Lost Grand Resorts of Old Lake Tahoe

Travel to the past and enjoy a string quartet and an eight-course dinner in an elegant wilderness.

Beginning in the 1880s, the beauty of Lake Tahoe enticed entrepreneurs to build the most opulent resort hotels in America catering to the wealthiest from California and Nevada. Baldwin’s Tallac House, the Tahoe Tavern and Brockway Hot Springs Hotel fought to outdo one another as they took luxury to new heights with musical entertainment, movies, horseback excursions and five-star dining. Tahoe Tavern even featured its own private railway, while Brockway spawned America’s first gambling casino resort, the Cal-Neva Lodge, where celebrities mingled with mobsters. By the 1960s, the golden era had begun to fade as the tourist demographic shifted, but a splendid legacy endures.

Author Paul Nelson brings to life the intrigue and opulence of Lake Tahoe’s earliest resorts.

Paul Nelson is a retired San Francisco attorney. He discovered Lake Tahoe in the late 1960s while visiting a college friend and became intrigued with the historical lore of the area. For twenty-five years, he represented California resorts around the lake, which introduced him to the stories of the old grand resorts. In 1987, Mr. Nelson made his family’s Tahoe home in Brockway and spent the next thirty-six years uncovering stories of the area’s forgotten history.