The Nugget in Sparks Was Built Under Interstate 80

Is there a casino in the Reno area with support columns for Interstate 80 on the casino floor? Was the casino open during construction and how long did construction last?

No and yes. No, it's a little more complicated than the question implies. But yes, it's the Nugget in Sparks.

The two tower hotel-casino at the east end of the Reno-Sparks skyline started out in 1955 as a 60-seat coffee shop on the north side of B Street in downtown Sparks (now Victorian Avenue). It was opened by Dick Graves, an Idaho hotel magnate, one of four Nuggets he opened in the mid- to late '50s (in Reno, Carson City, and Yerington).

John Ascuaga, who put himself through college by working as a bellman in one of Graves' Idaho hotels, was appointed general manager of the Sparks Nugget. Graves retired in 1960 and sold the Nugget to Ascuaga.

Business was good. Three years later, the Nugget moved to a new building on the other side of B Street and Ascuaga opened Trader Dick's, an ersatz Polynesian restaurant, in the old Nugget building. By 1965, the Nugget Motor Lodge, Nugget Inn, and a small meeting center had been built.

In the early 1970s, when Interstate 80 was cutting a wide swath through downtown Sparks (and downtown Reno), it threatened to put a halt to the Nugget's further expansion. Ascuaga negotiated with federal and state highway departments and came away with a long-term lease on the space beneath the freeway. Subsequently, the Nugget expanded right around the overpass' support pillars. So yes, there are support columns in the Nugget casino. But no, the casino itself itsn't supporting the freeway. Still, it makes the Nugget the only casino we know of that has such a, shall we say, intimate relationship with a superhighway.

By the way, a pad was built over I-80 a little later, in the 1980s, on North Virginia Street just north of downtown Reno that was earmarked for a small casino. Had it been built, it would've probably been the only casino supported by a freeway. Instead, a Walgreens was built on the pad in the 1990s and has been there even since.

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Dan McGlasson Jun-19-2020

Reno Walgreens

If you are in Reno and go to that Walgreens, you can feel it vibrate from the movement of traffic around and directly beneath it.  It is an experience!

Dave Jun-19-2020

Wind Creek, PA

While not a highway, Wind Creek, formerly Sands, has a four lane boulevard over part of the building. The casino is on one side, the hotel and event center on the other. The road is above part of the food court and back of house area. 

Google Maps satellite and street view shows that one support column is in the building, however since it’s not visible to patrons, it’s either in the back of house area, or the building is wrapped around it. 

However, since I have no idea how long it’s been that way, and considering who the former occupant was (Bethlehem Steel Works), is wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the Infrastructure of the support is part of the building.

Question of the Day - 19 June 2020

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