My Grandfather took an unusually large amount of slide photos during the year 1959 and perhaps that was due to the fact that he had just started taking slide photos, and he was excited about creating a whole new medium to share. Grandfather was a Landscaper/Nursery Owner and during the winter time he managed properties that needed care while people were away. When the Lake Tahoe area got snow in the winter time, the snow fall would be so heavy and intense that it would break the roofs of the summer homes and cottages, so my Grandfather and some others that worked for him would remove the snow from the roofs and keep an eye out for trespassers as well.
A view from my parent’s backyard in northwest Reno in 1959 – the house was located on a street called Wesley Drive.
This was also the year that my older brother, Donald, was born. My parents lived down in the northwest part Reno, so when the weather was good, it was possible to visit with family. The roads between Lake Tahoe and Reno were not always that good or pleasant to drive. I recall stories about the Mount Rose highway being this horrible narrow winding road that one feared the chance of meeting an oncoming Semi-truck. As a kid I thought the Mt Rose highway was already pretty scary as I always got car sick if I rode in the back seat in my parent’s old red caddy, and to hear that it was once worse was somewhat unfathomable. Today there are few remnants left of the old part of the road and only old timers recall which parts were part of the original route up the mountain. My Grandparents often opted for the safer route of highway 89 through Truckee, CA down to Interstate 80.
Squaw Valley during ski season.
My Grandmother holding my older sister, Karen. They both look so happy.
Grandma standing to the far right with their friends Burt and Gerdie Edson some where up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Notice how my Grandma often wears skirts and dress shoes.
Grandma posing with the car – I think Topaz Lake is behind her.
Living up at Lake Tahoe all year around often meant enduring a bit of cabin fever during the winter months. One could actually get snowed in and be in danger of not having enough food to eat, so when the opportunity presented itself, it was wise to get out and go shopping and just go for a drive to see and be someplace else. My grandparents would stop at places like Squaw Valley or meet up with other friends and family that lived within the Sierra Nevada Range area. They would go hiking, camping, or simply just spend the day with friends talking. As I write this, I am realizing that technology has really changed our way of life so tremendously. In 1959 to make a phone call from Homewood, CA to Reno, NV was a long distance call that was expensive, so my family did not get to talk on the phone as often like we can do today. In 1959 there was no Internet, so in order to send a written message, one had to rely on the United States Postal Service, which meant a message would take a week to arrive unlike the instant email or text message. As I recall my parents and my grandparents would take turns making the call so that no one would get stuck with the big long distance phone bill.
Uncle Detlef sitting in front of his California home.
Most of Grandma’s family ended up in California since they all came to the US via the Panama Canal to San Francisco, California, so often trips into the farmlands and other regions of California was part of their social life. My Grandpa came through the Ellis Island route in New York so his family was more spread out across the country. But Uncle Detlef Tiedemann, who was actually my Great Uncle, settled in South Dakota for a while until he later moved to California. There are photos of him standing with a lemon tree in his backyard as well as the one of him sitting on the front porch of the house. I look at this picture of him and feel somewhat amazed to think that this was taken 55 years ago. It looks like it could have been taken yesterday. The only clue that this is an older home and is that it has the wood shingle roof that is no longer practical these days. I wonder if this house is still standing. It looks like they took great pride in their home.
View of Lake Tahoe – Emerald Bay.
Spring runoff water pouring down towards Lake Tahoe.
Grandma holding my brother when he was probably about 4 months old.
Grandpa sitting with Karen in his lap with Grandma holding Donald up at Tahoe.
Grandma sitting with Karen and Donald on the stone steps that led up to the house that my Grandfather built. I loved those steps – they were so massive and fun to play on.
“Uncle Willie” aka Wilhelm Hanni – Grandma’s brother. All of the old cars in these photos are wonderful to see. I can just imagine car enthusiasts loving these photos.
Great Grandpa Hermann Hanni – whom I never got to meet – sitting with Grandma, Karen, and Donald. He moved with his children from Switzerland where he had been a Train Engineer. He had hoped to move with his wife but she did not survive a surgery that was before their journey in 1929.
Karen absently snuffling the flowers in a garden at Lake Tahoe.
The Snow Flower plant that we were told to never pick because it was an endangered plant and one could get fined for picking it.
So when my Grandparents were not visiting family elsewhere, they enjoyed the Lake Tahoe area. I am sure some of the areas that they took of photos do not look the same anymore. Currently the region along the Sierra Nevada Range is suffering from a series of draughts and this year is threatening to be another bad one. I look at the photos of the plentiful spring runoff and wish for that to be for today as well. We have lost so many trees and plants this winter and past summer, so that when I look at the picture of the snow flower plant, I wonder if there will be any left up in the hills this coming year. Will there be a lovely green spring time up at Lake Tahoe again like the images I see from the past? I guess only time will tell.
G.Winkler ©2014
Gretchen Winkler is a Writer, Artist, Radio Show Co-Host on User Friendly 2.0, Cosplayer/Designer, and ordered Knight. She is currently working on several Star Wars novel projects and does editing and proof reading for the User Friendly Show website and & KPAM the Answer Portland radio. For the past 20 years she has authored several informational websites, started several technical companies, and has been an avid student of art, literature, history, technology.
Observation Post 42 
SK Gretchen,
Great job on this and I really enjoyed the photos!
Sk Chax
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