Stories Published in Highline Autos

Bill Harrah’s Rides: The National Automobile Museum

Highline Autos, July 2017

The founder of Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos and Harrah’s Automobile Collection, Bill Harrah, was also one of last century’s most famous car collectors. Opened in 1989, the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno features more than 200 vehicles, most of them American-made vehicles from his great collection. The marquee vehicle is one of the most famous American cars ever: the 1907 Thomas Flyer, winner of the following year’s landmark New York to Paris Automobile Race. Others: a 1937 Airomobile Experimental Sedan, styled by John Tjaarda; a 1934 Dymaxion Model 2 4-D Transport, created by Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895−1983), inventor of the geodesic dome and the Dymaxion™ House, a car that was found dilapidated in a Mesa, Arizona, backyard. And, one of the world’s most beautiful vehicles, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz Type 500K Special Roadster, was purchased new by Princess Nina Mdivani, wife of Denis P.S. Conan Doyle, son of author, Sir Arthur.

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Marcellino Ristorante

Highline Autos, January 2017

Sima and Marcellino Verzino met at his Roma bar/bistro on New Year’s Eve 1992, and their new lives began. After moving back to the states from his native Italy, the couple and partners opened Amarone in New York City, her birthplace. In Phoenix, they opened their first Valley restaurant on Northern Avenue in 2003. Today, their place in Old Town at Southbridge is thriving, serving favorites such as Porcini Fettuccine, Gnocchi al Pignatelli, Zuppa di Pesce Royale and chef’s handcrafted Tiramisu. “If I had to identify the characteristics that set chef apart,” says Sima, who also sings there every week. “They are respect: for centuries-old recipes, their authenticity; love: never wavering from what he feels in his heart is right; tenacity: his leadership skills in teaching to impart his culinary wisdom; and his steadfast belief in who he is and what he represents.”

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Jeanetta Holder: ‘The Quilt Lady’

Highline Autos, November 2016

Kentucky’s Jeanetta Holder, 84, has been gifting Indy 500 winners hand-made quilts for four decades. Last May’s winner, Alexander Rossi, received one. Mario Andretti of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, the 1969 winner, received his 40 years ago after claiming the 1978 Formula 1 title. The Unsers, Al Sr. and Jr. and Bobby, winners of a fabulous nine Indy’s, have a collection in Albuquerque. Roger Penske, the transportation-industry giant and race promoter, has some, as does Arie Luyendyk, the Phoenix-area resident who won in 1990 and 1997. And four-timer A.J. Foyt has some as does another quadruple winner, Rick Mears. The family of Jim Rathmann, the 1960 winner, received one, as did Parnelli Jones, who took the checkered flag in 1963. “She has always been a close family friend for 50 years, including babysitting my children,” says Bobby Unser, who won three times. “Thanks, Jeanetta, for being part of what makes the Indianapolis 500 and open wheel racing great!”

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The Great Ride of Our Parks

Highline Autos, August 2016

In 2016, our National Park Service celebrated its Centennial, and what rides it has been for the millions of visitors who have enjoyed them: on horse, by stagecoach, car, bus and boat. Included in the system are 412 areas: national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails and the White House. To celebrate the event, we visited a few of the parks in the West to learn about the methods visitors have used to get to them and enjoy their stays during these first 100 years. President Theodore Roosevelt’s words at at the Grand Canyon May 6, 1903, resonate still: “Leave it as it is. Man cannot improve on it; not a bit. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children and your children’s children and all who come after you.”

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Larz Anderson Museum: America’s Oldest Car Collection

Highline Autos, January 2016

Soon after they married, Larz and Isabel Anderson purchased an 1899 Winton Phaeton Runabout, a true horseless carriage, and through 1948, the New Englanders acquired at least 32 additional more cars and carriages. As the cars became obsolete, the couple didn’t sell them but retired the vehicles to the Carriage House. By 1927, the couple had opened it for tours of their “ancient” vehicles –– the beginning of today’s “America’s Oldest Car Collection” in the original Anderson Carriage House on the grounds of the Weld Estate, now Larz Anderson Park, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Fourteen of these original 32 vehicles remain in the collection today to enjoy. Since 1927, the Carriage House has also hosted lawn events and other automotive activities and continues to schedule 25 car shows every year.

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