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. Photo by Patrick Cummings
Full Oral History TranscriptChapel of the Bells owner George Flint recalls what inspired him to open the popular wedding chapel in Reno. Interviewed in 2013 by Will von Tagen.
Chapel of the Bells owner George Flint explains how his ministerial training sets him apart from most wedding chapel operators in Nevada. Interviewed in 2013 by Will von Tagen.
John Mayer’s great-grandparents on his mother’s side arrived in Sparks in the 1890s, while his father’s parents moved there with the relocation of the Southern Pacific railroad shops from Wadsworth. Mayer vividly describes growing up in Sparks in the 1940s and 1950s. He taught for the Washoe County School District, and served for seventeen years on the Sparks City Council and the Board of the Regional Transportation Commission, which named the new RTC Centennial Plaza after him in 2009.
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Spencer Hobson was born in Reno, where his grandfather, Antonio Bevilacqua, emigrated from Italy. His family members owned several casino properties, including Virginia City’s Frontier Club and Reno’s Overland and Riverside Hotels. Spencer owns the Reno Brewing Company bottling plant building on East 4th Street, which his father purchased in 1956 after the brewery closed. He also discusses Reno’s Italian community and the urban renewal project that targeted homes north of East 4th Street in the 1960s.
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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.
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