When I was a child, my father promised that, if I passed my swimming test, he'd take me to Lake Tahoe, to the Cal Neva Resort, where I could swim in a pool all the way from California to Nevada. I was at an age where crossing state lines held great appeal, and I couldn't wait to go. But I had to wait more than 30 years. My father, an avid skin diver, opted for a trip to Baja instead.

Sitting atop the state line that divides California and Nevada, the Cal Neva is technically in Nevada--at least the side with the casino is--and the pool does indeed straddle the border. The place looks like something out of a movie--and it is, having served as a location for "The Godfather," "Things Change," and "Forty Pounds of Trouble."

Cal Neva was built as a vacation home in 1926 for San Francisco real estate entrepreneur Robert P. Sherman, who wanted his lake house to resemble the log cabin in the Broadway play starring Will Rogers, "Lightnin'," which was a big hit at the time. When the property burned to the ground in 1937, it was rebuilt in just 30 days by new owner Norm Blitz, a.k.a. "The Duke of Nevada."

Cal Neva's history through the '40s and '50s is the stuff of novels. The lodge changed hands often (one can easily imagine how), going through a succession of owners named "Pretty Boy," "Bones," and "Baby Face." In 1960, Frank Sinatra bought the Cal Neva, and the hotel got some genuine celebrity cachet, thanks to a guest list that included John F. Kennedy, Dean Martin, and Marilyn Monroe. Liquor flowed, music played. Hip, remote, accessible by helicopter (Sinatra had a landing pad installed on the roof): Could there be a better place for a discreet rendezvous?

The Sinatra years were Cal Neva's heyday, but it came to an end when Sinatra lost a bet with the Nevada Gaming Control Board (mafioso Sam Giancana visited his friend's lodge after he'd been banned from the casino) that cost him his gaming license. Without the lure of slot machines, the Cal Neva couldn't compete with other casino hotels in Tahoe; Sinatra sold the property in 1963.

Today, the Cal Neva is a modern casino hotel, thanks to owner- developer Charles Bluth, who purchased the resort in 1985. No longer a magnet for showbiz guests, Cal Neva's new clientele wear black jeans versus black tie and appreciate the affordable rates (a ski package offered last winter was unbeatable at $59 per person per night, including a lift ticket to Alpine Meadows).

I had a drink in the Circle Bar beneath a spectacular glass dome, a spot, I guessed, where Frank had put in some serious time. I could almost turn the clock back to 1962, not because the other patrons resembled "Rat Packers"--they tended to be senior citizens, red-eyed from playing the slots, or young locals swilling beer--but because the lake view through the enormous picture window, always the lodge's biggest drawing card, remains unchanged.

Some of the quaint charms that made Cal Neva an exclusive hideaway--such as the wooden cottages favored by JFK and Marilyn Monroe--look a bit forlorn and will be torn down next year in an expansive renovation. They'll be replaced by 500 time-share units. The renovation will also include a 20,000-square-foot European spa, a new crystal wedding chapel, a two-tiered waterfall pool, and a complete refacing, with wood and stone reminiscent of Yosemite's Ahwahnee Hotel.

I didn't gamble or golf or get married (the existing wedding chapel is a big attraction) on my Cal Neva vacation, but I did play tennis (the tennis package includes two private lessons a day). I also swam from California to Nevada.

Cal Neva Resort
2 Stateline Road, Crystal Bay, NV 89402
800-CAL-NEVA
e-mail: resmgr@calnevaresort.com
calnevaresort.com
Rates: May 23-Oct. 18
Midweek/weekend rates:
$109/$149 lake-view tower room
$119/$149 lake-view celebrity cabin
$239/$289 honeymoon chalet with fireplace and patio
"Fish Lake Tahoe" package, starting at $169 per person, includes two nights' lodging, picnic breakfast for two on the boat, and a day of charter fishing, all equipment included. Your catch will be prepared and served by the hotel's chef.

Brooke Comer is an author and world traveler: Her new book Gods and Hallucinations, is set in Egypt.

June 2003