Submitted by Karl Breckenridge
“Sunday, sweet Sunday with nothing to do……….…
…………Lazy, and lovely, my one day with you…..”
Actually, I’ve had 55 days with you, or you with me, and you’re probably getting weary of reading my stuff. And I don’t get the big bucks for lifting lyrics like the Sunday, sweet Sunday above from Rodgers & Hammerstein, so I better knock that off also.
Which reminds me, does anyone else remember the road production of Flower Drum Song where those lyrics above were sung, that was staged at Harrah’s South Shore room about 1962? Best show to ever hit northern Nevada…
“Hazy and happy, we’ll drift through the day…………
………….. Dreaming the hours away”
Ever get a song in your mind and can’t get rid of it? I seem to have that one. It’s a great Sunday – the weather’s nice and we’re making some headway as a nation – or a state – or a city – toward normalcy. And the pundits are going nuts. Like me, if I’m a pundit – stealing songs from Broadway. And I read somewhere that we’re now being slow to react to our newfound leniency – many retailers are not reacting, opening, serving – whatever. Did it dawn on these scribes that a merchant or restaurateur needs more than eight hours’ notice to restock, rehire and get back on the horse? Incredible writing. No other word for it…
I’m excited that one of my sons – Ron the older, and his Amy and son Andy are coming to town from San Francisco for Mom’s Day, and Dad gets to see them also! Yippee… And my writing partner Jody’s dad got kicked out of Renown yesterday – nothing to do with the C-word virus – so that situation’s looking up (and I thank the many column readers who think fondly of Del Rice and dropped me an email).
“Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt………
…………….And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, so I had one more for dessert”
OK – we’ve gone from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Kris Kristofferson’s Sunday tune stuck in my head. He, with the late Harry Chapin, get my vote for the two greatest lyricists ever to write. Which reminds me to publicly thank Debbie Hinman for the Antonio Carlos Jobim music book (he wrote a little ditty for The Girl from Ipanema 50 years ago that did alright.) BUT – everything he writes has three flats or four sharps or some weird key so the tunes are not leaving my keyboard easily or rapidly. She did that on purpose to make me crazy while we’re in lockdown…
In my initial column here in This is Reno I postulated that the paper’s owner/publisher Bob Conrad was going as goofy as I was, I cooped up at home and he keeping it together following a possibly ill-conceived disruption of business in America. I volunteered to do a column-a-day to add a little – damn little – interest to This is Reno.
He, being obviously unfamiliar with my lack of talent and inability to write my mother a letter from summer bible camp, accepted my offer. Fifty-five columns later, and right here I’ll make a clean breast of it: I haven’t written 55 columns, but in reality have gone to the well and drug out about 30 of them from the past and updated them, and recently started incorporating the words of that little six-year-old kid riding his bike around the village with Hank and Don.
And, I’ve taken Jody Rice aboard and am going to do my damndest to make her the voice of local history. Let others write 6,000 well-chosen and incredibly researched words about the creation of Virginia Lake – what you’ll read from Jody or me is the discovery of the 1939 Plymouth in the bottom of the lake when it was drained in 1952 – the car was cutting doughnuts on the ice and, well… THAT’s what readers want to read, and she’ll bring it to you for years after I’ve gone to that great-newsroom-in-the-sky.
And, I’ve twisted a few tails for a guest column, e.g. my old Ralston hill neighbor Don Hartman gave us a great yarn about the Western Pacific railroad. Thanks, Don!
The burning question this Sunday morning is, now that our good governor Steve Sisolak has relaxed The Rules, how long will my and Jody’s musings appear in This is Reno?
“Then I crossed the empty street and caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken
And it took me back to something that I’d lost somehow, somewhere along the way………………….”
To which I respond, for me and I hope for Jody: As long as you want us, maybe not seven-days-a-week but certainly four- or five-a-week. I for one am havin’ a ball, rehashing some old columns that were relevant in 2000 or 1985 and now having a captive audience, sort of, to send them along to. Again.
And here, a note of thanks to the person who does the heavy-lifting to get this nonsense out to you – editing our work, digging out pictures (as does Bob Conrad!) and finally loading the text into the This is Reno website. Her name is Kristen Hackbarth; she grew up in Reno so I can’t BS her too much, and she’s a treasure. Thanks, Kristen…!
And with those words I’ll head for the door, stage left, and say as I’ve said 55 times now, 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.
