Really High

After a few weeks, we had developed a good pattern and could lift and weld in about 20 panels a day and we were quickly gaining on the concrete crews. The ‘Flyers’, the forms for pouring the floors, extended out past the edge of the building, so we had to stay at least a floor away from them if we were going to be able to hang the panels. When we came too close, we would take a break for a week and let the form work get ahead of us.

It was definitely exciting work as we had to remove the safety cables from the floor we were working on and then reach out to grab a swinging panel and pull it in close enough to get a hook on it. Naturally, the windy days were the worst. It didn’t take a lot of wind to make a panel spin like a top. The tag lines would keep the panel steady… until the panel reached a height beyond the limits of the ropes and the handlers had to let go of them.

I found this great photo of the project and it shows the tower crane, the manlift hoist and 5 of the 6 large arched panels at the roof line. You can see the brace connecting the tower crane to the building. I think that was on the 16^th floor and every day, Dennis would climb out the window and then walk across the narrow beam to the tower and then climb the rest of the way up via the internal stairs on the crane. I wonder where I was when this photo was taken? I was certainly there that day.

I remember standing on that floor and talking to Dennis when he asked if I wanted to come up and see how the crane worked. I really did, but when faced with stepping out onto that beam… I suddenly remembered something else I needed to do, somewhere on the ground!

Normal?

After the grand opening of all of the casinos, life became a little less hectic, but only a little less. The various hotel towers still needed to be completed so that the casinos could be filled with happy (overnight) guests.

And it was about this time that I was asked to be the foreman for the framing and drywall on the Circus Circus tower. Sure! The Money Tree could be completed in just a few weeks and since the two jobs were only a few blocks apart, I could walk between them to make sure everything was going well. And the two jobs had the same general contractor and project manager. I already knew everyone!

The Circus Circus was the second ‘flying form’ post tensioned slab building I had worked on and so I knew a little about how it would go together. But, what was different this time was the fact that we were supplying the exterior ‘skin’ of the building as well as all the interior partitions.

It wasn’t long before my duties were expanded to oversight of the panel crew. These were the guys that were installing those panels that I had worked on while at the panel plant during the previous winter. I knew the panels and I had a general idea of how they were installed. This might be fun… and it was.

First, I had to get used to working with a tower crane. Luckily, the crane operator, Dennis was a great guy to work with. Serious, while he still had a relaxed manner about him. And he told me, ahead of time, what he wanted from me. Most of the time, a tower crane operator is working ‘blind’. He can’t always see the load and/or its final destination. When the crane is used for pouring concrete on a deck, he can see the entire operation. But we would have him swinging out to a spot he might not be able to see. We would be his eyes. And as he said, “When you’re signaling me…it’s your crane and you are the operator. Pay attention. I’m just your tool.” Scary! Normally, we used our radios to direct him, but there were times when you had to have both hands ready to grab onto something… anything at all! A radio would only get in your way, and then it was time to use hand signals. Something new for me to learn.

Here’s how it would work. First we would determine by measuring and leveling, just where we wanted the panel to be. Then we would weld angle iron clips at the floor level. We had already installed steel backing plates in the concrete forms and now we had a secure place to weld our angles. A truckload of panels would arrive on the jobsite, but since there was no room for the truck and trailer, we would block a lane of traffic with safety cones while we unloaded them, one at a time. I would have 4 people in the tower itself, ready to clamp and hold the panel in place once it reached them. On the ground we had the truck driver and two men to secure the chokers and hold the tag lines once Dennis started the lift.

I was usually on the floor above the top of the panel, so that I could see the whole operation. I would call Dennis, “Trolley out. Easy, high...hold the trolley. Swing right. High. C’mon down… down. Easy now. High.” (The word 'high' stops the crane) The guys on the trailer would hook up the chokers with a clevis through the studs and then hook the chokers to the hook that was now swinging just above their heads.

Now the guys on the trailer would use hand signals to direct Dennis to raise one end of the panel while swinging the boom slowly and smoothly. The panel would slip off of the trailer without disturbing or damaging the one below it. Then it would hang in place for a moment or two while the tag lines were attached to the bottom of the panel. Once the two men had moved across the street with the tag lines and we had traffic stopped, Dennis was given the signal to raise the panel.

Tower cranes are powered by electric motors and so they are very quiet. On the ground, you ccould only hear a faint whine as the panel would quickly rise to its spot on the building. The tag lines would be released and I could then guide Dennis as he maneuvered the 24’ long panel closer to the building. Close enough, someone would reach out and with a come-along hook, begin pulling it closer. Because of overhead obstructions, Dennis couldn’t get the panel tight against the building; we had to pull it over and then clamp it.

As soon as we had 4 clamps on it, we would release the chokers and let the crane go back to the ground and prepare for another hoist. The 8’ x 24’ panel was held to the building by 4 clamps and nothing else while we pried and pushed to align it with our layout marks. And once we had it where we thought it should be… we welded it in place. Just a few spot welds, as we had to get the next panel, which was already flying up towards us. The real welds would come later, after the truck and trailer were empty and the traffic was back to normal on the street below.

Race Over

The crane wreck was just a minor glitch in the race towards July 1^st and the opening of half a dozen casinos. The damage was quickly repaired and we were soon working double shifts every day of the week. When I wasn’t running my own job, I was usually to be found at the Gold Dust casino, working for another Solari foreman.

Finally it was over and the casinos were due to be open at midnight. Well, maybe not completely over. I remember being up on a tall ladder at 11:30 PM, replacing ceiling tile behind a sprinkler fitter, who was taking them out to put in the new heads. Below me, a laborer stood by with a vacuum to clean up the mess I was making. Since the ceiling had already been painted a bright red, my new tiles (white) stood out like beacons. But no one cared, the gamblers, when they arrived at midnight, would be focused on the machines and not the ceiling.

A note about the ceilings; as a drywall carpenter from Los Angeles, I was accustomed to doing the work of my trade and my trade only. Drywall and steel stud framing. In Reno, I was supposed to know something about every trade involved in finishes. So I quickly became a lather and an acoustical ceiling installer. It was simply expected of you and you had to learn on your own.

Luckily for me, the concealed spline ceiling system used on the Money Tree was a brand new one and the ‘real’ acoustical ceiling installers that worked for me had never seen it before, so we were somewhat equal and I could catch up to them in expertise. Pretty soon, I was accepted by the acoustical ceiling crews and we got along fine for the rest of my career in Reno.

Taking it down

The wind in the Truckee Meadows can be very deceptive. At ground level; all is calm. Climb up about 30 feet to the second or third floor of an open steel structure and you might find a gale blowing. And without any letup. We were soon accustomed to this phenomenon and modified our work methods to suit.

Apparently the operator of that large crane used on the Sahara hotel hadn’t been told of those winds; winds that swept down from the Sierra’s. He wasn’t a local; being brought in for just this one lift. And now it was time to bring the giant mast of the crane down and let the ironworkers put it all back on the trailers and then onto the train.

It was early and I was touring the job site, (The Money Tree) making sure that everyone was busy and had all of the materials they needed. I had started down in the basement where I had half a dozen men working. Completed, I was climbing the stairs up on the west side of the building and had almost reached ground level when there was a tremendous noise and the pedestrian barricade, just in front of me, exploded in dust and splinters of plywood. I crouched down and covered my head. I wasn’t sure of what had happened. When I looked up again, I could see a mass of thick cables swaying where the plywood barricade used to be.

I still didn’t know what had happened, but I knew I wanted out of the spot I was in, so I pushed past the broken wood and the cables and got out onto Sierra Street. It was an unbelievable sight. The crane had fallen. The cab and body of the crane was lying on its side, two broken outriggers spraying hydraulic fluid onto the road. The main mast, the boom and jib had fallen across the Ace Motel and I joined 2 or 3 others in racing into the courtyard of the motel to see if anyone was hurt. Motel guest were pouring out of their rooms; a few wearing only towels for modesty.

We quickly determined that no one was hurt in the rooms affected by the boom landing in them and so we continued over to Virginia Street, where the hardcore gamblers were oblivious to the fact that the crane had also fallen onto the Nevada Club. It turned out that the ‘headache ball’ had remained on the roof of the club, but the block, much heavier, had crashed through and into the second floor women’s restroom. Unoccupied!

The same good luck had occurred when the crane was dragged sideways by the falling mast. Ordinarily, there was a long line of cars next to the crane because of the lane closure. Since it was early, and the signal had just changed, there hadn’t been any cars in that lane. And it was the same with the pedestrian barricade at the Money Tree; it was simply too early for the crowds to be out and walking around downtown. Besides taking out the barricade, the cables had also sliced off a corner of one of my panels. Like a knife through butter. Scary!

We returned to the crane to see how the operator was and found out that he had ridden it down safely, but as soon as the noise and confusion was over… he had left the scene. Not to be found anywhere.

It didn’t take long to find out what had happened from the ‘oiler’ on the crane. When they started the crane up that morning, the oiler said he saw the flag on the boom whipping back and forth as the wind raced across the roof of the Sahara, about 270’ feet above the ground. The boom had been placed in a near vertical position overnight and the swing brakes were locked. Safe. But as soon as the operator released the swing brake, the boom swiveled in the wind and the operator tried to lower the boom quickly to get it out of the wind, but he couldn’t stop the swing and between the two actions, it was soon out of control and dragging the crane across the pavement as the 300+ feet of boom and jib settled across 3 buildings.

We were working double shifts and later that night, I watched as ironworkers took what was left of the crane apart with cutting torches; not wrenches. Trailer loads of very expensive, bent and twisted tubing went down the alley that night.

High Lift

And speaking of cranes, as I was… The Sahara hotel was directly to the west of the Money Tree and although they had two tower cranes on the project, they needed one very powerful crane to make a lift that the tower cranes couldn’t. It was a cooling tower assembly that had to be on the roof. And one day a train arrived in Reno and unloaded a brand new Manitowoc crane that would do the job. It had over 300’ of ‘stick’ and a lengthy jib section as well. The equipment made a grand parade up Second Street as they headed to the job site. We heard that the manufacturer was selling this crane to someone in the Bay area, but since it was passing through Reno on the train, they might as well try it out for one tall and heavy lift.

Once they were at the site and they had the crane situated on Sierra Street, they brought in the trucks that held all of the boom sections. These were quickly unloaded by the tower cranes and ‘shook out’ along the road so that the ironworkers could assemble them and string the cables.

The rumor that quickly circulated was this; the crane was so powerful that it was going to be able to lift its own boom off of the street. Most cranes needed another crane to help in getting the mast vertical. Of course everyone wanted to see this!

There were probably a couple hundred construction workers lining the sidewalks when the operator fired up the big diesel engine that powered this giant. Outriggers were extended into a blocked off traffic lane. It was time. Sure enough, a large cloud of black smoke erupted from the stack and the boom began to lift free of the pavement. We were impressed. And in less than a minute the boom was vertical and easily reaching past the 24 stories of the Sahara.

A little while later, the cooling tower arrived on a truck and it was almost anticlimactic as the crane easily swung it up onto the roof. One lift. They were through and the crane was scheduled to be taken apart and put back on the train during the next two days, to continue its journey to the Bay area.

Of course we all speculated; what did that cost? Hey! It’s a casino. Money was no object…

Crane time

I may have gotten ahead of myself with that last story. Of course I had to have installed the panels before the kitchen was ready.

Back to the panels. The Money Tree construction site could only be described as ‘tight’. We were building right along the property lines and had covered barricades for the protection of pedestrians on two side of the lot, There was an alley on the east side and we were located right up against the Ace Motel on the north side. There was no room for storage of material near the site and whatever was delivered had to be placed inside the work area immediately. I soon learned how to control traffic and to hold up a ‘Stop’ sign with an air of authority while a drywall or stud delivery was being made.

Installing the panels though, was a little different. We had to get a permit from the city to shut down a lane of traffic for the amount of time it would take a crane to lift the panels from the trailer and install them. Since I had never installed a panel, I was only guessing. But each day, we had a deadline to get out of the way and re-open the lane to traffic.

We were using a local crane service, A&KW Cranes. Lonnie and Eli Walker. They did most of the crane work in town for the various sign companies and so their cranes were fairly lightweight. But they did have a Grove hydro truck crane with 125’ of boom, including a 30’ jib, or ‘fly’ section. And they would be able to lift the majority of the panels for us. For the longer reach to the north, McKenzie was going to let us use their much bigger conventional crane. This crane could reach all of the way across the roof, but the hitch was that we would have to share the crane time with the air conditioning contractor. We would have to hurry to set all of the panels that butted up against the Ace Motel.

When it came time to set the first panel, I was immediately impressed with Lonnie’s skill. He could lift the panels off of the trailers without even scratching the panels stacked below. Smooth. And then he would hold the panel right where we needed it while we attached the ‘tag lines’, long ropes that we would hold and try to keep the panel from crashing into something while Lonnie swung it up from the street and up against the building, near it’s final destination. Holding the tag lines required a lot of strength and skill, plus some bravery as you would sometimes have to rush out into traffic as you pulled the panel away from certain disaster.

All went well, in spite of my concerns and within a week we had the building covered with a prefabricated finish, ready for the sign companies to begin their work.

This job was my introduction to the world of cranes and crane operators and I soon knew all of the operators in town; working with them on many projects.

Back then

Despite the lack of adequate and skilled labor, the Money Tree project rushed towards the July 1 opening date; along with all of the other projects in town. I had only been in Reno for a little over a year and had never seen anything like this before. Casino building defied all of the usual rules of construction; rules that I knew well from my years of working in Los Angeles.

One incident from that time: I was talking to Greg McKenzie, the project manager for McKenzie Construction. We were in the kitchen of the new second floor restaurant. We heard a crashing noise and then someone yelled, ‘Call the fire department!’ and a crowd of men rushed over to where someone lay on the floor amidst a broken ladder and a lot of blood.

The man on the floor was shaking violently and someone, luckily, spotted the fact that he was clutching a drill motor in his hands and they yanked on the cord, unplugging it before anyone touched him.

We recognized the worker; Karl, the foreman for the crew that was installing the stainless steel kitchen equipment. He was also one of the most thoroughly disliked men on the job. He was from Oregon and had no intention of making friends in Reno. But, someone in the crowd began CPR and everyone looked on, anxiously. He may not have had friends, but he was one of us.

That was when Charlie Mapes, the owner of the Money Tree, walked in. He spotted Greg and I and after looking at the scene for just a moment, he told Greg, “You better get these men back to work.” and he then turned and walked away.

Yes, Karl survived and returned to Oregon. Charlie never asked about him.

Careful!

Pretty soon I had most of the panels completed for the Money Tree casino and it was time for me to actually begin some work on the project. The building consisted of a basement and two floors above that. A very small project for downtown Reno.

The basement held the money counting rooms, slot machine repair and general supplies for the casino. The first floor was almost all open floor space and would be filled with slot machines and table games. The second floor was reserved for a large restaurant and bar.

When we started the project, it was understood that we would have to be finished by July 1. Every new casino in town was aiming for that date and there was going to be a grand celebration downtown when about 7 casinos opened at the same time. Ads were going to be placed in all of the major newspapers throughout the country, but focusing mainly on California, where most of Reno’s customers came from.

On the corner opposite where the Money Tree was located, the new 24 story Sahara hotel/casino was being built. On the other corner, the Gold Dust casino was being given a major remodeling. A few blocks away were the Circus Circus, Comstock, Harrah’s and a few minor remodels among the smaller casinos. And Solari held the contracts for all of them. It was soon evident that there weren’t enough carpenters or lathers in town for all of the work that we had and we were soon forced into overtime. Major overtime!

The Sahara and the Circus Circus were among the largest contracts and so they received the most attention when a call was made for additional labor. My project was usually ignored and so I had to fight for any additional help. At one time, our superintendent told each project foreman to tell the crew that could work as many hours as they wanted and anywhere at all in the downtown area. Some of my crew would work at the Money Tree for 10 hours and then walk across the street and work for an additional 10 hours at the Sahara or Gold Dust. They would then sleep for a few hours, resting their heads on their tools, somewhere on the floor of the casino, away from the crowds of workers doing their own shifts. (Giant rolls of carpet or padding were great for sleeping on) Someone would always come along and wake them up in time for another shift.

One afternoon, I left my project and went across to the Gold Dust for lunch. Sitting at the bar, I saw about a dozen of my morning crew asleep, while sitting up and leaning against a temporary partition in the bar. A few were sprawled out on the floor itself. Customers would simply step over them carefully.

A Career Move

When I first arrived at the panel plant, I was put to work on the panels for the Circus Circus hotel tower. My panels for the Money Tree could wait for a little while; at least until the concrete was poured on the decks.

So, Circus Circus. The schedule called for Solari to complete the casino first and then work on the high-rise hotel would begin later in the summer. Phil, the project foreman, would line up the work for us and then go down to the casino worksite and spend most of the day there.

The panels that had been designed for the hotel were quite large, 8’ wide and 24’ long. They would cover a section that was three floors tall, all in one lift from the crane.

And for us, in the plant, it was also a ‘lift’. We had no crane and so we would gather a crowd around the panel and lift it together (hopefully) as we moved it from station to station in the manufacturing process. 4 people could lift it when it was only a metal frame, but it required twice that number when the drywall sheathing and EPS foam had been added to it. And that was where we had to move it to the finisher’s room. A warm haven! The EIFS system required a minimum of 50 degrees and we welcomed a chance to warm up, even if it did mean we had to haul that heavy panel with us.

At this time, it was also revealed to me that I would complete the Money Tree casino project and then I was slated to be the foreman for the interior framing and drywall on the Circus Circus hotel. It looked like I had begun a career.

Break Time!

Back at the panel plant. As I wrote earlier, the plant was actually an old aircraft hanger. It had been built at the Stead Air Force Base, north of Reno, during WWII. After being declared ‘surplus’ sometime in the 50’s, it had been dismantled and moved to a hillside location on Tampa Avenue, just above the city. When reconstructed, it was over 300’ long and about 80’ wide. It was probably close to 40’ high and had 3 overhead cranes installed. There were additional buildings connected to it and these were used by the plasterers when finishing the panels.

Al Solari had owned the empty building for quite awhile but hadn’t used it for anything, and so when we made it into a ‘panel’ factory, we had to do some renovations. Such as adding water and electricity. The former owners, a cabinet manufacturer, had removed much of anything valuable and what was left didn’t work.

One of Mr. Solari’s ‘virtues’ was his thrifty nature. He hated to spend money. So the overhead cranes were not repaired. Nor was the heating system. Or cooling. In general, the roof kept us dry and that was about all we could expect in the way of comfort.

We had built large, flat and level framing ‘tables’ to build the panels on. These tables would allow us to clamp the framing components into the required shape and hold them steady while we welded them together.

The framing components were cut with a large ‘chop’ saw and then placed on the table, all laid out according to the drawings we had from our designers. Al Solari had decided to save money by consulting with structural engineers only when absolutely necessary and doing the drawings in-house by hiring a draftsmen and a helper. Our design team.

The welding began. The studs and track were all made from painted steel and as you welded, the smoke from the burning paint would creep under your welding hood. Pretty soon we were all coughing and complaining of sore throats. Solution; install a fan at the end of the table. Did I tell you how cold it was in this building? If it was 20° outside, it was 15° inside; no sun. The fans were only run when the temperatures rose into the 30’s and we resigned ourselves to the coughing.

Some days, after a lot of welding had taken place, you could look up into the trusses above you and the smoke obscured any view of the roof itself. Part of that smoke came from the fires we built in 55 gallon drums. There were always a couple of these fires going and it was the job of one of the plant ‘go’fers’ to keep the fires going by breaking up old pallets. All coffee breaks were taken standing around the barrels and warming our hands. And Al Solari had the habit of showing up at break time every day. 10 minutes. No more.

Another note; we all wore welding protection clothing, 'leathers'. But these thin leather jackets wouldn't fit well over down filled jackets, so the one thing that would keep you warm, was removed. For those times when we simply couldn't or wouldn't remove the warmth... we suffered later, as the sparks would burn holes in our nice down filled jackets and soon there were little feathers floating in the chilly air.

Barbwire by Barbano

MapesXecution: the slivered legacy of lesser royalty

Some good stuff about Charlie Mapes and a little about the Money Tree casino. Yes, I knew him. Didn't like him.

Measuring Up

A note; Al Solari was determined to get every bit of benefit from his panel plant, the old aircraft hanger, and so every building project we had under contract was examined to see if we could use pre-fabrication in the construction of it. Invariably, it was determined that we could and we would. In the case of the Money Tree, there were no drawings made for panelizing. No engineers looked at it. I was simply told to go to the project and design it myself. A few weeks previous, I was a sheetrocker and now I was a structural engineer? OK.

As the weather changed and became more spring-like, I began to plan for the pre-fabricated panels that were going to be placed on the new Money Tree casino. This meant that I had to climb all over the structural framework of the emerging structure, placing me in a working relationship with ‘ironworkers’, a trade group that I knew little of. I soon knew them all quite well.

A little bit of info about Reno in those days, the 70’s and 80’s; Unlike Los Angeles, you would almost always work with the same tradesmen on each and every job. Within a few years I knew every ironworker, electrician, plumber, ‘tin knocker’ and laborer in town. Worked with them on every project. So you learned very quickly that it made sense to be helpful to one another. We looked out for each other, where in Los Angeles it was exactly the opposite. It was very refreshing!

So there I was, climbing up onto the steel structure and measuring for the panels to be built. And designing the structural attachments as I went. And after a week of measuring, by myself… Mr. Solari didn’t believe in unnecessary labor costs, I was back at the plant and building the panels. By myself.

Some Money Tree memorabilia

Springtime at the Comstock

As I said, the Comstock was the first of many hotel casinos to be built that spring and Solari had the fireproofing, lath and plaster, drywall and painting contracts for 99% of these projects. And this meant that I wasn’t going to be able to hide any more. Art now knew that I read plans and he knew that I had been a foreman and a superintendent before. Like it or not, I was going to be given a project to run.

But first I was going to be given a short lesson on panel building. Solari had secured the contract for the exterior panels on the new 24 story Circus Circus hotel and casino. These were similar to the panels that were being installed on the MGM hotel, except for the fact that these were made with a new synthetic and lightweight plaster/Styrofoam combination called Dryvit.

The foreman (Phil) for the Circus Circus project was already busy building these panels at the Solari panel factory; an old and very large aircraft hanger from Stead Air Force Base. It had been dismantled and moved into Reno, where it had been rebuilt as a cabinet shop and then, later, purchased at foreclosure by Mr. Solari. (Did I mention that Al Solari was the chairman of the board of the bank?)

My assignment was to work at the panel plant and then take Phil’s place when the time came for him to leave and install the many panels he had built for the project.

Then, once the Money Tree Casino structure came ‘out of the ground’ I was to begin the building of panels for that project; my project. Fun times ahead!

The Comstock

Winter (1977) settled in and I was still driving to Reno each day and working on various small jobs; usually with Carl as my partner. I would often see him early in the morning as he and Leroy would be getting on the freeway at Hallelujah Junction, on their way into town from Loyalton.

Every once in awhile we would be sent over to the MGM to spend a few days hanging drywall in the tower. And it was in the tower that I first saw the prefabricated exterior panels being used to clad the structure. These were made from structural steel studs (16 gauge and heavier) and covered with lath and plaster on their exterior side. Pierce Lath and Plaster was the contractor and I knew of them from my days in Los Angeles. They had also been a major player in the drywall industry.

Pierce was using portable hoists to haul the panels up the side of the building and then prying and clamping the panels into place and welding them to the edge via structural angles. The hoists, which were very heavy, would be rolled into position on the floor above the location for the panel and then counterweights were added to keep the hoist on the floor. A stabilizer bar was also used to pin the hoist in place while lifting the heavy panels. It was fascinating to watch the ‘dinosaurs’ at work. That was the slang name for the hoists and they did resemble some ancient beasts.

And on another note… one day, as was standing by the man hoist on the ground, I was spotted by Rick Thompson. He had just started to work that day. We talked for awhile and he explained that business had been slow in Bishop and he had heard about the work at the MGM. He was also looking for someplace new to live. Bishop was getting too big! I told him all about where we lived (Janesville) and told him I would bring him a copy of the local newspaper so he could look at the real estate ads.

Rick, if you remember, was from Los Angeles originally and I knew him from there. He had also been my ex-partner’s partner in the contracting business. The same one I had just left. Small world.

When spring came, most of the casinos in town, plus some new ones, had big plans for expansion. The opening of the MGM would occur soon and they all wanted a part of the tourist dollars that would flood the town with the opening of this huge casino.

Of course Solari wanted this expansion work and they set out to estimate and secure all of the work they could. The first one; the Comstock hotel and Casino.

This is the job that changed my career path. The job was being run by Donny; one of Art’s favorite foreman. That didn’t mean he was actually good at what he did, he was simply a favorite. I was sent out to the Comstock to begin dropping hanger wires in the steel deck. You would have to read the blueprints and determine where the ceilings were on the floor below the deck. Then you would mark the deck for a pattern of holes to be punched and wires dropped through them. The wires had a pigtail on them and that would be captured in the concrete when they poured the deck. So you were always working one floor above where the ceilings would be and that required some skill in reading plans. Standing on a shiny steel deck with no ‘landmarks’ around you… no walls, was a good exercise for your brain.

Donny’s crew (and I) had gathered on the deck, ready to begin and Donny asked, “Does anyone know how to read plans?” No one raised their hands. Finally, I did. Donny wasted no time at all, shoving the drawings into my arms and telling everyone to follow me. Oops! I was in charge. Something I did… and didn’t want to do.

I learned later that Donny didn’t know how to read plans at all.

Experience

After a few months of working on nothing but small jobs, there came a day when Art could find nothing for Carl and I to do, so he sent us over to the MGM for a week or two, telling us that he would call for us as soon as there was some of our kind of work.

We parked in the huge parking lot and made our way into the casino, looking for a foreman named ‘Trini’. Trinidad Guerra. A very large and loud foreman. Of course we found him easily; we simply listened for him. After the usual introductions, he put us to work in the big showroom on the first floor. It was all pretty simple stuff and Carl and I were soon doing as much or more than the rest of the crew.

At break time I got a chance to meet a lot of the Solari regulars; those who had always worked for them. And I got a chance to learn more about the company.

C. Solari and Sons, Inc. (Established 1918) was named for Camille Solari, an Italian immigrant who had founded the company as a painting contractor. He had also bought a lot of property in Northern Nevada and his sons had continued that tradition; painting and acquiring.

I remembered that when we had come to Reno in 1967 to build the Broadway store, we had some difficulty finding an apartment to rent and one of our crew suggested that we contact Mr. Solari (Al) as he had plenty of rentals available. He owned over 5,000 apartments and houses to be exact. He found one for us immediately. That had been over ten years ago and now I was working for the same Mr. Solari.

Al Solari was also the Chairman of the Board of First National Bank in Reno. When it came to ‘movers and shakers’ in Nevada, he was one of the biggest.

Back to work…

After a few weeks in the showroom we were moved to the tower for awhile. I certainly knew my way around; after all, I had framed most of it while working for Oahu Interiors. So it was noted by the foreman and reported to Art, that I had some talent. Then I was called to Art’s office one day and he closed the door. He wanted to know what kind of experience I had. I told him. And when I mentioned the fact that I had been a superintendent for Pacific States Plastering, he interrupted me to say, “Don’t think you’re going to get my job!” and he was quite serious about it, glaring at me.

Of course I told him that I wasn’t interested in his job and much preferred working with Carl on any small jobs he might have for us.

And that was what I did for the next few months. Art kept me away from any jobs where I might be called upon for a leadership role. Life was good!Just add the old MGM logo to the ends of the towers in this photo and you have a picture of the hotel in the late 70's... I'm not sure who owns it now.

A Day in Reno

Every once in awhile I will forget which blog I’m posting to and then I have to try and unscramble the results. I see that I have posted the one below this to the wrong blog. Should have gone on Projections. But I’m leaving it…

Anyway, back to my story…

I had just met Art, my new boss and he was going to send me out on a job. And he told me that he would be sending me to small projects at first; nothing major until he knew more about me. I was on trial again.

Art introduced me to Carl Scatena, who was going to be my partner (and judge) for the day. Carl was from Loyalton, California, a small town north of Reno. We already had something in common. We were both from small California towns and earning our livings in Nevada.

I grabbed my tools and followed Carl to some small job; maybe it was an office remodel? Or a patch in a ceiling in some factory? I don’t even remember all of the places we worked for the first few months of my career with C. Solari and Sons. Every morning would find me driving in from Janesville and meeting with Carl and Art, at the office, to see where we would go that day. No job lasted more than a day or two. It was always interesting and I didn’t miss the excitement (and the boredom) of working on a high rise hotel, like the MGM Grand.

Solari’s office was only a few blocks from the MGM and Solari had already started working a crew on the tower portion as well as the casino levels. The foremen for that project would be in Art’s office each morning, making their plans, while Carl and I waited outside for our daily instructions.

(As it turned out, working with Carl produced some of the best working days in my career. Great times!)

A little something about Solari; when I was still working in Los Angeles and working for Modern Drywall Systems, we had secured two out of town Broadway store projects. One was in Sacramento and the other, a twin, was in Reno. And the drywall contractor for the base store project was C. Solari and Sons. We did what were called the fixturing walls and worked directly for Broadway or the store fixture companies. So, I already had a small, indirect, relationship with them and knew something about the history of the company. More about that later.

Basic Instructions

How to Express Condolences

This guy is good! LOL...ROFL and all the rest of the acronyms!

More Changes

The framing crew and I came together pretty well and we were able to exceed our production quotas easily. The younger Hawai’ian members of the crew would disappear around 10 AM as usual, but we never noticed anymore. The studs just flew into place and time passed quickly.

Then we started hearing rumors. True; men on construction sites love to gossip! And the gossip was all about the mistakes being made by the other framing crews and then whole wings of completed drywall being removed because backing strips were absent or in the wrong place. Big layoff’s! We were still the ‘good guy’s’. None of our work had been faulted, but once a contractor gets into the ‘firing’ mode, it is hard to tell the good guy’s from the bad guy’s. And every one is suspect.

It was about this time that Mr. Ernie Jackson decided to bring in some heavyweight supervisors. He recruited them from the Fresno area; people he knew and was comfortable with. And their method of supervision had me ready to find another job. First, they assembled the crew, all 300 plus men. Then they told us that there was going to be all new foremen. But only after an evaluation period. All who were foremen at the current time were no longer in charge…or being paid as foremen. We would be foremen in name only. The exit was being prepared for me, but I decided to stick around for awhile and see what developed.

I seem to remember that we were already framing on the 21^st floor with 3 more to go. So, framing wasn’t a problem area and I was assigned to a drywall crew. Some good things had been said about me and this was going to be my foremen’s ‘test’. I decided to press the issue and said, “No, thanks.” And told them I wanted foreman’s pay now and not at some later date if they wanted me to run a crew. That worked, I got the pay and I was told not to tell anyone else.

I returned to the 11^th floor and began re-installing drywall. We quickly moved up the tower and were soon installing on the 14^th floor.

Success? It was not be. All of the foremen were asked to attend a meeting at Ernie’s house in Sparks. (He had bought a house for his new superintendents) At the meeting, he informed us that it was all over. He was turning the project over to the bonding company and sailing back to Hawai’i. Whoa! That was startling news. He was going to lose the cost of his bond ($250,000) and lose the ability to be bonded ever again.

Well, I didn’t have to agonize over a decision. Should I quit? Ha! The next morning found me at the Carpenter’s Union hall and talking to my new friend, the business agent. He informed me that C. Solari and Son’s, the local drywall contractor, would probably take over the job and finish it for the bonding company, so he was going to see if he could get me hired by them. Sure enough, a phone call later and I had orders to report to Art Engebrittsen the following morning.

Back to Work

Meanwhile, back at the MGM.

As I was saying earlier, I was supposed to be the foreman of the layout crew, but as it worked out, Frenchie didn’t want to go home to Hawai’i. Some problem with a warrant? They continued to pay me foremen’s wages and Frenchie was the boss. OK with me.

And as I also said, I was the only non-Hawai’ian on the crew. Haole. The crew spoke what I learned was called ‘pidgin’. An interesting blend of English, Polynesian and maybe some Tagalog from the Philippines. For me, it was sink or swim, I had to learn what they were saying and it proved to be quite easy. Too easy, in fact I was soon speaking it all of the time. This drew some complaints from those at home.

I also learned something about the Hawai’ian work ethic; which was minimal. Half of our crew would disappear around the time for our first break of the day and we wouldn’t see them again till the next morning. As the foreman in pay only, I wasn’t too concerned. It was Frenchie’s problem and he never seemed to notice their absence.

A little something about Frenchie; he was originally from Philadelphia and he was a French Canadian ‘gangsta’ to boot. It sounds odd now, but he was pretty much typical of drywallers in that day. If you hadn’t been in the ‘joint’ you were considered odd. So I was odd.

Even with just half a crew present and accounted for, we used lots of shortcuts and were soon cutting our allotted layout labor budget in half. Frenchie’s response to this was to slow down. He really didn’t want to get back to Hawai’i too soon.

I was soon frustrated and began to talk to the powers above and asked to be given something with more responsibility. This was soon given to me. I had a framing crew now and a goal of framing all of the walls on a floor within a week. I also had a crew of Hawaiians. OK, the work began…

I Recall

A thought or two that I had yesterday while I was mowing the orchard. I was thinking about the fact that my career suited my personality. I have always enjoyed working alone and that was something I could do in the construction business. Early on, when I was an apprentice and working ‘piece work’ on houses and apartments, I always worked alone because that was how you made the most money. And you quickly learned that having someone nearby who might strike up a conversation would cost you money in the long run. And when you did have to work with someone, the best partner was one that knew what to do without being told.

I can remember many days of working on high rise buildings, installing the panels that made up the skin of those building, and never saying more than a dozen words. You controlled the crane with hand signals and the crew knew what they were doing without being told; if they didn’t… you didn’t want them around. It was far too dangerous.

Working as a foreman or superintendent meant that you didn’t spend a lot of time in conversation. You have very few friends when you’re the boss. And I remember making lots of people upset because I wouldn’t let them work with a partner. I knew that production would increase when people worked alone and I was always right. Part of my job was to make sure that conversations didn’t occur during the workday.

What a grouch!

Driving

Now that I had a job, I had to get used to a long commute. 75 miles, one way. I started the job in the spring of 1977 and so the trip was quite pleasant; certainly better than half that distance on a Los Angeles freeway. Great scenery and no crowds.

I would have to get up early; maybe 4 AM. Then it was a 90 minute drive to the jobsite. I liked to arrive about 6:30 or before, in time for a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito before heading over to the manlift and taking a short ride to the 4^th floor and the gang box where we assembled each morning before heading up into the tower for that day’s project.

When I started the job, the steel frame of the hotel tower was complete up to about the 16^th floor, with 11 more floors to go. Concrete had been poured to about the 12^th floor. We (Oahu Interiors) had begun framing and had completed the framing from the 3^rd floor to the 7^th. And my job, laying out the walls, had progressed to the 10^th floor.

Drywall installation hadn’t started yet as we were waiting for the exterior panels to be installed and that was still a few weeks off. And that also meant that we had a great and unobstructed view of the Truckee Meadows from our vantage point on the 10^th floor.

One of the things we could see from that floor was a huge open pit gravel mine. It had to have been over 300’ deep and was located about a quarter mile from the new hotel tower. And because this pit was so deep, it had to be dewatered 24 hours a day by huge pumps that returned the water to the Truckee River, from where it had escaped.

(At the completion of the hotel project, the pumps were shut off and the pit became a lake, still to be seen in the parking lot.)

And away we go...

I'm going to leave out the high drama of our moving saga and move directly into the world of working...

After moving to Janesville, I did nothing for 2 or 3 months, living off of the profits of our home sale in Southern California. I really felt burned out, and the time off was therapeutic. Finally, it was time to go back to work. But where? The closest large city was Reno NV. There wasn’t much work in Lassen County, or certainly not my kind of work. So I drove to Reno and looked around. What I didn’t know, before I left that morning, was that the MGM Grand Hotel was being built. Of course I saw it as soon as I came over the hill on US 395, up by Sun Valley. It was just a steel structure, maybe 16 stories high at the time, but it already dominated the valley floor.

I went to the Carpenters Union and talked to the Business agent. I had been given his name and a letter of recommendation from the Union that I had left in Los Angeles. I was quickly hired and went to work on the project. Surprisingly, within a few hours I saw a familiar face, Bill Fritchell, formerly a foreman for Solari & Sons Drywall. I had met him 5 or 6 years ago when I was involved with building the Weinstocks stores in Reno and Sacramento. He was now the Superintendent for Oahu Interiors, the company that had just hired me. Right away, he wanted me to become a foreman for him. I told him that I really wasn’t ready for that. I kind of liked my vacation from stress. He insisted, and I finally agreed to run the layout crew. It turned out that the layout was being done by one of the Hawaiians, “Frenchie” and he was supposed to be leaving soon. Someone was needed to replace him. Me.

A little something about Oahu Interiors. Sometime in the 60’s, a drywaller, Ernie Jackson, from the central valley of California, had decided to move to Hawai’i and become a rich contractor. Which he did. And after awhile he decided to branch out and do some work back on the mainland. He had bid on the MGM tower project and was easily the lowest bid. The company I was going to work for eventually, Solari & Sons, had bid on the hotel tower project and couldn’t even come close to the Oahu bid. (Solari was already doing the lower levels, convention center and casino levels. So they had plenty to do without the hotel tower)

Since Ernie Jackson wasn’t sure about the qualifications of the local labor force and he had found that Solari already had most of the good talent employed, he decided to bring a lot of his labor from the islands. That included Frenchie and a dozen others. In fact, the entire layout crew of 6 men was all Hawaiians and I was the only haole.

Continuing the trip…

Sure enough, 30 minutes later I drove into Susanville on a beautiful fall afternoon. The temperature was in the low 70’s and I learned later that the next morning would bring a ‘below freezing’ mark. There were fall colors everywhere, making the little town quite spectacular; at least for this city boy!

I found a motel to stay in, in the downtown area. As I remember it, there were no more than 4 or 5 motels in town, and this one was clean enough. Then I drove around the city, which didn’t take long. After dinner I decided to walk and see the town close up. It was certainly quiet; there was no comparing it to Orange County. And the smell of incense cedar was strong in the air. The local mill was burning wood and an inversion layer had trapped the delightful smell. OK! I was hooked…

The next day I walked around town again, stopping once for breakfast and then looking in the windows of the various real estate offices I passed. According to the ads I saw, the prices of land and houses were fantastically low. Ranch acreage ran from $100 to $500 an acre and houses were down in the $25,000 range.

I finally found a real estate office that was open and went in. Mike Egan Realty and Zella Mae Miles introduced herself as a sales agent. Pretty soon we were joined by another agent, Marla Miller, and after agreeing on some guidelines, off we went to look at houses.

Long story, short… I found the house we would move to in the little village of Janesville. About 13 miles east of Susanville and tucked into the side of the mountains. We were going to live on 8 acres of second growth pines, so we had no view of the Honey Lake Valley below us. Thompson Peak was behind us, to the south. Nothing to look at but the trees. That would do. I made an offer on the property; it was accepted and then it was time to call Laurae and tell her what I had just done.

What does this story have to do with Working? Hang on, more to come...