Lake Tahoe

Picture the Tetons completely surrounding Jackson Hole WY, and you can picture what Lake Tahoe is like. Divided down the middle by the Nevada and California state line, Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in the U.S. and the second deepest. Tahoe City is located about 0ne-third of the way down the California side. … Continue reading »

Tahoe City is on  the rustic side of the lake with much more emphasis on outdoor activities. Here is a 1940s photo of the center of town.

Just north of the center of town is the Tahoe Inn. It was built in 1934 just before the tourist season. It quickly replaced the previous speakeasy and hang out for Baby Face Nelson and other gangsters of the day. Today it is part museum and part Mexican restaurant. The photo is dated 1935.

Here is the same buliding shown in winter during the mid 1930s, in a 1952 postcard, and as it now appears.

The crown jewel of the entire Lake Tahoe area is Emerald Bay located at the southwest portion of the California side. It served as the Canadian wilderness in the movie Rose Marie and also can be seen in Call of the Wild and numerous other action/adventure films from the 1930s. It is seen here in … Continue reading »

Located directly below the cliff view of Emerald Bay shown above, is Vikingsholm, built at water level as a summer home in 1929 for $500,000 (What Depression??). It replicates a 9th Century Norse fortress. The owners were the major financial backers of Lindberg’s solo flight across the Atlantic The photo is from the early 1930s. … Continue reading »

Heading back to Tahoe City from Vikingsholm for about fifteen miles, you will come across the 1903 Ehrman Mansion, which is similar to Vikingsholm in that it too is located on the water, has a turret, and is part of a  a state park (Sugar Pine Point)  open to visitors. Incredibly preserved inside and out, … Continue reading »