An arrow on an old sign for the Overland Stagecoach pointed from Genoa toward Carson City. Nevada’s capital was in the same direction as the listings for Adams, Dayton, Virginia City, and Reno. Van Sickle Station, Edgewood, Meyers, and the ominously-named Hangtown were signposted in the other direction.
The sign was on the brick building, which was named, more than 140 years ago, Fettic’s Exchange. It was a “gentleman’s saloon” allowing no rough stuff or excessive drinking, through Nevada’s oldest thirst parlor, still operating now as Old Genoa Bar, seemed like a suitable spot for both of those.
It was worn, woolly, and felt like the set of a Western movie, with a boudoir painting over the bar, a big buffalo head up in the corner, dusty bottles of whiskey and various unrecognizable potions, and eye-catching classic clutter of decades.
No excessive drinking this afternoon, though, for me, though. Slurping suds would have been fine before boarding a stagecoach, but it was a lot easier and smoother for my compadre Cuthbert and me to roll into Carson City in our crossover SUV rental car.
I presume the car had better suspension and more horsepower than the horse-drawn stagecoaches, which, in 1883, took the same rural route we would, but without cruise control.
Federal Hotel First
With no fuss and easy access, Cuthbert and I parked our horseless carriage and rolled our luggage just a few feet from the parking lot into Carson City’s Federal Hotel. (Moments later, I would notice a painting of a horse straddled by the legs of a cowboy on the wall of my guestroom.)
The Federal Hotel, with casino slots and video games, bars, restaurants and a stage with live entertainment all visible from the lobby, felt like fun, and it was. Each evening, the main bar was full of locals and guests dancing to the live bands and drinking on the house if they managed to play video poker, keno, blackjack, or any of the other bar-top games ringing the raised stage. If not, drink prices were friendly, as was the cozy size of the hopping hotel.
As I alluded to with the adjacent self-parking, the Federal Hotel was absent the stress of a Las Vegas casino hotel with its manic valet parking, tip-hungry bellmen, soaring room rates, and half-mile walk to your guest room with no coffeemakers. A half-mile walk in Carson City will put you across town.
Winding Down With Wine
Our evening walk was a three-block stroll to a festive commercial square with coffee shops, cafes, an ice cream store, and an outdoor stage. In Italy, it would be called a piazza, which may be why the upscale wine bar-style restaurant Cuthbert and I dined in was named that.
Piazza’s exposed, white-brick walls were complemented by a wine library, which, like a mural, covered the entire back of the restaurant, displaying the bountiful bottles racked and ready.
Spoiler alert: the menu is creative and classy. Small plates included buffalo potstickers, Ahi Poke, a curry chicken lettuce wrap, and more, while the menu’s “plates to share” section offered classic cheese fondue, house-made hummus, and a charcuterie sampler in addition to escargot and pecan-crusted brie.
If that’s not diverse enough for you, Piazza’s caviar special is royal ossetra from Iperia Caviar. They’re famed for their flatbreads. And the mains are mainly the standard steak and fish dishes you might also desire, with the lamb pops, goldilocks sliders, and short ribs to tempt diners beyond the bouillabaisse.
After dinner, the Carson Street walk back to the Federal Hotel offered man-made and natural scenery. The view back up the street, past the hotel and the popular Nashville Social Restaurant across the street, which also offers live entertainment and dancing, rises a panorama of a snow-capped mountain range.
Legislature Building
Equally snowy white was what we spotted right across the street, the startling accent lighting of the stately Nevada Legislature Building. The bright white uplighting of the three-story statehouse and its Great Seal, dome, columns and old-fashioned clock glowed like one of the prominent, eye-candy icons of the Las Vegas Strip.
The Legislature building, one of Nevada’s other important-but-pleasant-looking administrative buildings – the attorney general, secretary of state, supreme court, etc., are grouped throughout a center-city campus of a few blocks.
Capitol Building
Nevada’s legislators serve part-time, but we found the actual Capitol building open to visitors, with a colorful, cowboy hat-wearing docent named Gene Dunker giving tours on a Saturday morning. Like many state capitol buildings, the inside is full of portraits of historical figures, and the actual offices of the Governor and some of his staff.
I loved the authentic sound of the floor creaking and at the center of the building, on the main floor, is a life-sized statue of Sarah Winnemucca (1844-1891), a prominent Northern Paiute educator and activist for Native Americans.
An upstairs room at one end of the building houses Battle Born Hall, the bright, festive Nevada State Museum exhibits at which visitors, at no charge, can memorialize their visit by stamping the official seal on a souvenir card.
Unlike the Romanesque legislature building, the Nevada Capitol Building is a historic, red brick building like you’d expect to see in Virginia, with a white dome peeking up through the wooded block it occupies.
The green lawn and shade of the big trees surrounding the building in the middle of a desert mountain town are so very pleasant. We spotted a student in a cap and gown, being posed by her mother and a photographer, on the Capitol steps for her graduation photos. It was a charming, patriotic moment.
Fearing being accidental photo bombers, Cuthbert and I moved over to linger near another piece of patriotism: the epic, larger-than-life statue of a bearded miner swinging his pick-axe high above his head like Tiger Woods with a golf club. (Tiger struck gold on the PGA Tour, but he would have had a tough time steering a golf ball through all the surrounding trees!)
Nearing Noon – Time for a Treat
Next, we spotted another larger-than-life Carson City icon: the statue of Cactus Jack’s “Howdy!” The colorful cartoon cowboy, who, at night, is neon-lit, looms large over Carson Street atop Cactus Jack’s Casino, clutching a handful of green money stamped “Howdy.”
From his red vest under his black, tailed coat hangs a string of pendants in the shapes of a spade, heart, club and diamond. Howdy has been up there for more than 50 years. He is a white-haired, handlebar mustachioed, cowboy-hatted charmer, with the weathered, welcoming gravitas the casino also exudes.
We happily sidled up at the casino’s bar for a few breakfast beers, since Tee Jay’s Corner Café, inside Cactus Jack’s Casino, was not yet opened for the day. (At least that’s the excuse Cuthbert and I used. Naturally, we played bar-top video poker, so the Pabst Blue Ribbons were courtesy of Cactus Jack, but we tipped well.)
We did have a peek at Tee Jay’s Corner Café, which is a countertop diner featuring, among diner staples, Indonesian street food. (I am not making that up.)
Across the street from Howdy, Carson Nugget Casino has six pool tables up front between a vintage old-fashioned and a replica Batmobile from the 1966 television series starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader. The Nugget, when we were there, was touting an upcoming show featuring comedian and actor Tom Arnold, the former Mr. Roseanne Barr.
Cactus Jack vs. Kit Carson
Perhaps a more genteel way of getting your steps in is to cobble along Carson City’s 2.5-mile Kit Carson Trail, named for the famous frontiersman. The walk wanders right through the capital’s historic west side neighborhood, revealing 50 landmarks, including museums and churches, among the 1800s Victorian-style homes.
For Cuthbert and me, the trail was also a good way to work up a thirst for another Carson City historic stop, the Fox Restaurant and Brew Pub. The warm, lively, indoor and outdoor spot is a 19th-century charmer and National Historical Landmark because it is housed in what was the St. Charles Hotel, built in 1862.
One of the pub’s most charming features was servers Ariel and Bri. Bri gave us local sightseeing advice while Ariel coached me on my Spanish language efforts. She also explained that while most people think of the Little Mermaid when they hear her name, Ariel, the name actually means Jerusalem.
“Bri and Ariel are really two of our best – fun, knowledgeable, and genuine ambassadors for both The Fox and Carson City,” Fox’s owner Jim Phalan told me. He is an award-winning entrepreneur who specializes in restoring historic properties.
Read more of Michael Patrick’s work at The Travel Tattler and contact him at MShiels@aol.com. Order his book Travel Tattler – Less Than Torrid Tales at https://amzn.to/3Qm9FjN
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