Dick Belaustegui grew up in a diverse neighborhood on Eureka Street, just north of East 4th Street, in the 1940s and 1950s. His father, Bonifacio “Bunny” Belaustegui, an ironworker, worked for Martin Iron Works, Macauley Iron Works, and Reno Iron Works. Dick worked at Pinky’s Market on East 4th Street as a young man. An electrical engineer, he worked for IBM and later, the University of Nevada, Reno. Photo by Patrick Cummings
Full Oral History TranscriptInterviewed in 2012, Dick Belaustegui recalls working in Pinky's Market on East 4th Street as a young man. Recorded by Emerson Marcus.
Interviewed in 2012, Dick Belaustegui recalls the diversity of his childhood neighborhood near East 4th Street and the many ethnic groups that attended Orvis Ring Elementary School together. Recorded by Emerson Marcus.
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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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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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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