I started off my summer with a road trip from Seattle to Chicago and featured my favorite roadside motel in July. So now that it’s Labor Day and summer is winding down, it’s only fitting to share this little gas station I stopped to visit on my trip to Reno/Tahoe last week. Rocovits’ Gas… Read More A Century Ago on First Street
On one of my recent visits to Reno, Nevada, I put aside a morning to visit all the Paul Revere Williams buildings I could find. Williams (1894-1980) is best known for his work in Los Angeles, where he designed hundreds of private and commercial buildings and became an architect for Hollywood, including celebrities like Frank… Read More Searching for Paul Revere Williams in Reno, Nevada
McKinley Park School is a recognizable feature to those who frequent Reno’s riverwalk. The Mission Revival beauty sits just west of Wingfield Park, with its central tower and two welcoming wings facing the Truckee River. McKinley Park School, built in 1909, is one of a quartet of Mission Revival style schools in Reno from the… Read More Reno’s Mission Revival Quartet of Schools
Domes and circles seem to be everywhere and cutting edge lately. There’s the ring-shaped Apple Park in California, the Amazon bubbles in Seattle, and a recent announcement was just made about a glass dome apartment to be constructed on the top of a Seattle building. But domes aren’t new. In fact, you may be familiar with… Read More Thinking Outside the Box(office): the Geodesic Domed Pioneer Theater
The Fleischmann Planetarium is at once assuring and daring in its construction. The sides taper and hold fast to the ground like two anchors while the ends arch up, the front seeming to defy gravity and directing the gaze up, up to the roof and up to the sky. The shape and curves are fitting… Read More The Building That Reached for the Stars
It is hard to imagine a day before highways had numbers. In Seattle, everyone knows it’s easier to take 99 to the airport that I-5; if you’re driving through Portland and want to skirt around the worst of the traffic, 205 is a sure bet over I-5 or 405. Some highways have even made their numbers famous… Read More Before Highways Had Numbers
Casinos have always been about glamour. Today that glamour comes in the form of immensely tall fountains, priceless art, and recreations of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, from Venice to the Eiffel Tower. The casinos in Las Vegas particularly draw in guests using the most lavish and extraordinary productions. I’m not talking about Blue… Read More Casinos of the Past: Where Glamour Has Become Kitsch
The Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in Reno, Nevada, has watched people come and go since Reno’s early days as a railroad town. Built in 1926, the station was actually the fifth in Reno, following four that had been lost to fires. The Mediterranean style station is modest in size but its tall, arched windows echo a grander… Read More Preservation Success: the Reno Train Station
Susie Trexler 