Then and now: Y grows from 3-way to 4-way intersection

The black and white photo (circa 1952) shows how the melding of highways 50 and 89 in Tahoe Valley formed a three-way Y intersection.

The camera is on Highway 89, coming from Camp Richardson, looking at where 89 joined Highway 50 from Stateline (left) going (right) to Meyers.

According to longtime local (since 1940s) Dave Wakeman, the Tahoe Trading Post was owned by John Phillipson, who was also the local postmaster. The building at the left was Nevada Lumber Company. To the right of the photo was a two-pump 76 gas station and Lampson’s Market, post office, and bank. Factory Stores at the Y essentially cover this area now.

The color photo shows today’s four-way intersection there, as Lake Tahoe Boulevard (lower-right in photo) was forged by the Martin Brothers and partners in the early 1960s and Caltrans used its property rights to enlarge the entire intersection.

About the only thing similar between these two photos is the distant mountain profile of what became Heavenly Valley.

— Bill Kingman