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.