Pizza in a ghost town

This trailer is right outside the Mozart Club in Goldfield, Nevada. It's the only restaurant in Goldfield these days, with a limited menu: pizza or chicken. Bartender and owner Rick McChesney asked me if I wanted pizza. I said sure. He went in back and started making it. After awhile, he delivered it to my table. It was huge with all the fixings. I realized then that when you order a pizza at the Mozart, you get one size fits all. It was a mighty fine pizza.

Goldfield was once a booming gold mining town of 10,000. Now there are maybe 500 people, if that. The old Goldfield Hotel (see pic), was once the most elegant hostelry between Chicago and San Francisco but is now boarded up. There have been a couple of restoration attempts, but all fell short. There's a new owner now, and he says he will get the once majestic hotel up and running again, complete with casino. No one is holding their breath.

There was a huge championship boxing match in Goldfield in 1906 -- the Gans/Nelson bout that was telegraphed around the world. Joe Gans was black and Battling Nelson was white. Seven thousand people watched in what is now a vacant lot. The fight went 42 rounds before being called because of a low blow. To this day, it is the longest world title fight in the history of boxing.

Goldfield is worth a stop for anyone traveling between Las Vegas and Reno on U.S. 95. There's a tiny motel and an RV park. A good place to grab a libation is at the Mozart or down the street at the Santa Fe Saloon, the oldest continually operating bar in Nevada.