Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 52

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL LOCAL LIFE MICHAEL CONTACT 775.788.6302 MARTINEZ SECTION WHAT MATTERS TO US IN NORTHERN NEVADA: Friday, August 28, 2009 RGJ.com/Living TODAY A quick look at useful, fun or unique things happening today in our neighborhoods. NORTH NORTH VALLEYS SUN VALLEY POOL OPEN FOR LAP SWIM The Sun Valley swimming pool opens at 10:30 a.m. just for adults who would like to swim laps until 11:45 a.m. The pool is at 115 W. 6th Ave.

in Sun Valley. Cost: $4.50 adults, $3.50 seniors 62 and older. Details: 775-674-8555. RENO HOLLAND PROJECT HOLDS BLOCK PARTY It'll be an "old school block party" at West Street Market starting at 5 p.m., when the Holland Project presents an evening of hip-hop, live graffiti art and double dutch for an end of the summer blow-out. Local artisans and crafters and food and beverage vendors will have booths to browse.

The market is at 148 West St. Details: www. hollandreno.org. TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS Today is the last scheduled day of the lane restrictions on Keystone Avenue from California Avenue to Coleman Drive. NEED MORE? Tune into Newstalk 780 KOH for live updates NEWS at the top of every hour.

TODAY IN HISTORY FROM THE NEVADA STATE JOURNAL: AUG. 28, 1939 (Advertisement) Southern Pacific announces a big Labor Day excursion to San Francisco! Take advantage of the greatly reduced excursion fares to San Francisco and visit the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. There'll be big doings over the Labor Day weekend famous orchestras, parade and all kinds of special events. Southern Pacific offers you the choice of five fine daily trains providing service suitable to everyone. $4.90 roundtrip in chair cars and coaches on two day and two overnight trains.

$5.90 roundtrip in tourist sleeping cars (berth extra). $7.35 roundtrip- in luxurious standard Pullmans (berth extra). COMING UP LEAKY ROOF? FIND OUT WHAT TO ASK Buying a new roof? RGJ reporter Susan Skorupa tells readers the questions they should ask when embarking on such a purchase. SATURDAY IN LOCAL LIFE CAN'T GET TO BURNING MAN THIS YEAR? Check out scenes from the weeklong event in books available locally. SUNDAY IN ARTS CULTURE CAN'T FIND IT? COMICS AND PUZZLES Look for comics, puzzles and the television schedule in Weekend, section C.

FOCUS ON: COMMUNITY RENO ENVY PHOTOS BY DAVID B. Pam Haberman and Kelly Rae at the entrance to FireHouse on Monday. The former Reno Fire Department firehouse has 11 loft and a beauty salon. A restaurant is in the planning stages. A BUILDING'S REBIRTH Former firehouse transformed into loft living When Kelly Rae and Pam Haberman first stepped foot into the old firehouse on Morrill Avenue, it was filled with rotting food, human waste and several hundred vodka bottles left by squatters.

But the Reno developers saw that the building had class, and is one of only three Streamline Moderne deco buildings in Reno, characterized by its curved office corner. "Our heads are into ugly old dead buildings and bringing them back to life," Rae said. "And this building is doing jumping jacks," Haberman said, as a truck pulled up bringing in another load of furniture for a tenant. Tenants are now moving into the upper floor of artist lofts and studios where firefighters once slept. The tall ceilings allow for beds to be built on top of new bathrooms in the units.

All nine apartments have been leased. The first floor of the building, called FireHouse, is also abuzz. The original sun motif on the exterior walls of the old Morrill Avenue firehouse has been repeated at various locations, including the sidewalk, in its new life as FireHouse. BY SUSAN VOYLES The Salon 7 recently moved i its 24 employees into the building from Cheney Street, and it plans to hire 20 more for what was the firehouse garage. Walk by, and you can watch someone getting a haircut as the garage doors are rolled up to bring in fresh air.

Eddie Reynoso, whose family operates a hot dog cart business, is now preparing to open a sandwich shop in what was the firehouse kitchen. The building was often referred to as the "bug building" because of the VW sculpture that was on the roof for years. It was built as a firehouse in 1953, later used for a firetruck repair shop and finally as a men's homeless shelter before it was abandoned for several years. HabeRae Investments, the women's AN OH Developers kept the tile floor from the old firehouse shower room in one of the apartments. They also decided to keep its historic use visible by not hiding where the fixtures were located.

business, bought the building from the city last year for $490,000. Another $650,000 was invested in the renovation. Margo Larson, an animal control officer who makes frequent stops at the neighboring animal rescue center, is astonished with the makeover. "What a great way to help the community change in this area," she said. "This is a little culture here, and it's getting rid of the riff-raff.

It was bad." "I don't think Reno does enough" to maintain its history, Larson said. "To do something like this, without being high-end." HabeRae also built the lofts called Eight on Center and renovated four old conductor cabins for the project SoDo 4, also on Center Street. Just as with these award-winning projects, Rae said it's the details that count. Rae said the firehouse exterior was painted red by popular demand of friends and associates as opposed a pastel mint green that would have SEE FIRE HOUSE ON 3E 2 A peek into into one of the units at COMMUNITY Residents unhappy about new UNR structure BY LENITA POWERS Looming over the brick and colonial-style homes in one of Reno's older neighborhoods that borders the University of Nevada, Reno is the new Davidson Math and Science Center, scheduled to open in 2010. The $50-million structure will be the first natural science facility built on the campus in about 40 years.

Located on the southeast corner of the campus, it will provide badly needed laboratories and modern equipment that will be used by almost 80 percent of UNR's students. But the mammoth structure completely blocks the view to the west for residents in the houses along Evans Avenue, which is part of the neighborhood known as University Heights. They call it an eyesore. They also complain of the construction that shatters their sleep before dawn and of the building towering over their homes, interrupting cell phone and tele: vision reception. Across the street, on the east side of Evans Avenue, Phoebe Bryan's view from her home of 30 years is obstructed by the four-story building that has one section that rises to five stories.

"It's a mar on the neighborhood," said the 71-year-old Bryan. "But there were no meetings. We were not given an option or any say." She said the first sign that SEE UNR ON 3E RE MARILYN The Davidson Math and Science building at the University of Nevada, Reno, towers over a home on Evans Avenue..