Secrets of the oldest commercial buildings in downtown Reno, Nevada! Each corner has a story!
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Each of the buildings at the intersection of 2nd and Virginia Streets in downtown Reno, Nevada has a unique history! We'll take a look at the Oddfellows building, the Club Cal Neva, the Reno National Bank and the Byington building. Many locals will drive by these old (by Nevada standards) structures daily, but they might not know the backstories. Reno doesn't have many historic buildings left - here's a chance to learn about what we still have with us as of the date of this filming!
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Music credits: All music composed and performed by Steve Ellison. Drums by Scott Taylor.
Check out renohistorical.org - a fantastic resource for more things you'd like to know about historic Reno - a project by my friend Alicia Barber!
Link to our video on the life of Bill Harrah, founder of Harrah's Hotel Casinos, who leased space in two of the buildings in this video: • Essential Bill Harrah ...
This is the place to learn interesting things about Reno, the state of Nevada and the American west! I've lived in Reno for 37 years (as an adult!). I've had a lifelong interest in history, and spend much time exploring and researching this wonderful area. I started this channel to share some of what I've learned. I produced a full-length documentary film on the history of Reno's Harolds Club casino in 2015. The DVD can be gotten here:
www.ebay.com/i...
Perhaps you're thinking of moving to Reno and are looking for background on the area, or you're already a resident and this content might help give you a sense of place. I shall endeavor to cater to both groups!
I'm also a craft beer enthusiast, and thought I'd talk about some of that scene here as well. I started homebrewing in 1992, and earned the Certified Cicerone designation in 2015 - this is a sommelier-like program for beer people.
Please subscribe, share and come along with me on this journey! Thanks and cheers!
Steve
![Reno, Nevada 1950s in color [60fps,Remastered] w/sound design added](/img/n.gif)
I love what you're doing here! I was born and raised in/around Reno but you bring new knowledge to me with each video. And the quality gets better and better! Please keep it up!
As one who has been visiting Reno for about 55 years and a current resident, I remember the 70's 80's and early 90's when the downtown was hopping. Proliferation of Indian casinos has made the current downtown into a virtual ghost town. I hope that redevelopment can reverse this trend.
Cal-Neva was my favorite place to shoot dice.
The algorithm brought me by, I've been a fan of Nevada history for decades. Now subscribing
Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Steve - Thanks! another great and informative Reno history vlog . A couple notes--at 4:50, your view at Second and Center Streets-There was a bar located there on that corner, called 'Leon and Eddies'. I believe, like so many smaller bars and restauarnts then, they even had a blackjack table and a roulette wheel. Their 'Leon and Eddie's' matchbooks sell on Ebay-I have one! your thoughts? Thanks...
Hey Bob - all the info I have points to this corner as the Club Fortune - maybe your place was here earlier or on on opposite corner. Thanks for hanging out! Cheers!
Hi Steve - Thanks for your reply!...I just doublechecked on Ebay - The several 'Leon and Eddie's matchbooks say their bar/casino address was '12 East Second Street' in Reno .I think I have read before 'Leon and Eddie's' was open from about 1938 to 1952 ish? One matchbook even has a fuzzy photo of the 'Leon's' bar interior. 1938 - Reno, NV. Museum of Gaming History posted: "Leon & Eddie's opened at 12 East Second Street, which had been Louie's Rendevous. Leon Harbert and Ed Harris operated the property until April of 1938 when Leon Harbert left the partnership. There were several management and ownership changes over the years, and in the 1970's the Club Cal-Neva purchased the property for expansion." Now how about renowned 'The Dog House? - that place look Reno slightly sleazy epic. Best Regards, ~ Bob @@SteveTRYK
Always enjoy the history you bring with your content! Great video!
Thanks for the viewership!
I really enjoy you delving into the local history. So much has been forgotten but you’re helping to keep it alive. I moved here 26 years ago because I fell in love with this town in ‘86 when passing through and proposed to my future wife here. 38 years later we’re still here and am proud to call Reno our home.
You're awesome Mr. Local!! Cheers!
A good and informative video. So much to show in a you tube time slot, but well done.😃
Thanks - had to pack it in there somehow!
Wonderful video. Just moved to Reno, and you are my to go channel!
Awesome! Thank you!
Thanks so much for bringing the history of Reno to youtube! I love your videos and learn so much from them. I haven't been able to get to Reno for a while, but I eagerly look forward to my next visit, as I will see it in a new and different light. :-) I hope downtown comes to life again soon and I wish you locals the best!
Thanks for the comments! Cheers!
Nice job on this video. I like Reno, have been there a few times and would like to return. The info you provided was interesting and entertaining, and I appreciate the research you did to pull this together.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey, I ran into you when you were making this video - I was the guy from Iowa. Thanks for taking some time to chat!
I remember you! Thanks for visiting - cheers!
Great video! Thank you for putting in the time to preserving the local history!
My Dad worked at the Cal Neva in the 70’s.
You and Wonderhussy are in my top 5 favorite UA-camrs 💜💜💜 i watch every video
Thought I was subbed but I wasn’t - I am now!!
Thanks! She's better looking than I am! Cheers!
As usual so interesting. Been on those corners many times an didn’t know their historical background. Use to be so many people walking those sidewalks now they are all but empty. Reno almost doesn’t have a downtown anymore.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching and appreciating - this was a vibrant area that can be so again!
Reno is one of my favorite locations to visit! Your videos interest me very much because I get to see how Reno has changed through the years! I watched this one twice! Thanks for another professional look at the past!
Thank you sir for your support!!!
Thanks for all the info. My Dad worked as a teller in the bank building for First National Bank of Nevada. He helped Lavere Redfield cash in his silver dollars. He went on to become V. P. for Wells Fargo.
Cool! I would have loved to have seen Redfield lug in a sack of silver dollars to the bank!
@@SteveTRYK He would pull up in an old pickup truck and my dad would take a cart out and they would unload them right on the street.
Another wonderful video. Thanks for posting!
Love your videos i moved here to Reno exactly one year ago. I will subscribe and watch all your Reno History videos very interesting! I currently live in Virginian Tower and, plan to keep a close eye on Reno City Center if it completes i intend to move into there. XD
Welcome in and thanks for watching!
Great information; Thank U, Mister....New Subscriber, here....
Thanks for the sub!
Excellent video! Can you do a video of John Ascuaga?
It's a possibility - thanks!
😊 A very entertaining video ; you've done well ...
we love the History videos , and the West of America...
... we have historically significant sites in Indiana , but nothing so deep and so rich in people , right ?
keep up your goodvwork , man ❤
Thanks for tuning in from back east!!
Good stuff! A lot of these old Reno downtown buildings are owned by people who don't want to fix them up. Instead they hold and wait for someone to come along and buy them out for some "downtown project". This was explained by Mayor Hillary S. during a normal City Council meeting I attended last summer. Also these building owners want to charge a lot of money for rent, so they just sit empty. Sad! And the Cal Neva is going to get city funding soon to help renovate their 1960's-era exterior. City is trying to make things happen proactively.
Good info! Thanks for watching and your input - cheers!
Yet another waste of tax money. As if Big Casino needs subsidies. Siri made a boatload of money selling the sports book operation to William Hill. It's somewhat inaccurate to call it the "exterior" of the building as it is a periptural false front around the actuL building. If one goes up on top of one of the neighboring parking garages and get a good look at how it is constructed.
Hey Steve, was that when Bruce Willis was going by "Bruno"
@@philmakris8507 its money set aside to fix downtown appearance..... Its listed on the City of Reno website. I go to Cal Neva to watch football sometimes, a decent no-frills, "man cave" place. Don't know anything about Siri. I'm all for it.
Always enjoying your videos. Greetings from Fallon.
Waving from Reno! Thanx!
Thanks Steve. Moved here last day April 2021. After living in Vegas for 3 years as soon as I got here I felt something decrepit. At first I thought the altitude was responsible for the depression I felt. Also the people are closed off and won't even look at you. Reno needs someone unlike Musk to bring Reno back to life. Man I'd love to buy you a beer or two and have a serious chat. Thanks for all your work. Looks like you enjoy it. Peace.
Our town has its struggles like every other one... Hang in there and thanks for watching!
great stuff as always, Steve! I'm wondering if you know about the history of the businesses further down 2nd towards Arlington. I've long been interested in finding the location of the Merry-Go-Round bar, which was on 2nd somewhere along there. It had an actual working set of bar seats that circled, carousel-like, around the bar. At any rate, i heard once that wherever it was and whatever is in its spot now, the mechanics for the carousel are still there under the floor, and can be seen in the basement. My dream is someone, some day, would restore it and open a new Merry-Go-Round bar in town. How fun would that be??
Dr. Bombay: From The Museum of Gaming History: "The Merry-Go-Round Bar, opened in March 1946, at 26 West Second Street, and was licensed for slots, craps, 21 and roulette. The bar stools, on a carousel base, could actually revolve around the center part of the bar. The bar operated for 10 years under several owners. On August 1, 1956, the final owner of the bar had his gaming license revoked." (*** probably revoked for cheating customers? ) Dr. Bombay-Looks like the Merry-Go-Round was in the Reno Pizza building at 26 W. Second Street. Reno Pizza closed a couple years ago, after a 20 year run...
@@bobcuster8930 hey, thanks for this info! The old Reno Pizza spot, huh? for some reason i thought it was a bit further down. Sounds like there's an opportunity afoot! If only i could win a lottery...
That Reno Pizza building is an old newspaper building I believe and also one of the oldest commercial buildings down there. Would love to see those mechanics if they still exist!
@@SteveTRYK well, it's just a rumor i heard as far as them still existing, but i hope it's true. i'd love to see them myself!
Steve, you mentioned a series of drugs stores in the Byington Building. I've been trying to find any information on a "Conn Drug" store. I ask as there is "Conn Drug" painted on rocks near Mustang.
It was Cann Drug store and I believe it was one of the inhabitants there but I'm not 100%. Mr. Cann was an avid photographer and produced postcards of the area.
Thank you!
Wasn’t there a stuffed polar bear in the bank lobby? (Not to be confused with White King in the Commercial in Elko)
Another weirdity was Owl Drugs.
Dunno about a bear!
@@SteveTRYK I think (not sure ) the bank was Nevada National. Somewhere back in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. The bear was standing on its hind legs and was enclosed in a glass display case.
When I was there in 2020 a sign on the door said Harrahs was permanently closed. Is this still the case or did they make it into something else
Caesars closed and sold it, an unfortunately the company repurposing it has filed for bankruptcy, so it remains to be seen what happens...
@@SteveTRYK the last time I was there I stayed at the Eldorado but I got to tell you if I go back again I'm going to do the Silver Legacy that's really nice
@@mistervacation23Sadly, Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus are all now owned by Caesars.
The buildings will have the same outcome as the Reno Mercantile Building.
I hope you're wrong, but in the end, I don't think you are.
Steve - One more question-wasn't the very first Reno IOOF (Odd Fellows Hall) located next door to where the 'Old Reno Club' was located, at Sierra and Commercial Row? Before that IOOF building was demolished about 2018 ish, I think the RGJ newspaper called it the oldest commercial building in Reno..Thanks much! ~ Bob
That was the old Reno Mercantile building - its possible the IOOF met there and other places but I'm not fer sure - cheers!
Cal neva did have hotel rooms? Before Siegel bought them
Yes, they did offer them in a separate tower - no rooms were on the historic block. Thanks and cheers!
The casts on the bank building are not original to Reno but plaster casts of castings from other Planet Hollywood locations
Really sucks that they tore down the 1872 Reno Mercantile building🙁
And did nothing with the space...
that IOOF building isnt the same except the footprint...while the old post office built in 1933 is still the same and he never mentions it just like the bank is the same
John? as in John Lennen not Lennon?
That clock on the IOOF building is an architectural abomination and abberation and should go.
Agreed - was put there decades ago probably as an attempt to give it charm...
Michigan?????