The startling horn from a fire truck sounds in the early hours of the morning as the engine pulls onto Sierra Street, a two-minute drive from the station. Shortly after, the wails of a REMSA ambulance join in harmony as it emerges from Saint Mary’s Hospital.
A few regulars join in on the soundtrack like the chatter and laughter of students on a Thirsty Thursday (by far the loudest night the street experiences) and the revving of a modified Honda Civic racing down the hill at 2 a.m.
Special artists are featured on rare occasions, a memorable one being the loud crash and subsequent bang of a truck rear-ending a car and its bumper tumbling into the opposite lane. The fire truck and REMSA came together to form another classic, iconic harmony to finish out that song. Another fan favorite, at least for my neighbors, is the sudden cracks of fireworks (or at least what I hope are fireworks).
Even in the quiet mornings, the beeps of the lights on the crosswalks protect students on their way to an early lecture, which includes summermester when classes start even earlier,
A classic Dutch Bros run taking Sierra Street instead of the freeway.
Sierra Street was my favorite street in Reno when I first moved here during my freshman year. It allowed me to get from my dorm to Dutch Bros in a reasonable amount of time while avoiding the highway. Living in a small town my whole life, I had never driven on the highway before much less the horrors of the Spaghetti Bowl.
Sierra Street was comfortable, familiar, and I only managed to go the wrong way on the one-way section once—an honest mistake.
However, moving from a small town to one of the busiest streets in downtown Reno was a shock. I lived on a dirt road in my hometown, the only traffic being from my few neighbors. I rarely heard sirens from any emergency vehicles and now I live less than a mile from a hospital and a fire station.
Not to say that I did not have nosy neighbors growing up, and that the birds didn’t get pretty intense at sunrise. The streets could also get crowded in my hometown, as Sierra Street gets every morning and evening. Perhaps because the cows did not have the flashing crosswalks as we do here.
My old neighbors looked a little different than who I encounter daily on Sierra Street.
The superstition surrounding downtown Reno and the older parts of the city point to a few ghost stories. My roommates and I like to believe that our apartment complex, as well as Sierra Street itself, is haunted. There is little to no information about what existed on the property my apartment complex stands on today.
Rumor has it that there used to be a cemetery in the same exact location, which is believable because there are two others close by.
A couple of ghost stories did not mean much to us until we picked up the call phone that allows us to buzz guests in and heard creepy, mechanical laughter. At first, we thought someone was playing a trick on us at the microphone downstairs or it was the wind perhaps. Then the maintenance man mentioned that our phone has not worked in a couple of years and does not connect to anything.
We do not touch the phone anymore
The phone even looks haunted which should have been the first red flag.
Research on Sierra Street brought mostly tragedy to my attention. Hit and runs or pedestrians versus vehicle incidents over the years took up a large portion of the news coverage involving Sierra Street. The installation of the crosswalk flashing lights in the early 2000s has given drivers a great tool to help see students going to and from campus at all hours of the day.
The City of Reno also implemented a new “Pedestrian Safety Zone” on Sierra Street between Third Street and Ridge Street which lowers the speed limit to 20mph. The fines for traffic violations in this area are also doubled to encourage drivers to be safe and watch for pedestrians. This area of the city had a high number of pedestrian versus vehicle incidents which is why it became a Pedestrian Safety Zone.
The most shocking tragedy that I came across was the 1957 natural gas explosion that occurred on Sierra Street and First Street. This was caused by leaking pipes under the city and killed 2 and injured 49 others. This incident also burnt down 5 buildings.
Paterson’s Men’s Store is engulfed in flames following a gas explosion on Sierra Street in 1957. Photo via Old Reno on Facebook
Learning of the gas explosion in 1957 came right after my apartment complex experienced what could have been a similar tragedy. During the Spring semester, at one point, I was jolted from my mid-morning nap to the defeating blare of the fire alarm. A notice was slipped in our door a week prior warning of fire alarm testing in the coming days but this had already passed.
Thinking it was most likely a continuation and smelling no smoke I did not think much of it. Then the thundering of boots barreling down the hallway brought me outside to see firemen in full gear searching apartments and walkways. Two fire engines were parked in front of our complex, their sirens off but lights flashing. The silence was defeaning as confused residents tried to make sense of what was going on.
After 10 minutes they left. No explanation.
Management did not reach out to explain and no one knew really what happened. The mystery continued until I found a review on an apartment rating website that said the fire engines were there and found a gas leak. The leak had been reported but nothing was done about it so residents called 911.
Gas leaks are only the icing on the cake of chaos that is the apartment I live in on Sierra Street. Molding window frames and leaks are reported frequently and even more so now due to the wet weather Reno went through this past winter. I recently had to throw away a handful of books because they were sitting on my windowsill and started growing mold because of the horrible seal.
I will be vacating the premises and Sierra Street as a whole at the end of my lease term.