Reno, Nev. • They were the toast of Reno in the 1950s, when the growing casino industry sparked a boom that for a time turned northern Nevada into the West’s top gambling destination.
Dozens of downtown motor lodges provided spare but comfortable retreats for motorists who took to the nation’s new highways to see the bright lights of the self-proclaimed “Biggest Little City in the World” and try their luck at the slot machines and blackjack tables.
Today, the lodges still standing are in disrepair and rent rooms by the week. But there is one similarity to their heyday: Reno is booming again and so are the lodges — just not with vacationers or fortune-seekers.