Looking Back: The Best of Each Decade

by Susan D. Rock

Looking back at Tahoe through the years and choosing the Basin's best memories is something akin to picking a favorite child. But, after wrestling with an impressive list of possibilities, we've culled a selection of places and events from the 1920s through the 1990s that we think best represent the spirit of their respective decades. And, given that family traditions run long and strong in the area, it's no surprise that names like Bliss, Pomin and Dollar are so thoroughly intertwined with Tahoe's most memorable past.

1920s: The S.S. Tahoe

Commissioned in 1894 by lumber baron turned tourism magnate Duane L. Bliss to transport passengers to his Tahoe lakeshore resorts, the S.S. Tahoe was perhaps the most elegant ship ever to sail its namesake lake. Finished with a mahogany deckhouse, brass fittings, leather upholstery and marble fixtures, the 169-foot "Queen of the Lake" was built in San Francisco, disassembled and taken in sections by train and wagon to Glenbrook, where she was reassembled and launched 2 years later.

One of several steamers to ply Lake Tahoe at the turn of last century, the ship served as a vital link for residents and visitors alike throughout the 1920s, and played a large part in establishing the business of tourism in the Basin. A lovely sight to behold with her long, lean lines and steaming stacks, the S.S. Tahoe departed every summer morning from Tahoe City's long trestle pier—the terminus for the narrow gauge railway spur Bliss built from the transcontinental railway in Truckee—loaded with passengers, mail and freight on her daily lap around The Lake.

"iremember the Tahoe," reminisces Phebe Briggs Conley, whose memories of summering at her family's lakeside estate are chronicled at the North Lake Historical Society. "It was very beautiful. When Captain Pomin (who preceded 1920s-era Captain Edmund Hunkin) was running it, and we had company, he would bring them in and let them off at our dock."

But the '20s were to be the ship's last hurrah; if the S.S. Tahoe entered the decade as the belle of the ball, she left it like an aging dowager. A road around The Lake completed mid-decade lured passengers to travel by car rather than boat, and the later loss of a lucrative mail contract, which created a financial drain, led to the steamer languishing at the Tahoe City pier, then scuttling by the Bliss family in 1940.

1930s: Tahoe Tavern

Designed by Walter Danforth Bliss for his brother Duane, and first opened in 1902, the Tahoe Tavern, a half-mile south of Tahoe City, was a handsome piece of architecture. Arriving by narrow gauge rail or steamer, and by the 1930s, automobile as well, visitors at the refined resort would find a lounge boasting a massive fireplace and antlered chandeliers supported by sturdy crossbeams and girders, a casino, bowling alley, novelty and barbershops, ballroom, tennis courts and stable.

"iremember going to lunch or dinner at the Tavern—or perhaps a tea and a fashion show on the Tavern's beautiful outdoor terrace," writes Janet Schei, recalling her Berkley family's summers at Tahoe Pines during the 1930s. "This was a dressy era at Tahoe, and one shed one's camp clothes and put on city dress and heels to go out to lunch or dinner, with men always wearing a coat and tie."

"Dancing at the Tahoe Tavern Pavilion—in formals for the girls and white jackets for the fellows"—is another memory Scheirecalls in her letter preserved at the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society. "Imagine dressing in formals at our place with only kerosene lamps and candlelight. We kept a supply of several extra white jackets for young men who would come for a visit but didn't bring the appropriate attire."

By the end of the decade, the ballroom was used as a movie theater, showing mostly war movies and westerns. And the Tavern had started staying open year-round by then, bundling guests who had traveled to Truckee on the Snowball Special train in horse-drawn sleighs to watch skiers jump on to nearby Granlibakken's Olympic Hill.

1940s: Glenbrook Inn

Surrounded by a mountain meadow and stream along with lake and forest views, during the 1940s, the Glenbrook Inn offered a delightful distraction from the fatigue of World War II.

"Glenbrook was a classic old Tahoe resort," recalls Bill Bliss, whose great grandfather, D.L., established the Inn in 1907, and whose father, Will, managed it in the '40s. "There was nothing else like it. The appeal was the wholesome simplicity of it. It was distinctly familyoriented. We even had our own dairy and vegetable gardens." Less formal than the Tahoe Tavern, the Glenbrook Inn could accommodate around 125 guests who stayed in cottages, 2 old buildings dating back to lumbering days and the original Bliss House. The dining room—coat and tie were still required—boasted a lakeview veranda. There was no gambling, and generations of families returned year after year.

The Inn struggled through war time, says Bliss, who, during that era, worked at the hotel as caddy, dishwasher and garbage man before and after his own hitch in the U.S. Navy. "It wasn't easy since a summer resort was not a priority, and able-bodied employees were in short supply." But several longtime employees too old for the service helped manage through.

One diversion during the decade was the rodeos organized by Will Bliss, who loved riding and roping. What began as a few friends practicing on cattle pastured in the surrounding meadows evolved into popular summer events frequented by both visitors and valley residents.

The Inn also attracted a glamorous crowd during the decade. Ben Hogan played the golf course and tennis champ Helen Wills Moody hit the courts. But although Clark Gable ("A nice guy," says Bliss) and Rita Hayworth both waited out divorces at the Inn, in the end, says Bliss, the Glenbrook Inn was more about just good family fun.

1950s: Speedboat Racing on The Lake

Considered by many to be the golden age of unlimited speedboat racing, during the 1950s the competition was keen and the participants larger than life, often wealthy sportsmen to whom money was no object. Lake Tahoe was one of the centers of the action, hosting contests for the coveted Gold Cup and Mapes Trophy during the summer months that decade.

Dominated by familiar local names including Stanley Dollar, Henry Kaiser and Bill Stead, the sleek hydroplane crafts with handles such as Short Snorter, Breathless and Hurricane were built with powerful aircraft engines that earned them the nickname "thunderboats." The vessels, designed to skim along the surface of the water at competitive speeds of at least 80 miles per hour, raced right off the West Shore, off Chamber's Landing, Obexer's and Sierra Boat Company.

"The races drew huge crowds, between 10,000 and 15,000 people," remembers Joe Hickingbotham, Stanley Dollar's nephew and speedboat racer of his own accord. "People would line the shore from Kaiser's place to Chamber's Landing. You couldn't get a parking spot."

"Henry Kaiser was the kind of guy who'd get sick if he lost—and he hardly ever won," says Hickingbotham. "It just infuriated him. He was always building bigger and faster boats, but they always had problems. My Uncle Stan—a crowd favorite—would figure out which boat Kaiser was going to race and would bring a competitive boat to make it more of a race."

Racing wasn't all glamorous though—it could be downright dangerous. Bill Stead's "Fury" caught fire in a test run at the 1951 Lake Tahoe Yacht Club (LTYC) Championship Regatta and capsized at the 1952 LTYC gathering. Stead suffered serious injuries in the latter mishap, including one of his lungs being pierced by his own shoulder blade.

1960s: Kings Beach Bowl—Big Time Rock Stars Play The Lake

Rock 'n' roll fever swept the nation in the '60s and, remarkably, washed up on Lake Tahoe's shores in a big way. King's Beach Bowl, an old bowling alley transformed into a cavernous hall (since replaced by the North Lake Tahoe Conference Center), was one of several venues that hosted an incredible summer series of music during the second half of the decade. For a few bucks, music lovers could listen to everything from folk, blues, rock and heavy metal performances by the likes of Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clear Water Revival, Buffalo Springfield, Iron Butterfl y, The Young Bloods, Country Joe and the Fish, Quick Silver Message Service, and Muddy Waters. A local band called The Crusades alternated with the headline acts in these shows, which were staged several times a week.

"The vibe was definitely the '60s psychedelic music scene," recalls Tahoe City resident Randy Pomin, who caught concerts at the Bowl during college summer breaks. "It was young kids having fun. People would cram in, dance, do whatever." A key component of these events was the light shows, sometimes provided by professional outfits such as Simultaneous Avalanche, a Sacramentobased group. "Someone would fl ex a colored piece of plastic in front of a projector, which would refl ect light into the room in time with the music," remembers Pomin.

While the Bowl is long gone, the era is appropriately preserved in a poster depicting a black-and-white skeleton on skis atop a blue and orange background, advertising a Grateful Dead "Trip and Ski" event for $3.50 at Kings Beach. And tapes from two of the legendary band's two 1968 shows at the Bowl were recently unearthed from a vault and released on a double CD.

1970s: Ponderosa Ranch

Throughout the 1970s, Incline's Ponderosa Ranch provided old-fashioned fun for hundreds of thousands of visitors during an era otherwise fraught with a fuel crisis, the Vietnam War and its aftermath, and a regional drought. What started out as a stable where the Bonanza TV show crew kept horses for location shoots around The Lake during the decade evolved into the show's set, as well as a theme park frequented by fans from around the world.

"We changed the name from Incline Stables to Ponderosa Ranch and charged people a whopping 50 cents admission to look around while they were filming the show," recalls Joyce Bock, cofounder and owner of the Ranch. After building the Cartwright's ranch house in 1968, the couple added additional exteriors over time for the show, which would film for two weeks in Tahoe then return to Hollywood to finish production. "They were a good group of fellas," says Bock of the cast. "iespecially liked Michael Landon. He was quite handsome and friendly."

The 550-acre property turned into a shrine of sorts when Dan Blocker, who played Hoss, passed away unexpectedly in 1972. "People were in tears," recalls Bock, who was giving tours of the ranch house the day he died. "They were so upset but so glad they were there to be close to him." Though the owners feared the worst for the Ranch since Blocker was so well liked, the actor's death actually provided a bump for the business—even though the show folded that season—as people came to pay their respects.

During the decade, the Ponderosa's western-themed attractions grew to include a general store (the former stables), saloon, blacksmith's shop, jail, stunt shows, chuck wagon canteen (home of the Hoss burger) and a much-loved hayride pancake breakfast. The Ranch closed in 2004.

1980s: John Denver Celebrity Classic at Heavenly

Tahoe was a global epicenter of winter sports during the 1980s, the birthplace of American "extreme skiing," a hotbed of the new sport of snowboarding and home to World Cup and speed skiing champions. But nothing personified the decade quite like the gatherings of the rich and famous at John Denver's Celebrity SkiClassic at Heavenly. Extremely popular with spectators and millions of TV viewers across the country, the event served as a huge promotional vehicle for the sport of skiing for ten years, as well as a fundraiser for Denver's favorite charities.

"John Denver wanted to do for skiing what Bob Hope and Bing Crosby did for golf," recalls Nancy McCoy, who worked in Heavenly's executive offices throughout those years.

Every year, Denver recruited some 30 to 40 entertainment and sports celebrities on the order of Clint Eastwood, Sonny Bono, Morgan Fairchild, Gregory Peck, Timothy Hutton, William Shatner, George Hamilton, David Soul, Sugar Ray Leonard, John Havlicek and Dan Pastorinito ham it up on the slopes. Pairing each celebrity with a professional racer, the 1990s teams skied against one another down a slalom course set up at the World Cup run on the California side.

"John was always in the finish area, out there cheering people on," says McCoy. "He really enjoyed it and was a great host." Of course, there were always plenty of antics. And for some stars, it was their first time on skis. "The celebrities had a great time, but of course didn't want to embarrass themselves, so we always assigned them an instructor-coach," she adds. A highlight was usually some gorgeous but non-skiing model being assisted (or carried) through the course by the Austrian skichampion.

Après ski, the party traditionally moved to the Harrah's Lake Tahoe showroom where Denver always put on a concert for his guests.

1990s: Presidential Forum

United State presidents have visited Lake Tahoe, but 1997 was the first time a sitting president and vice president traveled to the Basin specifically to talk about its preservation.

"It was a remarkable thing," says Rochelle Nason, executive director of the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which helped bring about the 1997 Presidential Forum attended by President Clinton and Vice President Gore, along with other federal, state and local officials. "It was very exciting and very heartening that people came together like they did. It was so inspiring, and it did a lot to build up relationships among environmental, business and property rights groups. It was a galvanizing event."

During the two-day event, Clinton and Gore spent time aboard a U.C. Davis research vessel, and the vice president participated in a discussion at the U.S. Forest Service Visitors Center at Taylor Creek in South Lake Tahoe. The Forum resulted in an executive order signed by Clinton that pledged to bring together various federal and regional agencies to protect the Lake Tahoe area. The president also promised to return 350 acres to the Washoe Indians for their use and provide them land for a cultural center and lakefront access.

The Forum launched a 10-year, $908 million environmental improvement program and annual summit to discuss its progress. (To date, more than half of the monies have been spent on 269 improvement projects and 9,100 private parcel projects focusing on air and water quality, erosion control, recreation, wildlife habitat and scenic areas.)

Looking Ahead

Who will shape Lake Tahoe's history and take honors for best of the first decade of the new millennium? The Tahoe Rim Trail? The Tahoe Celebrity Golf American Century Championship? South Shore's redevelopment? We have three more years to find out.