Hotel Nevada: This is the Hotel Nevada from the east side. I really like the mural painted on the side. Photo by Ryan Jerz.As part of our trip to Fire and Ice Charlie Johnston, Nevada Magazine‘s Associate Editor, and I spent a few nights in Ely. Neither of us had ever been there for any significant amount of time, so we were totally unfamiliar with the town.
As you drive into town on Highway 50, you come to what appears to be the old downtown area. The high school is on the immediate right at the edge of town and the buildings look like they have a little history in them. Just a few block in, and visible from the moment you enter town, is the Hotel Nevada. We were staying there and it was about 5:00 when we rolled in, so we immediately stopped to check in and get settled. After going through Austin and Eureka earlier in the day, we were content to think that Ely consisted of that small area surrounding the Hotel Nevada and the Jailhouse Casino. There were some shops, a few bars, and even an art gallery. It looked about how we figured it’d look. We couldn’t have been more wrong.
After settling in we took a drive down the road to find the route out toward Cave Lake State Park and were amazed at the size of Ely. It’s not a big city, but it isn’t a tiny town, either. The main part of town stretches for a couple of miles and the turnoff to the south looks like it’s in the middle of a building boom. We saw a couple of smaller grocery stores in town and a larger one on the newer strip. Restaurants were everywhere. Motels were everywhere. Ely looks as if it’s in the middle of a renaissance period. According to some of the folks we talked to there are about 4,800 residents right now (the 2000 Census says 4,041). The economy seems strong, which is something smaller towns are always struggling with.
The other thing that came up for the trip was where we should eat. We asked around and got two answers: The Cell Block inside the Jailhouse Casino and the pizza at the Hotel Nevada. They’re located just across the street from one another.
The Jailhouse: as seen from the sidewalk in front of the Hotel Nevada. Photo by Ryan Jerz.On the first night we hit the Cell Block. They seat you in a booth that has bars surrounding it and a closing door. It keeps the tables private and creates an interesting atmosphere. There were photos on the walls above the booths that looked like they might be of old prisoners or just a time when Ely was much younger. The food was great. Charlie and I both ordered ribs with a stuffed potato and loved the meal.
We went for the pizza on the second night and found it to be as good as advertised. The Hotel Nevada makes it fresh in the restaurant 24 hours a day, so anyone can get it anytime they like. The friend of mine who suggested it is a vegetarian, so he might not have liked what we got—it had about every kind of meat offered at the place, along with a few veggies—but it tasted great just the same. The hotel is also the only place we saw in town that serves Starbucks coffee. All the coffee at the restaurant is Starbucks, and they can make you a latté if you need it, too.
Sunday morning we hit the Nevada Northern Railway Museum and rode the “Ghost Train,” another of the must-sees in Ely. The trip takes about two hours and goes out to Ruth and through a couple of tunnels on the way there and back. You’ll also see Lane City, the birthplace of Pat Nixon. We were aboard with a bunch of delegates to the VFW convention in town and at the end of the ride the new state commander was arrested by guys dressed up as federal marshals. There was a gunfight, too.
Overall, our impression of Ely couldn’t be a whole lot better. The town surprised us with its vitality. We were treated very well considering we were largely just a couple of visitors and not known to a lot of the people with whom we interacted as state tourism people. That says a lot about the town and the way it operates. I look forward to the next time I’m able to get out there.
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