November 2023

HRPS News & Updates

Dear HRPS Members,

The frost is on the pumpkin, which may make you crave something to warm your insides after an afternoon of raking leaves. Consider a Picon Punch, the subject of this month's program at the Downtown Reno Library. Guest speaker, Michael Fischer, will regale you with tales of its origins.

Chuck Weller is the guest speaker for High Noon with Neal Cobb this month and will be speaking about Reno during WWII.

As we look forward to family gatherings now through the end of the year, perhaps you're thinking about ways to capture family history. Anthropologist Elizabeth Keating has recently published a book called, The Essential Questions - Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations.

Elsewhere in this newsletter we revisit Thanksgiving, 1924 and 1925, and our Reno Historical section features the Alturas Bar. Scroll down for details.

In other news, our walking tour guides are already working on tours for 2024. We're hoping to bring back a few tours we haven't conducted in awhile, and percolating ideas for a couple of new ones. If you're interested in doing research or conducting a tour, please contact us at board@historicreno.org.

Wishing you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Carol Coleman, Acting President

Historic Reno Preservation Society

board@hsitoricreno.org

775-849-3380

November Program

The History of the Picon Punch

Sunday, November 12, 2023, Noon-1:30pm

Downtown Reno Library Auditorium, 301 S. Center Street

No admission charge. Free street parking on Sundays

The Picon Punch is a popular adult beverage in northern Nevada bars and Basque restaurants. Find out about its main Ingredient and the building in which it was first served in Nevada. Trace the "Nevada Drink’s” main ingredient from North Africa, where it was used as an anti-malarial, to downtown Reno, and across the state. Integral now to the Basque Culture, it wasn't always so. This program dispels some incorrect information and brings new information to the fore!

Michael Fischer, D.D.S., is a former dentist and UNR graduate with years of cultural affairs service.

Fischer served as Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs, on the Western Folklife Center board, the Douglas County Historical Society, the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, and the Thunderbird Lodge

He portrays agricultural pioneer H. F. Dangberg, Sr. and Governor John Sparks in Chautauqua performances. Michael is a long-time supporter of the conversion of the Dangberg home ranch as an historical attraction.

Nevada Historical Society and Washoe County Libraries present

High Noon with Neal Cobb

Stories of Reno in WWII

with Chuck Weller

Thursday, November 16, 2023, Noon-1:00pm

via Zoom

Gift to Admiral Halsey

Chuck Weller will relate stories of the Reno Army Air Base and other military presence in the city, a Japanese balloon bomb shot down over Reno, the gift to Admiral Halsey of a saddle from the war bond buyers of Washoe County, and more.

Admission is free but advance registration is required.

Chuck Weller

Chuck Weller received his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia; a juris doctorate from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; and a master’s degree and PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno. He practiced law in Reno from 1982 through 2004. He hosted a weekly talk program on KKOH, Chuck Weller and the Law, 1991 to 2004. He served three elected terms as a District Court Judge in Reno from 2005 through 2021 and continues to serve as a senior judge. He is the historian for the Reno chapter of the United States Navy League. His upcoming book, Nevada during World War II, is scheduled to be released during 2024.

Capturing Your Family History

The Essential Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations a book by Elizabeth Keating (bookshop.org)

Just as the oral histories of people around the world are disappearing amid rapid change, there is a risk that your family's personal stories, too, will be lost forever. In The Essential Questions, anthropologist Elizabeth Keating helps you to uncover the unique memories of your parents and grandparents and to create lasting connection with them in the process.

As you seek to learn more about your family history, how do you get beyond familiar anecdotes and avoid the frustration of oppositional generational attitudes? By asking questions that make the familiar strange, anthropologists are able to see entirely different perspectives and understand new cultures.

Drawing on her lifelong work in this field, Keating has developed a set of questions that treat your parents and grandparents not just as the people who raised you, but as individuals of a certain society and time, and as the children, teenagers, and young adults they once were.

A Peek Back at Thanksgiving 1924 & 1925

Alturas Bar

Constructed in 1926 for the Reno Hide and Fur Company, this building has housed the Alturas Bar since 1948.

Alturas Bar - Constructed in 1926, this building has housed the Alturas Bar since 1948. | Reno Historical

Source: Nick McCabe, 2021

Join HRPS Today!

HRPS is "Dedicated to Preserving and Promoting Historic Resources in the Truckee Meadows through Education, Advocacy and Leadership". With over 500 members, your membership is a vote and a voice for historic preservation.

Do you have friends, neighbors, or family members who share an interest in local history? If so, forward a copy of this newsletter and encourage them to join HRPS! Or have them go to our website - Historic Reno Preservation Society - and click on the "Join Us" tab at the top of the page.

A single membership is just $25/year ($45 for a family membership), and you can now join and pay online.

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