If Las Vegas is the place to check reality at the door, then Reno-earthy, unpretentious and friendly-is the place to find it.
Where else would you find a marquee announcing “Restroom Renovation Underway” at the performing arts center in the heart of downtown? Or spot a new Ford Bronco with “UZI” vanity plates and a bumper sticker proclaiming “I (heart) Explosives!”
One windy winter morning, while waiting for a taxi at dawn, I stood outside a neon-clad casino, lit up like Christmas, and watched tumbleweed bounce across the railroad tracks that cut through town. Even that early, from a sidewalk bathed in strips of neon color, I caught the musical refrain of coins being tossed rapid-fire into slots: Kerplunk! Clunk! Plink! Call me crazy, but there’s poetry in a moment like that.
There is still very much of a Wild West flavor to Reno. You can buy an AK-47-clone here for under $300 and, after shooting one, I fully understand why the semiautomatic “sporting rifle” is the gun of choice. I felt about 8 feet tall while I plastered holes all over an abandoned car on a gravel road a half-day’s drive outside of Reno. Bullet holes are part of the scenery in these parts. Take a drive past the city limits and I defy you to find a Nevada historical marker that hasn’t been shot up. I find that charming in a Bad Girl sort of way.
Yes, Reno, with its cowboys and coffeehouses, has its own je ne sais quoi. To the surprise of Renoites themselves, the National Endowment for the Arts last fall named the “Biggest Little City” a literary capital of America. Folks read more novels, plays, poetry and short stories in Reno than in any other city surveyed, including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle and Las Vegas. Almost weekly, book signings, readings and lectures draw Standing Room Only crowds, and the region has become a popular retreat for writers and artists.
There are lots of ways to measure a town-culture, curb-appeal, cuisine, among them. But perhaps the truest measurement is how residents feel when they put their town in the rear-view. “I get homesick,” I heard, again and again, from folks who live in this high-desert playground that Rand McNally rightly has dubbed a premier spot for “outdoor fun” in the nation.
So, while glitzy Las Vegas operates at an amphetamine speed, Reno is building the National Bowling Stadium. “Here’s the difference between Vegas and Reno,” explains Larry Henry, associate publisher for Nevada Weekly. “People up here wear penny loafers, khakis and red-striped ties. In Vegas, you see glittery sweat suits, and they seem to have an attitude there about hairdos-the taller the hair, the closer to God. There’s artistic strength here, wonderful opportunities for outdoor recreation, and something of a European look and feel to the area. And, it’s diverse. I ate at a soul-food place today. But Reno has 60 or 70 years of negative publicity it has to live down. Outsiders tend to hang onto their stereotypes.”
Not long ago, I threw back a couple of Picon punches at Louis’ Basque Corner with the regulars huddled at the bar, and learned a new word: Ossagaria, or “To your health.”
“On Fridays,” one of the guys told me. “It’s so crowded you can’t get in here with a whip.” Later, he quipped, “Vegas? Vegas? What this is isn’t a place that yields its charms easily; you have to look for them.”
Viva Reno!
Built in 1868 at the crossroads of the statuesque Sierra Nevada and the high desert of the scrappy Peavine mountains, Reno grew up as a city of second chances, a destination for dreamers. Miners, gamblers, emigrants, the divorced-all found their way to Reno.
In “Not in Our Stars,” a novel written in 1957, author Jill Stern’s heroine Sara Winston muses: “But what was happiness and where could you find it? Was this, in fact, America? Did all roads lead to Reno? . . . In America, everybody had a chance-and if they muffed it there was always the second chance. Reno would give a second chance.”
In the book, the protagonist, Sara, engages in her musings at Harold’s Club, one of the first casinos built on Virginia Street, Reno’s “Strip.” One of the most recognized city symbols in America, the art deco designed Reno Arch spans the downtown casino row and welcomes visitors to “The Biggest Little City in the World.” Reno and neighboring Sparks house 40 casinos, and it is “the clubs”-as the locals call them-that continue to draw most folks to the city.
Nearly 5 million people visited Reno last year. A typical visitor is a 52-year-old empty-nester with an annual income of $42,000. Visitors generally spend an average of $400 on gaming while they’re here, according to the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority.
Even non-gamblers should take the time to stroll down Virginia Street, the neon-charged casino corridor that intersects the Truckee River and its riverwalk. It’ll make you feel like you’re 10-years-old again. For a view that looks something like Oz, drive outside Reno after nightfall and take in the kaleidoscope of lights.
It’s difficult to get away from gaming: You’ll see slots (probably hear them, first) as soon as you walk off the plane at Reno Cannon International Airport, and you’ll notice the one-armed bandits just about everywhere-in bars, grocery stores, laundermats, convenience marts, filling stations. (“It’s weird for me to go to a 7-Eleven and not see them,” one Renoite told me.)
The Biggest Little City is about to get bigger: $600 million in new construction has been slated for Reno in 1994, and a third of that will be funneled into the city’s first themed resort. Created by Circus Circus Enterprises and the Eldorado Casino/Hotel, the resort, scheduled to open in 1995, will be patterned after a 16th-Century seaport on the mythical island of Atlantis and its “Lost City of Gold.”
The Reno renaissance-in part triggered by competitive considerations spurred by the national proliferation of gaming-includes the renovation of the Reno Hilton into a themed casino that will focus on the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest and the American West; the doubling in size of the Clarion Hotel Casino; a $25 million addition to the Reno Riverfront, a new retail center; and continuing improvements to Victorian Square, an ongoing redevelopment program in Sparks that will feature a six-block entertainment area.
Many of the city’s best-known restaurants and hotels are associated with casinos-Harrah’s, the Eldorado, Circus Circus, John Ascuaga’s Nugget and the Hilton, among them. For accommodations and visitor information, call 800-FOR-RENO. Off-season, I have stayed in perfectly fine rooms that cost as little as $18 a night.
As for restaurants, try La Strada at the Eldorado for a fine-dining experience. Entrees, priced from $10.95 to $17.95, include sauteed veal with wild mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in a marsala sauce; homemade polenta with Italian sausage and basil sauce; and the fresh catch baked in lemon butter sauce in a wood-burning oven. La Strada, which resembles an Italian country villa, was recognized last year as one of the nation’s top 25 Italian restaurants by the National Academy Awards of the Restaurant Industry “Best of the Best” awards. Its wine list, featuring more than 200 wines, also has won national recognition. The “house wines” are just that: They’re from the family’s own winery-Ferrari-Carano, in California’s Sonoma County.
For cheap eats, Louis’ Basque Corner, 301 E. 4th St., is the place to loll over a family-style lunch or dinner. The menu changes every day, and the daily special includes soup, French bread, beans, salad, an entree (tongue, paella, oxtail stew, rabbit or calamari, for example), dessert and wine. Prices start at about $5.
For a look at the real Reno (population: 141,000) wander through its neighborhoods. This is a university town organized by wide tree-lined streets, funky houses and small lakes close in to the city center.
Several museums are worth a stop, and most are within the so-called “89501 Zip Code,” the arts district. The area is something of a mind-bend: Quarters for The Nevada Opera share the same street as the Academy of Casino Careers, and the well-known Park Wedding Chapel is within shouting distance of offices that promise “Divorce Made Easy.”
For information about city walking tours and a list of cultural events, call the Sierra Arts Foundation at 702-329-1324.
A popular stop among tourists, the National Automobile Museum, 10 Lake St., demonstrates how the automobile has shaped American history. Two-hundred vintage cars are on display in cleverly designed quarters.
The state’s oldest museum-The Nevada Historical Society Museum, 1650 N. Virginia St.-traces the region’s history from the earliest native inhabitants to white trappers and settlers, from Comstock miners to buckaroos on the open range. Admission is free.
The Nevada Museum of Art, 160 W. Liberty St., is host to a small collection focusing on art of the Great Basin region and 19th- and 20th-Century American art.
There is more to the landscape here than green felt stretched across a blackjack table. Up in the Peavine, among the golden aspen groves, the slender trunks of the quaking aspen are imbedded with carvings made by Basque sheepherders, and in canyons outside of town, petroglyphs tell the story of Nevada’s ancient inhabitants. The alpine beauty of Lake Tahoe is just over the mountain, and shouldn’t be missed.
For a completely different sensory stimulant, point your car north, toward Pyramid Lake, the haunting desert lake held sacred by the Paiute tribe. There are views here to steal a heart and nourish the soul. Located on the Paiute reservation, the lake-a remnant of the inland sea that once covered 8,000 square miles-is the only habitat for the cui-ui prehistoric fish protected as an endangered species.
It is also home to Anaho Island, a rocky peak that serves as one of eight white pelican nesting grounds in North America. The Lahontan cutthroat trout has lured sport fishermen here since Teddy Roosevelt was president, particularly between October and May, when the trout swim closer to the surface. Other activities: camping, hiking, boating, water-skiing, dipping in the hot springs that dot the lake. For more information, call the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Ranger Station, 702-476-1155.
The brown, barren terrain that starts at the Paiute reservation sweeps clear up to the Oregon line. In January, I slept on the desolate desert floor for the first time, and counted stars until I fell asleep. I watched a pair of deer saunter down a hillside and heard the soulful midnight lament of the coyote. One afternoon, I turned my head toward a shadow and saw an eagle fly by with a rabbit in its beak. It is this large land that Wallace Stegner once called “Hope’s native home.”
In Reno, the day after my first visit to the azure-colored waters of Pyramid, I met retired schoolteacher Mayvonne Wilkens, a third-generation Nevadan. “Once you learn a place like this, it’s hard to leave. It’s a small enough community where everyone knows everyone.
“Maybe, to look at, Reno is not love-at-first-sight, but once you’re here a little bit, you begin to recognize the beauty of the place and the people. Folks are friendly here, welcoming. It’s home. And, when I leave it, I get homesick. Now, perhaps, you understand why.”
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Reno is reasonably wheelchair accessible, according to the Northern Nevada Center for Independent Living (702-353-3599). Reno Sparks Cab Co. (702-333-3333) will provide accessible cabs upon request, as will the hotels and casinos. A city bus service, City Lift (702-348-LIFT), provides lift-equipped vans for people with disabilities. Downtown Reno, which houses the popular casino row, is fully accessible, with curb cuts. The Reno Hilton (702-789-2000) has eight rooms that are accessible with roll-in showers and 20 to 30 other rooms that are semi-accessible.
