John Mayer, Retired teacher, Sparks

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. Photo by Patrick Cummings

Full Oral History Transcript

John Mayer explains how he was at the 1942 dedication of the Deer Park Pool, which his mother attended while pregnant with him. Recorded by Alicia Barber.

Lifelong Sparks resident John Mayer remembers buying penny candy at the Rock Cave grocery on the corner of 15th Street and Prater Way in the 1950s. Recorded by Alicia Barber.

Sparks native John Mayer remembers participating in Jack's Carnival as a child. The carnival and parade originally served as a fundraiser for the hot lunch program in the Sparks schools. Recorded by Alicia Barber.

Dick Belaustegui, Retired engineer

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.

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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.

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Spencer Hobson, Hobson Square

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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History Project4th Street | Prater Way

John Mayer, Retired teacher, Sparks

Dick Belaustegui, Retired engineer

Ben Akert, Akert Market

Spencer Hobson, Hobson Square

History Project
4th Street | Prater Way