#State Line

[alexeiphotography]

arizona state line, az

[vintagelasvegas]

State Line Chevron & Bar, c. 1960s Whiskey Pete's restaurant, State Line (Primm), Nevada, 1983

 When U.S. Route 91 was established in the 1920s along the Nevada-California border, "Whiskey Pete" McIntyre opened the State Line service station. McIntyre was believed to be a bootlegger, he once shot a man at the station, spent time in a sanatorium, and was buried on the property when he died.

The property changed hands after McIntyre and was still just a gas station when it was bought by gaming pioneer Ernest Primm. Primm acquired 750 acres around the state border, some under the Federal Land Grant Act. He filed water rights with the Bureau of Land Management and tended barley fields on the property for three years to satisfy requirements for ownership.

Primm opened Whiskey Pete's in '77, a European castle-themed casino with a 12-room motel, and a coffee shop. A hotel tower was added in the 80s. The business passed on to son Gary, whose Primadonna Resorts (aka Primm Valley Resorts) opened Primadonna and Buffalo Bill’s casinos in the 90s.

The exact location of Whiskey Pete's burial had been lost. Workers grading a railroad track linking the resorts in '94 accidentally uncovered his coffin and remains.

"The tractor caught the edge of the box and the skull popped out," said the project manager Bruce Sedlacek. "There was Whiskey Pete staring at us."

The legend of Whiskey Pete says that on his deathbed Pete made a request: "Bury me up on the hill, standing up facing the valley so I can see all those sons of bitches goin' by." Sedlacek said the coffin was about 80 percent intact and buried at an angle to the highway, rather than "standing up." The remains were moved to another burial site on the property.

The name "State Line" was commonly used, but never an official designation. (Elsewhere in Nevada, “Stateline” in Douglas County had already a designated place for decades.) Board members for Primadonna Resorts Inc. lobbied the Nevada State Board of Geographical Names, and the U.S. Board, to change the name of the area to Primm. It officially became Primm on 10/10/96.

Postcard & photo from Felix Lenox, Nevada Armored Transport. Photo below, 2001, by Jeff Green.

“I remember as a kid visiting Whiskey Pete's grave site up on the hill. That would have been in the late '40s. A few of the old timers attended his burial. Many were railroaders and 31 Club. They would get together on Sunday for a drive and picnic. That would have been one of them. Whiskey Pete was a Bootlegger, no doubt about that. Some of the old time railroaders dropped whiskey off to him. They referred to the Federal Agents as ‘Pro Hi's.’” - Charles Musser to Vintage Las Vegas, 12/20/2024.

Note: Las Vegas Post 8 of the American Legion formed the "31 Club" circa '51, comprised of members who had lived in Las Vegas since '31 or prior.

Below: Unverified photo of Whiskey Pete's grave site, posted by Bill and Eileen to Findagrave.com on 11/08/2011.

Sources include: Whiskey Pete McIntyre faces charge. Review-Journal, 3/26/31; Whiskey Pete Is Freed of Insanity Count. Review-Journal, 10/15/32; Whiskey Pete Can Stand in Grave in Peace. Review-Journal, 2/10/41; Strip City Between Here, Los Angeles is Proposed. Review-Journal, 3/31/54; R. Cornett. Duel in the desert just a family feud. Review-Journal, 9/16/84 p1; D. Palermo. Remains of Whiskey Pete Found. Review-Journal, 2/5/94; Primadonna Resorts, Inc. and subsidiaries. SEC.; Ed Vogel. Primm is prime candidate for State Line name. Review-Journal, 1/18/96; John. L. Smith. Company calls Primm a proper name for State Line. Review-Journal, 1/19/96; Ed Vogel. Primm finally proper. Review-Journal, 10/11/96; Don Catlin. The Lottery Book: The Truth Behind the Numbers. Bonus Books, 2003; L. Benston. Primm's Lure: Freebies. Las Vegas Sun, 7/2/2009.

Updated 12/20/2024

[opendirectories]

[reddirtgirl95]

Red rivers got some water in it now.

[ian-bean-92]

Roadtripping pics

So I went roadtripping through GA, NC, SC, VA, MD, & TN so here's my state line pics :D

MD didn't have a welcome center???

NC's was closed :/

I also got to see the big pencil and salute the navy as well as see fucking GREEN DAY (my inner child can die happy now)

I also have some pictures from the Georgia aquarium, but i need to finish those up before i share :)

[markonpark]

Etsy, MARKonPARK: Entering Pennsylvania. Faded vintage snapshot at the state line; 10 miles to Gettysburg; Mason and Dixon Line.

[q-o-s]

Florida- Georgia line

[togachipblog]

 MODEL TRUCKER

Your Toga Chip Guy gets calls from all over the world with all kinds of questions regarding the potato chip.   A previous blog post was about a man named Alan from Washington State, a Boeing retiree, who bought an old Dickey's Potato Chip truck to restore.  He requested my assistance to find the authentic logos to redecorate the refurbished truck.  Several years later I was contacted by Russ, the subject of today's blog post.  

Russ spent his career as a driver for a beer and wine distributor in Connecticut.  After retiring about seven years ago, he relocated from the Springfield, MA suburb of Ludlow, MA to his childhood area of Andover, Maine, not far from Mount Washington, New Hampshire. Russ' hobby is decorating blank model trucks.   He started out focusing on home delivery milk brands he remembers from his childhood .  Hen then moved on to bread delivery trucks and more recently has honed in on snack delivery trucks, most notably potato chip brands.  Many of these companies are now defunct and since I have researched many of these companies and posted about them on my TogaChipGuy.comwebsite under the section entitled "Building an Industry" Russ reached out to me for help in obtaining the proper logos, and company script including font and colors.  I had already obtained photos of many of these and knew where to reach out for help for those which I had not already secured.  

The first thing Russ does is find and acquire blank trucks of all styles such as delivery vans, step vans, tankers etc.  They are plastic and normally all white.  These blank models are hard to find and normally are sold as part of a collector's liquidation.  Recently Russ found seven for sale of which he purchased five.  . Many of the models are of Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company ("DIVCO") produced trucks.  Others are GMC models from the 1950's., Bulldog, Atlas and Athearn trucks  The hot wheels, matchbox, and other diecast metal models are generally not suitable since they are already decorated with various brands.  When he has to use the metal diecast model, Russ uses rubbing alcohol and Qtips to strip the painted logos and lettering.  He avoids using any more powerful materials so as not to  remove the underlying paint on the metal models  Russ uses HO models that are similar sized and correspond the HO model trains.   They are smaller than the larger O models.  For the milk trucks, Russ includes the refrigerator box that was affixed to the top of the truck.

Securing the authentic logos and lettering is the most time consuming challenge.  Business cards, invoices, letterheads and company postcards on clear backgrounds normally have clear backgrounds and are the best sources.  Old tins are more difficult as they are rounded and vintage bags are usually wrinkled.  

One he gets good images, Russ uses his computer (often with the assistance of his wife), to produce decal images of the logo and lettering.   Sometimes his wife enhances the colors with colored pencils.  He prints the logos and lettering on decals with sticky paper.  Since the models are small, the decals must be sized and  can also be very small, depending upon where they are placed on the models, such as doors or windows.   Tweezers are often needed to place the decals on the proper spots.  He likes to add the address and phone numbers on the doors and strives for all of this to be authentic.  

Russ makes models of brands that are not already marketed.  "I make models of the brands you can't buy."  You don't really make any money so I end up giving many of them away to places such as museums.  For example, a blank model will cost about $20, and after all of his effort to decorate it, he would be lucky to get about $40 for it.  

Among the potato chip brands Russ has made are Bachman's, Frito-Lay, Granite State, Humpty Dumpty, Stateline,  Utz, and Wise.  The companies  that he is currently researching are Castonguay's of Lewiston, Maine, Circus Time, and King Cole.  Russ displays his work with photos on his Russ Towle Facebook page.  https://www.facebook.com/russtowle.  The models are shown in front of a model train warehouse.  See his of potato chip brands below.  

Enjoy the Grateful Dead singing Truckin

The Toga Chip Guy

[alanarel]

grad trip..

South Lake Tahoe 🗻🐚

[hinamie]

post-graduation trip airport looks

[hezigler]

State Line

Father and daughter on their way to the state line...

[thingsifoundongeoguessr]

CHEAP CIGS

[kodenatsu]

Virginia is for broken hearts 💔

[bigtoeinthewind]

Random Panoramas

I just found these panoramas that Google Photos made from my photo library.

Click on the photos to see the full view.

Arizona State Line

Andrews, South Carolina

View from Smithfield Station in Smithfield, Virginia

Centennial Park, Atlanta, Georgia

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Providence, Rhode Island

Utah State Line

[markonpark]

eBay: MarkOnParkWorld, North Carolina State Line Sign. Undated original vintage snapshot w/dour woman. https://www.ebay.com/usr/markonparkworld

[lemonboyjosten]

“that doesnt mean i wouldn’t blow you”