The annual holiday tree lighting in Kings Beach will be Dec. 6 from 5-7pm at the North Tahoe Event Center.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be attending.
The North Tahoe School Jazz Band and Tahoe Music Institute students will be performing holiday classics.
The Friends of the Library are hosting a book swap so bring any new or used books to swap. There will also be several holiday crafts for kids.
The state of Nevada’s official moon rocks, brought back to Earth by astronauts in the Apollo moon-landing missions, will be on display at UNR’s W.M. Keck Museum. The public is invited to the unveiling of the exhibit Dec. 13 at 4pm.
The Keck Museum is in the historic Mackay School of Mines Building at the north end of the quad. Its new extraterrestrial rock exhibit will include meteorites found in Nevada and tektites, gravel-sized natural glass formed by the impact of large meteorites on Earth’s surface.
Circa 1940
Photo/U.S. Geological Survey
Circa 1959
Photo/ Lake Tahoe Historical Society
2012
Photo/Google Earth
The circa 1959 (my best estimate) photo shows highways 50 and 89 while the junction was still a Y just before Lake Tahoe Boulevard connected (about 1960) and made it a four-way intersection in South Lake Tahoe.
The large empty lot at top was the 1940s site of the local school house. That building was moved and now is the Carpenters’ Union Hall on Young Street. Later on that corner became a Safeway supermarket and an adjoining five-and-dime store in the building now occupied by T.J. Maxx.
The diagonal building at the right of the Y included Lampson’s Market and a two-pump 76 gas station. That site became Lampson Plaza and then Factory Stores at the Y.
Across the street at left was the Tahoe Sierra Market and other small businesses where the large South Y Center (Raley’s, etc.) now stands.
The Y really hasn’t been a Y for more than 50 years, but it’s locally ingrained. We have South Y Center, South Y Fireplace, South Y Lodge, South Y Shops & Storage, and Factory Stores at the Y. In the early 1970s, a local disc jockey (“Little” Tommy Allen) tried to campaign for remarketing the Y as the Tahoe Valley Plus (+).
Many a tourist has asked, “Where is your YMCA?”
— Bill Kingman
Dustin La Chapelle, from left, Conner Alexander, Fire Chief Gareth Harris
Photo/Provided
Lake Valley Fire Protection District swore in two apprentice firefighter-paramedics during this month.
The new employees – Conner Alexander and Dustin La Chapelle – were given the oath of office by board President Dave Huber.
The apprentices will assume full duties as working firefighter-paramedics.
Alexander was born in South Lake Tahoe and graduated from the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy in 2007. He worked for the Fallen Leaf Fire Department before joining Lake Valley.
La Chapelle has been in Tahoe since the age of 6 and attended the fire academy at Butte College. Prior to being hired by Lake Valley he served at Pioneer Fire Protection District as a captain.
Expect the roads in California to be about as congested as they were last Thanksgiving.
Word from AAA is there will be a 0.04 percent decline in the number of people traveling Nov. 28-Dec. 1 for the four-day holiday. This equates to about 5.1 million people traveling 50 miles or more. Most of those will be on the roads — 4.4 million.
Others will be getting to their destinations by plane, train or boat.
• The River Ranch near Alpine Meadows is for sale. Asking price is $5 million.
• For its notable economic and environmental efforts, Snow Creek Stream environment zone restoration in North Lake Tahoe earned the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision Platinum award.
• “Selfie” is the word of the year, according to Oxford Dictionaries.
• After completing 700 hours of intensive training to become Nevada peace officers, 36 recruits graduated from the Northern Nevada Law Enforcement Academy this week. The graduating class includes 27 from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, six from the Reno Police Department, two from UNR Police Department and one from the Sparks Police Department.
• Bryce Schussel, 2000 Whittell High grad, is in his eighth year as head athletic trainer at San Francisco State. The university featured him in this story.
Nevada Division of State Lands is offering grants for projects that will preserve and restore the natural environment of the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Approximately $350,000 generated from the purchase of Nevada Lake Tahoe license plates will be available to public agencies seeking funding. Proposals which include the implementation of capital improvement projects that further the attainment of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency environmental thresholds will be prioritized in this funding cycle.
Applications are due Jan. 31 at 5pm. Proposals selected for funding can expect to be notified in May.
For more info, call (775) 684.2720.
The Douglas County Public Library in Minden and Zephyr Cove will be closed Nov. 28-29 for Thanksgiving.
Both libraries will close at 5pm Nov 27.
The Minden library will resume its regular schedule on Nov. 30 at 10am. The Zephyr Cove library will reopen Nov. 30 at 9am.
For more info, call (775) 782.9841.
Weidinger Public Relations won four awards from the Public Relations Society of American, Sierra Nevada Chapter.
The Silver Spike designation is the highest honor from the chapter and identifies outstanding achievement, far-reaching client results, and high standards for quality of work and ethics.
The Stateline agency received awards for each of its four entries: two Silver Spikes and two Awards of Excellence.
Three awards were for projects for the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority and one for Tahoe Transportation District, including the American Century Championship, Incline Gateway, Operation Sierra Storm, and Redevelopment Renaissance.
• Live Violence Free is no longer providing food distribution at its South Lake Tahoe office. The agency is facilitating distribution of food, clothing, and other basic need items at the American Legion, at 2748 Lake Tahoe Blvd. Food distribution will take place every Wednesday from 10am-12:30pm.
• Rabbi Mordey Richler and his wife, Shaina, have opened Chabad of Lake Tahoe at 1898 Venice Drive in South Lake Tahoe. They offer Shabbat and holiday services, Torah study classes, women’s circle, kids’ club and teen program. They also offer a kosher takeout menu, preparing foods for Shabbat dinner and other holiday meals in their kitchen. For more info, go online or call (530) 314.7677.
• Peter Strand is now president of Sierra Sotheby’s International Realty.
• Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Michael Stainer, 50, of El Dorado Hills as director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Division of Adult Institutions.
• El Dorado County will not be offering the free bus service through Apple Hill next year because it didn’t improve traffic. The bus was caught in all the traffic, too, and that didn’t make people happy.