Reno City Council approves Jethro’s Hillbilly casino

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1999 | 9:44 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Max Baer Jr. won the final go-ahead from the city council Tuesday to build a hotel-casino based on the "Beverly Hillbillies" television show, despite concerns about a huge marquee with a flame-shooting oil derrick.

On a 4-3 vote, the council approved the controversial 240-foot derrick with a 70-foot flame that was holding up the $130 million project Baer wants to build at an aging shopping mall south of downtown.

"It's what you call a three-headed dog," Baer said in defending the oil derrick before the council on Tuesday.

"People go to see three-headed dogs. It's something that's out of the norm," said the former actor, who played Jethro Bodine in the hit TV series that ran from 1962-71.

"Even people who are driving through Reno with no intention to stop will say, 'My God, what the hell is that?' ... The whole idea is to create an enormous display in the sky."

Critics have called the project an embarrassment to the city and dozens of neighbors have complained about the potential for increased noise and traffic.

"This is an exciting possibility for some and a frightening possibility for others," Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin said before casting his vote in favor of the derrick.

Baer, 61, said it will bring a recognizable landmark to a city that is worried about competition from new megaresorts in Las Vegas and Indian casinos in California.

"Most of the major cities have landmarks. Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Seattle has the Space Needle," Baer said.

"The Eiffel Tower gets 30 percent more visitors than the Louvre even with all those famous paintings. Why? It's obvious. It's huge," he said.

"If the Empire State Building was 40-feet tall, how many do you think would visit?

Mercedes de la Garza, a Reno architect who helped rally opposition against the project, said it would set a bad precedent for future landmarks in Reno.

"San Antonio has the Alamo. San Francisco has the Golden Gate Bridge," she told the council Tuesday. "Will ours be a cartoon oil derrick marooned in a shopping center parking lot?"

More than 200 people turned out at the city council meeting, dozens of them wearing red ribbons in a sign of support for Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino, complete with Granny's Shot Gun Wedding Chapel, Jethro's All-You-Ken-Et Buffet and a Cement Pond swimming pool.

The mayor had to caution the partisan crowd against "booing and hissing" at opponents of the project.

The council earlier approved the overall project without the huge marquee, but Baer had threatened he'd take it elsewhere if he didn't get the derrick.

"If it had not passed today, I would have walked," he told council members after the vote on Tuesday. "If had been 4-3 the other way, I'd be down the road in a New York minute."

Three members of the city council who voted against the derrick said they'd prefer a 400-foot sign with lights but no flame.

"I would trade off the flame for the heighth," said Councilman David Aiazzi, who opposed the derrick Tuesday along with Pierre Hascheff and Bill Newberg.

Baer said he would prepare an alternative 400-foot plan to submit to city planners but that approval of the original plan Tuesday was critical to his ability to move forward with investors.

Baer has refused to identify his investors. He said Tuesday he could provide no estimate on when construction could begin.

"I started back in July of last year and here it is the end of January and we're just getting the zoning approved," he said.

Baer said he will continue discussions with owners of the mall about the amount of money they will be willing to invest in the project, which calls for a remodeling of the mall's stores to match the hotel's theme.