Nevada Trivia & Tidbits

—The two-story, brick-fronted Eureka Opera House in Eureka, located in Eureka County (pop. 1,651), was built over the site where, in 1879, the Odd Fellows Hall burned down. The opera house opened on New Year’s Eve 1880 for a costume ball and added movies to its offerings in 1915. The building retains many original features, including its horseshoe balcony.

—Built in 1861 as the head office of the Chollar Gold & Silver Mining Co., the Chollar Mansion in Virginia City now offers bed and breakfast accommodations and features some original fixtures, including a 164-square-foot arched vault that once stored gold bullion and a paymaster’s booth at which miners drew their pay each month.

—The Adams House, a 1922 Craftsman-style bungalow in Carson City (pop. 52,457), was supposed to be demolished, but a successful appeal from historical groups saw the building restored and reopened in 2000. Today, the structure is home to the Carson-Tahoe Regional Healthcare Foundation. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

—Women’s fashions from the 18th century to the present day can be found in Carson City (pop. 52,457) at the Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Research Center. Named for Russell, who served as the state’s first lady in the 1950s, the facility is a study center for understanding historic costumes and features more than a dozen inaugural ball gowns worn by Nevada’s first ladies. Its 10,000 artifacts also include quilts, children’s wear, flags, and military and men’s wear.

—Whistlin’ Billy debuted at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City (pop. 52,457) in 2005. Designed by volunteer Loren Jahn to be a hands-on display that children could climb on and play in while learning about the state’s railroad history, the interactive locomotive was modeled after an engine from the Eureka Mill Railroad and comes with its own fictional legend.

—One of the state’s first archeological excavations took place in 1912 at Lovelock Cave near Lovelock (pop. 2003), after bat guano miners discovered historical artifacts. University of California employee L.L. Loud excavated the cave that year, returning in 1924 with archeologist Mark Harrington to complete his work. The cave produced 10,000 objects, including duck and goose decoys, and is among Nevada’s most significant archeological sites.

—Champion eater Joey Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif., won first place in the Best in the West Nugget World Rib Eating Championship in Sparks in August by eating 7 pounds of St. Louis-style ribs in 12 minutes. The competition helped to launch the 19th-annual Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-Off, hosted by John Ascuaga’s Nugget, a local hotel and casino.

—Inspired by the movie Calendar Girls, 18 women—ranging in age from their 40s to their 80s—from Carson City (pop. 52,457) have posed for photographs that will appear in the 2008 Carson Calendar Girls calendar. Organizers launched the project to raise money for the daughter of one of the ladies when she began to face mounting medical bills due to cancer. More than 150 precise measurements of a celebrity’s body, hands and face are needed to create their double in wax for the Madame Tussauds Interactive Wax Attraction in Las Vegas. The attraction features more than 100 figures, which can take several months to make, and offers visitors the opportunity to “marry” George Clooney and hold Elvis Presley’s hand as he speaks to them.

—Las Vegas developer Arnold Stalk has come up with a way to transform steel shipping containers—the kind that container ships, trains and trucks carry—into “Instant-Built Houses.” The containers incorporate solar power, windows and skylights, and can be used to provide affordable housing and disaster relief housing, and serve as sites for medical clinics, crisis centers and childcare centers for areas coping with emergencies.

—The concrete shell-shaped lobby of the 1960s-era La Concha Motel in Las Vegas was saved from demolition last year when sufficient money was donated to relocate the structure, designed by architect Paul Revere Williams. The lobby, which was cut into eight pieces for the move, will form the new visitor’s center for Las Vegas’ Neon Museum.

—An advertising campaign for the Nevada Commission on Tourism that featured Wayne Newton fly-fishing in Pyramid Lake, Las Vegas showgirls skiing at Lake Tahoe and Elvis impersonators riding mountain bikes in Lamoille Canyon won 36 advertising awards, including 33 from the American Advertising Federation, earlier this year. Created by Reno-based DRGM Advertising, the campaign highlights both the “neon” and the “natural” attractions in the state.

—Ancient rock carvings known as petroglyphs at Hickison Summit, in Lander County (pop. 5,794), mark a site where prehistoric hunters may have ambushed migratory deer herds. The summit is now a U.S. Bureau of Land Management recreation area that includes picnic facilities and walking trails to the petroglyph panels, which feature animals and symbols.

—In the spring, nearly 300 volunteers from the Tourism Cares for America organization arrived in Virginia City in Storey County (pop. 3,399) for a one-day restoration blitz that included projects at Piper’s Opera House, St. Mary’s in the Mountains Catholic Church, St. Mary’s Art Center, a 1916 caboose and more. The nonprofit Tourism Cares organization holds this blitz annually in different locations.

—Zero Gravity Corp. offers 90-minute flights from Las Vegas that let passengers experience the zero-gravity feel of space in a padded “floating zone” that’s similar to training for NASA astronauts. The company’s Boeing 727 aircraft—known as G-Force One—is FAA-approved to go through parabolic climbing and diving maneuvers that create temporary weightlessness.

—Named for former District Court judge, boxing referee and television personality Mills Lane, the Mills B. Lane Justice Center opened in Reno last year to house the Reno Municipal Court and Washoe County District Attorney’s Office. Lane was the referee for 102 championship boxing matches, including the 1997 fight in which he disqualified Mike Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield.

The Governors Mansion in Carson City (pop. 52,457) is the site of an annual fund-raiser for two institutions: the Nevada State Museum, which celebrates the state’s natural and cultural heritage, and the W.M. Keck Earth Science and Mineral Engineering Museum, which showcases artifacts from the Comstock and other Nevada mining districts. The fund-raiser—the Tin Cup Tea and Chuck Wagon BBQ—is held in September.

—One of the state’s best-preserved Pony Express stations is located near Sand Mountain in Churchill County (pop. 23,982). Sand Springs, which has some of its original walls, was visited by the 19th-century explorer and author Sir Richard Burton in the fall of 1860. He mentions Sand Springs in his diary, describing the harsh living conditions at the station.

—Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the chef duo known as the Too Hot Tamales on the Food Network, opened their Border Grill restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in 1999. Specializing in the foods and flavors of Mexico, the restaurant is a sister location for the chefs’ original Border Grill in Santa Monica, Calif.

—Founded by Archibald Skillman, the Eureka Sentinel newspaper was published in the Eureka Sentinel Newspaper Building from 1879 to 1960. Today, the building in downtown Eureka (pop. 1,651) houses a museum that features the newspaper’s complete press room from the 1800s, including walls plastered with posters printed by the Sentinel.

—The Boulder Dam Hotel in Boulder City (pop. 14,966) was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Built in the early 1930s to serve government officials and project managers supervising the construction of the Hoover Dam, the Dutch Colonial-style hotel became popular with celebrities and politicians, and now is a bed-and-breakfast inn.