Then and now: S. Tahoe Y doesn’t really exist

Circa 1940
Photo/U.S. Geological Survey

Circa 1959
Photo/ Lake Tahoe Historical Society

2012
Photo/Google Earth

The circa 1959 (my best estimate) photo shows highways 50 and 89 while the junction was still a Y just before Lake Tahoe Boulevard connected (about 1960) and made it a four-way intersection in South Lake Tahoe.

The large empty lot at top was the 1940s site of the local school house. That building was moved and now is the Carpenters’ Union Hall on Young Street. Later on that corner became a Safeway supermarket and an adjoining five-and-dime store in the building now occupied by T.J. Maxx.

The diagonal building at the right of the Y included Lampson’s Market and a two-pump 76 gas station. That site became Lampson Plaza and then Factory Stores at the Y.

Across the street at left was the Tahoe Sierra Market and other small businesses where the large South Y Center (Raley’s, etc.) now stands.

The Y really hasn’t been a Y for more than 50 years, but it’s locally ingrained. We have South Y Center, South Y Fireplace, South Y Lodge, South Y Shops & Storage, and Factory Stores at the Y. In the early 1970s, a local disc jockey (“Little” Tommy Allen) tried to campaign for remarketing the Y as the Tahoe Valley Plus (+).

Many a tourist has asked, “Where is your YMCA?”

— Bill Kingman