261-265 North Virginia Street; licensed from June 24, 1959, to December 1974 as a full casino.

The Silver Dollar Club was licensed by the State of Nevada on March 26, 1959. However, the Reno City Council was divided over the issue of allowing another casino without hotel rooms to be opened on the west side of Virginia Street and deferred its licensing of the casino. Finally, on June 23, the Council voted 4-3 for the licensing of five table games and fifty slots.

The major owners were George Piazza, who owned 51 percent of the casino, and Fred Vonderahe. Other owners included Ambrose Russo, Ray Capurro, Cap Van Cittar, Joe Lischke, and Saul Freedman.

In April 1960 Vince Harley purchased the club and applied for a gaming license. He was granted a license on May 18 for seventy four slots, one dice game, five 21 games, and one roulette game. In the spring of 1961, Harley began an expansion program at the Silver Dollar Club. A grand opening for the enlarged and completely remodeled Silver Dollar Club was held on May 19, 1961. The newly expanded casino occupied all the space formerly used by the smaller Silver Dollar Club at 261 North Virginia Street.

Owner-operator Vincent "Jerry" Harley estimated the cost of remodeling and enlarging, plus the cost of new equipment, at more than $150,000. He said the new casino would utilize 3,000 additional square feet of gaming area. The front and side of the new club were all glass with a curved marquee. The underside of the marquee consisted of colored lucite sections, and the lighting required ten thousand watts of power. The new operation featured a roulette wheel, a craps table, six 21 games, and 150 slots. Harley named Ray Gibberson as casino manager, and Bud Sorenson, Ray Capurro, and Saul Freedman as shift managers.

The Silver Dollar closed in December 1963. Shortly thereafter, the property was purchased by Lincoln Fitzgerald, owner of the Nevada Club. In May 1965 Fitzgerald and his brother-in-law, Carlton Konarske, were licensed to operate three table games and 125 slots in the Silver Dollar Club. Later, a craps game, a big-six wheel, and a keno game were added.

In December 1974 the Silver Dollar was demolished to make way for the construction of Fitzgeralds Casino-Hotel. The site is now part of Fitzgeralds Casino-Hotel.

-The Rise of the Biggest Little City- by Dwayne Kling