Columnist Susan Snyder: Getting a read on Pahrump

Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

The man on the other side of the pump at Pahrump's Union 76 station was relieved to see prices had dropped.

"A dollar fifty-one. That's not bad. I wonder what everyone's complaining about," he said as he dispensed gas into a can in the bed of his pickup.

Told him I paid 10 cents less in Las Vegas earlier the same day.

"Oh well. I guess that's the advantage of living in Vegas," he said. "I moved out of Las Vegas five years ago."

Would cheaper gas bring him back?

"Nope."

Apparently a fair share of people hope many others will share his sentiment. It seems every-other building or business on State Route 160, Pahrump's main drag, belongs to a real estate agent or builder.

Winery Road, on the town's eastern edge, is so-named because it dead-ends at Pahrump Valley Winery. But "Model Home Row" would be just as accurate.

Built Well, Gold Crest Construction, Spalding Construction, Desert Palm Homes, C.R. Homes and Quinn Unlimited all had models open for browsing. Arco promises to build your next "Home Sweet Home," while the Double M company hawks "classic homes" next door.

Over at Archie's Restaurant, home of the "award-winning Pahrump burger," lunchtime talk revolved around the past weekend's softball tournament and the tangible benefits that model homes and prospective subdivisions bring to longtime locals.

At the top of the list: Wal-Mart. One is to open this year.

"What we really need out here is that Wal-Mart," one Archie's diner told his buddies. "I buy all my jeans at Wal-Mart. They're only $12."

"I can't see paying $45 to $50 for a pair of (gosh-darned) blue jeans," one of the other guys said.

Wal-Mart is proof-positive that not all growth is bad growth, Mark Tucsnak said. He moved to Pahrump from California six years ago and opened a bicycle shop in the garage behind his home. Life is rural here, but not boring.

"It's exciting. I look at Pahrump as a boomtown," Tucsnak said. "It's growing like crazy. In six months it can be a totally different place."

He expects more changes and more new neighbors when the town's proposed two-story hospital opens.

"And the Wal-Mart is coming. That's a big deal," he said. "Right now there's only one place to buy adult-size underwear, and that's the Mobil station."

(Boxers, $5.99. A three-pack of briefs, $4.59.)

"I grew up in a small town in New Jersey, and that's what I wanted my kids to have," Tucsnak said. "People will see us in Smith's (supermarket) and say, 'Hey Bike Guy, how're you doing?' Everybody knows everybody. My customers are my neighbors."

But strings of stucco retirement nests and a new hospital won't change the overall rural atmosphere overnight. The town's only movie theater opened and closed in a year's time, as did the gourmet coffee shop that once stood next door.

Evidently, residents aren't ready to fork over $3 for a cup of coffee or $4.50 for a movie. They'll wait for the video.

But even without movie popcorn, they'll stay.

"I'm not going anywhere," Tucsnak said. "I love Pahrump."

Higher gas prices and all.