Filed Under Businesses

Quilici Bar

Later known as the Rumpus Room and Abby’s Highway 40, the bar was opened by Roy Quilici in 1940.

Roy Quilici had already managed several bars in Reno when he had the brick building at 424 East 4th Street constructed in 1940 to house his namesake Quilici Bar. The building had a prime location. Fourth Street was the main east-west thoroughfare through town, having been designated the Lincoln Highway and then U.S. 40. The Savage Building next door (now known as the Morris Hotel) had opened in 1931 with a hotel upstairs and retail below. And the corridor was rapidly becoming a thriving commercial district.

Roy (born Romolo Mansueto Quilici) was an Italian immigrant who lived in a house right next door to the bar with his wife Mary Matilda and their four daughters. In 1945, Quilici sold the bar to George Mross, who renamed it the Reno Bar and claimed “We serve the largest glass of beer or whiskey in town at popular prices.”

In 1953, the Quilicis had a small building constructed between their house and the Reno Bar, and opened it as a little coffee shop called the Green Cup Café, with Mary Quilici as the proprietor. Longtime Louis’ Basque Corner owner Louis Erreguible later remembered that the coffee shop was a popular morning gathering place for area workers.

In the 1960s, the Reno Bar was one of the city's first gay bars. By 1970, it had become the Rumpus Room, which had been relocated there (along with its signature sign) from a spot on South Virginia Street. In 1984 or 1985, the small café space became the first home of Bertha Miranda’s Mexican Restaurant, and after that an eatery called The Gourmet Burger. By 1991 the little restaurant was Davo’s Little Brooklyn, and was under the same management as the Rumpus Room Lounge. By January 2000, the Rumpus Room had become Abby’s Highway 40.

Images

The Rumpus Room sign, ca. 1995
The Rumpus Room sign, ca. 1995 The Rumpus Room was at 424 East 4th Street from approximately 1970 through the 1990s. Source: Greg Allen Date: ca. 1995
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1955
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, 1955 A detail from the Sanborn Company's Fire Insurance map of Reno published in 1955 shows the footprint of this part of the block. On the left, the Del Paso Hotel (now called the Morris Hotel) had several businesses on its ground floor. Next to it at 424 East 4th Street (marked Sal for Saloon) was the Reno Bar, with the small addition next to it housing the Green Cup Cafe. The color pink designates brick and the blue indicates stone. The yellow (for wood) building marked D was the original wood frame house. Source: U.S. Library of Congress Creator: Sanborn Fire Insurance Company Date: 1955
Reno Bar and Green Cup Cafe, 1959
Reno Bar and Green Cup Cafe, 1959 A photo taken on June 18, 1959 shows vehicles in front of the Green Cup Cafe, which was built in 1953 next to the Reno Bar (partially visible on the right). The two buildings were eventually connected on the inside. Source: Reno Gazette-Journal Photographs, Special Collections, University of Nevada, Reno Creator: Reno Gazette-Journal Date: 1959
Rumpus Room and Davo's, ca. 1995
Rumpus Room and Davo's, ca. 1995 A photograph taken around 1995 shows The Rumpus Room lounge at 424 East 4th Street, with the sign for Davo's Little Brooklyn right behind. Source: Greg Allen Date: ca. 1995

Location

424 East 4th Street, Reno, Nevada

Metadata

Alicia Barber, “Quilici Bar,” Reno Historical, accessed December 8, 2024, https://renohistorical.org/items/show/252.