If you think Reno is just gambling, prostitution and miles of rabbitbrush, then you don’t know Reno.
As a recent transplant from the Los Angeles area some eighteen years ago I made an offhand remark to an elderly Reno woman that I didn’t care much for Reno. “It’s all desert and not very interesting,” I said. Shaking a bony finger at me she replied, “Well, you don’t know anything about history then!” I was taken aback by her words. I loved history, U.S. History, World History; I even wanted to know the history of her cowboy art hanging on the wall beside her. I dismissed her comment, but her words struck me and it was the echo of them I later heard when learning new facts about Reno. That little old lady with the pouf of curly white hair was right, I knew nothing about Reno.
So to begin my quest of discovery I signed up for a tour of six distinguished and beautiful homes in the vicinity presented by the Historic Reno Preservation Society. Upon arriving at one of the homes an exuberant volunteer greeted me with, “That’s Jack Dempsey’s house!” Following the path of her pointed finger I looked across the street and noted an attractive Tudor style home. “Jack who?” I asked.
“Jack Dempsey. You know the boxer? Do you remember that scene in The Godfather where Michael is waiting to be picked up outside Jack Dempsey’s restaurant in New York?” She asked.
“No, I can’t say I remember that,” I said. “But thanks for sharing the information,” and continued on with the tour of the home I came to see. Yet, her words resonated with me. A famous heavyweight boxing champion lived here? Yes, indeed.
Jack Dempsey earned his heavyweight title in 1919, when he beat Jess Willard. Dempsey also acquired the nickname “Manassa Mauler” a name that, according to The Official Site of Jack Dempsey, struck fear in all potential opponents. According to Elsie Newman at the Historic Reno Preservation Society, Jack Dempsey bought the home at 975 Joaquin Miller Drive during the 1930s. In 1937, Dempsey sold the property to Mr. Gerald Lyons for $10,000.00. Lyons was the owner of a service station on the corner of California and South Virginia Street that Dempsey patronized. Ms. Lyons (Gerald’s daughter) told Elsie that the front door is bullet-proof, iron on the inside with a tapestry fabric over the metal. According to Ms. Lyons (now in her eighties), it wasn’t an uncommon practice for shady-looking characters to be out knocking on doors in Reno at that time. Local Reno author, Rollan Melton, said of Jack Dempsey in his book, Nevadans, “He was as comfortable as worn shoes, as playful as a basket of puppies.”
There is more to learn about The Biggest Little City in the World, and I invite you to read about it in my series of related articles. Just for the record, prostitution is not legal in Reno.
The Official Site of Jack Dempsey
Historic Reno Preservation Society
Nevadans, by Rollan Melton