Adeleida Viscarret
Nevada Hotel
Elko, Nevada
6/9/86
00:18 mom learning English, learned Bizkaino, also
00:36 dad did not learn Basque in the Basque Country; was from Navarra
1:14 parent’s common language was Basque
1;30 could not speak English in kindergarten; spoke more Spanish than Basque
2:02 Kindergarten in the 1920s
2:58 parents bought the hotel in 1928, by 1938 they moved and leased the hotel to Hasquets (?)
3:20 Nasario and Veronica Hasquet from Carson City
3:39 Marjie Wanderlick (?)
4:05 living quarters in hotel consisted of 3 bedrooms; gathered in dining room, didn’t have living room
5:19 Margarita Beristain was cook at hotel; from Bizkaia
6:05 there weren’t any Basque old maids
6:35 Maritxu married David Ayara
6:48 Dad’s duties – bartender, mom kept the books – spoke better English
7:14 parents invested in rental property, mom took care of business
7:30 sheepherders left stuff at the hotel
8:00 hotel keepers helped sheepherders with doctor appointments, errands, etc.
8:35 Salt Lake, Hogar Hotel
9:20 kids’ chores
9:35 school and education
10:04 her brother; people thought they were twins
10:30 movie theater, Hunter theater, 10 cent movies, Mrs. Gets (?) played the organ
12:00 West Hotel, Depot Hotel (both Italian), Star, La Paloma barbershop, Basque bar next to La Paloma
13:20 Josh House, opium smoking
13:35 Indian kids
13:40 Hershey Lincoln; only black family in town
14:09 Telescope Hotel; handball
14;35 pala
14:45 playing jacks with pigs knuckles (tabas); painted them
15:40 played mostly with Basques and Italians, some Japanese
16:34 wasn’t much discrimination
17:14 crab apple fights, hopscotch, double dutch
17:58 when they moved, they started hanging out with Americans
18:29 “Black Basco” felt bad about being called this at first
19:00 Ray Gartiz said he wasn’t Basque
19:38 Etchegoyen
19:45 people who didn’t want people to know they were Basque
20:35 depression; a guy had been riding the freight trains, offered to paint murals in saloon for room and board, painted all the murals, signed “Vagabond”. Came back the next year and painted the dining room; outdoor scenes from calendars.
23:18 Stockman’s bought the Nevada
23:40 After Hasquets, leased the Nevada hotel to Flora and Lucas Ituarte
24:00 sold Nevada hotel in 1945 sold to Gene Williams, wanted land, not hotel; Williams had a laundry; wanted to put a boiler on property to furnish heat to Stockmans
25:23 Williams sold to Laucirica; Calisto and Pilar
25;38 Mary Aguirre
25:52 Laucirica’s sold to Mirandi Elizagoyen
26:19 Biltoki
26:29 physically moved the Nevada hotel across the street when Lauciricas owned it sometime in the 50s.
27:04 has been remodeled
28:04 did not advertise, mainly Basques; sheepherders
28:14 END SIDE ONE
SIDE TWO
00:10 July 1924, bought the house on 3rd Street
00:37 built just the saloon first, but so many people came that wanted a place to stay, that they added a dining room and rooms upstairs – that’s how the Nevada Hotel got started; started in 1927. It was on the other side of the railroad tracks right next to the Troy laundry. Across from where it is now
1:20 Diane and Fred Puccinelli
1:25 Bill Williams ; had bowling alley
2:02 Frenchie Gailard was in fur and pelt business, her parents leased a warehouse to him
2:40 her dad acquired the land because someone owed him money and was unable to pay, so they gave him the land instead
3:20 dad ran the bar and the family lived at the house until 1932, then they moved into the hotel
4:00 depression
4:15 Spanish Basques went to the Star
4:21 mostly French Basque and Navarros went to the Nevada Hotel
4:39 grew up speaking Spanish with dad; family spoke everything, except French; Parents spoke Basque
5:30 Pete Ernaut is her mother’s brother; five years younger than mom; sister Maria
6:15 mom’s memories of the Basque Country
6:28 contribution to the church, lamb
7:05 mom loved to sing; couldn’t sing when in mourning, kept caskets in the home
7:39 maternal grandfather had been a sheepherder in California with his cousin, had gone back to France and bought a farm
8:05 Bordaluze in Urepel
8:28 Santa Fe in Reno
8:39 Urepel
8:59 mother came to U.S. when her brother died and they couldn’t take care of the farm
9:16 Mrs. Borda, Mrs. Alber (?), Pete Ernaut came over with mother
9:47 had to stay in Le Havre a week waiting for their ship to be repaired, the Niagra, ice cream
10:12 train in Chicago
11:29 mother’s brother Leon Ernaut met her mother here; he was already here
12:25 Gardnerville; Leon worked for Danburg (?)
13:18 Catalin Sanmanton (?) worked at the Telescope
13:40 mother sponsored Catalin from Urepel, Maritxu Ayara from Urepel, and Emilia Indiano
14:48 immigrant women mostly worked in the hotels
15:05 Overland
15:35 mother came over in 1920, got married in 1924; worked at Overland and at Dr. Shaw’s
17:11 dad worked for Hilton sheep company
17:39 dad had a little ranch in Lamoille
17:42 tramp sheepmen
18:18 she was born on 3rd street
18:35 purchased house in 1935; moved there in 1937
18:51 mom wanted to get the kids away from the saloon
19:00 penny candy; places to buy, etc.
20:00 delivery to homes, vegetables, ice, etc.
21:15 Georgia Beloso, mother Serafina was a cook at the hotel (husband’s parent’s owned the Toscano)
22:30 had a few American boarders at hotel
23:00 mom was good singer, after supper they sang at table and drank café royal
24:00 didn’t have dances, but sometimes they used the jukebox; weren’t too many women
24:30 her mom didn’t know how to dance; Aug. 15 was feast day in France
25:27 mom had gone to Pau for a legal matter about water rights
27:19 when her mom arrived her brother gave her money to buy American clothes
27:50 (looking at photos of her mother)
28:27 END SIDE 2