Return to Reno

Here%26#39;s one for you:

My wife and I are so old that we were married atop the Mapes Hotel in 1955 (we later watched its destruction with sadness). At the time I was The AP correspondent with an office in the Evening Gazette building; my bride was a physical therapist with Veterans Administration hospital and at Washoe hospital.

I had been sent to Reno to replace Ed Olsen, who had been injured in an auto accident. Ed later became the chairman of the then Nevada Gambling Control Board and and rejected a license for Sinatra.

After two years covering Nevada and eastern California, I was transferred to Hong Kong by the AP. We haven%26#39;t been back to Reno since and are look forward to returning.

I well appreciate Reno is no longer the town I left but would like to take a nostalgic trip to an area we loved and miss even today after 40 years of travel with the AP and other newspaper assignments.

We%26#39;d like a first-class hotel within walking distance of most attrractions and by the Truckee, if possible (I imaging the old Riverside (Purple Gang if I recall) no longer exists as well.

Any thoughts would be most welcome. We%26#39;re thinking about September or October.

Many thanks.

Len L

Return to Reno

Wow!

I don%26#39;t have much info for you as I am just planning a tripmyself and just researching the options as well. Your story made me think about the history of Reno. I just ordered a book about the history of Nevada based on your post. I really hope the trip is all you could hope for and more.

Return to Reno

WOW what a great story! Fonzmambo was a great help on another post so will hopefully see this one and be able to offer some suggestions. In the meantime, try this if you haven%26#39;t already and safe travels!

renotahoevisitor.com

Hi well I was born in /55 so I know its been a long time for you lol. I have not stayed at the Siena myself but have gambled there. From comments made it is the best hotel in Reno.It is not really in walking distance to the others downtown but I have walked it (but I walk everywhere there), You can walk along the Truckie to get dt but some people think its not safe. in the evenings The second would be Harrahs which is right dt on Virginia right where the tracks were at the Reno Arch. Although thats not the original place where the arch started but you know what I mean. and the trains are underground now . But really if you stay at Circus Circus /Silver Legacy or Eldorado they are all connected and you don%26#39;t need to leave to go outside to access those ones they are really good hotels. Peppermill and Atlantis are WAY far away from the dt. Boy in the last 10 years there has been so many casinos closed you won%26#39;t find many of the same ones. I still love it there though so have a good time.

lllefty: Great story....OK, so I stayed at the Riverside way back when I was a young buck...I have since stayed at the Sands, CC, Eldorado, SL, Boomtown, Atlantis, Peppermill Motel 6, Fitzgeralds, Cal-Neva, and Harrahs....I like the CC, SL and Eldorado deal because you don%26#39;t have to go outside...still a short walk to the River....any of those I would recommend...

Ah, the Riverside. I recall being in the Riverside and talking to one of the owners. A uniformed cop came by and the owner pulled out a $20 bill and gave it to the cop. I jokingly commented that since he was legal now, he didn%26#39;t have to pay off any more. he laughed and sad, ';I forget.';

Most of the gaming/glambling then were owned by out-of-state mobs; it was well before the corporations took over the casinos and hotels in Nevada.

First of all, to Ducky...thanks for the vote of confidence ;)!

Illefty, I am a relatively new Renoite (I%26#39;ve lived in this area for 5 years), so I found your post extremely interesting and very different from the Reno I know and love. I think you will be absolutely shocked by the difference in the Reno of today versus what you described. Whether or not you will view the differences as good or bad, I can%26#39;t predict. I can tell you as a Cali transplant (I can hear the groans of the Reno natives as I write this) I love the changes Reno is going through and I can%26#39;t wait to see what happens in the future.

I think the Siena would be your best bet as it is right on the Truckee and a pretty easy walk to the downtown and you can basically start there and go along the riverwalk. I%26#39;ve never stayed there, but know people who have, and they have described it as one of the nicest hotels in Reno. I%26#39;ve not been terribly impressed with the gambling there (it%26#39;s pretty minimal as far as choices go), but the restaurant (Lexie%26#39;s) is fabulous and offers wonderful views of the river.

I know it%26#39;s a ways away, but I%26#39;d love for you to write up a TR once you get back so that you can share your experience with us!

Many thanks all for your good advice.

Just a few memories:

Reno was about 50,000 then; I was there from 54-56. Was single when I arrived and spent much of my spare time with gambling and gals before I married my wife there. She was a physical therapst, first with the Washoe Couny hospital and later with the Reno VA hospital.

She went to

Reno from Santa Barbara as a volunteer during the last polio epidemic to hit the states. My boss had been injured in an auto accident and I was send from SF to cover the bureau.

That boss, Ed Olsen, by the way, later became the chairman of the then Nevada Gambling Control Board and barred Sinatra from getting a NV gambling license because of shady ties. Ed was honest as they came and Sinatra gave him considerable grief. Ed stood his ground.

When I was to get married, Charlie Mapes gave us the top floor for the wedding. The Governor, Charlie Russell, offered to cater a dinner using the prisoners from the State Prison in Carson. I told him it would be unethical for me to accept it.

The state was so informal that I recall once calling the Governor%26#39;s office to check something and Russell answered the phone. When I asked him didn%26#39;t he have a secretary, he said he said he was sitting in so she could go for lunch.

My wife didn%26#39;t want Reno for our marriage licence so we drove up to Virginia City and got our license there.. We had a surprise snow May 31, the night before the wedding.

The whole state was still small; Las Vegas was just starting its boom. I calculated that it took only 35,000 votes to elect a Senator, one of whom was Pat McCarron who brought the Basques to Nevada as sheepherders.

Won%26#39;t bore you anymore with memories of Nevada times past.

Thanks for the memories! While I only started going to Reno in the mid 80';s (the Mapes had closed by then), my older sister use to talk about the Mapes and the Riverside. I use to stand outside the boarded up building and think of all of its history. I know at one time It was the first skyscraper built in the Western United States since the start of World War II.

I would say for accomodations, if you are wanting to stay downtown, the Sienna is the closest to where the Mapes was. I would say either Harrah%26#39;s or down the street there is El Dorada, Silver Legacy, and Circus Circus that are all connected with an indoor walkway. You will also note that Harold%26#39;s Club and The Nevada Club (my husbands and my all time favorite casino) are no more.

While Reno has grown, the downtown hotel/casino area hasn%26#39;t. There has been so many closures that we don%26#39;t frequent Reno like we use to.

I hope your trip down memory lane is a great one. Please post a trip report on it when you return.

You mention the Nevada Club. It may be what I recall as the Cal-Neva club on a corner downtown. It was my regular casino just downstairs from my office. Spent many a night shooting craps there.

One night I walked in with 25 dollars and had the hottest streak of my life there. I was about $10K ahead, My salary then was $55 a week. I left with the money in $100 bills, went upstairs, wrapped it carefully in into big manila envelope, keeping only one bill, and addressed to my brother in Seattle. It was about three years salary.

I started to go home to mail it in the morning, opened it up , returned to the Cal-Neva, and lost it back in about five minutes. If people asked me how I made out, I told them I won $75. I still flinch when I think about it. And I had had my eyes set on an MG, a car I never did get to own .

I probably bailed out several dozen families during my time in Reno. Men with families heading to or through Reno on summer vacations sometimes knocked on my office door with stories of losing their money at the tables and would a loan them gas money to get back home. At first, gave to them, then realized they were just going back to the tables. So I then went to their cars and gave the money the wives. Most repaid me over time.

lllefty: I read these ta postings all the time. In all this time I have never looked so forward to getting on my %26#39;puter, as I do now. I enjoy your stories about Reno so much that I almost feel myself living in those times.You are/were a reporter?Honestly have you ever thought to write a book about your adventures? You are really interesting.Funny coming from a Canadian!!! But seriously there are people out there in cyberspace and beyond that love Reno as much as I do and love the history. Keep telling us stories.....Brenda