Friends hooking up at the Park Lane Mall often agree to meet under the shopping center's signature clock.

Now, they'll be able to tell who's late.

After a month of letting time stand still, Park Lane's clock began ticking again Friday. Mall officials say fixing it was a no-brainer decision.

"Some things you can cut and some things you can't," said property manager Victoria Harley. "That clock has got to work."

An icon

The year the clock was built hasn't been determined, but it was originally installed in downtown Reno in 1920.

It was purchased by the developer of the Park Lane when it was constructed in the 1960s and has been a fixture and the signature of the mall ever since.

"This is our icon," Harley said. "If you look at the business card, it's got the clock on it."

It also has served as one of the central gathering points in the mall.

JuJu Stan, who works at a kiosk right in front of the clock, said it's an attraction.

"I notice a lot of people hang out around the clock," he said.

Surprise feature

While doing the repairs, Brian Bullard of Timeless Enterprises noticed a feature of the clock that no one at the Park Lane seemed to realize: the clock lights up.

A few florescent tubes later, the four faces of the clock were glowing a soft white, something merchant Betty Cody said she was pleased to see after working at the mall for nearly a decade and never seeing it lighted.

"It's a wonderful clock," she said. "Now, I can actually see it."

Bullard said a lack of maintenance led to one piece failing, but it wasn't too big of a project to fix, taking only a few days.

The biggest problem, he said, was getting the scaffolding in place to be able to do the work on the more than 20-feet tall clock.

He said he was happy to be working on a piece of Reno's history.

History of the clock

The clock was built by Seattle-based clockmaker Joseph Mayer and installed in front of Ginsburg Jewelry at 133 N. Virginia St. for decades.

Bullard said the clock is in pretty good shape considering what it had to go through.

"It had to stand up to the elements, which it did for years and years," Bullard said.

The clock went through a significant renovation when the Park Lane developers purchased it, and it's since been painted a green color to look like oxidized copper although it's made primarily of steel and iron.

Not a lot of history is available about the clockmaker.

It is known that Mayer and his brother started a jewelry company in Seattle in 1897 and made many street clocks using internal components made by Howard Company out of Boston.

Many street clocks made by Joseph Mayer are still on prominent display in Seattle and are considered historic landmarks.

Bullard said it's nice to still have a working example of one of their products here in Reno.

"It's a neat old clock," he said. "It's very rare."