Sundown Town Amusement Park ~ 1960-61
Reno, Nevada

~~ LYNDA'S STORY ~~

To go back a little, my parents split in 1958 and my father took my 3 sisters
and me to go live with our paternal grand-parents. (I was 9.) We never knew
where Mom was till years later. At 16, I started looking for her thru an old
address book that I had. I found her in 1965 and after being reunited with her
in 1966; I was told that in 1958 she had gone to Reno; worked as a bartender
and then later was a black jack dealer at Harrah's.

In the box of stuff....there were photos, newspaper clippings, negatives that
had not been developed, ID's that had her name as Betty Pearl Carrell; also
an 'opening day' flyer about Sundown Town Amusement Park and envelopes
with negatives that had her name on them as Mrs. George Carrell ~ dated 1960.

Imagine my glee at seeing all this stuff & I wanted to know more...who was
George? What did he look like? What happened to split everyone up and were
the previous owners of this place still alive? What was on the property now?
I had a million questions and no one to ask them of. All family members were
gone that could give me any info about Sundown Town and Mom being there. So I
went to the internet....I couldn't find anything about Sundown Town, nor any
records to show that my Mother had been married or divorced to George Carrell.
All I have is the items with her last name as Carrell or Mrs. George Carrell;
so I believe they were married for a short time in 1960.

I did find out that the other owner & founder of Sundown Town Amusement Park
was Buster Keaton Jr, (son of the famous comedian). At an earlier date, his
name was changed to Robert Talmadge; but he also went by Buster Keaton, Jr.

I'm guessing that in about 1958-59; Robert Talmadge and George Carrell collaborated
and made plans to build a 'town' called Sundown Town & Amusement Park. Photos
from the negatives I had developed were of a building being built; dated 1960
on the envelope. There was snow on the ground in the photos. The 'town' was
very authentic right down to every detail and most visitors thought it had
been a REAL town at one time and now was a 'ghost town'.

In October of 2006, by way of several contacts, I received a phone call late
one night from Bob Talmadge. I was awakened from a sound sleep and was so
surprised to hear from him. I was not prepared with any questions & had to
think fast what to ask him at the moment. Needless to say, I couldn't get back
to sleep after our short phone conversation. He was now in his 80's & he
couldn't remember if George and my mother were married or not. He did tell me
of one incident that he remembered ~ of my Mother speeding down the road out
of the amusement park madder than h--- and the dust flying everywhere. She had
caught George with another woman! Was this when they split & divorce happened?

Robert also told me that my mother met George Carrell while taking horseback
riding lessons at a stable that George owned in Reno. (The Del Monte Stables?)
He also told me that George had passed away; so I wouldn't be able to get any
info from him. I asked and he told me that the trained brahma bull at the park
at the time; was named 'Lightning'.
(Note: Robert now too has passed away ~ sometime in 2007.)

My great aunt told me many years ago that Mom had been married to someone
while in Reno, but it only lasted a couple of months. Auntie said Mom didn't
count it as one of her marriages because it didn't last that long. Is that
the reason she never told my sisters or me? Auntie never said the man's name
and at the time, I didn't think it important enough to ask.

After putting my Sundown Town website here on line, I've had several emails
from people. Two guys who said as young boys they lived at SD Town; as their
parents were the care takers of the property in the 'later years'. One of them
named John shared some photos he had and sent them to me and also part of an
old copy of a flyer advertising the place. He plans to send me a copy of the
whole thing when he gets it restored.

~ UPDATE ~ April 17-19, 2009
I made the trip to Reno and will be updating it soon!

If anyone was at 'Sundown Town Amusement Park' when
it was in operation and would like to share their
photos or memories ~ please email me ~

Website created July/August 2006
Some photos updated December 12, 2008
Story rewritten and added here April 7, 2009