Then and now: Modernization of Highway 50
South Lake Tahoe in 1956. Photo/Stephen Gennerich collection
This mid-1950s view of Highway 50, left, is looking toward Stateline. No marked lanes, no stoplights, easy street parking, and all wires overhead on poles.
Small, but visible, in the exact center of the photo is the faint blue Lawrence’s Department Store sign fronting the same building which today houses Chevy’s restaurant. The large blue and white “Ski Heavenly Valley” sign/marquee fronting Del’s Market at right is the corner site of today’s Red Hut Cafe at Ski Run Boulevard.
Looking toward Stateline today. Photo/Bill Kingman
Today, seven miles of Highway 50 through South Lake Tahoe is marked five lanes wide, with no parking on the roadway. There are 18 traffic signals between Stateline and the Y.
Another sign of modern times is one of the Caltrans traffic cameras seen atop the pole which we can view on the Internet from anywhere in the world.
— Bill Kingman
Bill, Good shot of hwy 50, thanks to Stephen Gennerich for supplying the 1956 photo. This predates the era when Rudy Gersik built Ski Run Center. Lawrences became ” Lawrences Economy Store” somwhere along the line and they opened up another branch up at Crescent V, just a stones throw away from “The Perry Boys Smorgy” all you can eat buffet. I think it cost 2 bucks.
I’m pretty sure from the 56′ photo I’ve seen some of those same cars parked at an auto parts store at the corner of the Y.
Good one Bill and thanks again for the tip about The Saga of Lake Tahoe.OLS
Across the street was the Bijou Park Five and Ten Cents Store , and Bijou Park cottages.
Back then it looked like a mountain town, now, it looks like crap!
I’m going to stretch a bit in saying that this photo is even earlier than 1956 (going partially by the age of the cars there), as I started working for Harrah’s in 1959, and this is an alien scene to me (except the Lawrences’s location).
For example, the free-standing Burger Bar in the parking lot of the Ski Run Center was there then (no market, no other business between the Burger Bar and Lawrences, the empty lot between them was the source of controversy later on as a Car Wash.
The Burger Bar was a pivot point for the ‘cruising’ crowd, as (1) it had the best-stocked Juke Box, and (2) the best burgers as done by Shorty, the little bald guy with the missing finger. . .
Old Long Skiis is correct about both locations of Lawrence’s, but with a different twist: they kept the former location (Chevy’s now) as sort of an outlet/children’s store as their lease wasn’t yet up, but their move into the spot where Sports Limited is now was thought to be a move into the “btight, modern, new” shopping center which Crescent V heralded for South Shore.
My high school friend Linda Solski was their buyer (her dad had ‘Old McDonald’s’ just up Ski Run.
Directly opposite was Earhart’s Motel with its’ Orange Julius on the street side, just down from one of the busiest “Chevron” stations in the west, at the corner opposite from where it is now (where Embassy took over that station and motels that were at the bottom of Ski Run like the Fond du Lac. . .The Echo motel was on the corner where the station is now. . .
Gary Bowen, Thank you for all of that! Yes, The Burger Bar was the best place in town to get a burger and an order of fries along with the two pinball machines off to the left side of the dining area over by the juke box.
“Old McDonalds”?… Good lord, I hadn’t thought of that place in years, a ski rental and repair shop in the winter and for a short time a slot car track in tne summer out in the back covered by an over head parachute strung up to the trees.
Good memory Mr. Bowen! I hope to run into you sometime for a bit of a talk. Old Long Skiis
Lets not forget the best Hoffbrau venue back in the day,
“Poor Pierre’s”, just wished it could of stayed it was that good, however everything must change in one way or another.
Yes J, Poor Pierre’s was the best !! Sawdust on the floor, a crackling fire in the fireplace, great food with huge portions. We often sat at a long table with people we didn’t know, but before you knew it, we were all friends! We ate there alot when I was a kid and it was always special. That place had a really good feel to it.
Here’s to the good times of Old Tahoe! OLS
Oh Blob, you make it sound so feely good, warm and fuzzy, then again there was Hanks restaurant down at the “Y”, now were talking some fine dinning, eh?