Reno is the most populated city in Nevada after Las Vegas, with a relatively small population of 220,00 people in the city and approximately 600,000 in the metropolitan area. It’s just about as far from Vegas as anyone can get in Nevada – over 450 mile away, it borders California and is about 50 miles north of Lake Tahoe.
On this day May 9th, in 1868, Reno, Nevada is founded. Reno has been nicknamed The Biggest Little City in the World. It is famous for its gambling because gambling is completely legal in all of Nevada, as well as having certain tax benefits.
The pre-historic Native American tribe, Martis, is thought to have inhabited areas surrounding Reno. Reno later came to be known as a divorce city, a place where people went to get divorced. In Ayn Rand’s novel “The Fountainhead” Dominique says that she’s “going to Reno”, which is meant to mean she was going to get a divorce. Perhaps it’s all the gambling that tears couples apart.