Then and now: CTC takes over sensitive parcels

The old telephone booth went away long before the building that once sold doughnuts. Photo/Provided

In May 2014, the California Tahoe Conservancy purchased three commercial lots in South Lake Tahoe, namely the South Y Lodge on Emerald Bay Road, the lakefront two-story Alta Mira building adjacent to Lakeview Commons, and the property on Highway 50 near 4th Street occupied by the Smoke Shop and Tahoe Psychic.

As reported in Lake Tahoe News, “… The goal for all three (lots) is to tear down the existing structures and improve the land, while also giving the public access.”

A psychic and smoke smoke shop were the last two businesses at this site. Photo/LTN file

The single-story building and the A-frame behind it on Highway 50 near 4th Street stood on less than one-half acre, but it is a stream environment zone which the CTC intends to protect.

These two buildings have housed many different kinds of businesses over the years, such as the earlier doughnut shop pictured.

The A-frame in back housed a used merchandise and consignment business and finally become the Smoke Shop, and Tahoe Psychic lastly had the front building. As LTN observed, “…the psychic owners in the front building must have been clairvoyant when they signed a three-year lease with the current owner the day before the Conservancy began negotiations.”

— Bill Kingman

The businesses had to move. Photo/Bill Kingman

The Conservancy had the buildings razed in June 2015. Photo/Bill Kingman