4th Street: A Legacy of Change
The exhibit was originally scheduled for the Downtown Reno Library but closures resulting from COVID-19 prevented a live display. The photographs appeared earlier this year in galleries at the McKinley Arts Center and Reno City Hall.
Titled 4th Street: A Legacy of Change, the exhibit is a compilation of images by photographers Scott Hinton, Sebastian Diaz and Jeff John Sison. Their dramatic images document three motor lodges--Star of Reno, El Ray, and Keno--shortly before they were demolished. The exhibit is a selection from a digital archive of more than 100 images that explored interior rooms, decor, surrounding cityscape, and the signage that was quintessential to Reno’s motor lodge era.
This exhibit is part of the Reno MoMo initiative, a year-long identification and celebration of the mid-century period that was the brainchild of the Historic Reno Preservation Society. Reno MoMo is a citizen organization founded in 2018. Its members have ties to the architecture, design, art, and historic communities in Reno.
Others supporting the exhibition include the City of Reno, Nevada Arts Council, Nevada Humanities, and Jacobs Entertainment.
Scott Hinton is a photographer and educator documenting the complex geographies of the human environment in landscapes of the evolving American West. The stimulus to photograph in the West is to experience the grandeur of open spaces and the expansive mountains and deserts. From the subtle hues of the morning sky to the dramatic rise of the Sierra crest, these experiences drive a pursuit to photograph and continue a dialog of a landscape in flux.
Sebastian Diaz is a local photographer in the greater Reno-Lake Tahoe area emphasizing/specializing in nightlife, portrait, and wedding photography, as well as being capable in landscape, cityscape, architectural, real estate, product, food, and astrophotography. He started making photographs as hobby in his teenage years, which then turned into a job as yearbook photographer for George Whittell High School throughout his high school career. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno and continues to explore the creative and technical capabilities of the photographic arts.
Jeff John Sison has lived in Reno for most of his life. He loves to create art and and images that make people smile. Photography has been his main focus for the past five years, but he is also a graphic designer and artist at heart. Portraits and headshots make up most of his work, but he also produces product and commercial photography.
Motels on the Reno Historical app: discover more Reno motel history and photographs from the Historic Reno Preservation Society.
Bypassed by I-80 (1975-1999): article covering the changes to the 4th Street corridor, including the end of the Motel Era, from the Online Nevada Encyclopedia.
Coverage from the Reno Gazette-Journal about the demolition of these properties, March 27, 2018.
