The outdated names of Reno can lead to confusion


June 16, 1998

Imagine, if you will, that you hear a person ramble the following sentence:

"I was driving down "B" Street on my way to Gemco to get some Ding Dongs for my daughter, who is staying at the Clarion -- even though she wanted to stay at the MGM."

What does this sentence say about its speaker? Under the influence of some controlled substance? Inhaled too many fumes coming from Bertha and Angel at the Nugget? Too many brain cells fried by listening to KKOH?

No! (Well, maybe! But not necessarily.) All this sentence tells us is that its speaker has been in the Truckee Meadows for a while. And people like this are rare, considering the average Reno/Sparks resident wasn't here when you started reading this column.

Calling the Reno Target store Gemco or referring to Victorian Avenue as "B" Street is the mark of a Northern Nevada old-timer. Now, I am still young by most standards (though, thank God, I'm probably too old to be a presidential intern), I can remember these name changes to area landmarks; more mature people (read: "Old Farts") can remember even more, for sure. That is, if they can still remember anything at all.

Gemco was this weird membership store, kind of a cross between a Costco and a Shopko, on Kietzke Lane that left sometime in the 1980s. Target (or, Tar-ZHAY if you are totally obnoxious. Thpppth.) moved in soon afterward. But I still hear people on occasion refer to Gemco, which never ceases to confuse the hell out of whoever those people are speaking with

And of course, Victorian Avenue used to be called "B" Street. This makes sense, considering it is located between "A" and "C" streets. But People Who Know What They Were Doing changed the name a while back, with the sole purpose of ticking off those businesses that use "B" Street in their names. You thought it was because of the redevelopment project. Ha!

But my favorite name change example in the area involves what is referred to now as the Atlantis Hotel/Casino in south Reno. I can remember when it was called the Golden Road, and was nothing more than a little motel, casino and restaurant -- with no hotel towers. Since then, if my memory serves me correct, it has been called the Travelodge, the Quality Inn and the Clarion (as I still call it if I am not thinking, which is the vast majority of the time). It has also kept growing, and recently announced an expansion that will make it roughly the size of the original continent Atlantis -- and the second-largest object in the state, right behind Kenny Guinn's campaign bank account.

But the most confusing name change involved what is now the Reno Hilton. It opened over two decades ago as the MGM Grand, and in the 1980s, became Bally's after it was sold by MGM -- which said at the time it wanted to get out of the casino business. Subsequently, Bally's replaced the classy "MGM" signs on the building with hideous purple "Bally's" signs, and MGM turned around and built a mega-casino in Las Vegas.

As if this weren't confusing enough, Hilton came along, bought Bally's and replaced the pukey purple signs with even tackier "Hilton" signs that blink. Not only that, but the Hilton purchase led to conversations like this, because of the existence of the Flamingo Hilton in downtown Reno:

"Meet me at the Hilton."

"Um, okay. Which one?"

"The Reno Hilton."

"But, well, there's two Hiltons in Reno."

"Yeah. Meet me at the Reno Hilton."

"Uh ... by chance, have you been listening to KKOH again? Seems like too much of your brain is toast."

"KKOH? I thought there was only one "K" in KKOH."

"Oh, never mind. Let's go to Gemco."

Anyway, I think you get the point, which is: Just because longtime area residents may use names that are outdated on occasion, it does not mean we're crazy -- in all cases.

--

By the way, this is scheduled to be the last column I'll be doing for a while. Basically, my column was an innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire of election-year politicking. The Tribune decided it needed space for another column, and management -- for whatever reasons -- chose my Tuesday spot.

Honestly, I am really disappointed. My purpose in doing the column was two-fold -- to have some fun, and to get everybody to think a little.

I know I had fun, and I know I thought more than a little as a result of these weekly pieces. I can only hope you did the same.

Jimmy Boegle, a fifth-generation Nevadan, can be reached via e-mail at jiboegle@alumni.stanford.org. His column doesn't appear here Tuesdays anymore. Sniff!

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