RENO -- Under pressure to relocate, the owners of the Liberty Belle Saloon won their showdown Thursday to keep the Reno landmark at the same location where it's been dispensing suds and steaks for 44 years.
After a public outcry over demolition plans, officials for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority agreed Thursday to scrap plans to demolish or relocate the restaurant as part of a proposal to expand the neighboring convention center on South Virginia Street.
"We're kind of an icon and I guess the icon is going to stay in place," co-owner Marshall Fey told The Associated Press.
He said he got the word directly from visitors authority President Jeff Beckelman during a meeting Thursday afternoon. He said the authority indicated it no longer would pursue removal of the Liberty Belle.
"That will be the end of it. We are very happy about it," Fey said.
"He didn't mention the reason but I think it is pretty obvious -- all the bad publicity they got. We have to be real thankful for all the attention we got."
Authority spokeswoman Kristi Prentice confirmed that the convention board has voted to end negotiations to acquire the property for $1 million.
She said the agency would release a statement explaining the decision not to pursue condemnation of the restaurant that doubles as a sort of a museum of Western items and slot machines.
Brothers Marshall and Frank Fey have been dishing out generous portions of food and spirits at the South Virginia Street location for nearly a half century. They are the grandsons of the inventor of what would become the modern slot machine and continue to keep dozens of the one-armed bandits on display.
Some of the slots were built by Charles Fey, who developed the standard three-reel mechanical device in a San Francisco factory in 1899. He called it the "Liberty Bell" -- and his grandsons added an "e" at the end for the restaurant's name.
The restaurant's quaint touches include heavy bronze front doors that were salvaged from San Francisco's opulent Palace Hotel after the city's 1906 earthquake and a 1904 Brunswick backbar from Reno's old Owl Saloon.
Outside are old Reno city lampposts and an original gaslamp from nearby Virginia City. On the roof are 20 horse-drawn wagons from area ranches.
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Associated Press writer Martin Griffith contributed to this story.
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On the Net: Liberty Belle: http://www.libertybellereno.com
Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority: http://www.renolaketahoe.com
