Stops On Loneliest Road In America I: Eureka

Unusual sighting on Hwy 50, somebody actually driving on the same road.

Be careful as you are coming into this little town going west. The speed limit drops from 45 to 35 to 25 in the space of a block or two. And a nice young deputy sheriff with a brand new vehicle will see you doing "39 in a 25 zone." If you are elderly, have a dog in the back seat, have Montana plates, and of course, be appropriately obsequious, then he might just let you off with a warning. Whew!

Here is the opera house, opened sometime in the late 19th century, when this town first came into being because of a nearby gold or silver or copper or something or other mine.

Apparently the miners in those days were appreciative of finer things in life including fine singing. It became a movie theatre sometime in the 30s or so, then was vacant from the 60s to the 90s when it sprang to life again as a meeting house, opera house and all sorts of other gatherings.

It reminded me of the village I grew up in Wisconsin where the City Hall had a small basketball court which doubled as a movie theatre with a stage at one end where the local thespians and singers and such used to hang out on occasion. Somewhere I have a picture of my mother and about 8 of her friends doing some sort of "Can-Can" dance on the stage.


The inside was fascinating, expecially the canvas curtain with advertising on it, old and new I guess. See below left.

We kids played all sorts of games here during the winter time. The center circle touched the top of the free throw circle. In the summer we played baseball, in the winter we played basketball. Seems like I only remember the two seasons.

This was day two of a 3 day-trip to California. We eventually arrive in Reno where the hotel is filled with soccer-playing kids and their parents.