Then and now: Third Street appearance changes

Highway 50 near Third Street in South Lake Tahoe in the 1960s. Photo/South Lake Tahoe

Highway 50 near Third Street in 1960s South Lake Tahoe had a gaggle of buildings and businesses shown on the left in the photo above. This included Bob Bellemore’s used car dirt lot on the corner at Third Street.

They’re gone now, all replaced by the Bank of the West.

Third Street was only three blocks long between Highway 50 and Ruth Avenue. It had no stoplight and did not extend across Highway 50.

This is what Highway 50 near Third Street looks like today. Photo/Bill Kingman

By the 1990s, Third Street had connected left and right: left to Washington Avenue and right across Highway 50 to Barton Avenue, making Third and 50 a major intersection with a traffic signal.

The Richfield gas station of the 1960s now is Brothers Burrito House after many changes, including being a KFC. Between it and the Hill Center today is Accurate TV and Audio, adjacent to the new intersection.

— Bill Kingman