Walking Journal #17 -Northline

I left The Nugget and headed towards 4^th Street. Allison lived in an apartment on 4^th Street. She did not like the apartment at first, but cleaned it up and grew very fond of it, for a little while. She headed towards the local Salvation Army on 4^th Street, and guess what, there is a thrift store on 4^th Street! Probably not the same one. I ventured mostly west on 4^th Street so I could visit the Eldorado Casino. This casino is definitely one of the better looking ones, yet, there is still plenty of homeless people roaming around the area and kids/students asking for rides. There are constantly cops patrolling this street because of the drunks that walk from bar to bar or casino to casino ready for a fight. My ultimate impression of this particular street was that of a nicer part of downtown Reno because it had the Silver Legacy which is very spectacular as well as the Eldorado, another gracious casino in downtown Reno. Both are on either sides of 4^th Street and make this part between Sierra Street and Virginia Street look like the best part of downtown that I have been to.

Eldorado Casino

Silver Legacy Casino

           

Bridge inbetween the Two

In the book, Allison mentions the Eldorado many times and elaborates on how it is a grand casino, so I believe that they have kept up with the renovations and prestigious look in order to continue having customers and passer-byers stop and think of it as one of the only few casinos/hotels worthwhile to stay at. 

           Later on during that day I drove down 4^th Street in an east direction to see what the apartments look like and if there was a Salvation Army. The part of town was trashier than downtown and did not look at all like a good living condition. All of the apartments there where unkempt, were not aesthetically pleasing, and looked like it could be Northern Reno’s ghetto because of the risky buildings and people. I understand why Allison’s inner mind, Paul Newman, told her not to live here anymore and try to look for a new place to go.

 Map: Head out of the Nugget onto Virginia Street.

            Make a left and head North on Virginia.
            Continue until 4^th Street, make a left.
           Head towards Sierra and make a loop.

Walking Journal #16 -Northline

Virginia St. Entrance

Late at night; I am hungry. Might-as-well go to the Little Nugget and get an Awful Awful burger. Penny shows Allison this gracious burger after one night at work. I have been there many times, usually late at night when you have that awkward late night hunger. When I read the Awful Awful part in Northline, my mouth started to water. I finally made another late night stop by the mystical hole-in-the-wall joint and enjoyed a mouthwatering burger. The burger is huge! It is built with onion buns, meat, fixings, and grease! Plus a pound or two of seasoned fries. I can never finish it, but still always want one to myself. The atmosphere is great too. For example, one time I went with a group of friends and the fryers were making jokes with us. They even cussed in a whole-heartedly way. It was such a joy to see that friendliness in a restaurant. Also, the people that go there love to chat with you.

            When Allison went there, she did not mention much about her experience aside from the scrumptious burger. She said she loved it as well. The food I great and the atmosphere inside has a good vibe, but overall the place is a dive. The front/back entrance (not sure which one) comes from a dumpy alley that smells like garbage, and the casino entrance is just that, a smoky, alcohol infested little room with tons of gamblers. Everything about this casino draws in the wrong crowd of people. The Awful Awful burger is “scrumdiddlyumtious”, however, everything around this little restaurant/snack shop is terrible. I am petrified to go by myself here anytime, even in the daylight because of the gruesome crowd that lingers around it.

Alley-way Entrance

            This whole idea of a dump casino plays onto the last mentioned blog with regards to the fact that downtown Reno has become trashy and scary to walk through. Even the casinos, which are supposed to seem more-or-less elegant, are not anything spectacular. Downtown  Reno has taken a far left turn from the descriptions Allison gives us in the book. Yeah, they had plenty of bars back then, but the bartender took care of Allison when she passed out, he did not take advantage of her, did not let other customers take advantage, and he did not just throw her in a cab. Instead, he laid her down somewhere alone and quit. Nowadays, it would be awfully scary to pass out in downtown Reno anywhere.

Map: Corner of Sierra and 10^th St.

            South on Sierra, left on 6^th St.
            Right on Virginia.
         The Little Nugget is on your right hand side.

Walking Journal #15 -Northline

Allison mentioned walking down 1^st St. after work once, so that is where I headed after my meal at the Cal Neva Casino. Walking down the street, I noticed that this street was not filled with stores; rather it only had a few on the section I was walking. I remembered that this street was where a man’s car would not start and Allison felt bad for the family sitting inside waiting. She worked her second job here as a telemarketer. I looked around the street and saw no cars. I bet this street has changed significantly since the time of which the book references it. There was saw three stores and one was called Coin and Bullion; coin reminded me of money. On the way back I looked out for pawn shops because she mentioned that in the book. I found three different ones and wondered if any of those three could have been the three she had mentioned. Probably not, but who knows!

             Downtown Reno is very unsafe at night nowadays because of the odd people that roam it giving you funny looks or asking for money. I always see police cars patrolling the area for people like that who start fights. If Reno was like that thirty years ago, I do not understand how Allison wanted a graveyard shift at the Cal Neva because she could get taken advantage of or robbed. What also surprises me is that she felt comfortable here in lieu of Las Vegas. Downtown Las Vegas may be bigger, but they are both downtowns with creepy people and casinos constantly advertising the next greatest thing in gambling. I wonder why she did not choose another place other than Reno. Watson must have made an impression on her to continue her path to Reno, NV. Anyhow, she was safe all throughout the book when she came to Reno, nice folks at the bar when she passed out and what not. Reno has definitely changed throughout the years and it shows through the streets like 1^st St which had many parked cars on it, casinos because there are so much bigger and “magnificent”, and through the people that roam it like homeless people asking for money and rides to different cities. I notice a change from a decent part of town to a part of town that people are scared to walk alone and always have buddies.

 Map: From Cal Neva to 1^st Street

            Down 1^st St. until Sierra than turn back.
            Make a left on Virginia and walk back the way you came.

Walking Journal #14 -Northline

As I walked downtown Reno, a parade was going on. Veteran’s Day Parade! I started on Tenth St. and Sierra and made my way towards downtown Reno. I realized that Allison would take Virginia St. to get to her work, so I took Virginia St. all the way to the Cal Neva. The Cal Neva looks like an older building so I imagine that it is the same building as the supposed Allison worked in. I made my way to floor 3 and looked aimlessly for the Top Deck Restaurant. Eureka! It was right in front of my face. The casino inside had the similar look as Allison described it and even had a whole section for betting horse races, football, anything. I was seated inside of the restaurant and noticed that Keno was I big thing to play in this restaurant as mentioned in Northline. As I looked around the restaurant I became aware that waitresses are very social, or are supposed to be. I got to thinking about Allison and how being a waitress at the Cal Neva was really part of her character and the need to get away from Las Vegas. Maybe she wanted to socialize with her customers instead of having a friendship until she was ready. Dan Mohany came every morning so it made it easier for them to talk more about life rather than simply an order. She was finally ready, and she and Dan became friends. I began to eat my “Classic Breakfast” that came with eggs, bacon, hash browns, and sourdough toast and wondered how they did not become friends sooner. He went there every morning and ate the same thing I was eating.

          

  Allison needed a friend and so did Dan, so through the daily small talks and he sitting in her section it happened after a long while. Maybe this was because of Allison’s personality, waitresses are hired based on how friendly they can be with customers and she did just that, always wanting to please. I find it very interesting how Allison found the friend she needed who was so similar to her through serving him coffee and breakfast each morning. This breakfast was quite tasty and cheap actually, so I understand why Dan went every day and sat in the section with the lovely waitress.

 

Map: Corner of Sierra and 10^th St.

            Head South until 6^th St. Make a left on 6^th and a right once you reach Virginia.
             South on Virginia. Cal Neva will be on the left-hand side about a half mile down.

Walking Journal #13

I went to see my family this weekend in Carson City. I was so excited until I unexpectedly found out that my mom put my dog to sleep that Friday morning. Consequently, I took Friday off, I checked out mentally, and decided to talk a drive/walk to my favorite place in Carson, Old Clear Creek the following morning. My plate felt so full, I needed to collect my emotions and thoughts.

            As I drove through the windy road, I realized nature is my medicine for difficult situations. I parked my car and began to start my adventure across the creek, up the dirt hill, and eventually the rock wall. I thought about my parent’s houses in comparison to my apartment. No one ever broke into my car and I always kept it unlocked. No one ever dinged your door or put dents in it while parallel parking, but if they did, they would leave a card with their number instead of bailing out as fast as possible. Living in Reno was getting to me. I began to wonder why life is so crazy in college. I came up with a few different scenarios, the first being, all of the students are stressed out and get pushed to breaking points, maybe that is why they steal stereos or are so hostile. Second, almost all graduate schools expect students to get above a 3.8 GPA in college in order to go to that school. An example of this is medical school because my goal in life is to become a surgeon, but now the pressure is on and I must maintain an immaculate GPA just to learn how to become one. Finally, the third is sustaining academics while also partaking in some sort of a social life because yeah, maintaining academics can be easier without a social life, but life is not. Furthermore, I organized my thoughts and felt that in order to have a life in college, you must find that perfect balance between all of your components like working, homework, studying, friends, school, and especially grades.

            By the end of the walk, I made another goal that I need to complete and get right in order to accomplish becoming a surgeon. This goal being to try to find that balance, but always focus on school, maybe try to see friends while doing homework most of the time. If it all works out, than life will not be so bad, it will be a joy.

Walking blog # 12

My neighborhood is full of apartments and houses that act as duplexes or 4-plexes. I live in an apartment myself and it is the tallest of my neighborhood, 3 stories. Most of the other places are single stories or two stories. All of the buildings immediately around my neighborhood have a modern American family feel of the late 20^th Century because they most are built with two or more rooms, kitchens, and such and have wood and brick outsides to them. They are much different to other neighborhood because they are smaller in square footing and are not set in the best neighborhood. For example, the university’s dorms are huge, most are five stories. They are much cleaner and have parks or grass and plant, whereas our neighborhood does not have any grass lawns or parks nearby. Because we do not have a gated entrance, grassy lawns, and pillar entrance ways, one can say our neighborhood is part of the lower class.

            People want extravagant homes and décor to show how classy they are and rich. They want to live in a gated community so they can feel safe and comforted in their home. Consequently, architecture plays a huge role in our society because it shows value in regards to rich, poor, and middle classes as well as the historic essence of buildings. For instance, architecture can have certain textures or elements in it that highlight the quality of the building as well as the timeframe of when it was built. Furthermore, with architecture, our society can value areas where the textures and elements of building have importance to them, or they could simply not value based on those too.  

Walking blog # 11

 

I grew up in Carson City, NV and this weekend I came back home to be with my family. I started thinking about places that had history to them and value to me. I thought of one place in particular, Old Clear Creek Rd. This road is located behind Costco and used to be the road people used to get to Lake Tahoe from Carson City. It is only a two lane road, one going up and the other going down. It used to have huge trucks driving with logs from Tahoe to Carson when Carson was becoming more populated. There was also much traffic on the road because Tahoe was a major tourist attraction then, as it is today. The difference now is that Old Clear Creek is hardly ever used since Highway 50 has been built. The only people who drive on it are the few home owners that live on the road, about 10, and people like me who want to get away and take a beautiful drive in nature.

            This road is so unique in that it curves so much and has cliffs that people climb often, a creek that is great to take pictures at, and much wildlife that has not been destroyed like trees and animals. Since the road has been “out of commission” it environmentally prospers more than it did when it was the major road to Tahoe. If the road was still the road people travelled on to get to Tahoe than the wildlife would have greatly diminished, the water would be polluted, the creek would have less water if it would still even be there, and the construction would have changed the whole land and ecosystem. Thinking about this makes me wonder what the land looked like before Highway 50 was built and how much has been effected by that. Consequently, this historical road is similar in Highway 50 because they both have curves; however, the environment around Old Clear Creek is flourishing, whereas much of the forestry land immediately around Highway 50 has diminished.

 

 

 Just dropping into the creek valley

 Leaving Old Clear Creek