
galleries and on 4 authentic street scenes; multi-media theatre
presentation; Museum Store; world-famous automotive library offers research
by mail. Available for special events. Open Monday-Saturday 9:30am to
5:30pm, Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm (Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas).
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Nevada Travel Pages
David W. Toll
Nevadaca