Sands Casino

Walking in Downtown Reno you cannot escape the sights and sounds of the casinos all around. From Harrah’s to the Sundowner to Eldorado to Circus Circus to Sands Casino, you will never be able to avoid the flashing neon lights and the conversations of people walking around because no matter the weather or the time of day, people are always walking around Downtown Reno.

            Just like Allison Johnson in Willy Vlautin’s novel Northline, I walked around Downtown towards the river where I found myself walking by the Sands. “She could see street lights in the distance and a few cars passed on what seemed like a main road. She walked in the darkness towards it. She could hear the sounds of a river, and as she walked closer to it and the main street, she saw the lights from the casinos. The Comstock marquee appeared, then the Sundowner, and the Sands shone in the distance by itself” (Vlautin 60). With my Outreach Team, we had walked by the river and passed by Sands Casino. At first, I did not really know it was the Sands because I was on the back side of the building, but I knew it was a casino because of where it was located and how large it looked. All I had to do was walk a little more to the side and then look up so that I could find the sign to figure out which casino it was. And it, indeed, was the Sands.

            When we were walking, one of my fellow Outreach members was frolicking in the leaves that had fallen from the neighboring trees and some of the leaves got stuck in her shoes. We reached the end of the sidewalk and stopped to see if the car that had just stopped would yield to us pedestrians because, as you may know, sometimes they do not but he did thankfully. We crossed and right as we reached the sidewalk on the other side we heard the driver speed like some kind of racecar driver. My other Outreach member shouted and said, “Slow down, dummy!” People can be very impatient and I wonder if Allison encountered drivers such as these or people in general in Downtown Reno.

            It seemed very quiet, however, at the Sands. Unlike a lot of other casinos in the area, this one did not seem as busy. I only saw a couple of people; I saw more people as we walked towards the river and it was cold out. (I am sure the economy has a lot to do with its emptiness). Although the Sands was not as busy, it still illuminated part of Downtown Reno like it illuminated the path Allison was walking on. The Sands’ famous sign will continue to shine like it did decades ago shining on someone else’s path.