10 <strong>John</strong> F. <strong>Cahlan</strong>block from Virginia Street down towardsCenter Street. It was a real Chinese gamblingjoint, fan-tan, Chinese lottery, and all <strong>of</strong> thegames were running there.On the other side <strong>of</strong> the alley was awelding shop. Then, <strong>of</strong> course, on the corner<strong>of</strong> First and Center was the city hall, a big redbrick building with the clock and the tower.The clock never did run after, oh, about 1920,I guess, because in this auto repair shop—aman by the name <strong>of</strong> <strong>John</strong> Oliveria ran theshop and he liked to nip every once in awhile. So he left his shop one night duringthe summer—August 1, 1920— and left thewelding oxygen running, not lit; it filled theshop with the gas. He came back about threeo’clock in the morning and walked in the doorand struck a match to find out where the lightswitch was. The whole shebang blew up. Itblew one <strong>of</strong> the rafters, or one <strong>of</strong> the pieces<strong>of</strong> wood, through the face <strong>of</strong> the clock on thecity hall, and that was the end <strong>of</strong> the clock.It blew him across the street and he landedon the steps <strong>of</strong> the YMCA building whichwas right across the street. Outside <strong>of</strong> beingslightly burned, it didn’t hurt him.*On the corner where the Mapes Hotel isnow was the post <strong>of</strong>fice building, the federalbuilding. And right in back <strong>of</strong> the federalbuilding was a long stretch <strong>of</strong> green grass,and then the YMCA, and on the southwestcorner <strong>of</strong> First and Center was the NixonOpera House. That’s now the Majestic Theater.And as I said earlier, the stage plays stopped<strong>of</strong>f in <strong>Reno</strong> on their way from Salt Lake toSan Francisco, or the other way around, andwould put on a one-night stand there. I sawMaud Adams in “Peter Pan,” and Kolb andDill, a comic team, and several others that Ican’t recall. They used to have what we called“peanut heaven” way up top. The building wasa three-story building. “Peanut heaven” wason the third floor, and this was the generaladmission deal. You had to stay in the line tobe sure you got your tickets. So my brotherand I would ditch school; either one <strong>of</strong> uswould ditch school and go down and get ourplace in line. He’d go in the morning, and I’dgo in the afternoon, and we would always befirst in line so we got good seats. They had alarge chandelier in the center <strong>of</strong> the theaterwhich had a two-foot air vent in it so that theair could come down through this vent andinto the building. And if we couldn’t affordthe money to get a seat in “peanut heaven,”we would climb up on the ro<strong>of</strong>, down in theinterior <strong>of</strong> this chandelier, and watch theplay from there. It was very thrilling andsometimes the chandelier would sway backand forth and scare the regular patrons, butit didn’t bother us too much.And then came high school. I went to the<strong>Reno</strong> High School. Prior to that I was in theOrvis Ring school, which is still there, and Ican recall when we came back from CarsonCity, I entered the fifth grade, and my teacherwas Miss Laura B. Miller. In the sixth grade itwas Miss Frances Wright; in seventh grade itwas Miss Helen Hobbins; in the eighth gradeit was the famous and notorious Libby C.Booth. She was the principal and teacher <strong>of</strong>the eighth grade. And she had taught— whenI got there—she had taught people like PatMcCarran and that era, and she taught me,and then was teaching school at least ten yearsafter that—more than that. She was teachingwhile I was in high school and into college, soit must have been ten or fifteen years beforeshe retired.But to get back to school, then, I went tohigh school in the <strong>Reno</strong> High School buildingon West Street. It had just been completed acouple <strong>of</strong> years before I went to school there,*Cf. <strong>Reno</strong> Evening Gazette, August 2,1920, pp. 1-2.
My Early Life and Education11and it was a very, very fine building. Wethought it was the best schoolhouse in thestate <strong>of</strong> <strong>Nevada</strong>, which it probably was. Thesuperintendent <strong>of</strong> <strong>Reno</strong> schools at that timewas Benson D. Billinghurst, and the principal<strong>of</strong> the high school was B. Otis Vaughn. It wasin this era that I grew up, during Prohibition.In <strong>Reno</strong>, there was always a more or lesssocial barrier in the Truckee River. All <strong>of</strong> thevery high social people and those <strong>of</strong> wealthand so forth resided on the south side <strong>of</strong> theriver, and all the common people lived on thenorth side. On the south side <strong>of</strong> the river werethe Flanigans, the Connellys, the Lozanos, theSlaters, and the Bartletts. As a result, in thehigh school there was some feeling againstthose who lived on the north side—maybe Ishould say feelings against those who lived onthe south side. One <strong>of</strong> the greatest triumphsthat I ever had in my high school career waswhen I went out on a date with MargaretBartlett, who resided on the south side, andfinally broke the barrier.And getting back to the time when I wasin high school, I delivered papers for the <strong>Reno</strong>Evening Gazette and at that time, I had thedowntown route which included the houses<strong>of</strong> prostitution; one on Evans Avenue, wherethey had parlor houses and cribs; at the end<strong>of</strong> First Street down past the city hall to theeast where they had the cribs, also. The EvansAvenue area was known as the Mohawk. AndI can recall one Saturday afternoon, I had goneto the Wigwam Theater, which was on SierraStreet and Second Street. I think the theateris still there. As I was coming down the backsteps to go to the basement to the Gazettebuilding to pick up my papers, I steppedon a nail, and the nail had red paint on it.The nail was driven clear through my tennisshoe and my foot. I pulled the nail out andwrapped a rag around my foot and startedon my delivery rounds. The Mohawk wason toward the latter part <strong>of</strong> my route, and bythe time I got to the Mohawk, I could hardlywalk on that foot. One <strong>of</strong> the girls down thereasked me what was the matter, and I told herwhat had happened, and she said, “You getin there and get your shoe and sock <strong>of</strong>f.” Andshe sent <strong>of</strong>f for some turpentine, and soakedmy foot in kerosene and turpentine until thesoreness had gone out <strong>of</strong> it. I was then able towalk and finish my route and go back to theGazette building and get on my bike. I’m surethat the gal saved my foot because, as I say,the nail was a paint-colored nail and some <strong>of</strong>it could’ve—most <strong>of</strong> it came <strong>of</strong>f on my tennisshoe. The nail did go clear through my foot,and it really hurt.At the time, as I said, the NorthwesternAthletic Club was very prominent in highschool affairs and the south side kids had anorganization known as the Hermits. Theyformed a baseball team, and in the summerwe would play baseball in Bulldog Field,which was right across the street—it was onCourt and Arlington— right across the streetfrom the home that Mary Pickford gave to PatMcCarran, when he got her divorce in <strong>Reno</strong>.Then there was another organization, over inBurke’s Addition, and we used to play baseballover there in the area now occupied by theWooster High School. This was wide opencountry when we were there) I was captain<strong>of</strong> the baseball team in <strong>Reno</strong> High School inmy senior year, and we used to play the Indianschool, all <strong>of</strong> the high schools around—Loyalton, Portola, Truckee, and Carson City.And later, we had a semipro ball club in<strong>Reno</strong>. Jack Threlkel, who ran the <strong>Reno</strong> Garage,was the manager <strong>of</strong> the ball club, and he usedto get kids from the high school and collegeto play ball all summer—semipro baseball.We used to play at Moana Springs and later,Jack built a ball park down on Fourth Street.And I became fairly adept at baseball. One <strong>of</strong>
- Page 1: John F. Cahlan:Reminiscences of a R
- Page 5 and 6: John F. Cahlan:Reminiscences of a R
- Page 7 and 8: ContentsPreface to the Digital Edit
- Page 9 and 10: Preface to the Digital EditionEstab
- Page 11: IntroductionJohn Francis Cahlan is
- Page 14 and 15: xivJohn F. CalhanScholars of the fu
- Page 16: 2 John F. Cahlanthe streets of Reno
- Page 19 and 20: My Early Life and Education5big bal
- Page 21 and 22: My Early Life and Education7Rick’
- Page 23: My Early Life and Education9I shoul
- Page 28 and 29: 14 John F. CahlanPacific Coast Leag
- Page 30 and 31: 16 John F. Cahlanabout ten o’cloc
- Page 32 and 33: 18 John F. Cahlanpublic relations m
- Page 34 and 35: 20 John F. CahlanMt. Grant Hotel on
- Page 36 and 37: 22 John F. Cahlanby the time the ag
- Page 38 and 39: 24 John F. Cahlanbecause there were
- Page 40 and 41: 26 John F. Cahlan[degrees). I can r
- Page 42 and 43: 28 John F. Cahlanmultiple-edition n
- Page 44 and 45: 30 John F. Cahlanand we would have
- Page 46 and 47: 32 John F. Cahlana big registration
- Page 48 and 49: 34 John F. Cahlannew newspaper here
- Page 50 and 51: 36 John F. Cahlanand Las Vegas, I h
- Page 52 and 53: 38 John F. CahlanCarl Dodge, some o
- Page 54 and 55: 40 John F. Cahlanthey wanted it pas
- Page 56 and 57: 42 John F. Cahlanresult four member
- Page 59 and 60: 3Some of My ImportantFeature Storie
- Page 61 and 62: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 63 and 64: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 65 and 66: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 67 and 68: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 69 and 70: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 71 and 72: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 73 and 74: Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 75 and 76:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 77 and 78:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 79 and 80:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 81 and 82:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 83 and 84:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 85 and 86:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 87 and 88:
Some of My Important Feature Storie
- Page 89 and 90:
4Southern Nevada Civic Affairsand P
- Page 91 and 92:
Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and P
- Page 93 and 94:
Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and P
- Page 95 and 96:
Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and P
- Page 97 and 98:
Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and P
- Page 99 and 100:
Southern Nevada Civic Affairs and P
- Page 101 and 102:
5A Term with theUniversity of Nevad
- Page 103 and 104:
A Term with the University of Nevad
- Page 105 and 106:
A Term with the University of Nevad
- Page 107 and 108:
A Term with the University of Nevad
- Page 109 and 110:
A Term with the University of Nevad
- Page 111 and 112:
6Evolution of theCentennial Commiss
- Page 113 and 114:
Evolution of the Centennial Commiss
- Page 115:
Evolution of the Centennial Commiss
- Page 118 and 119:
104 John F. Cahlanbottom of a canyo
- Page 120 and 121:
106 John F. Cahlanand after he got
- Page 122 and 123:
108 John F. Cahlan“Senator, I und
- Page 124 and 125:
110 John F. CahlanRoosevelt never d
- Page 126 and 127:
112 John F. Cahlandecided that Ted
- Page 128 and 129:
114 John F. CahlanAs a result, Mech
- Page 130 and 131:
116 John F. Cahlanin-law, Clifford
- Page 132 and 133:
118 John F. Cahlanotherwise, and I
- Page 134 and 135:
120 John F. Cahlanof the fact that
- Page 137 and 138:
8The Southern NevadaIndustrial Foun
- Page 139 and 140:
The Southern Nevada Industrial Foun
- Page 141 and 142:
9“Cahlan School of Journalism”I
- Page 143 and 144:
“Cahlan School of Journalism”12
- Page 145 and 146:
“Cahlan School of Journalism”13
- Page 147 and 148:
“Cahlan School of Journalism”13
- Page 149 and 150:
10ConclusionBefore we conclude this
- Page 151 and 152:
Conclusion137for the first time. Th
- Page 153:
Conclusion139family record, and so
- Page 156 and 157:
142 John F. CalhanAAdams, Eva, 243A
- Page 158 and 159:
144 John F. CalhanCahlan, Albert W.
- Page 160 and 161:
146 John F. CalhanFGarside, Frank F
- Page 162 and 163:
148 John F. CalhanKIndians, 130, 13
- Page 164 and 165:
150 John F. CalhanMcNeil Constructi
- Page 166 and 167:
152 John F. CalhanPRPace, Dorothy,
- Page 168 and 169:
154 John F. CalhanSilver Centennial
- Page 170:
156 John F. CalhanWigwam Theater (R