Submitted by Karl Breckenridge
A recent email from a so-called friend said ”You’ve done 16 columns for This is Reno but you’ve yet to write anything about trains, shamrocks, or that stupid street-name poem you drag out once a year. Are you OK?”
Well, to set the record straight: My first column was submitted on “Day 6,” not “1,” so it’s only been ten columns, not 16 as you so rudely insinuated (the mail came a few days ago.) This Saturday’s is Day XX. Secondly, we read of trains yesterday and “wreaths & shamrocks” is our St. Patrick’s Day standby. If we’re still all quarantined and I’m still alive and writing next March, you’ll read that blarney right here. And tertially, you’re right about the street name column – a much-nicer writer asked about it also, so here it comes:
In the waning months of the 20th century a band of Reno townsfolk invaded City Hall to persuade the City Fathers to change the name of a Reno street to “Locke,” in honor of the popular brothers Locke: Bill and Bob, pharmacist and physician respectively. “No, no,” said the council; “for that would be easily confused by Emergency 911 operators with ‘Rock,’ which already exists in both Reno and Sparks.” (The street-name change was to eliminate one of the two separate “Fairview” streets in southwest Reno.)
Ever on the alert to champion the cause of our hamlet’s oppressed citizenry, we crafted a poem to speak to the obvious pinheaded response of the council, a poem surely on a par with those of Frost, Poe, Kipling and Seuss. I had hoped that folksinger Woody Guthrie would weigh in and elevate my poem musically to a par with his son Arlo, Pete Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, Bob Dylan, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Sam Dehne, but it didn’t happen that way, as Guthrie had passed away some 30 years prior to our little local poem’s introduction.
Nevertheless, I resurrect it for you now – all the capitalized streets do exist, within Washoe County. And if you haven’t seen it before at least three times, you must be living in a cocoon, but I need a Saturday column for Bob Conrad and Kristen Hackbarth of This is Reno. (Kristen gets to deal with all the illogical line feeds…)
“We’ve a Quail and a Vale, a Dale and a Ruth; a Swaledale, a Gale, a Muth and a Booth;
Ralston and Purina, Sandra and an Arbor; a Marina and a Sandy and one called Harbor.
A Ron and a Dawn, a Von and a Valerie; a Fawn, a Jon, a Hahn and a Mallory;
Stine and Line, Rhein and Pine; Damon and Pythia, Forsythia and Vine.
Molly and Polly, Sally and Rilla, let’s not forget Jolly, Valley and Villa.
“Suzy Lake and Sphynx, Suzanne and Sue; a street named Lynx and one named Larue.
We know Mall and Fall and Ball, y’all; and Tholl and Wall and (close) dePaul;
(Who once sang Puff de Magic Dragon with dePeter and deMary).
And all of this really starts to get scary, with Cherry and Lymbery, Geary and Gary.
“We’ve a Haley and a Bailey, Robb and Clover; to a fireman they might sound like Cobb or Plover.
Rye and Sky and Nye and Champion; a Whistle and a Thistle, but what is a ‘Rampion’?
Bates and Gates, Kate, State and Leather; all seem to rhyme with Tate, Feather and Heather.
Dow Jones or Jones might mislead the man in the firetrucky,
But not half so much as Buck, Tuck or Lucky.
“Caballo, Denio, Rio Tinto and Cello; Papoose and Caboose, Pinto and Mello.
Marne, Tarn and Barnes, Carlin and Hodge, they all sound a lot like Marvin and Lodge.
Prater and Slater, Pearl and Earl; Oh! How I wish we’d a street called Squirrel!
“Brook Drive and Brooks Circle, and a third street called Brookie;
And if Brook rhymes with Nanook, then what rhymes with Brookie?
We have Lacy and Staci, Snow and Coe; Tracy and Casey, and old Latigo.
There’s a Little Ford and Ford, and indeed, a Taurus;
But Prior and Dyer don’t do that much for us.
“A Duke and a Prince, a King and a Queen; Daniel, Daniel Webster, plain old Webster and Lean.
Ben and Ben Franklin, Franklin and tough rhymin’; Bank, Robert Banks, Roberts and Lyman.
Sandra and Dee, Bobby and Darin –is this the place to throw in McCarran?”
See y’all back here Sunday morning. Be safe, huh?
Submitted opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of This Is Reno. Have something to say? Submit an opinion article or letter to the editor here.
Karl Breckenridge
Karl Breckenridge was slowly going nuts. So he decided to help out This is Reno by writing a daily out-of-his-mind column for the duration of the coronavirus shutdown. Now that it’s over he’s back to his usual antics, drinking coffee with the boys at the Bear and, well, we’re not sure what else. But he loved sharing his daily musings with you, so he’s back, albeit a little less often, to keep on sharing. Karl grew up in the valley and has stories from the area going back to 1945. He’s been writing for 32 years locally.
Read more from Karl Breckenridge
Cheers 4 – the Lear steam bus
The latest news on the Lear Theater has Karl remembering some of the Lear’s other projects, including a steam-powered bus.
Cheers 3 – the groceries II
Karl did not limit his column to ten items or less, so get out of the express line to read this history of Reno grocery markets.
Cheers 2 – the groceries I
Karl got a little distracted this week, starting off with a list of Reno’s great groceries of yesterday then slipping on some ice.
Cheers 1 – Of wine and Little Italy
Karl is back, making us all wonder why we didn’t spend more time during stay-at-home orders pressing grapes into homemade wine.
Day 75 – Karl’s retired to the Bear
From the get-go our pal Karl said he’d write “a short squib on a daily basis – nothing political, nothing controversial,” well, except for that one column.
Day 74 – the Truckee’s picturesque islands (updated)
Karl’s pal Jody shares the rich history of bootlegging, decorating, and engineering within the confines of the Truckee River’s banks and its picturesque islands.
Day 72 – Hobos, tigers and leprechauns
Karl recollects the series of eateries that drew diners to the corner of Virginia Street and Gentry Way for several decades.
Day 70 & 71 – in Flanders Fields
Karl shares a poem by John McCrae to mark Memorial Day.
Day 69 – The Nugget shark: John meets Jaws
Karl was talking about baby shark, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, long before the kids these days had ever been born.
Day 67 – What I like about Reno High
Karl, er, Carmine Ghia, writes an end-of-school-year essay to turn in to Mrs. Lehners about everything he likes about Reno High School.
Day 67 – 25 Bret Harte
Karl saddles up and heads to Newlands Manor where Western movies star Reno Browne grew up, and Lash Larue paid a visit or two.
Day 66 – Out for dinner we go
Karl goes out to eat at the El Tavern Motel, a truck stop outside the Reno city limits on the Lincoln Highway.
Day 65 – Dawn Bunker
Karl is back in action with a fresh story of which students of Mrs. Bunker’s class at Jessie Beck Elementary School still won’t spill the beans.
Day 64 – abducted
Karl Breckenridge called in to This Is Reno editors this morning with a hands-in-the-air, what-can-I-do sense of resignation.
Day 63 – Wedding chapels
Karl’s enjoying coffee with pals at the Bear, so today Jody stands at the altar to share the history of Reno’s wedding chapel industry.
Day 62 – the mansion at 2301 Lakeside Drive
Karl’s 7-year-old alter ego rides his bike down to Virginia Lake to explore the Hancock Mansion, a nifty home complete with a bomb shelter, sunroof and doll collection.
Day 61 – Basque hotels
Karl wanders back in time to 1960, a time when multiple Basque hotels served up minestrone soup, English lessons, banking, and accommodations.
Day 60 – the bygone Greyhound terminal
Karl’s synapses are firing today after hearing mention of Reno’s Greyhound bus terminal on Stevenson Street, now razed.
Day 59 – Don’t tell Mom
Karl rewinds to Mother’s Day to share a story from the archive about Grandpas without a Clue and another ragtop adventure, by reader demand.
Day 58 – School stuff
Karl considers the value of a school name as the WCSD moves to rename one of the area’s older remaining schools and open a new one.
Day 57 – Pedalin’ around Vine Street
Karl rides his bike through history, remembering some of the places and people that helped to build Reno into the city it is today.
