I grew up watching Charlie Chan movies with my parents. Weekend afternoons, late-nights, whenever a Chan movie was on, I was there watching with my parents.
Fast forward about about ten years later with the advent of the VHS and DVD players and videocassettes and DVDs. Once we found out Charlie Chan was to be released on DVDs, we were there.
And within the past month, I found out that a movie called Charlie Chan in Reno was produced; I never knew the divorcee murder caper even existed.
I was just curious to see what my hometown looked like in 1939. Apparently very black-and-white! 
Besides that I zoned right in on the police department and the sheriff. In reality, Reno does not have a sheriff, Washoe County where Reno is located does, but not the city itself.
The sheriff was portrayed as an annoyed bumbling idiot while the chief of police apparently lived next to the phone. He was dutifully there anytime anyone called.
On the other side of the spectrum lies the current Reno 911! comedy show. It too focuses on the dealings of a fictional sheriff’s department.
Video shot here (even just a few years old now) is also somewhat outdated. It’s comical to me.
Both venues did do their research though - the sheriff traveled to Tonopah to arrest the accused woman’s husband.
And on Reno 911! a few seasons ago, Lt. Dangle and his co-hort ordered a fake pizza to ‘Peckam and Neil.’ I giggled knowing it looked nothing what they shot. And I’m not sure, but I could have spotted a palm tree in the background. When did we get one of those here? (The show is really shot in Carson, California.)
And sadly, now I’m starting to feel like a relic here.
I remember when:
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the Galaxy airliner crashed on South Virginia St. near Carpeteria killing nearly 70 people
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the Mapes hotel was open. My father drove us through downtown on the way to my grandparent’s house for Thanksgiving in ‘78. I remember looking up and seeing the lights on on the top floor. Oddly though I don’t remember when it closed a few years later
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Reno and Sparks were two separate towns
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the D’Andrea housing/golfing development was one massive farm. The cows from there one day escaped and walked down our road leaving hoof marks on our front yard
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the MGM/Ballys had two billboards advertising future shows, instead of the one giant electronic billboard the Grand Sierra has now. Bally’s also caused some controversy when it displayed the ass of a three-story high Brazilan dancer. And yet now some people bitch about Beyonce’s bare stomach (for 93.7 FM.)
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Galena High School was new! It opened during my junior year of high school
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Weinstocks was inside Park Lane Mall and Liberty House was inside Meadowood. By the way for those of you reading this from Reno, the Liberty House is now the men’s Macy’s.
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Oh and what about the cigar shop next to it? I miss smelling it!
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the site where Volkswagen currently sits was basically the end of town
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the University of Nevada, Reno used a top hat wearing wolf logo
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blue license plates were it – there were no special ones. And the first letter of each plate actually meant something, like the county where they were registered. I love mine.
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Champion Chevrolet was called Hallman; Champion came along around ‘90.
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we used to get two newspapers a day. Don’t remember the morning one as much as the 5pm edition for some reason.
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the billboard on I-80 near the Spaghetti Bowl advertised Ham n’ Eggs for 99 cents like FOREVER. And billboards were actually painted by someone, not ripped off into sticky pieces and reapplied as it today.
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the shopping center at the corner of Pyramid and McCarran in Sparks was an empty field except for two radio towers. I remember watching them each blink from our house on Stephanie Way. Way back in the ’70’s. Oh and everyone and their grandmother would steal the sign – how many Stephanies were out there?
You don’t expect a flood of memories to come out when you watch a movie about divorce and murder, but it does.
Filed under: All About Me!, Remember When?, Showtime! | Tagged: Reno, MGM, grand sierra, charlie chan, reno 911, weinstocks, macys, galaxy, mapes, meadowood, ballys, galena, d'andrea
