Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
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28 <strong>Silvio</strong> E. <strong>Petricciani</strong><br />
unless he shows the identification. So, they<br />
put you right in the middle. So when that<br />
happens, I just go and say, well, I can do<br />
one <strong>of</strong> two things: I can pay the man and<br />
say he refused to give me any identification,<br />
maybe give a description <strong>of</strong> him; or I can<br />
call an Internal Revenue agent, which you<br />
can’t do in the middle <strong>of</strong> the night, because<br />
they quit work at four o’clock and that’s it. So<br />
consequently, you see, you’re damned if you<br />
do and damned if you don’t. But you have two<br />
conflicting governments—a state agency and<br />
a government agency—there you are.<br />
Here is a 1931 advertisement for the Bank<br />
Palace Club stating that they feature an electric<br />
Keno board, and yet you stated that the Palace<br />
Club had the first Keno game in the state in<br />
1936. Can you explain this?<br />
This goes back to when we closed the<br />
Palace upstairs, and they went downstairs<br />
here and they called it the Bank Palace Club.<br />
And they were downstairs in—?<br />
In the old Golden Hotel building right here<br />
on the corner <strong>of</strong> the alley. And, now, when they<br />
say we feature the only electric Keno board in<br />
<strong>Reno</strong>, they had a Bingo game in the back, and<br />
they called it Keno. And when they say they<br />
feature the only electric Keno board in <strong>Reno</strong>,<br />
they would light up the numbers on the board<br />
back there for the Bingo game. And they drew<br />
the numbers out <strong>of</strong> a little wooden goose. And<br />
then they would put the numbers up; and<br />
before, they used to put the numbers up and<br />
people—if they wanted to see them, they’d have<br />
to come and take a look, physically look at the<br />
little pellets that they took out <strong>of</strong> the goose.<br />
But now this electric Keno board—they would<br />
light up the numbers on the board. And it was<br />
the first Keno board in <strong>Reno</strong>. Now this was<br />
Graham and McKay and Sullivan. That’s when<br />
they closed up the place upstairs [the Palace<br />
Club], went downstairs; but it was the Bank<br />
Club. Eventually my dad opened up the Palace<br />
here, why then they called it the Bank Club, the<br />
old Bank Club. You got this what year?<br />
Nineteen thirty-one.<br />
Nineteen thirty-one, right. I think it was<br />
1930 when they moved downstairs, when<br />
they moved out <strong>of</strong> here and went downstairs.<br />
Because I remember back in 1929 when they<br />
still had the club upstairs [Palace], and I think<br />
it was 1930. So they closed up upstairs, and<br />
they were still paying my dad rent, as you<br />
remember, and then they went downstairs<br />
and opened up the Bank Club. And they<br />
had the electric Keno board, that’s correct.<br />
So that’s where that came from. I’m glad you<br />
brought that out. I’d never seen that really or<br />
don’t recollect it.<br />
It was in a publicity publication that the airport<br />
people put out to win support for a new airport.<br />
That’s when they went from Blanch Field<br />
where the golf course is now, and—well,<br />
United Airlines wanted to build the airport<br />
over there. And United Airlines did build the<br />
airport there. They called it Hubbard Field—<br />
as a matter <strong>of</strong> fact the road that used to lead<br />
to it is still down there and still has the same<br />
name, Hubbard Lane. And United Airlines<br />
built the airport and sold it to the city <strong>of</strong> <strong>Reno</strong><br />
at a later date.<br />
This was called In the Air, <strong>Reno</strong> Municipal<br />
Airport Magazine. It mentioned Sam Frank,<br />
Tom White—<br />
Sam Frank was the mayor at the time—<br />
used to have the old Grand Central Garage