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Best of Northern Nevada

Best of Northern Nevada 2019

by RN&R editors August 7, 2019

Best of Northern Nevada

Winner’s Guide

by Staff March 4, 2019

Bertha, an Indian elephant at John Ascuaga’s Nugget, was the longest-running casino act in Nevada history, running from 1962 to her death in 1999. She was born in 1951 in India and captured in 1956. Bertha performed circus tricks and lived in the Elephant Palace at the Nugget for 37 years and met the likes of the Beatles and Liberace—which to her probably didn’t mean much. I remember feeding peanuts to Bertha as a young child and though it was a life-changing experience for a boy to come into such close contact with such an amazing and powerful animal from the other side of the world, I choose to picture her not having died in a parking lot in Sparks, but still running rampant and free through the desert.

Best of Northern Nevada

Kids & Family

by Staff August 8, 2018

Evelyn Mount and her husband Leon moved to Reno in 1976 and began collecting food donations over the holidays for people in need. She and a group of volunteers have fed thousands and thousands of Northern Nevadans. Leon passed away 2002. Now in her 90s, Evelyn Mount has been a beacon of hope and good throughout my entire life. She has inspired me and countless others to choose to be a little more thoughtful and caring. The Evelyn Mount Community Outreach Center can be found at 2530 Cannan St., 331-3257.

Best of Northern Nevada

Food & Drink

by Staff August 8, 2018

From racing to moguls to freestyle, Glen Plake is one of the greatest skiers of all time. He’s a member of the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. ESPN honored him as “The Pioneer of Action Sports.” He’s also a national champion waterskier, and has won races in off-road racing and endurance cycling. Glen started a ski foundation, RG2, for mountain guides in developing countries to learn necessary survival skills. Glen and his wife, Kimberly, are based here in Northern Nevada but continue to travel the world, and kill it. Growing up, I had a giant poster above my bed of Glen Plake blasting out a Rocket Air off of a giant cliff. He’s just the raddest dude out there.

Best of Northern Nevada

Outdoors

by Staff August 8, 2018

Another Reno character was “The Amazing” Jerry Crambone. He was a staple at King Skate Country—now The Roller Kingdom—in the 1980s and became well known locally for rexing. His favorite routine was set to Bob Seger’s “Still the Same.” The Amazing Jerry claims to have roller-skated down Geiger Grade from Virginia City to south Reno. However, the only known evidence is from an autobiographical illustrated book that he authored. (Which can now be found on instagram @theamazingjerry.) Jerry was a roofing buddy of my dad’s back in the ’80s when I was growing up, and I vividly remember the few times he was at my childhood home. He was always bragging and scabbed and bruised from either falling off a roof or crashing on one of his roller-skate escapades.

Best of Northern Nevada

Nightlife

by Staff August 8, 2018

Jack Johnson was the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion. He fought “The Fight of the Century” against James Jefferies on July 4, 1910, in Reno and won. In 1912, Johnson was arrested for violating the Mann Act and “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes.” Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury in 1913. He was posthumously pardoned on May 24, 2018—coincidentally while I was painting this portrait. Johnson did what he wanted and dared any man to try to stop him—during a time when most of white America tried to stop him.

Best of Northern Nevada

Casinos & Gambling

by Staff August 8, 2018

Wovoka, also known as Jack Wilson, was a Paiute leader who led the Ghost Dance movement. He was born in Smith Valley, southeast of Carson City, around 1856, with the birth name Quoitze Ow. He claimed to have had a prophetic vision during the solar eclipse of Jan. 1, 1889. The vision entailed the resurrection of the Paiute dead and the removal of whites from North America. Wovoka taught that to bring this vision to pass, Native Americans must live righteously and perform a traditional dance known as the Ghost Dance. His teachings spread across the country and led to U.S. government fear of a rebellion of Native Americans. This fear led to the massacre of an estimated 300 Lakota men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. Wovoka died in Yerington on Sept. 20, 1932 and is buried in the Paiute Cemetery in Schurz. He fought for his people’s civil rights. The only violence that erupted from this effort to hold onto his people’s way of life was from the U.S. government. Wounded Knee was one of the crushing blows of a continent-wide genocide.

Best of Northern Nevada

Culture

by Staff August 8, 2018

“Skateboarder” George Spinner was from New York, but he grew up in California. He lived in Reno for decades and was a regular at Nu Yalk Pizza, in its previous location at East Moana Lane and Kietzke Lane, walking there from his South Virginia Street apartment, usually carrying a skateboard. Spinner had Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition that causes outbursts and muscle tics or spasms. He would talk

Best of Northern Nevada

Old Reno

by Staff August 8, 2018

Ed Carlson was a free spirit known as “the Waver” who lived in Reno from the 1970s to 2007. He spent every day walking and waving to passing motorists across the county. He sold “pet rocks” and smiled at everyone. He moved back to his birth town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 2007 and died in 2012 at the age of 75. Spotting him on the side of the road and waving back to him from the back of my mom’s station wagon is one of the clearest and most exciting memories I have of being a kid. More people could stand to be like Ed Carlson.

Best of Northern Nevada

Personalities

by Staff August 8, 2018

Johnson Sides was a Paiute chief from Reno who earned the title of U.S. Peacemaker for his work translating and negotiating between the local tribes and the white settlers. He was instrumental in getting the railroad built through the area and earned “free rides for life” on the trains for the Paiute people. Orphaned as a child, he was raised by the Sides family. He spoke French, English and multiple native languages. He’s buried in the historic Hillside Cemetery by the University of Nevada, Reno.

Best of Northern Nevada

Goods & Services

by Staff August 8, 2018

Velma Bronn Johnston, known as Wild Horse Annie, was an animal welfare activist who campaigned to stop cruelty toward Nevada’s wild horses and burros. She was born in Reno in 1912. In 1950, Johnston saw a truck overcrowded with horses with blood dripping from the back. She followed the truck to a slaughterhouse. When she learned they were free-roaming horses gathered from Nevada’s Virginia Range, she took action. On Sept. 8, 1959, her dedicated campaign resulted in the federal legislation banning people from hunting and capturing free-roaming horses on federal land. This became known as the Wild Horse Annie Act. Not satisfied, Annie kept fighting and in 1971, the 92nd United States Congress unanimously passed the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. This act prohibited capture, injury or disturbance of free-roaming horses and burros. Johnston died at age 65 on June 27, 1977. She is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Reno. Wild Horse Annie faced disadvantages her entire life and still saved our beautiful wild horses and burros from the atrocities of wasteful and uncaring humans. She embodies what a Nevadan should be.

Best of Northern Nevada

Best of Northern Nevada 2018

by Brad Bynum August 8, 2018