Submitted by Karl Breckenridge
Enter now, stage left, Barbara (Beesley) Goss, with a query, and here I quote: “Was there a tennis court stranding all by itself at the corner of Westfield Avenue and Booth Street, or am I losing my mind?”
I can’t speak as to your sanity, my old Reno High classmate; we’re all at that tenuous age. The opening line of a book I wrote a few years ago takes the words of Gordon Chism, another RHS classmate, to heart: “I am remembering now in ever-increasing detail, events which I’m not sure ever happened…” But yes indeed, Barbara, in our bygone youth there was a lonely tennis court just about where the 7-Eleven sits at the foot of the California Avenue hill.
The court was a last vestige of other stuff that inured to the house at the crest of the hill, including a couple of ponds and a carriage house. The parcel that that home is built upon actually once stretched from California Avenue west to an area near the present Booth Street, south to the 7-Eleven and eastward all the way to the Nixon mansion.
Google Earth image
I’ve seen it designated as the “Sharon Mansion,” which has caused some confusion over time. We learned in school that William Sharon was a fine man, a benefactor to the downtrodden, a Nevadan to the core, a major financier of the Comstock and a buddy of railroad builders Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford. He became a Nevada senator in 1875 and died in 1885, posing the compelling question of why or how he had a mansion built in 1930.
In later life we learned that he was rumored to have actually visited the Silver State annually (from his home in San Francisco) and even Washington once or twice during his six-year term and conducted his life and affairs less than altruistically, which is being charitable. In fact, the chateau was built by Sharon’s granddaughter, who happened also to be Sen. Francis Newlands’ daughter, (Newlands married Sharon’s daughter).
And if you want to appear cool, pronounce the Comstock millionaire’s name “Sha-roan,” emphasis on the roan, unless you’re struggling to call an ambulance pronto to an address on Sharon Way, in which case you’d better pronounce Sharon as we’ve come to know it. Several old Reno maps show a “Sharon Street” in the approximate location of Booth Street, and the address of the Reno Water & Light Co.’s 1893 powerhouse at the present Booth and Idlewild corner showed it on Sharon Street. (It’s still there.)
The house on the hill, a replica of a French chateau, is a dandy, inspired by a San Francisco architect who specialized in castles, and built from native stone hewn from the rock-bound location of the University of Nevada’s Nye Hall. It might be one of the most-sketched edifices in Reno, as for many years it was a lot easier to see, before the Chinese elms and cottonwood trees surrounding it matured (see featured image), before the Federal Building was built, and before the Keystone/Booth/California nightmare was dreamed up.
In those earlier days it was a virtually-requisite project for a decade of Reno High’s art students from 1951 on, as it was in plain view of the art classroom on the north side of the Adult Education wing of the school. I’ve seen some great versions of that student artwork, a few framed and displayed in local offices and homes.
Anyway, the home’s a part of our local scene, using that term loosely because owing to the runaway vegetation it’s almost impossible to see now, from anywhere…
Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, Taco Bell is right now drive-up only, and we’re reading this because of a virus named after a Mexican beer. There’s probably a column there somewhere, but within the confines of my promise to Bob Conrad, publisher of This is Reno to write only happy news and avoid the politics, you can read of that elsewhere!
I have lain awake for a couple nights writing fire-and-brimstone columns in my drowsy noodle that never get typed, so tomorrow heaven only knows where the text will take us. But be assured, I’m here and Jody’s here, and my pals like Don Hartman doing guest shots occasionally, are here also, as long as Bob will have us.
And one of these mornings I’m going to devote an entire column to profiling editor Kristen Hackbarth, who turns my reprehensible grammar and spelling into something marginally readable!
See y’all right here on Cinco de Mayo, and ‘til then, 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.
