Vegas wasn't even on my radar in the early 90s. Reno was the hot ticket. I remember going into my room at the Comstock and seeing a book of vouchers on the table. Buck 99 steak dinners! So sad to see everything gone.
Lived in Reno from 70-89...Downtown was the scene dragging main during high school days, Comstock was a nice place...The city government and the California lifestyle has screwed the city forever
Those were fun days, everything in full swing. It is neat seeing the actual huge painting of the covered wagons in front of Harolds. Look at the streets and everyone walking around. Now you can shoot a canon down Virginia and not hit anyone or anything. Yes, it is a ghost town because the dummies in Reno did not plan or see what was coming. They left downtown rot and instead went on a building spree of suburbia out in the desert and boring strip malls for them to shop at. There used to be at least 6 mini golf courses and two malls. Walking around the Park Lane mall and the MGM in the 80s was the bomb! Now you can go to walmart.....
Cruised Virginia St in the 70's when downtown was popping!..Left Reno late 80's...I go back and visit brothers every year, the town has gone down the drain.
This was the year i moved to reno as a kid. Videos like this really take me back. I go back home every year or so and it is astonishingly different, not in a good way.
@@walterwhite1 you are a meth head and nobody cares what you think tweeker.. Have fun living in a shit town... Im in Oakland eating Rib Eye Steak and prawns... Your wherever living on hot pockets and microwave burritos 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Once table games were opened up for the tribal casinos and the differences between Class II and Class III slots in the tribal casinos were blurred the end started rolling for Reno. There was no way in hell that Reno was going to rebrand itself as "northern Las Vegas" as the big corporations were NOT going for it and thus we have the abandoned downtown Reno with the remaining 3 Circus Circus and Eldorado and Silver Legacy are entirely "walled off" from the sidewalks and how long will Cal-Neva hold out....... Downtown Reno is truly an abandoned downtown today.
My parents moved us out to Reno in 1975, things have changed so much, when I visit my mom I'm so surprised how much traffic there is. Use to be able to get from Sparks to Reno in 7 minutes... Not anymore 😢
One month after you were there Bally's became the Reno Hilton. Today it is Grand Sierra Resort. I read somewhere recently that Fitzgerald's, Harold's Club, and Flamingo Hilton have all since become defunct. It's too bad you didn't catch some shots of the area between the Eldorado and Circus Circus (now the Silver Legacy). I've nearly forgotten what it looked like before Silver Legacy joined all three casinos together.
It was the MGM also. When I stayed there in approx 1993 or early 94 they were in the process of remodeling it to be the Hilton. They had so much of the old MGM stuff still in there, it was so cool. The pics of the movie stars, the red velvet chaise lounges in the public bathrooms with gold fixtures everywhere, the beautiful carpets, it was so neat.
@@mrskaa7584 yep, that's what it started out as in 1978. It's changed hands so many times in 43 years I'm starting to lose track, lol. A lot of the MGM decor was kept when they became Bally's. I don't think it was until a renovation in the mid to late 90s that they cleared it all out and completely changed the decor away from MGM. At least that's my recollection of it anyway.
Moved to Reno around the great recession 2010. There's nothing comparable to Vegas in gambling. Actually people in Reno told me they wanted Reno to go in a different direction. Catering to outdoor sports enthusiasts instead. I guess with the mountains near by. It's early 2023. It's spent a dozen years here in Reno. I've seen less casinos since I moved here. Homeless has gone up. Less shopping options. Reno has more warehouse jobs than hospitality and casino jobs. There's not even options for locals to hang out. Pay rate scale is also lower than other parts of the country. The growth and development of Reno isn't a priority in city government. I'm considering moving away. It's a ghost town.
We absolutely love it here. These days were great but Reno is still awesome. Close to Sierras and BLM land everywhere! Wild animals all over. Close to Tahoe. We actually like it better than Tahoe.
Whoever was in government in Reno from 1995-2005 should be tarred and feathered. They literally single-handedly destroyed the gaming of Reno, NV. I am a long-time Las Vegas resident who knows the gaming business. I recently visited Reno and I was shocked at what I saw. Homeless people at every casino entrance, in the alleys, walking around. No wonder tourists don't want to go there any longer. It's pathetic. If I was the mayor of Reno, that would be priority one - get the homeless away from the tourist mecca of downtown! You will NEVER see a homeless beggar out front of a Las Vegas casino - not even the worst of the worst locals casino allows homeless beggars anywhere near them. Come on Reno, you can fix this.
You just wait, Las Vegas will get destroyed just as bad. The Deep State is running the show everywhere, it is way too late for Trump to fix this deterioration relentlessly killing off humanity for the last 60 years in the USA. NOW they got 5G to finish the job.
I live a couple blocks from downtown reno.... they're not vacant, they've just been bought by different casino owners. Actually most were bought to be turned into luxyry condos. Fitzgeralds is one that i can think of off the top of my head that actually "went out of business" the rest were purchased, had some updates, and most are open now as condos. Sort of sad to see so many casinos be converted, but I think it brings more life to downtown anyway
Well, this comment is 13 years old so maybe there were high hopes at the time... but I don't think anyone at this point can say "more life" has been brought to downtown.
It's sad the way Reno looks now. So many casinos closed and homeless druggies everywhere now. I remember coming here in 1994 after I got out of the Army and looked just like it did in this video. Now, it's dull and dead.... I recently moved here from Phoenix thinking it still looked like this. Sadly, it doesn't.....😔
Yeah most of those cool lights are now dark. Many of those downtown casinos are now apartments or Condos. California passed casino Indian gaming in 1997, it didn't take long for that to suck the life directly out of Reno casinos. But Reno/Sparks has moved on (they had no choice) , its got other things going on now. Reno's city population was about 210k in 2000, now its over 250K. The downtown areas CAN be built into something cool, but its slow. The downtown "Row" (the Eldorado, Legacy, Circus Circus) are still packed on weekends and holidays. Same with Peppermill, GSR, and Atlantis. The old Sands just re-birthed itself as the "J" casino. Rebuilt.
We must have flown / drove from Seattle to Reno and back, literally over 150 times from 1980 to 2002. Today it is a ghost town. You CAN NOT find a taxi on Virginia Street and would now dred to be on that same street at night...only the homeless and thugs seem to be on Virginia now.....what a shame
wow.......ive never heard of a casino going out of businesse. obviously they cant compete with begas. they still have casinos there? would you recomend visiting reno?
They destroyed Reno. It’s very heart and soul was blown up at the end of the 90’s. So much history gone...but you can ride a raft through town on the Truckee river. Tears came to my eyes when I saw what was gone...Nevada Club...Harrold’s club...The Maples....The Holiday and so many more. City officials very corrupt, tried to turn it into something else. I will never go back!
@@bobcuster8930Downtown Reno has evolved into a mostly vacant downtown full of homeless drug addicts. I moved there in the early 80's and saw it slowly die in 15 years. Now they're trying to turn every casino hotel into high priced condos with all that horror in the streets.
Went here a few weeks ago and it was so sad. It's a ghost town now.. Only stayed 2 nights and left we were in shock at how much it has gone down hill.. Must be a Democrat in charge of this town they seem to ruin everything they touch..
I miss the Reno of the 80s-90s!
Vegas wasn't even on my radar in the early 90s. Reno was the hot ticket. I remember going into my room at the Comstock and seeing a book of vouchers on the table. Buck 99 steak dinners! So sad to see everything gone.
Comstock was the best.
I stayed at the Comstock in 1990 or 1991, not sure exactly. I believe it's an apartment building now.
Lived in Reno from 70-89...Downtown was the scene dragging main during high school days, Comstock was a nice place...The city government and the California lifestyle has screwed the city forever
Those were fun days, everything in full swing. It is neat seeing the actual huge painting of the covered wagons in front of Harolds. Look at the streets and everyone walking around.
Now you can shoot a canon down Virginia and not hit anyone or anything. Yes, it is a ghost town because the dummies in Reno did not plan or see what was coming. They left downtown rot and instead went on a building spree of suburbia out in the desert and boring strip malls for them to shop at. There used to be at least 6 mini golf courses and two malls.
Walking around the Park Lane mall and the MGM in the 80s was the bomb! Now you can go to walmart.....
Nonsense--Reno is still a great city...
@@bobcuster8930
No.
No it’s not.
This brings back memories. We lived out here in 1962 and 1963. Reno--The Biggest Little City in the World. I enjoy your videos. Thanks for sharing.
WOW, It has changed so much. Downtown is boring and everything shut down.
Man, downtown Reno was jumpin' back then. Almost like Fremont Street in Vegas. Thanks for sharing this vid!
They should have built a canopy with light show over it and called it "The Virginia Street Experience"! They could still do it.
they have completely f'd up Reno
Cruised Virginia St in the 70's when downtown was popping!..Left Reno late 80's...I go back and visit brothers every year, the town has gone down the drain.
This video is awsome!Looked like a fun place back then
Thanks for sharing this video. I have lived for 33 years and over half of those casinos are gone or shutdown.
Thank you for sharing this important piece of history. Your video is evidence of the reason we loved Reno.
was born the following morning, kinda surreal to watch.
My nephew was born in Reno 6/24/92
I graduated high school 5 days before this movie.
I feel old.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
This was the year i moved to reno as a kid. Videos like this really take me back. I go back home every year or so and it is astonishingly different, not in a good way.
Thanks for the memories.
the sundowner was the shit. Im from oakland and i love visiting reno. Back in 2002 i learned how to play craps at the Sundowner.
OLD RENO RULES!!!!!
You Oakland lowlifes ruined Reno
@@walterwhite1 you are a meth head and nobody cares what you think tweeker.. Have fun living in a shit town... Im in Oakland eating Rib Eye Steak and prawns... Your wherever living on hot pockets and microwave burritos 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Once table games were opened up for the tribal casinos and the differences between Class II and Class III slots in the tribal casinos were blurred the end started rolling for Reno.
There was no way in hell that Reno was going to rebrand itself as "northern Las Vegas" as the big corporations were NOT going for it and thus we have the abandoned downtown Reno with the remaining 3 Circus Circus and Eldorado and Silver Legacy are entirely "walled off" from the sidewalks and how long will Cal-Neva hold out.......
Downtown Reno is truly an abandoned downtown today.
Wow...look at all those light
My parents moved us out to Reno in 1975, things have changed so much, when I visit my mom I'm so surprised how much traffic there is. Use to be able to get from Sparks to Reno in 7 minutes... Not anymore 😢
One month after you were there Bally's became the Reno Hilton. Today it is Grand Sierra Resort. I read somewhere recently that Fitzgerald's, Harold's Club, and Flamingo Hilton have all since become defunct. It's too bad you didn't catch some shots of the area between the Eldorado and Circus Circus (now the Silver Legacy). I've nearly forgotten what it looked like before Silver Legacy joined all three casinos together.
It was the MGM also. When I stayed there in approx 1993 or early 94 they were in the process of remodeling it to be the Hilton. They had so much of the old MGM stuff still in there, it was so cool. The pics of the movie stars, the red velvet chaise lounges in the public bathrooms with gold fixtures everywhere, the beautiful carpets, it was so neat.
@@mrskaa7584 yep, that's what it started out as in 1978. It's changed hands so many times in 43 years I'm starting to lose track, lol. A lot of the MGM decor was kept when they became Bally's. I don't think it was until a renovation in the mid to late 90s that they cleared it all out and completely changed the decor away from MGM. At least that's my recollection of it anyway.
Moved to Reno around the great recession 2010. There's nothing comparable to Vegas in gambling. Actually people in Reno told me they wanted Reno to go in a different direction. Catering to outdoor sports enthusiasts instead. I guess with the mountains near by.
It's early 2023. It's spent a dozen years here in Reno. I've seen less casinos since I moved here. Homeless has gone up. Less shopping options. Reno has more warehouse jobs than hospitality and casino jobs. There's not even options for locals to hang out. Pay rate scale is also lower than other parts of the country. The growth and development of Reno isn't a priority in city government. I'm considering moving away. It's a ghost town.
We absolutely love it here. These days were great but Reno is still awesome. Close to Sierras and BLM land everywhere! Wild animals all over. Close to Tahoe. We actually like it better than Tahoe.
I was kinda hoping to see me in the video somewhere. Chances are i was in the neighborhood since i was always hanging out downtown back then.
Looks like it was fun back then!Wish I got to see it!
Downtown Reno when it was vibrant. You can watch a webcam now of the same stretch of Virginia Street to compare.
Reno went down hill starting around 99 00..
you just had to be there
Whoever was in government in Reno from 1995-2005 should be tarred and feathered. They literally single-handedly destroyed the gaming of Reno, NV. I am a long-time Las Vegas resident who knows the gaming business. I recently visited Reno and I was shocked at what I saw. Homeless people at every casino entrance, in the alleys, walking around. No wonder tourists don't want to go there any longer. It's pathetic. If I was the mayor of Reno, that would be priority one - get the homeless away from the tourist mecca of downtown! You will NEVER see a homeless beggar out front of a Las Vegas casino - not even the worst of the worst locals casino allows homeless beggars anywhere near them. Come on Reno, you can fix this.
You just wait, Las Vegas will get destroyed just as bad. The Deep State is running the show everywhere, it is way too late
for Trump to fix this deterioration relentlessly killing off humanity for the last 60 years in the USA. NOW they got 5G
to finish the job.
#Nonsense
@@mamacordellatrumpers always gotta play the blame game 😮
This was back when the rino strip was cool. It's a shadow of it's former self now.
I live a couple blocks from downtown reno.... they're not vacant, they've just been bought by different casino owners. Actually most were bought to be turned into luxyry condos. Fitzgeralds is one that i can think of off the top of my head that actually "went out of business" the rest were purchased, had some updates, and most are open now as condos. Sort of sad to see so many casinos be converted, but I think it brings more life to downtown anyway
Most of these posters have zero clue how everything in this life evolves..
Well, this comment is 13 years old so maybe there were high hopes at the time... but I don't think anyone at this point can say "more life" has been brought to downtown.
Ya Reno is not even close to the same. We kept losers out for years. Then Brian sisolac came over and sold our city to the wolves.
And that evil broad Hilary sheevey skeevy ass.
It's sad the way Reno looks now. So many casinos closed and homeless druggies everywhere now. I remember coming here in 1994 after I got out of the Army and looked just like it did in this video. Now, it's dull and dead....
I recently moved here from Phoenix thinking it still looked like this. Sadly, it doesn't.....😔
Wish all the casinos came back I was born in 93 and remember it still looked like this by the 2000 tell we went to war.
Yeah most of those cool lights are now dark. Many of those downtown casinos are now apartments or Condos. California passed casino Indian gaming in 1997, it didn't take long for that to suck the life directly out of Reno casinos. But Reno/Sparks has moved on (they had no choice) , its got other things going on now. Reno's city population was about 210k in 2000, now its over 250K. The downtown areas CAN be built into something cool, but its slow. The downtown "Row" (the Eldorado, Legacy, Circus Circus) are still packed on weekends and holidays. Same with Peppermill, GSR, and Atlantis. The old Sands just re-birthed itself as the "J" casino. Rebuilt.
We must have flown / drove from Seattle to Reno and back, literally over 150 times from 1980 to 2002. Today it is a ghost town. You CAN NOT find a taxi on Virginia Street and would now dred to be on that same street at night...only the homeless and thugs seem to be on Virginia now.....what a shame
That's untrue..Reno is a great city.. open your eyes....
@@bobcuster8930 nah it’s a shithole now
@@walterwhite1 Wally-#Nonsense.
That is a weird take...Reno is diversified now...
Anybody hang out at Del Mar? That's where I was.
I loved Del Mar Station ❤
When I went there two days later there was a lightning storm :\
I drove under that sign
I was drinking taxi there that year.
wow.......ive never heard of a casino going out of businesse. obviously they cant compete with begas. they still have casinos there? would you recomend visiting reno?
@House Owner no Reno is a fucking shithole now
I was there!
If the last 3 big Casinos close, Reno is done for....
They destroyed Reno. It’s very heart and soul was blown up at the end of the 90’s. So much history gone...but you can ride a raft through town on the Truckee river. Tears came to my eyes when I saw what was gone...Nevada Club...Harrold’s club...The Maples....The Holiday and so many more. City officials very corrupt, tried to turn it into something else. I will never go back!
Complete nonsense... Johnny, every city evolves....
@@bobcuster8930Downtown Reno has evolved into a mostly vacant downtown full of homeless drug addicts. I moved there in the early 80's and saw it slowly die in 15 years. Now they're trying to turn every casino hotel into high priced condos with all that horror in the streets.
@@armandtoledo6706 Armand ..that is nonsense,,, Nevada does not need trollers like you--we need winners!
Downtown Reno is the next ghost town
are gone....what hapened to them?
its really not ive lived here all my life actually this is the year i was born its changed and im 17 years young now
This was recorded way before the World Trade Center was hit
I used to get the awful, awful burger at Fitzgerald’s
Little nuget
@@Tigre-fe5vc beat me to it. I was gonna say they never sold the Awful. Man just spewing
Went here a few weeks ago and it was so sad. It's a ghost town now.. Only stayed 2 nights and left we were in shock at how much it has gone down hill.. Must be a Democrat in charge of this town they seem to ruin everything they touch..
AMEN 🙏
Still looks the same,