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 represent the views of ThisisReno. Have something to say? Submit an opinion article here.
Karl Breckenridge is 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. Karl grew up in the valley and has stories from the area going back to 1945. He’s been writing for 32 years locally and loves to yak it up with friends…now sitting six feet apart.
Day 56 – Sunday, sweet Sunday
Karl senses his days of being cooped up are winding down, but he’s enjoying this new column too much to quit altogether.
Day 55 – The flight of PAL 773
Karl tells the tale of the “Gambler’s Special” skyjacker that put Reno in the news, really for no good reason.
Day 54 – Downtown with Dad
Karl takes a drive as his 6-year-old self alongside Dad to some of downtown Reno’s most memorable places (for a kid).
Day 53 – Shelly’s Hardware
Karl admits his error; Shelly’s Hardware is actually open, in the same spot it’s been since the 1940s on Greenbrae Dr. in Sparks.
Day 52 – The genie, high in the sky
Karl’s friend Jody ponders the mystical power of genies and its influence over several small businesses in south Reno whose relics remain.
Day 51 – Cinco de Mayo
Karl ponders when life will break from the routine of stay-at-home orders and tailgating at a respectable distance will no longer be frowned upon.
Day 50 – the Sharon Mansion
Karl answers a reader question about a tennis court and winds up sharing the history of the Sharon Mansion.
Day 49 – the kid gets help
Little Karl, the 6-year-old kid, gets help from his child psychologist for the affliction of loving to write.
Day 48 – Hubbard Field
Six-year-old Karl rides his bike, with pals Hank and Don, down to Hubbard Field to check out the plans and see how the tower operates.
Day 47 – Coney Island
Karl’s friend Jody shares the history of Coney Island, the resort not the bar, and the dream that never fully materialized.
Day 46 – SF earthquake and fire follow-up
Karl returns to San Francisco to explain how the city’s firefighting infrastructure evolved since the 1906 earthquake and fire.
Day 45 – Early hardware stores
Karl’s 7-year-old self takes a bike ride around Reno and Sparks to revisit his favorite hardware stores.
Day 44 – The Western Pacific
Karl’s friend Don balances out the railroad lore, sharing tales of the mighty Western Pacific railroad as it traveled through Reno and Sparks.
Day 42 – a Concert in the Park
Karl continues the story of his trip to Stern Grove with Arthur Fiedler to experience the concert of a lifetime.
Day 41 – Meeting Arthur Fiedler!
Karl takes another “trip” over the Sierra to San Francisco to share part 1 of his Arthur Fiedler experience.
Day 40 – Introducing the six-year-old kid
Karl’s 6-year-old-self reads us a letter written to Aunt Lola telling of his weekend adventures to the Tower Theater.
Day 39 – Faded menu redux
Karl gets readers in on the act sharing comments and memories submitted in response to his Day 36 post “Faded Menus.”
Day 38 – Just kiddin’ on the keyboard
Karl spends some time catching up and un-ruffling feathers about locomotives traveling through Reno and Sparks.
Day 37 – School nicknames
Karl is pondering the who’s who of school names and submitting a few new mascots and nicknames for (brief) consideration.
Day 36 – Faded menus
Karl is thinking about food this morning, reminiscing about Reno’s classic restaurants, best dishes and drinks, and well-known purveyors of deliciousness.
Day 35 – the Gladioli farms south of Reno
Karl takes a day off while Jody shares the history of the Washoe Gladiolus Farm in south Reno.
Day 34 – SF earthquake
Karl regales us with the time he died in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906…sort of.
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Day 56 – Sunday, sweet Sunday - ThisisReno
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