Out and about in Reno as a kid...

There are several Reno's in the US. thanks to the USPS, however, Nevada has but one. However if you ever lived in Reno, Nevada you learned quickly there were actually 2 Reno's masquerading as a single city-

• There was (probably 'is') the town with the casinos, hotels, nite clubs, bars and hookers which catered to visitors who came to gamble & party; these businesses are scattered along Virginia St starting (at least in the 1940s) at the railroad tracks then continuing south in the direction of Carson City a little over 30 miles distant.
  
• And then there was the rest of town where the residents lived.

You could go weeks without ever having to deal with the crowds of visitors and those that catered to them. Well... unless you were a kid and wanted to see a first run movie at the Majestic, Grenada or Crest theaters for 25 cents (50 cents for the matinee at the Crest). Or if you were ok with re-runs, then for 14 cents you could go to the Tower on Virginia but well away from the center of town- served nicely if you didn't mind the sound of pins hitting the pit walls in the bowling alley next door.

The Truckee River runs through the center of town and has wonderful grassy banks on the north shore. These park-like areas along the edge of the Truckee gradually give way to concrete as the river moves East and gets close to the Riverside & Mapes Hotels. The Truckee moves on toward the East and eventually ends at Pyramid Lake on the Paiute Indian Reservation. But a little before the strip that is S Virginia is Wingfield Park. 

Wingfield Park was created on an island created by the Truckee conveniently splitting and passing on both sides creating a few acres of recreational land (how did they manage to keep that out of the hands of the developers?!). Arlington is the street that crosses the island and that was where the Day Home was located just up the hill. On the opposite bank and across the bordering street is (was!) St Thomas Aquinas School. So early on it was an easy walk for a 6 year old from the Day Home to St Thomas and then back in the afternoon. Easy-peasey. When I got a little older I would stay after school and play in the playground or cross the street and go to Wingfield Park then head for home before my parents got back.

Later we moved from the St Lawrence duplex to 253-1/2 E Taylor St which was a ways from the school. So my father decided it was time that I had a bicycle. That changed everything. Suddenly the city was accessible and I discovered there was a north side of town with nice houses, a steep hill and the University of Nevada- I wanted to explore everything.

When I received a pair of hand-me-down ice skates for a Christmas gift I learned I could skate on the pond at Idylwild Park- a little east of Wingfield Park and also on the Truckee River. That was the nice part about living with 4 distinct seasons. And the bad part! I recall riding home on my bicycle after sunset from ice skating and my feet were hurting terribly from the cold air rushing past my shoes as I pedaled. Got some frost bite that night!

Of course there are also the the folks that come to Reno for a quickie divorce (6 weeks Nevada residency requirement in the '40s & '50s; the rest was a formality). High-end clients would come to Reno and stay with their lawyer. After 6 weeks they appeared in court, said all the right words and Presto! Single again.

 

Johnny Weissmuller ca. 1924

Many (most?) of those coming to "The Divorce Capitol of the World" were celebrities. I remember Johnny Weissmuller coming to town in 1948 for said purpose. He's the one that played Tarzan in all those cheap action movies I loved as a kid. I was at the Crest theater for a Saturday matinee when they stopped the films and somebody in a suit walked on stage... never a good sign at a Saturday matinee. 'Booooo!! We wanna see the movie!' Then he says he has a special visitor to introduce- Tarzan is in town. Out comes Johnny Weissmuller in sport coat, slacks and an ascot. 'OMG... THAT's Tarzan?! What happened to him?!' After the appropriate bla-blah he asks The Man to give us the Tarzan yell (more of a yodel but hey- he's the hero!). 'I'm afraid I have a sore throat. Hard to do right now' followed by much pleading from the audience and the Emcee. Finally he relented and there it was... 'just like in the movies!' We ate it up!

I must grudgingly admit that there was more to Johnny Weissmuller than Tarzan or Jungle Jim movie rolls. He was an exceptional swimming competitor who never lost a race. He won 5 Olympic gold medals for swimming in the 1924 (Paris) and 1928 (Amsterdam) Summer Olympics plus an Olympic bronze in water polo (1924). As part of these swimming feats he set a world record 67 times (!). Pretty impressive. And he managed to collect a total of 5 wives... no, not at the same time. Go Johnny!