Our history · 1941 – today

Eighty-five years on Second Street.

The original bar

Every owner since the 1940s has worked behind it. Through every name change and both of Corey’s remodels, the Reno’s original bar stayed right where it was — and it’s still where your drink gets made.

The Coca-Cola ghost sign

Hidden for decades behind plaster, this early-1940s Coca-Cola ad was painted on the outside wall of the building that once stood next door. Corey’s first remodel in 2005 brought it back into the light, and it has been part of the room ever since.

Don & Pauline Brouillette open the Reno

The Reno starts pouring in downtown Hastings in the middle of the war years. Its original owners were Don Brouillette, from nearby Campbell, and his wife Pauline, a Bladen native who taught school before they married. They ran the Reno Bar together, and the bar Don stood behind is the same one in use today. The couple later moved to Alma, where they opened Don’s Place and then Don’s Men’s Clothing.

Ed & Eileen Schuck

Eileen, a Kenesaw native, married Edward Schuck in Hastings in 1939. Together they owned and operated the Reno Bar for a number of years, until Ed's passing in 1967.

Ernie & Nancy Johnson

After running the Highway Liquor Store in Minden, the Johnsons came back to Hastings in 1968 and owned the Reno Bar for two years. Around town they were known for their waltzes and two-step.

Norm & Bette Brockman

Norm and Bette owned and ran the Reno Bar for six years. Bette — remembered for her warmth and her feisty spirit — made it, in her family's words, “a place where friendships were formed and stories were shared.”

The college-bar years

For a generation of Hastings College students and locals, the Reno was the bar. Know who ran the bar in these years? We’d love to hear from you.

Corey & Jessica Hallett

Hastings native Corey Hallett — a Longfellow Elementary kid and UNK grad — and his wife Jessica buy the bar and start with a remodel. When the crew pulled the old, moldy plaster off one wall, they found a surprise underneath: a Coca-Cola advertisement from the early 1940s, painted on the side of the building that once stood next door. The ghost sign stayed. As the Reno Sports Bar, it becomes a downtown game-day spot and a Hastings Keno location.

Reborn as the Reno Tavern

Fifteen years in, Corey and Jessica close the sports bar for a second, top-to-bottom remodel. The original bar and the Coca-Cola ghost sign stay; around them come a wood-plank ceiling, crystal chandeliers, intimate lounge seating and a patio for warm nights — with “1941” on the wall as a nod to where it all started.

As the work wrapped up, a sneak peek introduced the first of a brand-new craft cocktail list: the Brinx — Hendrick’s gin, green Chartreuse, violet and hibiscus syrup, fresh lime and a candied hibiscus flower.

After a soft-opening weekend for family and friends that the bar called “a huge success,” the new Reno Tavern opened to the public on Monday, June 15, 2020.

The word gets out

Omaha food bloggers Yum Omaha stop in before dinner and remember the old sports bar — then find it has “really gone upscale with the décor and drink offerings.”

Good drinks. Good people. Good times.

Weekly specials, live music, Husker nights, chalkboards hand-drawn by Corey’s mom, Kandy Brown Hallett, and the same welcome that has kept Hastings coming back for 85 years.

The neighborhood

A railroad town with stories of its own.