A Country Club Beginning
Reno’s Hidden Valley neighborhood is aptly named. Tucked from view among the desert foothills of the Virginia Range, the enclave of homes was built around a private golf and country club begun over 60 years ago by four prominent Reno business owners: Link Piazzo, Emmett Saviers, William Kottinger, Sr., and Del Machabee. Piazzo owned a local sporting goods store with his brother Chet, and flew B-25 bombers in World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was a well-known philanthropist in town (as well as the original “voice of the Wolf Pack”) and lived in Hidden Valley until his death, at age 95, in 2014.
Construction of the private golf course and clubhouse on 900-acres of the former Birbeck Ranch began in 1956, and the country club was completed in 1958, with a few houses under construction on Piping Rock drive. There were problems with early infrastructure, and poor water quality led to a moratorium on building in the subdivision for eight years. A 1958 Reno Evening Gazette article un-ironically marveled at the building a luxurious green golf course in the Nevada desert, touting, “…one of the most elaborate water supply and underground irrigation systems ever installed in the west.” A 1971 article in the Gazette announced that trenching work had started for electricity, telephone, and gas lines to serve around 600 lots in the subdivision — the deed restrictions at the time required the building residences of at least 1500 square feet.
The Hidden Valley Country Club has a private gated golf course and social club. Photos by Mark Maynard
“Hidden” Geography
There are only two ways in and out of Hidden Valley from the greater Reno-Sparks area. Mira Loma Boulevard connects to McCarran Boulevard on the south end of the neighborhood, and Pembroke Drive enters the north end (when Pembroke crosses McCarran it becomes Rock Boulevard). From the south end of Reno, Hidden Valley is obscured from sight by a small series of desert hills just east of Rattlesnake Mountain. On its western flank, Hidden Valley is surrounded by a moat-like series of waterways: Steamboat Creek winds its way northward to the Truckee River out of Little Washoe Lake, and Dry Creek and Boynton Slough wrap in a semi-circle around the approach from Pembroke Drive. In wet years, the slough and creek have been known to flood, forcing some Hidden Valley residents to navigate their streets by kayak.
On the eastern flank of Hidden Valley is the large Hidden Valley Regional Park, part of the Washoe County park system. It has a horse arena, tennis and pickle ball courts, a volleyball court, and two childrens’ playgrounds. There is also a dog park named after one of the Hidden Valley founders, Link Piazzo, and my favorite feature, over five miles of well-marked trails.
On July 6, 2018, the Veterans Parkway opened connecting south Reno to Sparks along the western edge of Hidden Valley. The parkway was largely unpopular with long-time residents of Hidden Valley who often opposed its construction in public meetings, and the Hidden Valley Nextdoor pages still feature complaints of traffic noise, speeding, and street-racing on the parkway. Residents can access the parkway at both Mira Loma and Pembroke, and with its completion, it has shortened commute times significantly from Hidden Valley, reducing the drive downtown to 15 minutes depending on traffic, and providing easier access to both Interstate 80 and Interstate 580/395.
Hidden Valley Regional Park rises behind Hidden Valley. The hill in the center obscures the neighborhood from south Reno. Rattlesnake Mountain is at the left hand side, the Carson Range beyond. Photo by Mark Maynard
A Varied Mix of Street Names, Home-styles, and Developments
In the 60+ years since the golf course was developed in the heart of Hidden Valley, the neighborhood and the country club itself have become far more separate entities. Unlike many suburban public golf courses, Hidden Valley Country Club is completely encircled by a cyclone fence, discouraging neighbors from walking on the links in the evening or early morning hours before the course is open. Only members can dine at the club’s two restaurants, use the pool, tennis and pickleball courts, and the course itself. And while some long-time residents can be seen driving between the club and neighborhood homes in their golf carts, the $22,5000 initiation fee and $605 monthly dues put membership out of reach for all but the most affluent residents (though some must be tempted by the $148.75 monthly “social” membership that increases 2% annually, and still includes a $1000 initiation fee).
While Hidden Valley is often referred to as a monolithic development, the neighborhood was actually built over several decades and by multiple companies and individuals, resulting in a variety of styles, and differing covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) in various parts of the neighborhood. In fact, Hidden Valley comprises various developments including Carnelian Point, Hidden Green Point, Hidden Valley Cove (justifying its nautical theme by abutting a small golf course pond), Chukar Run, and the curiously named Satellite Lands.
Vistas to the east include the Virginia Range (left) and to the west, the city of Reno and Peavine beyond (right). Photos by Mark Maynard
Plusses and Drawbacks
The Kansas City Star columnist and newspaper editor Bill Vaughn once quipped “suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” Fortunately, Hidden Valley didn’t suffer that fate on either count.
Being one of the oldest developed neighborhoods on the southeast side of the Truckee Meadows, Hidden Valley has a density of older deciduous and evergreen trees to rival the costlier old Southwest neighborhoods of Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s seminal Reno novel City of Trembling Leaves. The leafy shade and fall colors were one of the initial draws of the neighborhood when my wife and I moved to Hidden Valley in 2016.
The street names are another matter. As the area developed, it was clear that the golf theme was soon overtaken by the area’s connection to horses, and several streets honor famous racehorses (Man O’War, Silky Sullivan), then transition into horse-related literature (Sleepy Hollow), British locales (North and South Southmoor, often a source of confusion for delivery drivers), and famous Scottish golf links (Saint Andrews). Apparently out of horse and golf-related streets, developers included the Potowotami name for “marsh” (and a Chicago suburb) — Skokie, a midwestern indigenous tribe (Shawnee), and a drab olive color (Piping Rock), all within a few block radius.
While some of the more recently built subdivisions are familiar tract-style homes (various drab shades of stucco exteriors, a handful of exterior elevations and floor plans, and expensive, “enthusiastic” homeowners’ associations) the bulk of Hidden Valley developed in the 1960s-1980s is free of restrictions on style, size, height, color, landscaping, parking, and RV-storage, something the local “community alliance” takes great pride in on their website.
There are both plusses and drawbacks to a lack of CC&Rs. While no one surreptitiously reports their neighbors to a politburo of elected association enforcers, the lack of an HOA means that I can’t see the lights of downtown Reno from my second-story bedroom window. My house was built in 1977, and my back neighbor’s went up in 1997, and thus their second-story blocks our view leaving only the lights of the Grand Sierra Resort and The Atlantis unobstructed by their lofty cathedral ceiling.
A variety of styles and materials can be found: ranch, Tahoe, colonial, Spanish, Tudor, brick, stucco, wood and more. Photos by Mark Maynard
A Location Manager’s Dream
If Hidden Valley were in Los Angeles, I have no doubt that every film and television location scout would have the neighborhood and its houses well-scoped. Because of the lack of an HOA in the central part of the neighborhood, most of the houses have been custom-built over the decades and have taken on a variety of materials, styles, and sizes. In a leisurely drive up and down cul-de-sacs and quiet streets, you can find Spanish-style, ranch-style, Tudor, contemporary, Tahoe-style, colonial, cabin, and modernist. A recent addition to the hills on the east side of Hidden Valley has the look of a Bond-villain lair, perched alone on a hilltop overlooking the neighborhood rather than the lights of the city. In addition, there are two distinct vistas from the neighborhood — to the west are Slide Mountain, Mount Rose, Rattlesnake Mountain, the lights of downtown Reno and Sparks, and Peavine. To the east is are the rugged Virginia Range foothills, rocky peaks and canyons that rise abruptly from the desert floor on public, undeveloped land.
A house displays a peace sign, American flag and pride flag. Photo by Mark Maynard
Community, Politics, and Lifestyle
Hidden Valley is large enough to have its own elementary school (students are also zoned for Pine Middle School and Wooster High School) and while some like to call it a “town within a town” it is a true suburb, without so much as a corner store, a single bar or restaurant, post office, house of worship or other such municipal trappings (though the Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue Station 37 operates out of a newly converted home on Hidden Valley Drive while they prepare to haul away the mobile home that has housed it for years).
As one might expect of a neighborhood where many homeowners are older retirees, the lawn signs during elections skew heavily Republican, and it does not take long to find a “Let’s Go Brandon” bumper sticker in a Hidden Valley driveway. About 60% of the voting precinct voted for Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombaro in the 2022 election, while roughly 54% voted for Republican senatorial candidate Adam Laxalt over his incumbent Democratic opponent.
In 2019, a house at the Mira Loma entrance into Hidden Valley included a large lit peace sign as part of their annual holiday display. In January 2020, the homeowners returned from a trip and took down their decorations, including the peace sign. Later, when sorting through their mail, they found an anonymous letter that read “I would really appreciate it if you would take that eye sore[sic] peace sign down. I am tired of looking at it every time I drive down the street.” The homeowner posted on the Hidden Valley Nextdoor that “The peace sign is going back up today because we do not want this Grinch to think that their hateful note is the reason the peace sign was taken down.” The sign has remained up ever since.
The same house has been displaying a pride flag on a flagpole below an American flag of late. According to a recent Nextdoor post, on January 22nd, the owners awoke to discover the flag had been stolen and the house egged (the American flag was left untouched). The flag was replaced by the owners soon after, and is still flying next to the peace sign.
Volunteers direct traffic around wild horses (left). A wild horse interrupts a dog-walk (right). Photos by Mark Maynard
Polarizing Horses
Perhaps the most polarizing issue in the Hidden Valley neighborhood is one of its most unique. Because of its proximity to the regional open space and the Virginia Range foothills beyond, Hidden Valley is home to several groups of wild horses (because they aren’t in a Bureau of Land Management area, they are officially deemed “feral” horses in Hidden Valley).
Depending on the amount of feed in the neighborhood (as well as the conditions of fences and gates that surround Hidden Valley) wild horses will sometimes wander around the streets and yard in small bands. While some neighbors are pro-horse (there are even volunteers that put on orange vests in the summer and direct traffic around apathetic horses in the street) others are anti-horse, and their anger ranges from surrounding their lawns with ropes and other equine-deterrents, to chasing the horses in golf carts and otherwise harassing them.
I saw this tension come to a head in January, 2021. A group was hired to round up and transport a group of wild horses that had been in the neighborhood and the horses were temporarily penned on the clubhouse lawn. One neighbor was yelling at the horses to run away because — he speculated — they were being hauled off to a rendering plant. Another neighbor began yelling at him to shut up. The confrontation quickly escalated to death threats and just as the men nearly came to blows, a Washoe County Sheriff’s deputy moved in and separated them.
Hidden Valley’s annual Parade of Lights is a Reno holiday tradition for many families. Photos by Mark Maynard
Lights Bring the Neighborhood Together Every Year
One of the most unifying events in the neighborhood is the annual Hidden Valley Parade of Lights. From December through the end of January, the yards and homes are crowned in elaborate, themed light displays. Almost anything goes as neighbors engage in friendly competition to see who can come up with the most creative, over-the-top presentations: miles of lights, animated characters, computer-programmed shows synched to music, custom-built figurines, and live Santas in front windows and on front-yard thrones. A group of judges announces winners every year, and there are multiple collection bins for a neighborhood food drive for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.
Local wildlife include foxes (left) coyotes (center) and owls (right). Photos by Mark Maynard
A Wild Oasis in View of the City Lights
Due to a variety of factors — a lack of through traffic on its streets, no street lights, expansive tree and ground cover, and its proximity to wetlands, waterways, and open range — Hidden Valley is home to many wild animals. A game camera in our yard has captured countless cottontail and jackrabbits as well as deer, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, and foxes. The plentiful trees house native and migratory birds including red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, and cooper’s hawks. Driving north along Veterans Parkway, one can often spot a pair of nesting bald eagles, and depending on the time of year, great blue herons, pelicans, gulls, and countless types of waterfowl. In 2018, the Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation opened the Rosewood Nature Study Area when the Veterans Parkway project decommissioned the city’s Rosewood Lakes Golf Course. The wetlands are being restored and are open to the public for tours — wandering along the pathways, visitors are likely to see native plants, birds, fish, and reptiles depending on the time of year.
A house with two front yards and a port corchere on the driveway (left). The remnants of an abandoned bridle path (right). Photos by Mark Maynard
Oft Unnoticed Oddities
One of my favorite things about getting to know any neighborhood is the fact that there are many quirks created by different waves of development, failed plans, and the reclaiming of space by residents and nature. And if one knows where to look, Hidden Valley has several of its own oddities.
In its current state of annexation, Reno has not yet grown to include Hidden Valley, or at least the bulk of the neighborhood. A look at the Reno city limits map shows that the city stops on the west side of West Hidden Valley Drive. This means a resident who waves at his neighbor across the street every morning votes for different elected officials (Reno City Council members instead of Washoe County Commissioners), and is nominally served by different emergency services (Reno Police and Reno Fire Department instead of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department and Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue), though today this is just a geographical quirk because the regional emergency services have a mutual aid agreement to respond in each other’s areas.
When Hidden Valley was initially developed, a section of lots was placed between two parallel streets, East Hidden Valley drive, and Saint Andrews, one block its east. Many of the homes on the lots between these streets have a driveway that connects to both, making each private driveway a de facto alleyway and giving these houses two front yards, one on each street. Some of these homes have incorporated this in interesting ways, building things like small port cocheres over double-ended driveways that make the homes look like small motels.
Another remnant from Hidden Valley’s earlier days is right in my back yard. It was something we never quite understood until our next-door neighbor, the original owner of a house built in the 1970s, explained it to us. The back corner of our fence extends a few feet beyond the back fence of our neighbor on the other side. This gap between back fences runs all the way to the next street. It turns out that when Hidden Valley was originally developed, the developers built bridle paths in the area between back fences so that one could ride their horse through the neighborhood without having to be on the streets. Years later, many of the homeowners simply pushed their back fences into this space, closing off the unused paths and extending their back yards by a few feet!
One thing that makes Hidden Valley unique in Reno is the lack of streetlights, sidewalks, and utility poles. When the development first started in earnest in the 1970s, trenches were dug to run water, gas, and electric lines into Hidden Valley (most of the houses in the older section aren’t hooked up to the municipal sewer system relying instead on septic tanks). This gives Hidden Valley a very rural feel — the streets are wide and neighbors walk their dogs and strollers on the edge of them (the intentional lack of sidewalks in American suburbs was insidious in its intent — meant to prevent people that weren’t wanted in certain neighborhoods from walking into them), and street signs and intersections can be hard to find in the dark. Unfortunately, the lack of streetlights doesn’t translate into seeing more stars as the light pollution from Reno and Sparks seeps into the neighborhood — and many neighbors leave high powered security lights on all night.
Hidden Valley is flanked by the Rosewood Nature Study Area (left) and Hidden Valley Regional Park (right) photos by Mark Maynard
The Future of Hidden Valley
As housing prices continue to increase in Reno, it will be interesting to see what the next 60 years brings for Hidden Valley. Veterans Parkway now means an easy commute for technical workers in the Reno Tahoe Industrial Center. While certain things will likely stay the same (it is incredibly difficult, logistically and politically to add sidewalks to a neighborhood, for example), perhaps improved public transit options will make suburbs like Hidden Valley less car-centric.
Sports popular with an aging generation like golf and tennis are waning in popularity (the country club has already converted some of their tennis courts into pickleball courts), and as water becomes more precious it will be harder to justify 18-hole golf courses in a desert. Plans to add new features to the regional park including a bike track, an expanded dog area, and wetlands (as well as pumping effluent into basins in the park) have raised concerns for increased traffic in the neighborhood, and while the holiday lights have long united the community, there are those that have had enough of the numbers of “outsiders” they bring into the neighborhood every year. Regardless of what the next decades bring, the unique location, natural features, and eclectic variety of houses will make Hidden Valley a desirable place to live for generations.