Welcome to downtown Carson City, circa the late 1950s to the early 1960s. This was taken from the St. Charles Hotel looking north towards the state capitol building. The Legislature is still meeting there at the time of this pix. The federal post office is up the street and parallel parking is still allowed on the main drag, and Second and Third Streets still run eastward without interruption. There’s a sidewalk in front of the capital and businesses across the street and parallel parking is allowed on Carson.

From the John Nulty Collection at the Nevada State Library and Archives

The OK Garage and the Capital Roof and Floor Store are housed in buildings older than most of the trees in the shot, and and the stone for the building with the cafe on the southeast corner of Carson and Second may have been quarried from the Abe Curry’s old place out on Fifth Street. And that dark two-story building with its back to us was probably a firetrap for its entire existence, which predates 1874. Have a look.

From the “Then and Now” Collection at Around Carson

(Take a second to look at the larger picture on Scott’s site and you’ll see the building housed a saloon that was probably a watering hole for politicians and lobbyists back then.)

Today, it’s all trees and planters in the middle of the street, and the sidewalks and parking spaces are gone. The old saloon and coffee shops are memories, and Second/Third Streets on the west side end at Carson in front of the Legislative Plaza, built in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

And here’s a straight down aerial view of the same area probably taken in the late 1950s. The picture is unlabeled and undated.

From the Nevada State Library and Archives