SHORT TAKES : Reno’s Painted Lady to Bow Out

RENO —  Reno’s most prominent painted lady, an 18-foot showgirl statue, has been ordered down from her perch after welcoming visitors with open arms and a champagne toast since the 1950s.

Depicted for years on postcards of the gambling city’s downtown, the scantily clad Primadonna Lady is the only survivor among nine long-legged statue showgirls that for three decades towered above the old Primadonna hotel-casino.

In 1984, the Primadonna Lady--paint chipping on her red strapless costume, her tired eyes and her hairdo below her feathered hat--was moved from downtown to the roof of a proposed burlesque dance club.

But the club never opened, and now city officials want the statue removed. They cite city ordinances barring closed businesses from retaining advertising signs.

Mike Mitchell, a supervisor in the city’s building department, said Wednesday that he was responding to a complaint in ordering the building’s owners to take the statue down within 10 days.

“I guess this is a personal thing for a lot of people,” Mitchell said.