Ben Akert, Akert Market

William Bennet (Ben) Akert moved to Reno from the eastern Nevada company town of Ruth in 1945. His parents, Bluma and Bill, purchased Grant Anderson’s market at the corner of East 4th Street and Alameda (later Wells Avenue) and opened Akert Market, where Ben worked as a teenager. The shop closed in 1963 and the building was torn down. In 1966, Ben founded the local chain Ben’s Discount Liquors. Photo by Patrick Cummings

Full Oral History Transcript

Interviewed in 2012, Ben Akert describes the appeal of the Coney Island Bar and Restaurant, an institution first established on East 4th Street in the 1920s. Recorded by Matt Fearon.

Ben Akert, whose family owned Akert Market at the corner of East 4th Street and Alameda (later Wells) Avenue, describes Wells Avenue before the construction of the overpass that bypassed East 4th Street. Recorded by Matt Fearon.

Ben Akert, interviewed in 2012, describes working at Akert Market, which was owned and operated by his family at 803 East 4th Street from 1945-1963. Recorded by Matt Fearon.

Les Ede, Retired Sparks firefighter

Les Ede’s great-great-grandfather moved to Nevada in 1872. Born in 1942, Les grew up on Sullivan Lane, near what was then the western edge of Sparks, and shares memories of his childhood neighborhood near Prater Way. He joined the U.S. Navy after graduating from Sparks High School, and then became a firefighter in Sparks, retiring in 1994.

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Hugh Russolo, Coney Island Bar

Hugh Rossolo was born in Elko and moved to Reno in 1958. In the mid-1920s, his grandparents, Ralph and Marie Galletti, ran a small tamale factory in the Coney Island neighborhood located between Reno and Sparks. Eventually, it became the Coney Island Bar, still operated by the Galletti family. Rossolo, who became a teacher, shares family memories of the popular establishment and how the restaurant and its surroundings have changed through the years.

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George Flint, Owner, Chapel of the Bells

An ordained minister, George Flint grew up in southern California and moved to Reno after completing divinity school. In 1961, he founded the Chapel of the Bells at 540 West 4th Street, and four years later, moved the business into a converted home at 700 West 4th Street. He discusses Reno’s wedding chapel industry and the changes he has witnessed through more than fifty years in the business.

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History Project4th Street | Prater Way

Ben Akert, Akert Market

Les Ede, Retired Sparks firefighter

Hugh Russolo, Coney Island Bar

George Flint, Owner, Chapel of the Bells

History Project
4th Street | Prater Way