In the middle of historic downtown Truckee on 10072 Donner Pass Road in the historic Capitol Building built in 1856, the Alpine Electric/Liberty Bell Smart Home Control4 Showroom offers a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of main street. It also serves as a gathering spot for private community events and a place for builders, architects, and home designers to bring their clients and show them firsthand the automated state-of-the-art lighting, temperature, and security systems that are available right now.

“We are in the oldest building in Truckee, this was the original meeting spot for community events. Rumor is that Charlie Chaplin even performed on that stage,” says Alpine Electric and Liberty Bell Smart Home CEO Mark Buzzard about the small theater that is one of the primary features of the Showroom.

Buzzard spent months refurbishing the space, and he keeps it available to reserve for art, film, and business events. The 12-seat theater is equipped with luxury velour red couches, reminiscent of some of the mini theaters being built in Martis Camp homes right now.

The Showroom itself has officially been open for four months now and recently hosted a small local indie ski and snowboard film showing (another group recently reserved the space to have an Elf party). Buzzard’s BIA business group meets there every Tuesday, and they host movie nights once a month. Buzzard loves working with local nonprofits, such as the Send It Foundation, which provides outdoor adventures for young adult cancer survivors. The Tahoe Truckee School of Music, a local Boy Scouts chapter, and Rotary have inquired about the space.

Alpine Electric has been around for 30 years, and Buzzard acquired that business a year-and-a-half ago. Liberty Bell Smart Home has been in existence for the last 40 years. While Liberty Bell Smart Home focuses on low level aspects of security, video, and integrated lighting systems, Alpine Electric does all the electrical work.

Bringing both businesses into the Capitol Building and physically being able to show clients how the systems function makes it all easier on everyone.

“I wanted to be able to put everything under one roof,” Buzzard says, obviously proud of the look and feel of the Showroom and what it accomplishes. He explains that when builders, architects, and home designers work with their clients, they probably receive a multi-page proposal with various costs and components that can be daunting and confusing. The Showroom allows clients to review the proposals right there and see in real-time how the systems work as they are reviewing it.

In a tour of the Showroom, the lighting and video systems are indeed impressive, and not only are they efficient, cost-effective, and easy to use, they are sure to wow anyone who walks into Liberty Bell Smart Home-designed living space. During the tour, I saw how different accent lighting affected the look and feel of local artist Jason Forcier’s “Pitter Patter” painting (now hanging in the Piper J Gallery located a few blocks down from the Showroom). “Pitter Patter” has a lot of brightly colored paint can lids on it, and the way the different lighting flashed on the painting made it pop in various ways.

“It’s super warm and welcoming and inviting in here, it’s just a good vibe,” Buzzard says, which I wholeheartedly agree with. “We can pull everything up on a screen and walk people through the proposals, talk about each component of a contract and they can see how it works and can understand it better. Instead of having to lug a bunch of equipment and technology to a job site, people can just come here. It’s so much easier to come to our space, and it’s been working out great so far.”

He then emphasizes how excited he is to be able to offer the Showroom too the community for their special events.

“I love doing that kind of thing. I want to open it up and it be a community space; I have no desire to keep it all to myself,” Buzzard smiles.

For more information about the Liberty Bell Smart Home Control4 Showroom and Alpine Electric, visit http://www.lbsmarthome.com.