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March 1940. "Main street in Virginia City, Nevada." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Judging by the eight window openings and the cornice, I'd say we're looking at the Old Washoe Club on the left, just beyond the Tahoe Beer arrow.
Is what, please? (Beautiful rear end!)
Maybe the car with New York plates is the photographer's car?
is a 1939 DeSoto. It probably would have had no trouble making the trip from New York. Very nice riding cars, even today.
I count five extra tall rods on the rooftops, each w/ a sphere on top, all on one city block. I'm assuming these are lightning rods. I wonder what's up with that? Is Virginia City known for it's ferocious thunderstorms?
That auto facing us on the left has New York license plates (bottom reads "New York World's Fair 1940"). What a trip that was on the roads of the 40s! Virginia City retains much of its historical architecture and today is heavily visited. Back then it was a working town, but it already had been discovered by at least one tourist.
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