15 June 2012

Tonight I went to a Reno Aces game with my younger daughter. The last time we went, we parked out on the street somewhere and walked in. This time I missed what was the last parking space on that street, and as I drove closer, there were weren't anymore, so we parked in the parking garage. A group of people from church went, so we all sat together in section 102, which is always pretty fun. I walked around the stadium, trying to do the 3 laps for a mile, but I found other people I knew from church, so I stopped and talked to them all. The Aces won, then we watched the fireworks.

After it was over, the girl and I went out and played in the big grassy area near the entrance. People were throwing balls and running, and one boy was riding a bike. I figured that it would take a long time to get out of the parking garage, so we just hung out there for awhile, until some of the lights were turned off.

Leaving the garage, we drove out on second street, crossed over the Truckee and took High street down to Ryland. Once I got in the vicinity of Art Museum and Arlington, I feel like I'm in the Reno I know. It's funny how the downtown part can seem almost foreign. Even driving up Virginia to midtown is a different experience. This got me thinking about how there are so many people here, working on really building up some of these parts of town to make them well populated business areas that draw a lot of people. I like that we do that, yet I don't know what the answer is for the concrete ghost towns we have now, that used to be thriving shopping centers.

Recycled Records could have stayed where it was, in my opinion. I hope their new location helps their business, but I actually liked going to their old location because it was easy to park, Swensen's is there, and I didn't feel like I was going to drive over bicyclists and pedestrians just trying to slowly make my way down the road. There is almost nothing left where Swensen's is now--the hair cutting places, the big furniture stores, the Mervyn's are all gone.

Parklane Mall was torn down supposedly to be revitalized or rebuilt, but that never happened. It's fenced off to keep people out, which has had the effect of turning it into a seagull refuge. Maybe the owners should think about putting a pond in, and just giving the whole thing over to the birds. Heidi's, which was on Virginia and not really a part of Parklane, got torn down as part of it all, since their property was owned by the same people. And now that cute restaurant is gone, and I'm sure their business has suffered as a result, because the only location in Reno is now way south where Denny's used to be.

All of this reminds me that we've driven up to so many restaurants only to find they had gone out of business: Jeremiah's, Austin's, the little restaurant where Extreme Pizza is now, Bajios, Tahoe Burger, Sezmu (and Bec's Custard before that), Cheeseburger Island Style (and Friday's before that), Washoe Flats Steakhouse, Batch Cupcakery. But the Freighthouse District, which is where the Aces Ballpark is located, and the fairly new CommRow District seem to be doing well.