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P U B L I C A T I O N S . C O M
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LAND PARK CURTIS PARK SOUTH LAND PARK HOLLYWOOD PARK MIDTOWN DOWNTOWN
I N T O
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N E I G H B O R H O O D
pending
FRANK “SQUEAKY” WILLIAMS DUPLEX Frank Squeaky Williams built this exceptional all brick corner duplex, originally designed as a model to display different ¿nishes available for homes being built in the neighborhood. Beautifully maintained and updated one bedroom units with new kitchens. Land Park at its best! $579,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715
pending
HIDDEN GEM! This 4 bedroom 2½ bath will remind you of a European villa with a beautiful backyard garden! Fantastic kitchen plus casual and formal eating areas. A master suite, family room and home of¿ce. A pleasure to see and a treasure to own. $737,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
pending
SOUTH LAND PARK Hello Sunshine! Delightful mid-century ranch in South Land Park. Beautifully maintained and immaculate. 4 bedrooms, 2½ baths, 2000 square feet on .22 acre. Pella dual pane windows - really, really nice. $415,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
LAND PARK CHARMER This 3 bedroom home lovingly maintained and restored; updated kitchen with custom black and white tile and a breakfast nook. Large living room with ¿replace, hardwood Àoors, formal dining room, tankless hot water heater, central heat and air. Tree-lined backyard with a large patio. $529,000 CHERYL NIGHTINGALE 849-1220
pending
PRIME LAND PARK This is a Frank (Squeaky) Williams built home in great location. Features three spacious bedrooms and three full baths; large living room and dining room with numerous individual details. Family room and updated kitchen have open views of beautifully landscaped rear yard. $829,000 RICHARD KITOWSKI 261-0811
QUIET CONVENIENT LITTLE POCKET Tucked away in the Little Pocket but close to all of the culture in Midtown. 3 bedrooms 2 baths, spacious kitchen, hardwood Àoors, newer roof and more. Cul-de-sac location … Close to the Sacramento River. You’re going to like this one! $349,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
CURTIS PARK AREA 4-PLEX Minutes from downtown, freeways, McGeorge Law School, City College, Med Center and DMV. Super easy to rent, very well maintained. Four 1 bed 1 bath units, room for 2 cars to park in the back and street parking. Newer roof and gutters, dual pane windows, painted 2½ years ago. $487,500 LISA McCAULEY 601-5474
NEW SOUTH LAND PARK Rare opportunity to own a nearly brand new home in South Land Park. 3 bedrooms 2 baths, open Àoor plan; lots of light! Quality wood laminate Àoors, 6 ft windows, master suite, spacious rooms 2-car garage. Steps from Land Park, Amazing quality home and location! $419,900 MONA GERGEN 247-9555
pending
RIVERCREST WEST SACRAMENTO 3 bedrooms and 2½ baths with 1,590sf. Easy access to I-80 and minutes to downtown and Capitol. Walking distance to schools, running trails and Southport Town Center. Large master suite featuring a walkin closet and double vanity. 2 car attached garage at back. $284,990 STEPHANIE GALLAGHER 342-2288
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COVER ARTIST Michael Bolton Michael Bolton grew up in Land Park and is a noted Carmel-by-the-Sea architectural designer who has recently devoted himself to painting. This painting received one of the four Publisher’s Awards selected by Cecily Hastings at the Fine Art Show at the California State Fair.
Visit boltondesigngroupinc.com
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LOCAL PUBLISHER Cecily Hastings publisher@insidepublications.com 3104 O St. #120, Sac. CA 95816 (Mail Only) EDITOR PRODUCTION DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY AD COORDINATOR ACCOUNTING EDITORIAL POLICY
AUGUST 2015 VOL. 18 • ISSUE 7 7 8 14 18 20 22 24 26 28 32 34 36 38 40 42 46 48 50 52 54 56 62
Marybeth Bizjak mbbizjak@aol.com M.J. McFarland Cindy Fuller, Daniel Nardinelli Linda Smolek, Aniko Kiezel Michele Mazzera, Julie Foster Jim Hastings, Daniel Nardinelli, Adrienne Kerins 916-443-5087 Commentary reflects the views of the writers and does not necessarily reflect those of Inside Publications. Inside Publications is delivered for free to more than 65,000 households in Sacramento. Printing and distribution costs are paid entirely by advertising revenue. We spotlight selected advertisers, but all other stories are determined solely by our editorial staff and are not influenced by advertising. No portion may be reproduced mechanically or electronically without written permission of the publisher. All ad designs & editorial—©
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preparation workshops and financialaid information sessions for them and their parents. These monthly sessions are taught by local high school students and students from Sac State and UC Davis. “Family involvement is key, as we estimate that about 95 percent of Breakthrough students will be first in their families to attend college,” says Mercado. “Educating their parents on why they should support their students in going away to college is a real challenge for us. Poor and immigrant families have real fears of their children leaving home. We have to convince them to let go.”
BY CECILY HASTINGS PUBLISHER’S DESK
B
y midsummer, most middleschool students aren’t thinking about school. But at one special program in Sacramento, quite the opposite is true. Breakthrough Sacramento is part of a cross-country program collaborative that has changed the lives of tens of thousands of middleschool students. Breakthrough Sacramento’s home and host is Sacramento Country Day School’s impressive campus off American River Drive in Arden. “The program is a partnership that provides a year-round, tuition-free, college-prep program for academically motivated, ethnically diverse students from underresourced schools primarily in Meadowview, South Sac and Del Paso Heights,” says Adolfo Mercado, director of Breakthrough Sacramento. “It is also an innovative teacher-training program for talented high school and college students.” Applying to join in February, 36 new students are selected each year to attend an intensive six-week academic summer program taught on the Sacramento Country Day campus by enthusiastic college students
“I am so passionate about this program because I see myself in many of these students.” Adolfo Mercado, director of Breakthrough Sacramento
from across the country and local high school students. The students continue in the program for six years, until they go off to college. Only 25 percent of those who apply are chosen each year after a rigorous selection process that includes essay writing, teacher recommendations and personal interviews. “The school-year program consists of weekly after-school tutoring sessions in primarily English and math, as well as monthly Breakthrough Saturday events,
including cultural events, outdoor adventures, college visits and community service,” says Mercado, who has directed the program since 2005. Mercado says that grade tracking, high-school options counseling and advocacy ensure that Breakthrough students have the opportunity to enroll in challenging collegepreparatory high-school programs. During their high school years, Breakthrough students participate in SAT prep programs, college
Mercado may be the perfect role model for these students: He grew up in Meadowview, attended Christian Brothers High School and graduated from UC Santa Cruz. “I am so passionate about this program because I see myself in many of these students,” says Mercado. “I’ll never forget the motto on the wall outside at Christian Brothers: Enter to learn, leave to serve. Through my work at Breakthrough, I can help those who were just like me at one time.”
PUBLISHER page 10
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Fire Alarm AMBULANCE REFORM WOULD CHALLENGE FIREFIGHTERS UNION
BY CRAIG POWELL INSIDE CITY HALL
I
n some sense, the city’s fire department is a 20th century relic operating in a 21st century world. And with its entrenched practices staunchly protected against change by what’s acknowledged to be the city’s most powerful union, Fire Fighters Local 522, the fire department has been essentially immune to efforts by city officials to drag it into modernity. Few have even tried to reform it; none has come anywhere close to succeeding. To his credit, freshman Councilmember Jeff Harris has stepped up to the plate and is making cost-saving reform of the city’s ambulance service, operated by the fire department, a major priority. What’s more, he may very well succeed where most haven’t even bothered to try. Why is the fire department so resistant to change? Fire chief Walt White is only the 21st chief in the department’s 165-year history. And he’s the first chief in city history to be appointed from outside of the ranks of the fire department. Organizational change is not exactly a prevailing value in the fire department. White didn’t have to travel far to take the job. Before joining the fire department
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last year, White spent his career with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, a nearby district with a long history of paying firefighter salaries that are among the highest in California and a district board dominated by members elected with the financial support of Local 522. Apart from history and tradition, the status quo in the fire department is vociferously defended by Local 522, whose political action committee typically brings in $150,000 annually and whose cash balance stood at $330,000 at the end of last year. It showers money on candidates for city council. When Angelique Ashby ran for the council in 2010, Local 522 not only gave her campaign $6,500; it spent another $26,826 in an
independent expenditure campaign on her behalf. Such outsized political “investments” buy influence and power. Once elected, Ashby quickly became the council’s most stalwart advocate for the interests of firefighters, opposing all city efforts that could negatively impact them and consistently advocating for actions that would benefit them. On three occasions in recent years, Ashby and the president of Local 522 have co-authored ballot arguments on proposed city ballot measures. To this council observer, there has never been a ray of sunlight between the positions of Ashby and Local 522. Local 522 is led by Brian Rice, an acerbic retired Sac Metro firefighter
who penned a June 2 editorial in The Sacramento Bee entitled “Pensions Aren’t Being Paid at Expense of Filling Potholes,” which argued that city coffers are flush and the city’s rapidly rising pension costs are not “crowding out” public spending on potholes, park maintenance and other city services. It was a novel argument that was recently rebutted, line for line, by the California Policy Center, a nonprofit group that performs indepth analysis of municipal finances in California. The CPC rebuttal also noted that Rice, who spent 28 years with Sac Metro Fire before retiring in 2011, collects an annual pension of $183,000, plus an estimated $10,000 in additional benefits, on top of his current salary as president of Local 522, which could put him in the running for the poster boy of pension reform. The combative posture of Local 522 was on full display in budget hearings in May when Rice asserted that the city’s 13 ambulances generate a profit for the city. He also claimed that the city is “not on the edge of a fiscal cliff” and that the prospect of a fiscal cliff was merely a “picture being painted by city manager John Shirey and finance director Leyne Milstein.” Immediately following Rice’s statements, Milstein provided the city council a detailed accounting that demonstrated that, instead of generating a profit, the city’s ambulance service is projected to lose $6.5 million in the fiscal year that began last month. When the city council in 1993 gave its approval for the city to operate ambulances, it received assurances CITY HALL page 12
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PUBLISHER FROM page 7 The program produces measurable results year after year. According to Mercado, 92 percent of Breakthrough Sacramento graduates attend college directly after graduation, compared to 34 percent of low-income students nationally and 29 percent in the Sacramento area. “Our students’ choices have included St. Mary’s, Harvard, Stanford, Wesleyan, the University of California campuses and more,” he says. “Plus, more than 70 percent of Breakthrough Sacramento teachers plan to enter careers in education after working in the summer program.” Breakthrough Sacramento was co-founded in 1993 by a Country Day parent and former headmaster,
who formed a committee of friends dedicated to ensuring opportunities for a college education to a group of students traditionally underrepresented in colleges and universities. Since then, Country Day has sponsored Breakthrough Sacramento at an annual cost of $250,000. Local school districts and the county office of education at one time provided more than half of the program’s cost. But in 2012, those funds dried up. Now, the school pays for the program with private and school scholarship funding. “We are in effect creating student leaders for our local public school, yet we get no funding in return for our efforts,” Mercado says.” Only by increasing our public and private
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Student teacher Lupita Gonzalez with some of her Breakthrough summer students
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fundraising efforts are we able to consider expanding our program to serve a greater number of students. We know the demand is certainly out there.” Country Day’s high school typically has eight to ten Breakthrough students. The school generously pays for their tuition through its $2 million annual scholarship fund. With the inspired leadership of Mercado and Sacramento Country Day School, Breakthrough Sacramento makes a huge difference in the lives of an impressive
number of academically motivated students from Sacramento’s poorest neighborhoods so they, too, can live the American dream of a college education. Their success helps their families and their neighborhoods. Please consider this special program in your charitable giving plans. It would be great to see Breakthrough Sacramento grow and reach more deserving students. Cecily Hastings can be reached at pubisher@insidepublications.com n
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that the service would be selfsupported with user fees. It didn’t quite turn out that way. The city’s ambulance service has been a major source of losses for the city for years. At Jeff Harris’ first council meeting last December, a fresh two-year contract with Local 522 was up for a council vote. It called for raises amounting to 12.5 percent over two years, offset by some additional firefighter contributions to their pension and retiree health benefits. Harris made it clear that he didn’t like the contract, but he was looking to the future and hoping that Local 522 would work with him to support changes he had in mind to reform work rules that were driving up taxpayer costs. He voted in favor of the contract with assurances from Local 522 that it would work with him on work rule reforms. Thus began Jeff Harris’ education in hardball politics at city hall. The reform that Harris had foremost in mind was to change the way the fire department staffs
its ambulances. Currently, the city staffs every ambulance with workers who have “dual-role” qualification, meaning they must be qualified to work as both a firefighter and a paramedic. Harris wants to see the city to adopt a “single-role” policy, requiring that ambulance workers be trained solely as paramedics. After all, they aren’t putting out fires; they’re providing medical attention and transporting people to area hospitals. Moving to single-role paramedics would save the city $405,000 annually for each of the 13 ambulances it operates, according to Harris. Why the big savings? Because under the city’s contract with Local 522, it costs the city an astonishing $67,500 more each year to employ a firefighter/ paramedic than it does to employ a paramedic—for doing precisely the same job. Allowing ambulances to be staffed by paramedics also opens up opportunities for increased minority hiring in the fire department, and since paramedics often seek to become firefighters, it creates the potential for greater diversity among firefighters in the future. Currently, city firefighters are overwhelmingly white in a city that’s not. The prospect of a more diverse fire department is very appealing to councilmembers, but there is serious roadblock to the reform: Local 522, which opposes the reform. Ironically, and rather hypocritically, Local 522 signed a letter of understanding with Sac Metro Fire in 2012 allowing Sac Metro to begin staffing its ambulances with single-role paramedics. But apparently the union doesn’t want to lose any highly paid firefighter/ paramedic positions in Sacramento to lower-cost paramedics. The reform would not require that any firefighter/paramedics be let go. A switch to single-role paramedics would mean that current firefighter/ paramedics would likely return to the fire service, although they’d miss the 17 percent premium in pay they currently receive for serving on ambulances. According to Harris, shifting to single-role paramedics would produce more than $5,250,000 per year in cost savings, enough to pay for 52 new police officers or more
than 100 new park maintenance workers. The change is supported by both the city manager and the fire chief. A key question: Is Local 522 in a legal position to block the reform? According to Shirey, it isn’t. He believes the current labor contract with Local 522 does not require the union’s consent for the city to adopt the policy change. If that’s the case, the only remaining impediment would be council politics. Are there five votes to approve the change in the face of Local 522 opposition? When I asked the city manager if the votes were there for such a change, he said, “I don’t get paid to predict how the council will vote. I do know that they are interested in making taxpayer dollars go further and they’re open to new ideas and new ways of doing things.”
The result is serious sleep deprivation and fatigue among ambulance workers. Shirey and Harris both identified a public safety issue with the way ambulances are currently staffed: fatigue. A work rule under Local 522’s labor contract calls for firefighters, including firefighter/paramedics, to work 48 hours straight every week. Given that the overwhelming majority of service calls to the fire department these days is for emergency medical care/transport (only around 10 percent are for fires), the firefighter/ paramedics who operate city ambulances end up being called out three times as often as fire engines responding to fires. A firefighter can expect to get longer, less interrupted periods of sleep in comparison to a firefighter/paramedic who may have to scramble from one medical call to the next, particularly since the volume of medical calls has spiked, from an average of 200 calls a day five years ago to an average of 400 calls a day today, according to fire chief White.
The result is serious sleep deprivation and fatigue among ambulance workers. Shirey asked the city’s chief medical adviser, an emergency room doctor, whether he thought it would make a difference in the quality of care if paramedics worked 12-hour shifts instead of their current 48-hour shifts. After observing ambulance crews arriving with patients for a six-month period, the ER doctor reported that he could tell the difference in mental acuity and alertness between firefighter/ paramedics who were working the first day of their 48-hour shift versus those who were working their second day. White reports that the majority of city ambulance crews are now exceeding the “time on task” standards set by the International Association of Firefighters. How would you like to have a paramedic working the 47th hour of a 48-hour shift trying to locate a vein in order to insert an IV into you or a member of your family? No thanks. By shifting to single-role paramedics, shifts would be reduced to just 10 or 12 hours, allowing them to go home and sleep between shifts. It would also give the city the scheduling flexibility to beef up paramedic staffing during peak hours for ambulance calls and reduce staffing when call volume is typically low, which would save base labor costs, reduce overtime costs and improve ambulance response times. Under current rules, staffing levels are constant, which puts stress on staff when call volume is high and wastes labor dollars when volumes are low.
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I told the city manager that the current system looks almost as if it were designed to maximize the waste of taxpayer dollars, reduce the quality of care and increase ambulance response times. It may also be exposing the city to significant liability if substandard care results in serious harm to patients. During spring budget hearings, Angelique Ashby pressed the council hard to fund staffing of a second ambulance in North Natomas. She mobilized North Natomas residents to fill the council chambers and insist upon staffing for a second ambulance. Ashby told the crowd that such staffing was “promised” to her constituents two years ago, in the fiscal year 2013/2014 budget, but hadn’t been delivered. That budget, approved by the council, did call for two new ambulance units, one in North Natomas and one in the south area, but its language was quite clear: “It is anticipated that these medic units will be staffed with non-sworn personnel [meaning single-role paramedics].” Ashby said she “didn’t care” whether the new units were staffed with dual-role or single-role paramedics. Well, if she had cared and had pressed her friends at Local 522 to accept single-role paramedics for the new units, it would have saved enough money on those two units alone ($810,000) to fully fund staffing of a new ambulance unit in North Natomas two years ago. She followed up her dismissive attitude toward the cost-saving reform by taking a gratuitous shot at the city manager at a May 19 council meeting, blaming Shirey for Local 522’s intransigence: “What you can’t do, Mr. City Manager, all due respect, is fund it at the level that you want and then force the hand and hold the community hostage.” If anyone has been engaged in hostage taking, it’s been Local 522 by refusing to allow the two new units to be staffed with single-role paramedics. Instead of holding her most important political patron accountable, however, Ashby chose to malign the city manager as a hostage taker when all he sought to do was exactly what the council directed him to do: staff the
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new ambulance units with single-role paramedics. While at the end of the day Ashby got her way, securing council funding for two new ambulance units staffed with more expensive dual-role firefighter/paramedics, the split vote on the issue and ensuing council discussion revealed that support for single-role paramedics is growing, leaving Jeff Harris with a rate opportunity to put this major fire department reform over the goal line. This is just the first of several needed
major reforms of the fire department, but those are topics for another day. Councilmember Harris recently released a four-page memorandum laying out the case for single-role paramedics. It can be viewed at eyeonsacramento.org Craig Powell is a local attorney, businessman, community activist and president of Eye on Sacramento, a civic watchdog and policy group. He can be reached at craig@ eyeonsacramento.org or 718-3030. n
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the largest volkssport club in the country—has you covered. Meet up at Vic’s Ice Cream at 3199 Riverside Blvd., get registered for free ($3 for those who’d like to get “volkswalk” credit) and take a leisurely walk through the leafy Land Park and Curtis Park areas on your way to Gunther’s Ice Cream at 2801 Franklin Blvd. Registration will be from 6 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 5, 9 to 10 a.m. on Aug. 6 For more information, visit sacramentowalkingsticks.org
BY JESSICA LASKEY LIFE IN THE CITY
Y
ou know summer’s in full swing when Curtis Fest rolls around. Now in its ninth year, the annual event hosted by Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association will take place on Sunday, Aug. 30, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at William Curtis Park. The free event features more than 60 local artists and artisans showing off their wares—ceramics, watercolors, jewelry, photography, pottery, you name it—as well as food from local vendors, live music, face painting and a petting zoo. That same day, the final installment of Music in the Park will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at William Curtis Park. For more information on either event, visit sierra2.org. William Curtis Park is at 3349 W. Curtis Drive.
HOT COMMODITY Don't miss the ninth annual Curtis Fest on Aug. 30
WILL WALK FOR SCOOPS Stretch your legs and your taste buds at Sacramento Walking Sticks’ annual Vic’s to Gunther’s Ice Cream Walk on Wednesday, Aug. 5, and Thursday, Aug. 6. Whether you’d like to stroll for a 3.1-mile loop (5k) or a more rigorous 6.2 miles (10k), the walking club—
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Fire Spectacular is slated to heat things up on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 6 to 10 p.m. Photo courtesy of Cedric Sims Photography.
Is it getting a little warm in here, or is it just the eighth annual Fire Spectacular, slated to heat things up on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 6 to 10 p.m. at William A. Carroll Amphitheatre in William Land Park? This fiery festival is set for a particularly auspicious date this year—the eighth day of the eighth month in its eighth year—and promises its usual lineup of fire performances, including fire breathing, fire eating, fire hooping, fire dancing and more. Featured troupes will include Davis-based Flux and Nataraja Dance as well as Obsidian Butterfly and other groups from across California. Tickets are $15 for adults in advance ($20 at the door), $10 for teens ages 9 to 18, free for children 8 and younger. For more information, visit sacredfiredance.com William A. Carroll Amphitheatre is in William Land Park across from the Sacramento Zoo.
LQWHULRUV
Don’t miss Puppet Art Theater Company’s performances of “Cinderella” on Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, at Fairytale Town
B.Y.O. GLOVES Looking for a way to help out your fellow neighbors and get down and dirty—or at least sweaty? Don some work gloves and join Land Park Volunteer Corps for its monthly park cleanup on Saturday, Aug. 1, at 8 a.m. (early enough to beat the heat). Tasks that need tackling include cleaning the park perimeter, mulching trees, trimming bushes, cleaning the ponds and doing some routine maintenance (painting park benches, for example) to keep the park looking its best. As always, breakfast will be provided by Espresso Metro. For more information, contact lead coordinator Craig Powell at 718-3030 or ckpinsacto@aol.com. Donations are always appreciated and may be sent to: Land Park Volunteer Corps, 3053 Freeport Blvd., #231, Sacramento 95818. The corps meets at its base camp in the picnic grounds behind Fairytale Town (3901 Land Park Drive).
FAIRYTALE TOWN FUN There’s a lot to do at Fairytale Town this month, so let’s jump right in. First up is the Cat and the Fiddle Music Festival on Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, from 11 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. This annual two-day music festival will feature a rocking lineup all day on the Mother Goose Stage, including Mister Cooper, Musical Robot and The Raytones on Saturday and Music Matt, The Poodlums and
The Hipwaders on Sunday. The concerts are free with paid park admission. If you want to give your tykes some exposure to live theater, don’t miss Puppet Art Theater Company’s performances of “Cinderella” on Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2, at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $2 for nonmembers in addition to paid park admission and $1 for members. Hoping to get one more snooze under the stars in this summer? Be sure to sign up for the final Family Campout of the season from 5:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14, through 7 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15. This overnight adventure includes a theater performance, arts-andcrafts activities, a scavenger hunt, bedtime stories and a sing-along as well as continental breakfast the next morning. Prices range from $25 to $30 per person and include all activities. Member discounts are available. Are you still looking for a few activities to engage tots before they’re back in school? A Fairytale Town FunCamp might be just the thing. For kids 4 to 6, check out Farmer Brown’s Junior Farmers Aug. 10-14 from 9 a.m. to noon (campers will learn the daily regimens that keep Fairytale Town’s friendly flock of farm animals fit and healthy) or Little Artists Aug. 3-7 from 9 a.m. to noon. (Campers will participate in art projects
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and eight rounds of bingo with the chance to win cash prizes. You can also imbibe at the no-host bar, enter the raffle for fabulous prizes and even meet some of the zoo’s Animal Ambassadors. Seating is limited, so call 808-8376 to reserve your spot and take advantage of early-bird ticket prices. Tickets purchased through Aug. 22 are $40 ($35 for zoo members). Florin Road Bingo is at 2350 Florin Road. In animal-related news, you may have noticed a painted mural in front of the flamingo exhibit lately, but that’s for good reason: It’s flamingo mating season! The wall will give the birds some privacy during their courtship and breeding season. Keep your eyes peeled for fluffy gray flamingo chicks later this summer.
THE LION’S SHARE Cool off with the king of the jungle at the Sacramento Zoo’s 31st annual Ice Cream Safari on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 4 to 8 p.m. Enjoy endless Baskin Robbins ice cream in cones, sundaes and floats along with Coca-Cola beverages as well as face painting, a dance party and live entertainment. And don’t forget to enter the GiRaffle for the chance to win some fun prizes! Earlybird tickets purchased through Aug. 12 are $17 for adults and $13 for kids ages 2 to 11. Zoo members receive $2 off per ticket. It’s time to try your luck at the zoo’s rescheduled Bingo Night, now on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at 8:30 p.m. at Florin Road Bingo. Your ticket includes dinner, nonalcoholic drinks
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Come visit the black-and-white ruffed lemur babies at the zoo
You might also notice some new residents during your next visit to the zoo. A group of female yellowfooted rock wallabies were moved to Sacramento from the San Diego Zoo recently and boy, are they cute! Females of this sweet-faced species generally measure 19 to 32 inches long (plus a 16- to 28-inch tail) and weigh 5 to 15 pounds. Take a quiet look around the Australian Outback exhibit and see if you can spot them hanging out on the rocky outcrops that were created just for them. The zoo is also proud to welcome some new family members to its brood: Two female black-and-white ruffed lemurs were born on May 27, and a mongoose lemur was born on June 9. The critically endangered blackand-white ruffed lemur females have
been growing fast in an off-exhibit
closely and you may be able to catch
area with mom. (You can see them
a glimpse of the little cutie carried
through a mesh door between the
around the mother’s waist.
lemurs’ building and the exhibit;
Both black-and-white ruffed lemurs
this door allows the father and older
and mongoose lemurs are native
siblings to get to know the youngsters
only to the island of Madagascar
and will help with the introduction
off the southeastern coast of Africa
process.) This is the fifth litter of
and are quite endangered. To help
infants for the zoo’s black-and-white
preserve these vanishing species,
ruffed lemur pair. Did you know that
the Sacramento Zoo takes part in
ruffed lemurs are the only primates
species survival plans initiated by the
that keep their young in nests instead
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
of carrying them around? In the
to cooperatively manage specific—
wild, they would use tree cavities and
typically threatened or endangered
crooks to nest in, but at the zoo, the
species—populations in accredited
keepers have provided tubs and crates
institutions.
to create some comfy hiding places. This is the third offspring for
“We are proud of our continued commitment to these highly
the mongoose lemur pair, and the
endangered lemur species,” says Matt
adorable infant can now be seen
McKim, the zoo’s animal collection
on exhibit with its parents. Look
director.
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Young Actors Stage is bringing some pixie dust to town with its latest offering, a production of Disney’s “Peter Pan, Jr.,” which is set to fly into 24th Street Theatre Aug. 7-9. The production, directed and choreographed by Young Actors Stage founder Liorah Singerman, will feature young local performers in every role. The musical is based on the beloved 1953 animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney, featuring such favorite songs as “You Can Fly” and “I Gotta Crow.” The music and lyrics were written by a slew of talented people, including Sammy Cahn, Sammy Fain, Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace. The play runs 60 minutes. Show times are Friday, Aug. 7, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 8, at 1, 4 and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 9, at 1 and 4 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit youngactorsstage.com 24th Street Theatre is at 2791 24th
–Jo F., Curtis Park
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a glimpse into the world of this towering figure of jazz. The Summer “Rhythm in Film” Series is part of the Sacramento Public Library’s Summer Reading program. If you’re up for a quick trip downtown, don’t miss the Saturday, Aug. 29, performance of the Summer Reading Concert Series from 6 to 10 p.m. featuring Be Brave Bold Robot and other musical acts. The concert will be held at the Sacramento Public Library at 828 I St. For information about all Belle Cooledge or Sacramento Public Library events, visit saclibrary.org Belle Cooledge Library is at 5600 South Land Park Drive. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com n
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Angela Mia TEACHING SENIORS TO POLE WALK
BY JESSICA LASKEY VOLUNTEER PROFILE
I
f you’re ever out strolling around Curtis Park and notice a lithe, pixie-haired woman leading a group of pole walkers, it’s probably Angela Mia. Mia teaches pole walking for the Senior Center at Sierra 2 Center for the Arts and Community—a job she got almost by accident.
“I love the architecture of the homes, the canopy of trees, my neighbors, the neighborhood feel and Gunther’s Ice Cream.” “Service is part of my spiritual practice,” says Mia, who has lived in Curtis Park for 16-plus years. “I needed a new service commitment and thought, what better place to do it than in the neighborhood I love? Plus, I wanted to be more involved in what was going on at the Senior Center to ensure it would be there when it was time for me to retire and take advantage of it. They asked me to learn pole walking and then to teach it to
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others, so now I teach every Thursday at 9 a.m. Even if no one comes for a lesson, there are still a couple of people who come and walk with me.”
“Service is part of my spiritual practice.” This neighborly camaraderie is part of what made Mia fall in love
with the area in the first place and inspired her to join Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association two and a half years ago. “I love the architecture of the homes, the canopy of trees, my neighbors, the neighborhood feel and Gunther’s Ice Cream,” Mia says. “I try to participate in whatever way is needed at the various activities that SCNA puts on: Friday-night dinners, Music in the Park and my favorite, the Spring PJ Parade and Egg Hunt.”
Mia also serves as the Senior Center committee chairperson and on the personnel committee in addition to her work as a real estate agent. But staying busy in the neighborhood is exactly why Mia loves living here: Life is a walk in the park. Sierra 2 Center for the Arts and Community is at 2791 24th St. For more information, go to sierra2. org n
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All For One BUSINESSES JOIN FORCES TO MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR EVERYONE
BY JORDAN VENEMA BUILDING OUR FUTURE
G
rowth isn’t always measured by the height of new buildings or the width of boundaries on a map. Sometimes, the greatest signpost of a healthy city is the absence of any sign at all. In recent years, Sacramento has shown fewer “signs” of graffiti, crime and vagrancy, leading to a collective addition by subtraction. From Midtown to Power Inn, and from Fulton to Florin, property and business owners have been improving their districts through cooperative services such as maintenance and security, marketing and special events. Property and business improvement districts (PBIDs) were permitted to organize under California’s Property and Business District Law of 1994. “A traditional [PBID] model is a group of businesses or property owners getting together to fund services or improvements that are implicit to their business. So it is essentially a publicprivate partnership, generally led [and managed] by the business community… but with significant oversight role by the city or county,” explains John Lambeth, founder and president of Civitas, a Sacramento consulting firm that develops PBIDs. With a general consensus between owners, followed by city council hearings and a balloting process, a PBID is formed as a private nonprofit for a five-year term, Lambeth explains. Each property within the PBID pays a fee based upon parcel assessments, which is taken directly out of tax assessment bills.
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R Street Partnership’s administrator, Michelle Smira Brattmille
Lambeth basically wrote the book on PBIDs: He authored California’s Property and Business Improvement District Law of 1994 and helped organize the state’s first PBID, Downtown Sacramento Partnership,
in 1995. Since then, Sacramento has added 15 more districts. The size of Sacramento’s PBIDs ranges from large to cozy: Power Inn Alliance supports more than 1,300 properties over 6 square miles, while
R Street Partnership includes about 100 businesses over approximately 10 blocks. Big or small, PBIDs usually begin with a conversation between business owners about the needs of their district. And since PBIDs are, in Lambeth’s words, “folks getting together in a common way to protect their common interest,” the improvement is from the ground up. According to Michelle Smira Brattmiller, R Street Partnership’s administrator, that first conversation began with questions about streetscape improvement. Capitol Area Development Authority obtained a grant to provide general street renovations and improvements, “but the grant didn’t include any kind of maintenance after the fact,” explains Brattmiller. “But what happens if a light goes out? Who pays for it? With new improvements, there were new costs down the road.” So R Street Partnership was formed in 2013 to ensure continued maintenance of the district. The partnership has employed its $111,000 budget to increase security, remove graffiti and add benches, bike racks and decorative lighting. But these districts aren’t just about erasing and preventing the eyesores and nuisances; they also determine the identity of the neighborhood. R Street Partnership business owners, explains Brattmiller, felt a “need to be proactive in determining the future of R Street.” Brattmiller says the partnership plans to conduct more events that are “framed around the arts,” reflecting the district’s galleries and artists. Though Sacramento PBIDs create their own identity within the greater
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Where Sacramento Gets Engaged! with hospitals or police and provides them with permanent housing. Says Wallace, “We’re expanding with the help of some of the PBIDS, including River District and Midtown Business Association.” Navigators with Downtown Sacramento Partnership, she adds, “place probably 20 folks a month into housing.” While the city provides much of the amenities that we enjoy, PBIDs connect the lines between the dots. Midtown Business Association organizes historical walking tours, mural installations, holiday events and the Saturday Midtown Farmers Market at 20th and J streets. Its baitbike programs have led to more than 50 arrests of bicycle thieves. Midtown Business Association’s current term ends in December 2016, but the PBID already is working with Civitas to draft a proposal to expand the district into the Alhambra Corridor, where Midtown meets East Sacramento. Currently, the bulk of the district lies between I and N and 16th and 29th streets. It is set to grow to include 30th Street and Alhambra Boulevard between K and S streets,
as well as Stockton Boulevard all the way to Highway 50. “Midtown is looking to expand into Alhambra,” explains Nichole Farley, a project manager with Civitas, “because with the [Sutter Health] expansion, they were starting to see how the area needs to be revitalized.” If the new proposal is approved, she adds, “the clean and safe activities that Midtown has been working on for the past 10 years will move into Alhambra.” For the Alhambra Corridor, the PBID expansion could translate to better security and maintenance, more events and marketing, and a stronger identity. And since Sacramento PBIDs have consistently grown since 1995, expect more businesses to communicate and collaborate in order to reinvigorate their districts, thereby making stronger neighborhoods, which ultimately should make a stronger Sacramento. Jordan Venema can be reached at jordan.venema@gmail.com n
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Not Your Grandpa’s Downtown THE CENTRAL CITY ISN’T JUST FOR YOUNG FOLKS THESE DAYS
BY SCOT CROCKER INSIDE DOWNTOWN
S
acramento’s central city is finally dusting off years of economic malaise and restoring itself as an energetic, edgy home to young adults living in old Victorians, steely lofts and rustic apartments. While they socialize at the latest coffee shops, meet up at restaurants and close down bars, older folks are also quietly moving in to tap into the vibrant energy only metro living can provide. “This may be a new way to age,” says Sandy Smoley, a well-known community leader, 20-year veteran of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and former secretary of California’s Health and Welfare Agency. Smoley had to make some decisions after her husband, Walt, died. In January 2012, she packed her bags and left the ’burbs. After years of country living overlooking Lake Natoma, Smoley decided to move into the city. She’s never looked back. Smoley found a home to rent in Midtown’s vibrant Handle District. She grins while reporting that there are 11 restaurants within a half block of her home. Right across the street
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Sandy Smoley loves living in Midtown and often invites friends and neighbors over for a glass of wine on her front porch
is 58 Degrees & Holding Co. Then there’s Zocalo, The Press, Aioli, The Rind, Buckhorn Grill, Crepeville and more. “I love to joke with Patrick Mulvaney, owner of renowned Mulvaney’s B&L, that he makes me walk a whole block to have dinner there,” Smoley says. “I love it. I eat out every night. There’s always someplace to go.”
She can stroll over to Old Soul for coffee or have food delivered from Edible Pedal. “It’s been a game changer and life-altering experience for me,” she says. “Some of my friends seem lonely or isolated in the suburbs. I couldn’t be lonely if I tried. I could write a blog about how to age and stay active.” Smoley loves the buzz. She also creates her own buzz—on her porch. There, she hosts friends and
associates for discussions, chats or to drink wine. When she’s out with friends, they all find their way back to Smoley’s porch. A friend told her to leave up some old Christmas lights in her front window. Smoley turns the lights on as a signal to friends who might be dining or hanging out in Midtown that she is holding court and serving wine. She lists the wines on a small whiteboard. Smoley beams with delight that so many people are willing to stop by to visit or simply say hi. “When I first moved here, I was surprised at the sense of community,” she says. “I know all my neighbors. Everyone is kind, and we look out for each other.” Smoley gained more than community from moving to Midtown; she also gained time. When she lived in Fair Oaks, she spent more than two hours a day commuting for work. Now, she can get everywhere she needs to go within minutes: restaurants, B Street Theatre, Sacramento Philharmonic and more. “The commute really bothered me,” she says. “It was impacted both ways. The drive was ludicrous for me. Now it’s so easy to get around.” Dave Ljung, managing partner of Gilbert Associates accounting firm, moved to Midtown after his kids were grown. He says it was one of the best moves he ever made. Ljung lives in Tapestri Square, a community of single-family brownstone-style homes in Midtown’s Poverty Ridge neighborhood. According to Ljung, most Tapestri Square residents are empty nesters like him. He loves living in Midtown
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“It’s the texture of the city,” says Ljung. “We accept the transient element and learn to live with it. It’s not a problem. I think it adds to the flavor of this lifestyle. Some people don’t want that, and Del Webb might be a better place for them to be.” “I don’t feel a bit frightened,” Smoley says. “I’m prepared. I have a security system. Just like anywhere else, you have to be aware. I met a homeless woman on the street. She asked for a blanket. I went into the house where I had many in the closet and gave it to her. She needed it.” Smoley recalls feeling unsafe when she lived alone on the American River. “After Walt died, I wasn’t about to go out to the backyard by myself,” she says with a laugh. “There are a lot of different kinds of animals out there.” Smoley and Ljung don’t plan to move back to the suburbs. “I don’t ever want to leave here,” says Smoley. “It’s just so wonderful. My friends and daughter say they’ve never see me happier. They are right!” n
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Beating the Widow Maker LUCK AND SCIENCE ARE A POWERFUL COMBINATION
BY R.E. GRASWICH CITY BEAT
T
here is no good way to learn your heart is diseased with blockages and you could die at any moment. It helped that I was lying down at the time. The cardiologist who delivered the bad news was a young man named James Schipper. He threaded a line from my right wrist into my heart and injected dye to trace how my heart was working. This happened as I watched. There was much joking by Schipper and myself and two cardiac nurses named John that morning, all goodnatured stuff to help me relax. Then the chatter stopped. Watching the dye patterns, Schipper saw a severe blockage of my left main coronary artery. Medical professionals have a technical term for this revelation. They call it a “widow maker.” The heart attack that follows brings immediate death. About 116,000 Americans die this way each year. “You need heart bypass surgery as soon as we can schedule it,” Schipper said. And the doctor said something else. After a pause to let the news sink
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in, he spoke six words that lifted the weight and let me breathe. He said, “It’s OK. We can fix this.” So began my journey from being an average guy who in recent weeks experienced a slight, dull pain in the middle of my chest while exercising (which for me meant a brisk walk with the dog) into the world of open-heart surgery, recovery and rehabilitation. Within 24 hours of Dr. Schipper’s study of the dye in my heart, I had met one cardiac surgeon, three cardiologists and two anesthesiologists. I had been transported in an ambulance from Kaiser South to Mercy General.
And I had my chest cut open, my breastbone sawed in half, my heart stopped for about two hours and my left leg pierced in three places by a device that harvested redundant blood vessels that would be grafted onto my heart, creating new pathways. When I left Mercy five days after surgery, I felt great. My left ankle was sore. My chest was tender. Otherwise, it was like nothing happened, almost. Each step of the way, I was blessed by luck. The only reason I went to the emergency room in the first place was because my wife saw me pause during a walk. She asked why. When she heard the answer, she insisted we go to Kaiser.
That was luck, because without her, I would have been dead in weeks or days. The widow maker would have made another widow. Meeting Dr. Schipper and his nurses, the two Johns, was luck, because they let me know that unlike so many other catastrophic medical conditions (diseases that lack borders and demand months of treatment and end up being partially successful or not so successful at all), mine was a plumbing problem. It was luck to be dispatched to Mercy General, a hospital that specializes in cardiac treatment. And it was luck to be placed under the authority of Dr. Henry Zhu, a lowkeyed heart surgeon from Harvard blessed with humor and steady hands, and his cardiologist colleague Dr. James Foerster, another Harvard man who approaches his craft from an earlier generation but arrives at the same destination, focused on the patient. The journey was not entirely pleasant. When I woke up after surgery, I was agonized by the presence of something—a towel?— stuffed down my throat. In fact, it was a breathing tube. When my intensive care nurse Paul removed the tube and gave me an ice chip, he became St. Paul for my eternity. Three drainage tubes extended from my stomach. Moving around with tubes poking from your stomach brings no joy. My nurse Lacy extracted the tubes with a yank—she told me to hold my breath. They pulled easily, assisted by morphine. I missed my son’s graduation from McClatchy High School. But a storm rolled in that night and I saw the
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flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder from my window while the graduation procession was underway at Memorial Auditorium. My nurse Darcy came in and told me she watched the same lightning storm at home with her two young children. They were awed by nature’s magic. My nursing assistant Keith cleaned up my room that day. He talked about his father’s Air Force career, cut short by death. At dawn on the morning I left Mercy General, I thought about
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25
Retail Therapy WEAVE SET TO OPEN ‘RECYCLED URBAN’ THRIFT STORE IN MIDTOWN
Sugimoto has worked for WEAVE since 2000. Among other things, she oversaw the Suited for Success program, which matches clients with clothing and other essentials. In 2005, her career took a detour through Bend, Ore., where she worked for Ronald McDonald House Charities. She came back to Sacramento in 2009, spending five years as executive director of the Greater Sacramento Chapter of the ALS Association.
BY TERRY KAUFMAN
T
LOCAL HEROES
his fall, WEAVE will open a new retail concept in Midtown. The store will focus on young, fashion-conscious urban buyers. The store will be called TRUE (Totally Recycled Urban Exchange). Shoppers will be able to buy, sell or trade clothing, jewelry and accessories. The organization already operates a thrift store on Arden Way called WEAVEWorks. Proceeds from the new store will go to WEAVE, which provides services for people who experience domestic violence and sexual assault. Amy Sugimoto, WEAVE’s director of retail operations, worked with a retail advisory board of local professionals to design TRUE. The store will be located on the ground floor of WEAVE’s building at 1900 K Street. It’s the ideal location: on a public transit line and wellsituated for foot traffic from young professionals. “We even vetted which side of the street was better,” says Sugimoto. The board decided on a “rustic chic” vibe for the store based on feedback from focus groups of empty nesters and young professionals.
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ILP AUG n 15
WEAVE board members Linda Tucker, Amy Sugimoto, Oana York and Lucy Crocker in the space that will soon be the new WEAVE store in Midtown
“Empty nesters will be donating, and young professionals are the target shopper demographic,” explains Lucy Eidam Crocker, chair of the advisory board. “We tested a couple of concepts on them, and now we’re working with students from The Art Institutes on the interior design.” Crocker brings the PR capabilities of her firm, Crocker & Crocker, to the retail campaign. Other members of the board represent retail, advocacy,
financial and other disciplines. “This is a motivated and talented group,” she says. “We’re all committed to WEAVE’s success.” TRUE will sell name-brand apparel and jewelry—without the sticker shock. Unlike most consignment shops, there will be no “walk of shame,” as Sugimoto likes to call it. “If we can’t use an item that someone brings in, we’ll give them a tax receipt and donate it.”
“We need to do education and prevention to stop the cycle of violence,” she says. “Right now we’re triaging, and although this is a wonderful way to fulfill our mission, I would love to put ourselves out of business.” By returning to WEAVE, she has come full circle. “I was so excited to be coming back to WEAVE to work on board development and the retail concept,” she says. “I’ve always been passionate about breaking the cycle of poverty and violence and empowering women. When they have what they need to start a career, it boosts their confidence.”
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Since returning to WEAVE, Sugimoto has narrowed the focus of the Arden Way store, increasing revenues 40 percent. Although WEAVE will rely on volunteers to run the new Midtown boutique, it will hire paid staff for labor-intensive tasks such as sorting garments and making them floorready. Drop-off outlets for donated clothing and jewelry will appear throughout the region as early as August. Revenues from the store will help fill funding gaps and ensure WEAVE’s sustainability. Down the road, Sugimoto envisions expanding WEAVE’s programming. “We need to do education and prevention to stop the cycle of violence,” she says. “Right now we’re triaging, and although this is a wonderful way to fulfill our mission, I would love to put ourselves out of business.” TRUE is expected to open by early October. For more information, go to weaveinc.org Terry Kaufman can be reached at terry@1greatstory.com n
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27
Spanish Style A YOUNG COUPLE FALLS IN LOVE WITH AN OLD CHARMER BY JULIE FOSTER HOME INSIGHT
B
y the end of 2014, William and Cindy Scharffenberg had been sporadically navigating the open-house circuit for six months. Recently married and living in Natomas, they were
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“We love living in this neighborhood and are blessed to be living in this home."
seeking the perfect home. Viewing a Spanish Revival house in East Sac from the outside only, they dismissed it, thinking it didn’t look like their dream home. Built in 1927,
the house had once been a two-story duplex.
During the remodel, numerous walls and one staircase were removed, creating a spacious, modern feeling. But soon, an insistent family member changed their minds. Visiting from Southern California, Cindy’s
parents stopped by the house for a tour. Her father called the couple immediately and told them to look at the house again. “We told him we weren’t interested,” Cindy says. “But he said, ‘Yes, you are interested.’” Three days after touring the house, they made an offer. “After coming inside,” says William, “we realized everything was perfect for us.” By the end of January, they’d moved in. William fell in love with the house based on his admiration of older homes with hardwood floors. He imagined himself cooking in the beautifully redone kitchen. “We love living in this neighborhood and are blessed to be living in this home,” he says. “It was
a nice set of events that allowed us to live here.” Cindy loved the location and the spaciousness the home offered for entertaining and starting a family. And the Spanish Revival style inspired recollections of her childhood. “It reminds me of the neighborhoods I grew up in Southern California and stirs memories of towns my family visited on the California coast,” she explains. The exterior exemplifies Spanish Revival style, with Spanish tiles gracing the entryway, an impressive arched door, clay roof tiles and rustic shutters. Inside are arched doorways and window casings that match
the dark flooring. The marvelous 3,200-square-foot house will be open to the public Sept. 28 for the Urban Renaissance Home Tour. The couple undertook an eightmonth-long renovation. During the remodel, numerous walls and one staircase were removed, creating a spacious, modern feeling. The addition of a master suite upstairs added 430 square feet of living space. All the windows were replaced along with the mechanical systems of the house. Original wood flooring was salvaged where possible and intermingled with new flooring throughout the house.
HOME page 30
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HOME FROM page 29 The couple hired interior designer Kerrie Kelly of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab to make sure the house would be both stylish and comfortable. “We wanted someone who could work with us and understood our style,” says William. According to Kelly, they wanted a livable design that would integrate the furniture they already owned. “The couple wanted the design to feel authentic and approachable without feeling too staged or formal,” says Kelly. To play off of the contemporary Spanish style, Kelly employed splashes of color and texture using area rugs and pillows.
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“We also used riveted accents throughout the home as well as carved and reclaimed wood features to refine the design even further,” she says. The sumptuous kitchen has custom cabinets, granite-topped counters and an island with seating for four. The gas range features a convection oven that William is still mastering. A cozy outdoor dining area off the kitchen is the perfect spot for casual summer meals. “A few nights ago, three people said hello as they walked by while we sat outside eating,” he says. Upstairs, the two front bedrooms each feature a small balcony, perfect
for morning coffee. The luxurious master bath includes two sinks, a large glassed-in shower and a commodious stand-alone tub.
The sumptuous kitchen has custom cabinets, granitetopped counters and an island with seating for four. Though construction was complete when the couple moved in, the ongoing decisions regarding
furnishing their home have strengthened their bond as a couple. “Melding my husband’s style with all my influences is an ongoing process,” says Cindy. “We have learned a lot about what we like and don’t like and how to come to a joint decision that we can both embrace.” The Urban Renaissance Home Tour, featuring five new and remodeled homes in East Sacramento, will be held Sunday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The tour is sponsored by Friends of East Sacramento. All proceeds benefit the McKinley Park Renewal Fund. Tickets are available at sacurbanhometour.com If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Julie Foster at foster.julie91@yahoo.com n
ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
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Joe Marty’s Return SACRAMENTO’S ORIGINAL SPORTS BAR SET TO MAKE A COMEBACK
BY R.E. GRASWICH SPORTS AUTHORITY
I
t’s not like Sacramento needs another bar. There are plenty of places to stop for a quick cold beer or artisanal cocktail, with infinite possibilities awaiting the social drinker and degenerate boozer alike. But we still could use a decent sports bar. More specifically, we could use Joe Marty’s.
Greasy sandwiches were a specialty, as were bar dice and omnipresent bookmakers who would handle your action on the Kings, Giants or whomever. Tucked into the far western corner of the Tower Theatre building at 15th Street and Broadway, Joe Marty’s
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was the original sports bar, catering to daytime drinkers, late-night bachelorette parties and everything in between. You could drink, eat and gamble there. Greasy sandwiches were a specialty, as were bar dice and omnipresent bookmakers who would handle your action on the Kings, Giants or whomever. The joint’s run was legendary, from 1954 to 2005. A kitchen fire one warm night in June 10 years ago destroyed the bar and most of the dining area, though city firefighters heroically salvaged much of the cobwebbed memorabilia and baseball photos nailed to the walls. Joe Marty’s has existed as an empty shell ever since. Now, a group of local real estate investors hopes to reopen Joe Marty’s sometime this fall. The investors tell me they are working through typical
hurdles: city and county permits and landlord glitches. But a new Joe Marty’s would be terrific, even if the new operators make the old saloon more family friendly than it was before the smoke cleared in 2005. I’ve never been a fan of familyfriendly bars, finding the concept somewhat oxymoronic. As a little kid in San Francisco, I can still recall being dragged by my parents to a place called the Lane Club in Maiden Lane, where Mom and Dad made me sit in a corner booth and drink a Roy Rogers. The Lane Club scared me, because it was always so dark in there, even during daylight hours. Joe Marty’s was always dark, no matter the time of day. Entering the joint on a late summer afternoon was especially hazardous and required a period of adjustment, lest you stumble into a barstool while your eyes
adapted to the midnight blackness of the main room. There were shutters on the windows, but they were forever closed, as if exposure to sunlight would scorch the patrons. Despite its function as a place to behave in ways that were patently bad for you, Marty’s provided a positive social service for the community. It was a safe haven were sports fans could gather and reminisce and argue and show off and challenge each other’s knowledge about the arcane nonsense that makes sports so enjoyable and enduring. A stranger once sat down next to me at Joe Marty’s and announced Ralph Sampson was the worst player who ever wore a Sacramento Kings uniform. I begged to differ—Olden Polynice got my vote at the time— SPORTS page 35
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Lay of the Land THIS CARTOGRAPHER IS PUTTING HERSELF ON THE MAP
BY JESSICA LASKEY MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR
W
hen Molly Roy says she makes maps, it’s easy to picture her poring over pages of streets and boulevards. But Roy is here to tell you that there’s so much more to mapmaking. “I make alternative atlases,” Roy explains. “An atlas is usually a book of road maps full of really basic, straightforward information: where things are, how to get to places. The maps I create include historical scenes, ideas, politics, people’s stories in map form. An alternative atlas is a different way to read a book related to specific places.” Roy has always been interested in how space fits together. She studied geography at UC Berkeley, which she says “really broad but really interesting in its own right—even though people assume that all I did was memorize the capitals all through college.” During a methodology course, she discovered the subject that would change her life. “The methodology courses are supposed to teach you applicable skills you can use after school,” Roy says. “I chose a cartography course and didn’t expect anything to come of it, but I found that I’m aesthetically attuned to it. Geography is all about how people relate to and interact with the land, and cartography incorporates those ideas with graphic and design elements. I’ve always loved to draw and make things aesthetically beautiful, so I discovered that I really liked cartography.”
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Cartographer Molly Roy
The South Land Park native returned to Sacramento after graduating in 2010 and has been making her living as a mapmaker ever since. “I get to work with different people on different projects,” Roy explains. “On a day-to-day level, I’m basically using Adobe Illustrator to draw points on a map. But with
cartography, every line that you draw on a map has meaning. It shows where boundaries are, who owns what, who has control. In a larger sense, I explore how people relate to space and land over history and the things that come out of that.” Roy’s work has included mapmaking for Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker’s “Unfathomable
City: A New Orleans Atlas.” She has edited maps for MissionLocal. org’s “Mission Possible: A Neighborhood Atlas” and served as co-editor for “Food: An Atlas,” a crowdfunded atlas about food politics created by one of Roy’s former UC Berkeley professors. She’s now hard at work on an atlas of New York City by the same authors of “Unfathomable City,” which highlights alternative women’s history and immigrant issues in the Big Apple. With each assignment, Roy’s responsibilities might range from draftsperson to editor to researcher. For the New York City atlas, her work was pretty straightforward: She was given points and lines to draw. On other projects, she had to do research and interview people as well as draw. For the food atlas, it was mostly editing. “We’d get maps from other people and I’d analyze them and give feedback,” she says. Now that she has plenty of other people’s projects under her belt, Roy is setting her sights on exploring her own hometown. “I’d love to make an alternative atlas to Sacramento that focuses on stories I didn’t really hear growing up,” she says. “I want to include immigrant histories, farm and agriculture histories, water-use issues. There’s so much rich history here that I would be interested in delving into.” To see Molly Roy’s work, go to mroycartography.com n
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SPORTS FROM page 32 but we spent an hour respectfully discussing the definition of “worst,” which, when you’re talking about the Kings, becomes a hugely complex problem worthy of a postgraduate’s dissertation. I can’t think of another bar in Sacramento where that could have happened, then or now. Joe Marty’s was special because it was a real sports bar, imagined and operated by a real sportsman, as opposed to our modern sports bars, which tend to be designed by hospitality guys with financial partners who measure their enthusiasm by return on investment. Joe Marty was one of Sacramento’s greatest baseball players (he hit a home run for the Chicago Cubs in the 1938 World Series against the New York Yankees), and when his career wound down he did what great athletes did in those days: came home and opened a bar. He didn’t care about investors or trends. He barely cared about customers. Joe was a pain: He drank too much and maintained racial attitudes that
disgusted most of us from younger generations. But he knew what a classic sports bar should feel like, locker-room musty and loud with laughter. There was a TV, but it only showed sports and the sound was permanently set to silent—an iron rule that modern sports bars have abandoned to the detriment of all. Marty died in 1984 at age 71. The bar passed among the founder’s friends for the next 21 years. They barely dusted the joint and changed nothing. Contemporary sports bars will blossom downtown when the new arena opens. They will be filled with TV monitors and bright lights and families and craft beer handles by the dozen. And by the standards of Joe Marty’s, they will be antiseptic and predictable—even boring. You can watch a game anywhere. But put a bet down with a bookie? That requires a real sports bar like Joe Marty’s. R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com n
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35
Brown Is the New Green WHO SAYS OUR LAWNS HAVE TO BE LUSH?
BY ANITA CLEVENGER GARDEN JABBER
A
s our dry spring turned into summer, I was startled by how quickly the grass
began to deteriorate in my normally verdant neighborhood. Sure, some lawns were still green, but most of them began showing varying signs of water stress. Instead of a lush emerald carpet stretching block after block, there was a patchwork of varying shades of brown and green.
If you are watering your lawn less, your trees and shrubs that have relied on lawn sprinklers probably need supplemental watering. It didn’t take long to adjust. Now, I’m startled when I see a brightgreen lawn. After all, it’s natural in California for the grasses to turn
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ILP AUG n 15
golden every summer. It’s not a sign
pavement, gravel, mulch and water-
alive and its blades somewhat green.
of death or neglect but part of the
efficient plants. Pavement, especially,
It will recover when rain finally comes
natural cycle. Who says that grass
worries me. It retains and reflects
again.
should retain the same color all year
heat and allows water to run off into
long? If we lived in a cold climate, we
storm drains during the winter rather
less, your trees and shrubs that have
would accept brown grass all winter
than absorbing into the ground and
relied on lawn sprinklers probably
long. In our Mediterranean climate,
replenishing the water supply. Rock
need supplemental watering. It’s
why don’t we go for the gold during
is permeable, but it too increases heat
especially critical this year, when
the summer?
rather than helping cool our blistering
we started out the summer with the
Perhaps we are now awakening
If you are watering your lawn
summers. Mulch and plants—
water table unusually low. Check to
from a mass delusion that we live in
including grass—keep things cooler,
see if the soil is dry and crumbly 6
an area with unlimited water and
clean our air and water and help
to 8 inches below the surface. If it is,
can maintain lawns that look like
reduce flooding. A lawn can be part of
coil a soaker hose under the drip line
Wimbledon. We seem to be forming
a more water-efficient landscape. It
and run it for several hours until the
new expectations for how our
may just be smaller and browner.
soil is saturated at least a foot deep.
Like the Munchkins, we need
You can also water with a trickling
landscapes should look. Some people are watering less or not at all. Others
to learn that there is a difference
hose or oscillating sprinkler, changing
are reducing the amount of grass or
between nearly dead and most
its position several times until the
tearing out their lawns altogether,
sincerely dead. Watering grass deeply
roots are watered all around. If you
replacing them with combinations of
every week or two will keep its roots
deep-water your trees once or twice a
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month, you will increase their chance
varieties. Beautiful trees such as
of survival. Adding mulch under the
birch, red maple, ginkgo, coast
dripline in lieu of grass will further
redwood and tupelo require regular
retain soil moisture and reduce the
water and are not good choices for a
amount of grass that you need to
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no more than 4 inches deep so that
drought-tolerant once established.
oxygen can reach the roots.
Newly planted trees and shrubs
Grass clippings can be chopped
will need regular watering for their
up during mowing and left in place
first three years, regardless of how
to feed and cool your lawn’s roots.
drought-tolerant they will be once
“Grasscycling” is not a new idea,
established.
but I still see gardening services
shifts recently. It’s no longer cool
leaf from a lawn, removing cut grass
to smoke in airplanes, restaurants
and dumping it in the green waste
or bars, offices or even public parks.
container. They also blow all organic
Same-sex marriage is legal in all 50
material from planting beds, leaving
states. Will we turn away from our
roots unprotected. Along with our
green summertime lawns, too? Only
acceptance of browner grass, it’s time
time will tell. Anita Clevenger is a Sacramento County Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, call the Master Gardeners at 876-5338 or go to ucanr.edu/sites/sacmg. For a list of shade trees available from the Sacramento Shade Program, go to sactree.com n
and beneficial. Particulates in the air are higher in Sacramento as a result of the drought. Having blowers stir up dust and debris doesn’t do our air quality or landscapes any good. If you are planting new trees this fall, be sure to select less-thirsty
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37
Nature’s Air Conditioning THE DELTA BREEZE IS THE COOLEST THING IN SACRAMENTO
BY DR. AMY ROGERS SCIENCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
I
n other parts of the country, sunset gives little relief from sweltering summer days. Air conditioners run all night long. They don’t have our Delta Breeze. Sacramento lies 90 miles from the coast. But thanks to physics and a quirk of geography, on many hot days we get natural air conditioning from the ocean. The Delta Breeze is a sea breeze that pushes cooler marine air into our backyards and drops our nighttime temperatures much lower than they would be without it. The Delta Breeze is created by temperature differences between the land and sea. In summer, the land of the Central Valley gets very hot. It heats the air, and just like in a hot air balloon, that hot air rises. As it rises, it slightly decreases the air pressure at ground level. Meanwhile on the San Francisco Bay, the surface temperature of the ocean stays about the same year round, day or night, usually in the mid-50s. This keeps the air cool as well as humid or foggy. This cool, moist air forms a blanket called a marine layer sandwiched between the ocean and warm, dry air higher
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ILP AUG n 15
up in the atmosphere. The marine layer keeps the Bay Area closer to the temperature of the ocean. It stretches inland and is trapped by the Coast Ranges (mountains), where it forms a wall of cloud that cars going west from Sacramento plunge into. But there’s a gap in the Coast Ranges at the Carquinez Strait, a narrow bit of water spanned by the I-80 toll bridge just past Vallejo. Here, the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers flow out of the Delta and into San Pablo Bay on their way to the Pacific Ocean. It’s also where the marine layer sneaks through the mountains into the Central Valley as a breeze. The breeze is driven by the tiny difference in air pressure (only hundredths of an inch of mercury)
between the hot valley (where air rises) and the cool coast (where air stays low and heavy). It’s enough to generate a wind of at least 14 mph, with gusts of 20 to 25 mph common in Sacramento. In Fairfield, closer to the Carquinez gap, gusts reach 35 to 40 mph. Once the Delta Breeze reaches the Central Valley, it spreads out, turning northeast toward Sacramento and Marysville and southeast to Stockton. The effects are profound. According to James Mathews, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Sacramento, “If it weren’t for the Delta Breeze, we’d have a lot more 100 degree days.” As proof, Mathews told me that on average, Sacramento experiences 22 such days per year; Stockton has 18. Redding, which is
cut off from the Delta Breeze by its elevation in the mountains, suffers through 40. “The breeze is self-regulating,” Mathews says. A very hot day in the valley causes a big temperature gradient with the coast, which drives a strong Delta Breeze. The breeze then cools the valley and decreases the temperature difference, especially the next day. “In 2013, the breeze gave us our greatest one-day temperature drop ever, from a high of 110 degrees on July 4 to 86 on July 5.” The Delta Breeze doesn’t always come to the rescue. Forecasting whether the breeze will arrive on a given day is particularly important to the power companies. “SMUD needs to match electricity supply
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“A very hot day in the valley causes a big temperature gradient with the coast, which drives a strong Delta Breeze.” So why do we get relief some days but not others? The depth of the marine layer is the primary determinant of the breeze. The thicker the layer of marine air over the coast, the more cool air spills into the Central Valley. A thickness of 2,000 feet at the coast is the minimum required to get a breeze here. The location of the “Pacific High” is also important. The Pacific High is a mass
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of warm, dry, high-pressure air that typically forms around Northern California in the summer. If the Pacific High forms offshore, the marine layer is deep and the Delta Breeze is strong. If the Pacific High moves inland, it squashes the marine layer and the breeze dies out. Meteorologists try to predict the time the Delta Breeze will arrive. According to Mathews, “The sea breeze will pick up at the coast around noon and reach us usually around 4 p.m.” If it arrives before the hottest time of day (usually 5 p.m.), the breeze reduces the daily high and decreases electricity demand for the whole evening. Mathews and his fellow scientists study this airy phenomenon, but they don’t always get it right. “If you’re in this business long enough,” he says, “you realize that nature doesn’t read your forecasts.” Amy Rogers is a novelist, scientist, and educator. To invite her to speak at your book club or public event, contact her at Amy@AmyRogers.com n
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Superior Interiors FOUNDER BRINGS AN ITALIAN AESTHETIC TO PROJECTS LARGE AND SMALL
BY JESSICA LASKEY SHOPTALK
A
dele Barsotti, the owner of Pacific Design Group Interiors on Fulton Avenue, has always had an eye for design. She could hardly help it, considering she grew up in the picturesque town of Brindisi in southern Italy. “When you are born overseas, you’re surrounded by so much culture, it’s almost impossible not to love design and architecture,” Barsotti says. “You see all of these beautiful buildings and churches everywhere, and because Brindisi is at end of the Appian Way, it has every style you can imagine, since we were invaded by all kinds of cultures.” Barsotti has been in California since 1974, but she brings her European aesthetic to bear on everything she works on at PDG Interiors, from commercial spaces to sustainable residential interiors. After graduating from the University of Italy, she followed her then-husband to the United States to further his computer engineering career, but it wasn’t long before Barsotti struck out on her own in the floor covering industry. She now specializes in commercial floor covering design, but the business she founded in 1998 also tackles window coverings, custom cabinetry, interior and exterior lighting, home and contract furnishings and fine art and accessories. “It’s been part of an evolution,” the Carmichael resident and mother of three explains. “You start in one thing, then a client asks, ‘Can you give me a price on window coverings?’
40
ILP AUG n 15
Adele Barsotti, owner of Pacific Design Group Interiors, in her design studio
‘I need a price on a sofa.’ So you evolve into other fields to meet the clients’ needs.” Barsotti’s stunning showroom, which moved to its current large, light-filled location last November
after spending six years on Fair Oaks Boulevard, also plays host to three other highly qualified designers and the landscape architecture firm William Chambers & Associates, owned by Barsotti’s companion, Will
Chambers. The full-service designer showroom is open to the public but also serves as a valuable resource for the interior design trade with its vast libraries of textiles, catalogs and showroom merchandise. “We’re a one-stop shop,” Barsotti says proudly. “Visitors can browse without a designer or work directly with one of our designers by appointment in the studio or in their own home or office. Our staff is incredibly knowledgeable. “And because our showroom is so beautiful, people are often surprised by how affordable we are. We consistently underbid big box stores because we get everything wholesale.” It’s not surprising, then, that Barsotti and her talented team see a lot of repeat business. “We get a lot of referrals,” Barsotti says. “People hear about us by word of mouth, which is the best way to achieve new business. When people are buying thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise, they need to trust you.” If her 30-plus years of success are any indication, Barsotti has clearly won over many a loyal customer. Thanks to her upbringing on the Italian coast, her decades of diverse experience—including commercial projects on both coasts of the United States and abroad in Greece—and probably more than a little bit to her Italian charm, Barsotti is pleased to serve Sacramento with the best interior design this side of the Adriatic Sea. Looking to refresh your interiors or tackle a commercial project? Contact Barsotti and her PDG team at 7791115 or visit pdginteriors.com Pacific Design Group Interiors is at 950 Fulton Ave. n
THEATRE GUIDE MY CHIDLREN! MY AFRICA! Thru August 29th Celebration Arts Theatre 4469 D St, Sac 455-2787 In 1984 and generational conflict over the most effective means for ending apartheid in South Africa defines the relationship between a gifted but impatient black township youth and his devoted but “old fashioned” black teacher.
GROUNDED Thru Aug 8th B Street Theatre 2711 B St, Sac 443-5300 BStreetTheatre.org This is a story of an ace fighter pilot who’s career in the sky is ended early due to an unexpected pregnancy. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorist by day and returns to her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols half a world away.
SACRAMENTO’S NEXT IMPROV COMEDY STAR Thru Aug 7 CSzSacramento 2230 Arden Way, Sac 243-8541 ComedySportzSacramento.com Twelve contestants with limited or even no experience will compete to be Sacramento’s Next Imrpov Star. Come laugh and cheer on your favorite contestant.
PLAYWRIGHT’S REVOLUTION “Cottonwood in the Flood” Tues Aug 4 “The Osanbi Deal” Wed Aug 5 Capital Stage 2215 J St, Sac 995-5464 Email: boxoffice@capstage.org Capital Stage presents its annual new works festival Playwright’s Revolution with staged readings of six brand-new plays. This year’s selections will follow the theme of social injustice and unrest in the world. As Sacramento leader of bold, thought-provoking theatre, Cap Stage created this series of staged readings to identify and develop new plays and playwrights.
INSIDE OUT – Katie Rubin August 8 Capital Stage 2215 J St, Sac 995-5464 Capital Stage presents the return of local favorite KATIE RUBIN in her one-woman show, Inside Out! This is a story of one young person’s journey from her high school and college years through her introduction to the working world. Abuse of alcohol, drugs, food and sex, mark the journey into and ultimately out of self-loathing. The performance seeks to depict the lifelong struggle for integration of the many aspects of the self, and the continued voyage towards peace of mind.
NEXT TO NORMAL Thru Aug 16th West Sacramento Black Box Theater 1075 West Capitol Ave, West Sac 207-1226 This rock-musical explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. Next to Normal tells the story of a mother who struggles with bipolar disorder and the effect that her illness has on her family. This contemporary musical is an emotional powerhouse that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry and suburban life. Enjoy the provocative lyrics and a thrilling score.
SUBMIT EVENTS TO ANIKO@INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
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Tomorrow Is Now AND IT’S EVEN BETTER THAN WE IMAGINED
BY KEVIN MIMS WRITING LIFE
F
or years I resisted all my wife’s efforts to get me to abandon my landline in favor of a smartphone. “What if your car breaks down on the freeway?” she’d say to me. “Wouldn’t you like to be able to call AAA immediately, without having to walk two miles to the nearest phone booth?” To which I would respond, “When my car breaks down on the freeway, it’s usually because I have a flat tire, and I am perfectly capable of changing a tire without the aid of a cellphone. Besides, I enjoy being alone with my thoughts when I’m driving on the freeway. I don’t want to be always at the beck and call
of anyone who happens to have my cellphone number.” In vain my wife would argue that cellphones are better than landlines, because they can be turned off. “You don’t have to be at anyone’s beck and call if you don’t want to,” she’d say. Finally, after years of futility, she came up with a winning argument in favor of abandoning the landline. She pointed out that a cellphone would actually be cheaper than a landline, provided I didn’t exceed the limits of our data plan. “You like saving money, don’t you?” she said. I had to concede that, yes, I do like saving money. Every dollar I don’t spend on my phone bill is a dollar I can spend at a bookstore, an antiques store or a kayak shop. And so my wife bought me a smartphone. When I first got my cellphone, I was like a monkey who suddenly finds himself at the controls of a 747. I had no idea what to do with it. I would find myself at the grocery store, trying and failing to recall the name of one of the spices used in Paul Prudhomme’s chicken curry recipe. I would tell my wife, “I’m going to have
Art on Fabric by Gillentine ROADKILL GALLERY at Kennedy Gallery 1931 L St. Upstairs
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ILP AUG n 15
to drive home, consult the cookbook, and then come back to the store.” Julie would nod and say, “Yes, you could do that … or you could use the phone in your pocket to look up ‘Paul Prudhomme’s chicken curry recipe’ online and solve the problem in mere seconds.” I butt-dialed strangers. I sent intimate text messages to a casual acquaintance named Julie rather than to my wife Julie. I brought up screen configurations on my phone that meant absolutely nothing to me and that I couldn’t figure out how to escape. Every evening for weeks, I’d be waiting by the front door, cellphone in hand, when my wife got home from work and greet her with some variation of the phrase, “Well, my phone’s all screwed up again.” Whereupon she would take the phone from me, tap something on the screen and instantly rectify the situation. Sheepishly, I would shove the phone back into my pocket and mutter something along the lines of, “Stuff like that never happened to my landline.” Long before I was willing to admit it to my wife, I found myself actually bonding with my cellphone. If I was relaxing in my easy chair with a good book and encountered a word I didn’t understand, I no longer had to get up and walk down the hallway to my reference library to consult a dictionary. My phone could provide an answer almost instantly. If I got lost while traveling to one of my freelance notary-public gigs, my phone could always help me find my way. No good magazines to read in the dentist’s waiting room? No problem. My phone gave me access to a world of fascinating reading material.
In May, I attended a showing of the film “Tomorrowland.” In it, George Clooney plays Frank Walker, a cranky old guy much like me, only far better looking. Walker has become disenchanted with contemporary life because it doesn’t resemble the tomorrow we were promised back in the 1960s. I was a schoolchild in the ’60s, and I remember our teachers telling us how someday, in the nottoo-distant future, we would ride in cars that traveled on a cushion of air. For short jaunts, we’d be able to strap jetpacks to our backs and fly around like spacemen in zero gravity. On clean and quiet monorail trains, we’d travel rapidly from city to city. And conveyer belts would replace sidewalks, so that we could glide from place to place without having to lift our feet. (For some reason, almost all our visions of the future back then were focused on transportation.) That Jetsonslike version of the future never really arrived. Automobiles that travel on a cushion of rubber are still the primary mode of transportation for most Americans. Jetpacks and wingsuits are still nearly as dangerous as they were in the 1960s. High-speed railroads have never caught on in America, and people-moving conveyer belts are rarely seen outside of major international airports. Like Frank Walker, I’ve sometimes found myself disappointed in the future. But as I sat there listing to Walker/Clooney complaining about how crappy the 21st century is in comparison with the 21st century we imagined back in 1964, I couldn’t help thinking about the tiny device sleeping silently in the front pocket of my jeans. No, my
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The INSIDE on COVER ART Tuesday, Aug.18 6 p.m. Inside Publications publisher Cecily Hastings and cover artist Judy Lew Loose will speak at Sacramento Central Library at 828 I St. Hastings will be reviewing the history of Inside Publications’ cover art as part of the library’s Art in August program. The presentation starts at 6 p.m. Visit saclibrary.org
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cellphone can’t physically propel me across town like a jetpack. But who cares? I don’t mind getting around town on foot, by bike or by car. And in many ways, that 6-ounce gizmo in my pocket is more amazing than anything ever envisioned by the futurists of the 1960s. Calling it a telephone is kind of an insult. It can transcend both time and space. Most nights, my wife comes home from work just as I am leaving for my part-time job. If this were the 1960s, we’d have to spend pretty much the entire day separated from each other. Thanks to our cellphones, she never seems far away from me. If our pet rabbit does something silly while my wife is at work, I can take a photograph of it, or even capture it on video, and send the results instantly to Julie. Unlike a traditional phone conversation, cellphone texting doesn’t have to take place in real time. Julie’s phone will store my message and rabbit video until she’s ready to access them. When Julie gets home from work, she often sits in the
backyard on a patio swing with a beer and a good book. Every now and then, she’ll set aside her book and snap a photo of a hummingbird at the feeder or make a video of a butterfly floating above our turtle pond. Four blocks away, at the bookstore, my phone will quietly vibrate in my pocket and I’ll know that I’ve got a message from Julie. During a quiet moment of my shift, I’ll view what Julie has sent me and offer a response. Last Thanksgiving, Julie was in Disneyland with our grandchildren while I spent the holiday in Sacramento with a good friend of ours. Thanks to our cellphones, it felt as if I was sharing Julie’s holiday experience and she was sharing mine. Unlike Frank Walker in “Tomorrowland,� I no longer pine for a bygone vision of the future. I’m pretty happy with the future we’ve arrived at. Kevin Mims lives in Land Park. He can be reached at kevinmims@ sbcglobal.net n
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Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Sales Closed May 27 - June 19, 2015
95608 CARMICHAEL
6417 PERRIN WAY 4713 MELVIN DR 3328 DEODAR ST 4481 STOLLWOOD DR 1348 MCCLAREN DR 3510 DUTCH WAY 5981 VIA CASITAS 5220 HERITAGE DR 6246 SILVERTON WAY 5520 CORONAWOOD LN 5540 MANZANITA AVE 4548 BELA WAY 5004 CYPRESS AVE 7240 LINCOLN AVE 3740 DELL RD 6019 ARD AVEN PL 2741 COMPTON PARC LN 5903 VIA CASITAS 6120 PALM DR 3246 SHURWIN LN 4033 ROCHDALE DR 2333 VIA CAMINO AVE 4236 ABRAHAM WAY 1447 MEREDITH WAY 3721 CASA LOMA WAY 5900 GRANT AVE #103 6300 LINCOLN AVE 3964 HILLGROVE WAY 5721 ANGELINA 1171 GLEN AULIN CT 3555 SUE PAM DR 3226 GARFIELD AVE 4225 E JOSH CT 2827 ROYAL PALM WAY 2804 ROOT AVE 4925 OLIVE OAK WAY 5523 TIERRA GARDENS 6036 HOLETON RD 4170 SCRANTON CIR 5943 LINCOLN HILLS WAY 3835 GIBBONS PKWY 4800 KIPLING DR 5124 WALNUT PLACE LN 6211 MINERAL WAY 4722 HACKBERRY LN 6009 VIA CASITAS 3301 FOGLE CT 6421 MORAGA DR 4049 LINUS WAY 3219 SMATHERS WAY 6236 LANDIS AVE 4857 THOR WAY 6102 VIA CASITAS 4800 CAMERON RANCH DR
$281,200 $325,000 $363,000 $400,000 $610,000 $645,000 $124,000 $297,225 $340,000 $540,000 $210,000 $235,000 $304,500 $335,000 $559,000 $899,500 $277,000 $116,000 $595,000 $207,500 $289,900 $134,500 $211,000 $640,000 $685,000 $105,000 $265,000 $271,000 $367,000 $750,000 $199,000 $300,000 $425,000 $549,000 $317,000 $379,000 $527,000 $725,000 $330,000 $364,900 $438,000 $605,000 $285,000 $330,000 $480,000 $156,555 $215,000 $327,500 $335,000 $350,000 $320,000 $395,000 $108,000 $375,000
95811 MIDTOWN, BLVD PARK 1725 W SOCAP WALK
$462,139
95816 EAST SACRAMENTO, MCKINLEY PARK 330 23RD ST 1966 34TH ST 1304 SANTA YNEZ WAY 1552 36TH ST 2416-2418 D ST 2720 E ST 1447 38TH STREET 223 39TH ST
44
$615,000 $185,000 $492,850 $530,500 $697,000 $720,000 $895,000 $366,700
ILP AUG n 15
1401 33RD ST 2514 CHINATOWN ALLEY 1641 39TH ST 232 33RD ST 616 24TH ST 1545 39TH ST 2701 E ST 1516 27TH ST
95817 TAHOE PARK, ELMHURST 3113 39TH ST 4330 8TH AVE 2800 33RD ST 3405 TRIO LN 4130 8TH AVE 3616 36TH ST 4208 U ST 2214 52ND ST 3332 43 RD ST 3215 8TH AVE 5232 U ST 3717 9TH AVE 3431 38TH ST 3985 SHERMAN WAY 2600 58TH ST 4000 1ST AVE
95818 LAND PARK, CURTIS PARK
2915 SANTA BUENA WAY 1853 3RD AVE 2544 SAN FERNANDO WAY 1282 7TH AVE 900 FREMONT WAY 2350 PORTOLA 1820 10TH AVE 2604 16TH ST 1833 LARKIN WAY 2224 26TH ST 2541 9TH AVE 559 JONES WAY 2851 CASTRO WAY 2725 14TH ST 601 JONES WAY 2016 20TH ST 2762 MARTY WAY 1964 3RD AVE 2533 9TH AVE 2130 22ND ST 2415 18TH ST 1808 COMMERCIAL WAY 2331 V ST 2315 W ST 2149 6TH AVE 2712 16TH ST 2784 HARKNESS ST 3677 CROCKER DR
$389,500 $591,250 $1,098,000 $355,000 $485,000 $1,000,000 $445,000 $325,000
$111,035 $185,000 $261,000 $285,000 $98,000 $152,000 $315,000 $478,000 $202,000 $200,000 $370,000 $193,000 $130,000 $280,000 $311,000 $330,000
$339,000 $635,000 $175,000 $480,000 $485,000 $420,000 $600,000 $320,000 $379,500 $385,000 $455,793 $305,000 $555,000 $650,000 $389,999 $415,000 $445,000 $538,000 $541,000 $699,000 $225,000 $410,000 $393,000 $310,000 $395,000 $398,000 $550,000 $786,162
95819 EAST SACRAMENTO, RIVER PARK 858 42ND ST 1416 58TH ST 5400 D ST 430 45TH ST 53 TAYLOR WAY 440 45TH ST 461 MESSINA DR
$416,500 $695,000 $504,900 $504,500 $540,000 $565,000 $423,000
3959 D ST 5061 MODDISON AVE 5020 SANDBURG DR 1729 BERKELEY WAY 1509 41ST ST 71 51ST ST 216 SAN ANTONIO WAY 1552 48TH ST 4641 D ST 917 45TH ST 233 TIVOLI WAY
$442,500 $442,500 $450,000 $465,000 $690,000 $609,900 $430,000 $470,000 $490,000 $831,000 $460,000
95821 ARDEN-ARCADE
3708 HUFF WAY $285,000 2828 POPE AVE $320,000 3808 LASUEN DR $330,000 2521 FULTON SQUARE LN #23$115,000 3433 LERWICK RD $173,000 3120 LERWICK RD $262,900 2936 LETA LN $375,000 4137 WHEAT ST $265,000 2510 VALLEY RD $287,500 2901 MORSE AVE $1,330,000 2911 BELL ST $210,000 4533 ROBERTSON AVE $260,000 3434 BRAEBURN ST $370,000 4167 DENA WAY $381,000 3301 LERWICK RD $205,000 2370 MARCONI AVE $107,000 3405 CHENU AVE $275,000 3236 CHENU AVE $275,000 3817 KINGS WAY $171,000 3633 WHITNEY AVE $185,000 3630 CHADSWORTH WAY $249,000 3053 SAND DOLLAR WAY $267,000 3120 CREST HAVEN DR $315,000 3220 EL CAMINO AVE $180,000 2401 SAINT FRANCIS DR $315,000 2421 LESLIE LN $185,000 2398 RALSTON RD $236,000 3600 DOS ACRES WAY $196,000 2617 ANNA WAY $140,000 2310 TAMARACK WAY $180,000 3016 WHITNEY $198,000 3624 SEAN DR $245,000 3205 EASTWOOD RD $269,500 3428 LEATHA WAY $301,000 3942 IRELAND ST $365,000
95822 SOUTH LAND PARK 1473 KITCHNER RD 6035 BELLEAU WOOD LN 17 CASA LINDA CT 2109 56 AVE 2381 MURIETA WAY 4610 LARSON WAY 1425 ATHERTON ST 2600 51ST AVE 2124 68TH AVE 4989 VIRGINIA WAY 7353 STOCKDALE ST 2147 20TH AVE 2287 GLEN ELLEN CIR 1133 LAKE GLEN WAY 2117 STACIA WAY 7463 SYLVIA WAY 7411 PUTNAM WAY 2512 47TH AVE 1448 COOLBRITH ST
$115,500 $167,000 $195,000 $196,500 $279,999 $317,000 $150,000 $155,000 $219,000 $355,000 $175,000 $229,000 $267,500 $476,000 $241,500 $128,925 $187,000 $115,000 $117,500
7337 STOCKDALE ST 1661 BELINDA WAY 7045 WILSHIRE CIRCLE 1450 POTRERO WAY 2521 MEADOW WOOD CIR 7249 17TH ST 4831 DEL RIO RD 1170 13TH AVE 7012 REMO 7041 CROMWELL WAY 7049 WILSHIRE CIR 1408 COOLBRITH ST 6112 BELLEAU WOOD LN 1442 65TH 2039 ONEIL WAY 7516 GEORGICA WAY 1121 34TH AVE 1641 ARVILLA DR
$168,800 $180,500 $231,000 $475,000 $150,000 $220,000 $439,000 $493,000 $202,480 $335,000 $191,000 $150,000 $166,500 $172,000 $185,000 $222,000 $355,500 $320,000
95825 ARDEN
1107 VANDERBILT WAY $310,000 925 FULTON AVE #429 $54,000 935 COMMONS DR $323,000 2413 POST OAK LN $93,000 2042 EDWIN WAY $140,000 2438 LARKSPUR LN #295 $114,900 2813 MERRYWOOD DR $256,200 2280 HURLEY WAY #40 $107,000 1402 COMMONS DR. $312,000 3209 VIA GRANDE $127,000 1505 BELL ST $144,900 2021 BELL ST $225,000 2120 WELDON WAY $300,000 2470 NORTHROP AVE #4 $140,000 2280 HURLEY WAY #18 $107,500 716 WOODSIDE LN #4 $225,000 2012 BOWLING GREEN DR $199,000 3282 VIA GRANDE $146,000 863 WOODSIDE LN #7 $154,000 973 FULTON AVE #482 $65,000 915 FULTON AVE #452 $70,000 2436 LARKSPUR LN #294 $110,000 809 DUNBARTON $297,500 415 E RANCH RD $325,000 259 MUNROE ST $327,000 2132 UNIVERSITY PARK DR $273,500 2445 GWEN DR $205,000 1125 BELL ST #4 $105,000 1019 DORNAJO WAY #259 $119,900 117 HARTNELL PL. $305,000 2321 AMERICAN RIVER DR $335,900 1006 VANDERBILT WAY $369,000 1113 DUNBARTON CIR $395,000 2430 PAVILIONS PLACE LN #304 $515,000
95831 GREENHAVEN, SOUTH LAND PARK 6700 HAVENSIDE DR 975 ASTRO CT 19 SAIL CT 87 GREENWAY CIR 14 MOONLIT CIR 1217 47TH AVE 787 PORTUGAL WAY 905 LAKE FRONT DR 6745 SWENSON WAY 10 FOX OAK CT 12 TERN CT
$380,000 $389,900 $540,000 $287,500 $380,000 $430,000 $431,500 $625,000 $500,000 $646,000 $402,500
7756 SLEEPY RIVER WAY 30 ZEPHYR COVE CIR 6670 POCKET ROAD 7052 RIVERSIDE BLVD 56 SPRINGBROOK CIR 6403 NORTH POINT WAY 1015 ROUNDTREE CT 6380 LAKE PARK DR 6430 14TH STREET 718 SKYLAKE WAY 6380 SURFSIDE WAY 7668 MARINA COVE DR 621 BRICKYARD 299 BREWSTER AVE 6310 DAIRY COURT 530 RIVERGATE WAY 261 PORTINAO CIR 7340 BARR WAY 1171 SPRUCE TREE CIR 19 BLUE WATER CIR 7237 LONG RIVER 7717 BLACKWATER WAY 7080 GREENHAVEN DR 7302 RIVER PLACE WAY 7731 ROBERTS RIVER WAY 9 RIVER GLADE CT 365 CEDAR RIVER WAY 31 SHADY RIVER CIR 6594 LAKE PARK DR 1323 SAN CLEMENTE WAY 1209 47TH AVE
95864 ARDEN
3412 WELLINGTON DR 3437 MAYFAIR 3001 KADEMA DR 4349 VULCAN DR 4417 ALDERWOOD WAY 4357 VULCAN DR 1400 LAS SALINAS WAY 411 ROSS WAY 3570 LAS PASAS 817 EL ENCINO WAY 4538 JUNO WAY 2321 MARYAL DRIVE 2845 SIERRA MILLS LN 2925 ROYCE WAY 2616 MAISON WAY 3241 ARDENRIDGE DR 2925 SIERRA MILLS LANE 4132 STOWE WAY 545 WILHAGGIN DR 3140 ADAMS RD 4418 ALDERWOOD WAY 2025 MARYAL DR 1625 LA PLAYA WAY 4428 SURITA ST 3015 HOBART COURT 3129 SOMERSET RD 1328 SHADOWGLEN RD 4101 LAS CRUCES WAY 1074 SAN RAMON WAY 833 ROBIN LN 3509 MAPLEWOOD LN 1981 WINDEMERE LN 1308 GREENHILLS RD 1812 WAYSIDE LN 731 CASMALIA WAY
$500,000 $335,000 $390,990 $288,000 $390,000 $501,500 $110,000 $342,500 $370,000 $210,000 $392,001 $955,000 $410,000 $449,900 $505,605 $201,900 $388,000 $410,000 $271,500 $305,000 $340,000 $619,000 $280,500 $347,000 $351,000 $370,000 $395,000 $401,300 $435,000 $440,000 $456,000 $186,000 $180,000 $552,000 $275,000 $345,000 $395,000 $518,000 $1,098,000 $555,000 $315,000 $370,000 $381,000 $399,200 $627,500 $165,000 $185,000 $460,000 $585,000 $1,280,000 $1,399,900 $305,000 $314,000 $387,000 $535,000 $1,400,000 $227,500 $230,000 $410,000 $499,000 $1,525,000 $400,000 $615,000 $197,000 $330,000 $439,000
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Living Homelessly TAKING TO THE ROAD FOR A YEAR OF MINIMALISM
BY NORRIS BURKES SPIRIT MATTERS
T
his month, my wife and I will take a huge financial step: We are going homeless. But don’t worry. I won’t be on the street corner waving a sign that reads “Will preach for food.” By homeless, I mean we’ll no longer own a house or owe for it. By homeless, I mean “less of a home,” downsized in a big way. Yes, we’ve gone minimalist. We’ve sold our 2,800-square-foot home where we’ve spent 13 years raising
four kids, three dogs, two guinea pigs and one corn snake. No more McMansions for us. We’re renting a double-wide mobile home for the next year to help us transition into an itinerant retirement. We aren’t taking any children or animals, only what will fill two bedrooms. The move slashes our living space by 1500 square feet and our monthly housing budget by $1,000. I can hear a sympathetic chorus of readers asking: “Norris, what happened? Why would you leave such a lovely subdivision? Doesn’t your writing pay the bills?” Actually, it never really has, but that’s not my point. If you ask me what happened, I’d have to say that Ecuador happened. We recently went to Ecuador to visit the Galapagos and explore the idea of overseas living in retirement. In Cuenca, Ecuador, 8,000 feet into the cool Andes, I met scores of expats who’d drastically shed the consumerism that dominates American life.
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With the cost of shipping or storage prohibitively high, they’d left most of their belongings behind. When they boarded the plane to Ecuador, most carried their life essentials in three suitcases apiece.
Nevertheless, our life change has made me take a hard look at the value I place on my stuff, especially the stuff I thought I needed but never used. Within a few months of getting off the plane, most managed to furnish their new home with utilitarian essentials from local sources. No longer stuck in the revolving door of StuffMart or CostlyCo, many resourceful expats built their own furniture or made their own clothing. If shedding that kind of material wealth is something you find unimaginable, you’re in good company. The truth is that this level of sacrifice inspires us, but few of us actually do it. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sacrificing very little. I’ve managed to sell my home and belongings at a fair price and will receive a sizable tax deduction for what I’ve given away. Most of what I’ve shed hasn’t been used for years.
Nevertheless, our life change has made me take a hard look at the value I place on my stuff, especially the stuff I thought I needed but never used. The whole event has me asking myself, when will a person feel satisfied that he has enough stuff or enough money? The answer is never. You’ll never be sure you have enough. The only thing you can really do is draw a bottom line on your net worth and determine that it will be enough. You must resolve, “This has to be enough. I will make this work. I will make it so.” To make such a decision, I take some guidance from the homeless Galilean man who declared in his Sermon on the Mount, “Don’t store up for yourself treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You might say this was Jesus’ version of the modern truism, “You can’t take it with you,” or “You’ll never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.” In the meantime, I will admit that my newfound minimalism isn’t a complete transformation. We both find ourselves holding on to all we possibly can. Does anyone know where I can rent a cheap storage unit? Norris Burkes is a chaplain, syndicated columnist, national speaker and author of the book “Hero’s Highway,” about his experiences as a hospital chaplain in Iraq. He can be reached at ask@ TheChaplain.net n
SPONSORED BY INSIDE PUBLICATIONS & FRIENDS OF EAST SACRAMENTO
Best Volunteer Job Ever MCKINLEY ROSE GARDEN VOLUNTEERS GIVE JOB THE HIGHEST MARKS
BY LISA SCHMIDT GIVING BACK TO EAST SAC
W
hen Friends of East Sacramento put a plan together to restore and manage McKinley Rose Garden in 2011, they knew volunteers would be needed. “But we had no idea just how vital they were until our first summer of blooms arrived,” says Cecily Hastings, co-founder of the Friends nonprofit group, which oversees the ongoing care. Seven years ago, the city employed two full-time gardeners for the public rose garden. Then, city budget woes prompted cutbacks. The gardeners “were first to go as the city parks staff struggled to keep numerous parks up with skeleton crews,” says Hastings. After the city funded new concrete walkways and a new irrigation system in 2011, there were no funds to replant hundreds of rosebushes that had perished in recent years due to disease and lack of water. Friends of East Sacramento raised more than $100,000 in private donations and replanted the rosebushes, added new boxwood hedges and planted eight empty perennial beds. The group also built a new brick monument sign and a shade gazebo and refurbished 26 park benches. The nonprofit leases the garden from the city and manages event rentals in the garden. Event rentals, combined with the garden’s Adopt-A-Garden program, generate funds for weekly lawn and plant maintenance services. Corporate and
Linda Jayne enjoys working each week in the McKinley Rose Garden
private sponsors fund the more than $10,000 a year need to underwrite the care of the garden. Colorful banners on light poles along H Street recognize major donors. “But one vital job that we simply could not afford to hire is the deadheading of the roses while they are in bloom,” says Hastings. “Roses typically start blooming heavily in April and go through the later fall now that we have established a regular fertilization program,” says Ellie Longenecker, a Master Gardener and rosarian who provides advice on the care of the roses. “It is vital that
the dead blooms be cut off each week in order to encourage new blooms.” After receiving about 30 minutes of training, each volunteer commits to spend about an hour a week in the garden on his or her own schedule. “We now only have about 10 regulars working weekly. We need to double that amount in order to keep up with more mature roses and better fertilizing,” says Hastings. New volunteer recruitment signs have already helped. “We try to snag their interest while they are walking in the garden or around the park.” Linda Jayne responded to the call and works weekly in the garden,
usually in the early morning hours. “I love this job because I can do it any time and I don’t have to do much cleanup,” she says. “I actually find this work kind of addicting. It is so beautiful and peaceful, and I feel exhilarated when I’m done.” Volunteer Luci Schwartz, a retired College Glen resident, finds the work a great escape from her home life. “I find that working in the garden refreshes my spirit,” she says. “I feel lucky to have found this opportunity. It is the best volunteer job in the world.” Schwartz likes that she can set her own hours. She also says that the feeling of community created through the experience is a “true gift.” “I had forgotten what an important part of Sacramento our city parks have always been,” she says. “Watching the families interact and the weddings being planned, I know that I am both giving back of my time and, at the same time, meeting wonderful people.” Volunteer Annie Ables says, “I am really enjoying helping to take care of the roses. It is so peaceful and gratifying.” She can’t believe how many people thank her for helping to make the garden so beautiful. “It really is the best volunteer job ever!” To become a McKinley Rose Garden volunteer, contact Lyn Pitts at lynpitts@comcast.net or (916) 203-5652. Indicate your level of experience and your availability for training. Lyn works inthe garden most weekday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon. Like McKinley Rose Garden on Facebook. n
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Growing Together AT COMMUNITY GARDENS, NEIGHBORLINESS BLOOMS
works for city’s department of parks and recreation.
BY GWEN SCHOEN FARM TO FORK
T
he morning I stopped for a visit at the community garden on the corner of 14th and Q streets was a good reminder of why I love living in Sacramento. It was early in the day. The sun had not yet reached the sizzle point, and a gentle breeze was lifting the leaves on tomato vines and swaying the sunflowers. A happy bird serenaded the neighborhood from his perch in a treetop. Under a bench, a lazy orange tabby cat lounged in a sunspot. His job, I learned later, is to keep rodents away from the gardens. If his girth is an indication, he’s good at his job. The garden is beautiful, not just visually, but also because it brings together people living in the neighborhood who love to grow vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers. It truly is a community brought together by the joy of digging in the soil, growing food and sharing what they grow. Gardeners arrive on bicycles and on foot, some pulling wagons to load with their morning harvest. As they tend their plots, they greet each other and proudly show off the results of their efforts. Outside
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Bill Maynard
the gate is a box filled with zucchini and fresh dill. “We put extras in the box to share with other neighbors,” explained Angela DeShields, one of the gardeners. “People walking by are welcome to pick up anything they might be able to use.” As we explored the plots, checking out the squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, basil and beans growing in raised beds, DeShields told me how, in 2008, the whole community came together to move bricks, shovel soil, build the raised beds and construct compost bins. “It took a lot of volunteers, and we even worked in the rain,” she said. “But it was good to bring the
neighbors together to work on a goal, and it was worth every bit of effort. Plus, now we have a place to grow vegetables and fruit even if we live where there is no space for a garden.” A project such as this doesn’t happen by accident. The garden at 14th and Q streets, called Fremont Community Garden, was developed as a joint venture of the Capital Area Development Authority, Rembold Properties and the city of Sacramento. The land was donated by the California Department of General Services. The Garden Advisory Board, made up of volunteer Fremont gardeners, manages the garden under the guidance of community garden coordinator Bill Maynard. Maynard
The idea of community gardens is not new. During World War II, they were called victory gardens. People grew food to aid the war effort. In the 1970s, gardening became popular once again, which helped renew interest in community gardens. “There are 13 community gardens in the city of Sacramento,” said Maynard. “We have so many people on the waiting list for garden space that we are planning to add four more. One at the corner of 19th and Q streets will be a combination dog park and community garden.” Most community gardens are divided into plots 10 feet square or 10 by 20 feet. Some plots are raised so that they’re accessible to gardeners in wheelchairs. Participants pay an annual fee of $25 to $50 depending on the size of their plot. At Freemont, there are 50 plots and a waiting list. “We have about eight to 10 people leave a year,” said Maynard. “When
a space appears not to be maintained, we send the gardener a friendly note asking if they would like to give up their plot. Still, it can take several years of waiting to get a spot because the gardens are so popular. When we opened the community garden in Natomas, we had 83 requests for space but only 26 plots. We had to have a lottery and everyone else was put on a waiting list.” The idea of community gardens is not new. During World War II, they were called victory gardens. People grew food to aid the war effort. In the 1970s, gardening became popular once again, which helped renew interest in community gardens. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began promoting its Urban Gardening Program. About that same time, the American Community Gardening Association was founded. Maynard is the current president of the association. Besides the bounty and camaraderie, the gardens also provide a wonderful learning experience.
“We have people who have never grown anything,” said Maynard. “Everyone helps them out. Right now, because of the drought, we are requiring everyone to use mulch and to limit watering to two days a week. That alone has been a good learning experience. We also invite third- and fourth-grade students from Oak Ridge Elementary School for a visit. We give them seeds to plant. They are amazed to learn things like potatoes don’t grow on trees. Sometimes I buy carrots with the tops still on. I’ll put them into the soil before the kids arrive and let them pull them out of the ground. They love the surprise.” Here in the self-proclaimed farmto-fork capital, we have many things to celebrate. Gathering our family and neighbors around a community garden is one of the best. For more information about Sacramento’s community gardens, call 808-4943. Gwen Schoen can be reached at gwen.schoen@aol.com n
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For the Love of Art FUN RUN IN LAND PARK TO BENEFIT LOCAL CREATIVE PROGRAMS
BY TERRY KAUFMAN DOING GOOD
A
rts lovers: Plan to run, walk or simply watch on Saturday, Aug. 22, in beautiful, shady William Land Park while you support your favorite arts program. The 17th annual Race for the Arts benefits California’s nonprofit performing, literary, cultural and visual arts organizations and school music, literary, drama and art programs.
Every penny of your pledge will benefit your designated group or program. Every penny of your pledge will benefit your designated group or program. After the run, stick around for a post-run party and arts festival. The 5k run/walk begins at 8:35 a.m. Registration fees are $30 for adults and $15 for kids by Aug. 17; starting Aug. 18, the fee for adults goes
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up to $35. To register or for more information, go to raceforthearts.com The event officially kicks off at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, with Off to the Races, a food and wine tasting extravaganza in the courtyard of the Pavilions shopping center on Fair Oaks Boulevard. Guests will listen to music from the Sacramento Guitar Society while they sample appetizers from some of the area’s finest restaurants, sip wines from around the region and enjoy more music from Kitty O’Neal and Kurt Spataro and Suzuki Music Association. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at raceforthearts.com
DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY A Clockwork Ball, otherwise known as Gender Bender Ball, is the biggest annual fundraiser/party for Gender Health Center. The center provides counseling and therapy services to anyone who self-identifies or is perceived to be gender variant. This is year six of the ball, and the theme is steampunk. The event takes place Saturday, Aug. 15, at Sacramento International Hotel (925 H St.). The event organizers say not to worry if you don’t know what steampunk is: Just wear your best Victorian-era gadget-infused genderbending costume. Tickets are $20. For tickets and more information, go to thegenderhealthcenter.org
RAPTORS AND REPTILES: OH MY! If you love raptors and reptiles, August is the month for you. The Wildlife Care Association at McLellan Business Park is offering classes for the public about these flying and crawling creatures, with a session devoted to raptors on Sunday, Aug. 2, and reptile training on Sunday, Aug. 16. Both classes begin at 10 a.m. and are free for WCA volunteers, $10 for nonmembers. To sign up for a class, email your full name, phone number, class name and group affiliation to wcarehabilitation@yahoo.com
BRAIN FREEZE If you haven’t yet gotten your fill of animals, or if you’re just too darn hot, get ready for the Sacramento Zoo’s 31st annual Ice Cream Safari on Saturday, Aug. 15. While you’re licking Baskin-Robbins ice cream and sipping Coca-Cola drinks, you can be exchanging glances with a tiger or following the antics of an orangutan. Just remember to keep the treats to yourself! The event, which is for the whole family, is from 4 to 8 p.m., and the ice cream is all-you-can-eat. The zoo closes at 1:30 that day. Tickets are $17 adults, $13 for children before Aug. 13, $20 and $15 after. You’ll have another chance to help the zoo on Tuesday, Aug. 25, during Bingo Night at Florin Road Bingo. Tickets include dinner, nonalcoholic drinks and eight rounds of bingo with the chance to win cash prizes. There will be a no-host bar, a prize raffle
and the opportunity to meet some of the zoo’s Animal Ambassadors, such as an African hedgehog or a ball python. Tickets are $40 by Aug. 22, $45 after. Seating for the event, which will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at 2350 Florin Road, is limited, so make reservations. For more information, go to saczoo.org
A PARTY FOR ANIMAL LOVERS Still have an urge to help the four-footed community? Front Street Animal Shelter will pull out all the stops to celebrate the work of local volunteers who save thousands of animals each year. The Paws to Party event will be held Friday, Aug. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m.at California Automobile Museum (2200 Front St.). Guests will enjoy food, wine and beer, live music and a silent auction. Tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the door. For tickets and more information, go to pawstoparty.weebly.com The shelter, run by the city of Sacramento, does far more than simply care for lost and abandoned animals in the region. Its volunteers transport sick or injured stray animals to the emergency vet, rescue animals locked inside hot cars, administer a rabies control program and educate pet owners on the importance of spaying and neutering. Terry Kaufman can be reached at terry@1greatstory.com n
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Time To Get Moving ACTIVE CITIES AREN’T JUST HEALTHIER
BY WALT SEIFERT GETTING THERE
W
e’ve engineered physical activity out of many aspects of our lives. At
home, labor- saving appliances have eliminated the time and drudgery associated with laundering and doing the dishes. Gas and electric leaf blowers and lawnmowers (not to mention lawn services) having reduced exercise from raking and mowing. Remote controls ensure couch potatoes planted in front of the TV have no need to bestir themselves. Outside the home, remote megaschools, megamalls and big-box stores have replaced neighborhood schools and shops down the block. What could be reached easily by walking or biking now requires a car trip. In office buildings and malls, escalators and elevators means fewer stairs to climb. In the workplace, there’s been a shift to white-collar desk jobs that entail sitting in front of a computer screen and moving nothing but a mouse. Formerly, a far larger proportion of blue-collar factory jobs demanded manual labor for eight hours a day or longer. Loggers ate like
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loggers because they were burning
It’s difficult to replace activity
social interaction between neighbors.
scads of calories. They felled trees
that used to be part of daily existence
When trips are made by car, even
with axes and two-handled saws,
with gym workouts. Going to a gym
within neighborhoods, the ability to
not mechanized equipment and
is time consuming and can be costly.
see, meet and talk to neighbors is
chainsaws.
It seems very likely that there’s
limited. How do we engineer physical
In the United States, there’s
been a profound reduction in daily
probably been no more profound
calories expended by most people.
activity back into communities? What
reduction of physical activity than in
While people have become less active,
are the benefits of doing so? The
the realm of transportation. Active,
the number of calories they consume
Active Living Research organization’s
people-powered transportation has
has grown. The bottom line is a
report “Making the Case for
drastically declined. Most adults drive
discernable impact on bottom lines.
Designing Active Cities” answers
everywhere. The number of kids who
More people are overweight and obese
those questions. The report examined
walk or bike to school has dropped
than ever. The health consequences of
research on five critical determinants
precipitously. Buildings, streets and
that extra weight are not good.
of activity in cities: parks and trails,
cities have been reoriented toward
Many of the anti-activity changes
urban design, transportation, schools,
automobile use, though public
have been anti-neighborhood as well.
and workplaces and buildings. The
transportation plays a prominent role
Not only is it more difficult to shop or
authors assessed not just if these
in a few major cities, such as New
find a school in your neighborhood;
activity determinants affected
York.
out-of-neighborhood trips mean less
physical and mental health, but
S I X T E E N T H
RACE
for the
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if they also had related benefits
parks, greenways and trails is one.
remarkable return on investment in
such as improved safety and
According to the report, “Spending
bicycling and walking facilities. For
injury prevention, environmental
time in green outdoor common
each dollar invested, the benefits
sustainability, social integration and
spaces is systematically related to
ranged from $13 to $19.
economic gains.
stronger social integration and a
There are many examples of things that can be done to increase the opportunities for activity. The study found that the benefits of active cities were wide ranging, positive and profound: “When settings are designed to be activity-friendly, there is good reason to expect not only more physical activity, but also other health, environmental and economic benefits.” There are many examples of things that can be done to increase the opportunities for activity. Adding
People want more active cities.
stronger sense of local community.”
According to the report, “there is good
The presence and proximity of parks
evidence that most U.S. adults want
not only resulted in more physical
more walkable neighborhoods, like
activity; greenery helped with stress
to live in mixed-use neighborhoods,
recovery, improved mental health and
and want safer places to ride bicycles.
reduced feelings of loneliness. Tree
There is strong support for more
cover decreased energy use.
government funding for walking and
Schools often sit idle after
bicycling facilities and recreation
hours and during vacation periods.
centers. The evidence we found
Agreements between school districts
says that U.S. adults are in favor
and cities for joint use of schools can
of the kinds of activity-friendly
create recreational opportunities and
environments that help people be
re-establish schools as community
active and produce important co-
hubs while saving money.
benefits.”
Making stairwells more attractive
When local decision makers
by adding painting and carpeting,
consider all the benefits of active
framed artwork and music increases
cities, it should be easy to choose cost-
their use.
effective ways to re-engineer activity
When physical activity is optimized,
back into people’s lives.
the economic results are very positive. Homes near parks and trails are worth more. Health care costs decline. According to one study, there is a
VISIT
w w w. r a c e f o r t h e a r t s . c o m
insidepublications.com
Sharon Pickard Yelp
Walt Seifert is a bicyclist, driver and transportation writer. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net n
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In Living Color LOCAL WATERCOLORIST ILLUMINATES LIFE IN ALL ITS HUES
BY JORDAN VENEMA ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
F
or Sacramento painter Judy Lew Loose, every canvas begins with “feeling, feeling, feeling.” Her first artistic feeling goes back to kindergarten, when she felt wonder from mixing colors with her fingers. She knew then she wanted to be an artist, but when Loose shared the idea with her parents, they told her no. “It was my first experience of feeling severely rejected by my parents,” admits Loose, who took to drawing under the bed sheets with a flashlight. “My whole life, I felt ashamed that I was an artist.” That rejection didn’t prevent Loose from pursuing her dream, and over the past two decades she’s become one of Sacramento’s most recognizable artists. Her work has been featured in magazines and books, galleries and competitions, as well as on numerous covers of Inside Publications. Loose was born in Sacramento, and after high school she enrolled in San Francisco’s Academy of Art University as a fine arts major. She slept on the floor of her aunt’s onebedroom apartment—“with roaches,” says Loose. “I woke up one morning saying I can’t live like this. I can’t make a living being a fine artist.” So Loose switched to the more practical graphic design major and transferred to New York’s Pratt Institute, where she studied advertising, graphic and package design. After Pratt, Loose worked as a package designer in New York City while living in a basement. “But basically I had moved from one box to another box,” she admits, and under
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Waterolor artist Judy Lew Loose at work in her home studio
the weight of student loans, Loose returned to Sacramento during her late 20s. As Loose worked three jobs as a freelance designer to pay off her student debt, painting became a distant memory. “My focus was not about being, but about surviving,” says Loose. Then she landed a graphic
design position with SMUD (where she’s worked for 23 years), married and had her first child. Life began to settle down, and Loose enrolled in a night course at Sacramento City College studying watercolor painting. “After the kid went to sleep,” says Loose, “I’d have an hour or two to
paint, then get up by 5 a.m. and go to work. That was my routine.” Loose had studied acrylic and oil painting in college, but never watercolor. The night course opened her to a new medium, which in turn opened her to a new way to express her emotions. “There’s just something about water,” says Loose, explaining the allure of watercolor. “I love water, maybe because I’m Pisces; I’m a fish.” She describes the color and texture as smooth, relaxing, soothing, sensations she tries to express in her paintings. “I want people to have a sense of calmness and serenity when they look at my paintings,” she says. Watercolor can be a challenging medium, with a tendency to run or bleed on paper. The process can be slow, since watercolor paints must dry before additional layers are applied. Many galleries told Loose she’d more likely sell paintings if she painted in oil, but Loose says it was never her goal in life to sell paintings, only to paint. Through watercolor, Loose developed what she calls a hybrid style, “a half-and-half” between traditional brushstrokes and pointillism, the method developed by French post-Impressionist Georges Seurat. Pointillism uses small, separate dots, like pixels in a screen, to create a larger image, grasped as a whole. Pointillism provides layers of paints, allowing Loose to use vibrant, nearly neon colors, the hallmarks of her latest paintings. As a watercolorist, Loose recognizes the medium does not command critical attention. She mentions the British painter J.M.W. Turner, but otherwise, says Loose, “there’s not many that stand out.” She would like to see watercolors “garner the same
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Loose's watercolors have been featured on more than a dozen Inside covers
respect as oils,” she says “I want it to have a place in the museum someday.” Her own artistic aspirations are no less ambitious. “I want to find that one angle where it’s so different that no one would ever see it that way,” says Loose. Ultimately, she hopes her paintings touch people’s lives. “That’s why I create what I do,” explains Loose. “As an artist, follow your emotions. It’s honest and real. That’s what real work is about.” In her paintings, Loose has focused on a variety of subjects: flowers, Sacramento cityscapes, children. But
seven years ago marked a turning point for Loose. “I was burning the candle at both ends,” she explains. “I got sick, my mom got cancer, I was going through a separation and divorce.” Simply put, Loose crashed. During a four-day stay in the ER. she asked herself: “If I make it out of here, what would I paint? What would make a difference in someone’s life?” Soon thereafter, she began a series of portraits of Sacramento’s homeless. Through personal relationships, Loose painted about 20 subjects. “I was trying to paint them with dignity,” she explains. “They’re
human, just like me and you.” The series still travels between churches, encouraging donations to support Sacramento homeless. Loose’s paintings are an expression of feeling, sometimes raw emotion, even pain. She doesn’t shy away from admitting her dark periods, though you’d never guess it from her use of bright colors. “But I’m at a different stage of life,” says Loose. “My paintings are different now. I’m doing more shadows and reflections, perhaps because I’m reflecting on my past life.”
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Judy Lew Loose will join Inside Publications publisher Cecily Hastings on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at Sacramento Central Library. Hastings will be talking about the history of Inside Publications’ cover art as part of the library’s Art in August program. The presentation starts at 6 p.m. The library is at 828 I St. For more information, go to saclibrary.org For more information about Judy Lew Loose, go to lewloosewatercolors. com n
ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
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Race for the Arts 17TH ANNUAL FUNDRAISER LACES IT UP AUG. 22 AT WILLIAM LAND PARK
BY JESSICA LASKEY RIVER CITY PREVIEWS
S
trap on your running shoes and pile up the pledges for your favorite California nonprofit visual, performing, cultural or literary arts organization or school music, drama or literary art program at the 17th annual Race for the Arts on Saturday, Aug. 22 at William Land Park. Whether you’re a serious sprinter or more of a fun-runner, the 5k Run/ Walk at 8:35 a.m. will have plenty of picturesque scenery to take in as you jog or walk by. If you have a tyke who wants in on the action, register him or her for the Kids Fun Run at 8:10 a.m. Once you’ve sweated for your cause of choice (although pledges are not required to run the race), enjoy the all-day Arts Festival, which will include an Instrumental Discovery Zone; hands-on activity booths where you can make a hat, get your face painted or learn some new dance moves; a visit from the Sacramento County Library Bookmobile; booths with art for sale; food trucks with delectable fare; and nonstop entertainment on the amphitheater stage.
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The 17th annual Race for the Arts on Saturday, Aug. 22 at William Land Park
Participating arts groups and programs will receive 100 percent of the pledges designated to them. Over the past 16 years, 214 arts groups and schools have benefited from the event. Ready for some pre-gaming? Don’t miss the Off to the Races Food & Wine Tasting event the weekend before the race from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15 at Pavilions Shopping Center (563 Pavilions Lane off Fair Oaks Boulevard). Groups of 10 runners or more will receive a 20 percent discount
and all registered participants will receive an event T-shirt, refreshments and exclusively designed socks by Trumpette. So what are you waiting for? Register now at raceforthearts. com For more information, call 9668893. William Land Park is at 3800 South Land Park Drive.
THE PLAY’S THE THING The year is 1952. The setting? Sacramento. And you’re the first
black family on your block. “When We Were Colored,” a play by Ginger Rutland—yes, the former television reporter, NPR commentator and editorial writer for The Sacramento Bee—based on her mother Eva’s memoir of the same name, premieres on Friday, Aug. 21 and plays through Aug. 30 at Pioneer Congregational Church in midtown. The play, like the book from which its springs, tells the story of a middleclass black woman born and raised in the segregated South before World
War II who moves West to raise her children in “integrated” California after the war—tough-as-nails Eva Rutland herself. Hear the poignant realities of her trials and tribulations as dramatized by her talented daughter. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, at 6 p.m. on Sundays, with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees, from Aug. 21-30. For tickets and more information, call 443-3727 or go to brownpapertickets.com Pioneer Congregational Church is at 2700 L St.
‘I JUST MET A GIRL NAMED MARIA’ Ready to have your heart broken and your socks rocked off? The final two shows of the Music Circus season are in full swing under the Wells Fargo Pavilion big top: “West Side Story” on Aug. 4-9 and “Hair” on Aug. 18-23. First up is the Leonard Bernstein/ Stephen Sondheim musical masterpiece “West Side Story,” the 20th century retelling of the illfated Romeo and Juliet romance. Timeless tunes in the star-studded score include “Tonight,” “Maria” and “Somewhere,” and this year’s Music Circus cast will include some gems of its own: Carolann Sanita, who has performed all over the country in regional theaters and starred in the national tour of “The Music Man,” will play Maria; Justin Matthew Sargent, who has spent the past four years on Broadway playing lead roles in “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” “Rock of Ages” and “Bonnie & Clyde,” will play Tony; Desiree Davar, who has danced on “Glee,” will reprise her role from the Broadway production and tour of “West Side” as Anita; and Sacramento’s own Dave Pierini will play Officer Krupke. Make sure to bring your tissues! As a special option to the season for subscribers, and added fun for singleticket buyers, the groundbreaking rock ’n’ roll musical “Hair” will return to Music Circus for the first time since 1976. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam era, the show follows a group of youth revolutionaries in the late 1960s
For tickets and more information for all Crocker events, call 808-1182 or go to crockerartmuseum.org The Crocker Art Museum is at 216 O St.
CLASS OF ’65, WHERE ARE YOU?
Ginger Rutland
and includes such well-known songs as “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Aquarius” and “Good Morning Starshine.” The cast will include veterans from London’s West End as well as Broadway, several national tours and off-Broadway productions as well as TV and film. For tickets and more information, call 557-1999 or go to californiamusicaltheatre.com The Wells Fargo Pavilion is at 1419 H St.
SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK Dun dun … dun dun … dun dun … If you could name that ominous film score in two notes or less, don’t miss the screening of “Jaws” as part of the Crocker Art Museum’s Courtyard Classic Film Series at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6. The 1975 Steven Spielberg classic that’s made swimming in the ocean traumatic for generations of moviegoers will be screened large for all to see from their lawn chairs and blankets (seating is also provided) in the museum’s E. Kendell Davis Courtyard. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are only $5 for museum members, $6 for students/youths, $8 for nonmembers. If you’re hungry before the film, tuck into a delicious three-course dinner with wine at the Crocker Café by Supper Club. For reservations and pricing, call 8081289. If you prefer soothing piano to man-eating sharks, don’t miss the Classical Concert featuring pianist
Andrei Baumann at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9. The program will feature the landscapes of sound of a Franz Schubert sonata and the Impressionistic imagery of Maurice Ravel inspired by the ongoing Armin Hansen exhibit. Tickets are $6 for museum members, $10 for students/ youths and Capital Public Radio members, $12 for nonmembers. Calling all drag (race) kings and queens! Art Mix Drag is the place to be from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13 when the Crocker’s monthly after-hours party features live music by the Troublemakers, a rip-roaring DJ, electric RC car races and, of course, a special edition of Drag Queen Bingo. The event is free for museum members and free with general admission for nonmembers. Enjoy food and drink discounts during happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. and $5 drink specials all evening. Cool off on a sweltering summer night with breezy tunes from Jazz Night on Thursday, Aug. 20 featuring Cynthia Douglas on the Café Stage at 5:15 p.m. and Ron Moton on the Main Stage at 6:30 p.m. Curated and hosted by Vivian Lee, Jazz Night is sure to get your toes tapping with Moton’s uplifting saxophone and Douglas’ unique brand of jazz fusion. Tickets are $7 for museum members, $12 for Capital Public Radio members and students/youths, $14 for nonmembers.
If you graduated from the Hiram W. Johnson Senior High Class of 1965, your classmates are looking for you! The 50th class reunion will take place from 6:30 p.m. to midnight on Sept. 19 at the Old Sacramento Embassy Suites, but the reservation deadline is fast approaching on Aug. 1. So, if you want to see some familiar faces from way back—come on, aren’t you curious?—go to the website johnsonclassof65.com or call Fred Claussen at 718-6824. Happy reuniting!
THE (NOT SO) SILENT TREATMENT If the thought of mimes brings up images of sad-faced clowns in striped shirts and white gloves, you’ve never seen the Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. For one Sacramento performance only (at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29 in Southside Park) see the mind-blowing storytelling troupe and its newest show, “Freedomland,” which has taken the country by storm. Though mimes don’t generally talk, the troupe’s dynamic description of their frenetic performance piece speaks for itself. “A door is blown off its hinges! Into a blasted room of scarred walls and shattered windows, armed with M-16s, America’s bravest duck and dodge for cover, finally training their deadly gunsights on … an old black man watching TV on his couch? This isn’t Baghdad or Kandahar—it’s home, and for ex-Black Panther Malcolm Haywood, it’s just another wrong-door police raid in the War on Drugs. Of course, Malcolm is horrified when the grandson he’s tried to protect, Nathaniel, returns from serving in Afghanistan only to PREVIEWS page 58
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Call Impact Builders for your FREE estimate today! PREVIEWS FROM page 57 find another war zone at home—and one where young black men like Nathaniel are in the crosshairs! “Meanwhile, the mayor and the police chief—one desperate for votes, the other desperate to fund his militarized police force—ramp up the fear (and their shiny new tank) to fight the newest drug threat to America …worse than weed, meth, coke, crack or crank, it’s …SNORF! And, of course, the SNORF trade is centered in the darkest part of town. “Are the police out of control? What happened to ‘innocent until proven guilty?’ Is Malcolm’s neighbor Lluis (an undocumented immigrant) actually a SNORF-lord? And can Malcolm convince his grandson that it is safer to re-up and fight overseas than to try to survive here at home in Freedomland?”
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916-826-1849
License No. 938975
“Freedomland” is written by Michael Gene Sullivan with music and lyrics by Ira Marlowe. Music will start at 4:30 p.m. prior to the performance. For tickets and more information, go to sfmt.org Southside Park is at Sixth and T streets.
TEEN ANGST Self-discovery. Budding sexuality. Teen love. And alternative rock? All of these forces collide in the groundbreaking rock musical “Spring Awakening,” which will be produced by Flying Monkey Productions on Aug. 28, 29 and 30 and Sept. 4 and 5 at the West Sacramento Community Center. Based on the 1891 play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, the musical, which nabbed eight Tony Awards for its Broadway premiere
Don't miss “Spring Awakening” playing at the West Sacramento Community Center. Photo courtesy of Debbie Soto.
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“2Thoughts” will be on exhibit Aug. 4-29 at the b. sakata garo gallery in Midtown
in 2006, is set in late 19th century Germany and features a folk-rockinfused score to underline the tumult of the young cast of characters’ budding teenage sexuality. All of the teen roles will be played by actual teenagers, in keeping with the ethos of Flying Monkey Productions, whose express purpose in producing is to give young people the opportunity to run the artistic duties of a theater production as well as perform onstage. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28; at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29; at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30; at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 4; and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5. For tickets and more information, call 215-9077 or go to flyingmonkeyproductions.org
The West Sacramento Community Center is at 1075 West Capitol Ave.
IT TAKES TWO When you first see the art pieces on display at b. sakata garo gallery in midtown, you might think they look like the work of two minds on one surface. Well, you’d be right— the pieces are the products of a collaboration between artists and close friends Robert-Jean Ray and Lou Bermingham, which makes the title of their exhibition, “2Thoughts,” all the more apt. When the two first met at b. sakato garo in 2009, neither knew what was in store for them six years later. Ray specializes in extremely small, intricate, mixed-media collage pieces
that are the size of matchboxes, while Bermingham creates large, gestural abstract paintings that convey the vastness and wonder of the universe. When the two decided to collaborate this year, there were only a few parameters: After agreeing on a size format, the artists selected surfaces such as heavy stock paper and wood of various sizes and shapes (square, rectangle, horizontal, vertical) and split each in half. Each artist then created an art piece on the left or right, top or bottom, then shipped the completed halves to one another and responded to each of the contributions. (They later discovered they were also both listening to jazz while working. If that’s not a case of great minds thinking alike, we don’t know what is.) The results are stunning and not to be missed. “2Thoughts” will be on exhibit Aug. 4-29. For more information, call 447-4276 or go to bsakatagaro.com The gallery is at 923 20th St.
IT TAKES THREE See California through the eyes of three artists at ARTHOUSE on R’s current exhibition “The Poetic Landscape,” featuring paintings by Jeremy Duncan, James Leland and Judith Perry from Aug. 8 through Sept. 10. Duncan has spent most of his life in Northern California and he enjoys working en plein air in the styles of his artistic idols Edgar Payne, John Carlson and John Singer Sargent. For Leland, his artistic eye is employed not just on canvas, but also in designing homes, communities and cities in his work as a community developer. He ventured into oil painting in 2011 and has never looked back. “What fascinates me is to attempt to capture the essence of a physical place,” Leland explains. “Whether man-made or natural, there are qualities innate to a place. Those qualities are what we remember when we long to return to a place that is special to us. Oil painting is the perfect medium for that expression.” Perry has been working in the medium of pastels for more than 10
always, the games will be emceed by Sacramento’s favorite drag personalities Rusty Nails, Felicity Diamond and Do Me Moore, which means the ribald fun for good causes will continue in full force. For more information, call the Rainbow Chamber office at 266-9630 or go to rainbowchamber.com Mango’s is at 1930 K St.
I’LL TAKE ‘NOUNS’ FOR $1,000, ALEX
See California through the eyes of three artists at ARTHOUSE on R’s current exhibition “The Poetic Landscape,” featuring paintings by Jeremy Duncan, James Leland and Judith Perry from Aug. 8 through Sept. 10.
years under the tutelage of renowned artists such as Anita Wolff, Terry Miura, Kim Lordier and Gil Dellinger. Since she loves capturing the beauty of the California coastline, the Sierra mountains and the southern deserts, it’s no surprise that she’s an avid member of the California Art Club. Meet this talented trio in person at the Second Saturday opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 8. For more information, call 455-4988 or go to arthouseonr.com ARTHOUSE on R is at 1021 R St.
B-I-N-G-OH! Want to try your luck and change someone else’s, all while surrounded by the bawdy fun of Sacramento’s vibrant drag queen community? Look no further than the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce’s Drag Queen Bingo event, Sacramento’s long-running monthly charity fundraiser formerly managed by Outword Media Marketing Events. Since its inception in August 2009, this fabulous fundraiser has raised more than $100,000 for local nonprofit organizations, including WEAVE, Alzheimer’s Association, NorCal AIDS Cycle, Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus, Sacramento LGBT Community Center, Gender Health Center and Front Street Animal Shelter, to name a few. The do-gooding and fun-having will continue every first Thursday of the
month at Mango’s on K Street from 7 to 9 p.m. under the chamber’s new management. “The Outword team and I are very proud of the support we have provided for local nonprofit organizations with Drag Queen Bingo,” says Fred Palmer, president and publisher of Outword Media Marketing Events. “The event is still successful and more popular than ever, but I have taken on other business and personal commitments, and it is simply time for us to let another organization take it on. “We felt very strongly that we wanted to be sure Drag Queen Bingo would be operated by an organization with a solid staff and volunteer base and the infrastructure to keep it going and make it even better. We have confidence that the chamber will be a good steward of the event.” “The chamber board is honored to take on the mission of continuing this great event that has done so much good in our community,” Sacramento Rainbow Chamber President Paul Weubbe concurs. “We’re excited to have the opportunity and want to use it as a way of connecting our LGBT community and causes with the greater Sacramento community. And we know it will be a lot of fun!” The Aug. 6 game will benefit the Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and the Sept. 3 game will benefit the Camellia Gay Softball Tournament. And as
Check out the beautiful nouns on display at Gallery 2110 this month, specifically “People, Places & Things,” a new show by artist Jan Winterstein. Winterstein is a native of Northern California who was originally educated in interior design but quickly realized that she wanted to express herself in brushstrokes rather than buildings. Her vibrant oil, watercolor and acrylic pieces showcase her abilities with landscape, still life and figurative work, and they include a clever nod to her former career in interiors: She uses refurbished frames around her works of art, refinishing and painting each one to uniquely complement the painting it’s paired with. In keeping with the mission of Gallery 2110 to support nonprofit organizations, proceeds from the show will go to the New Life Pregnancy Center, where Winterstein is a volunteer counselor. The center offers compassionate care, practical help and accurate information for those facing unplanned pregnancy. Meet Winterstein in person at the artist preview reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6 or at the Second Saturday Art Walk from 6 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 8. For more information, call 333-3493 or go to gallery2110.com Gallery 2110 is at 1023 Del Paso Blvd. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Please email items for consideration by the first of the month, at least one month in advance of the event. n
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Art Preview
GALLERY ART SHOWS IN AUGUST
Red Dot Gallery presents Common Threads: New/Recent Work by Lisa Neal, Laurie Vanina and Lynne Cunningham. Shown right: “Going the Back Streets” by Lynne Cunningham. The show runs through Aug. 5 to 29. 2231 J St.; reddotgallery.com
Gallery Atelier 20 is featuring Urban Layers: new plein air paintings by Abigail VanCannon. Shown below: “Marina” by VanCannon. Show runs Aug. 8 - Sept 5. 915 20th St. kristihughesdesign.com
Artspace 1616 presents works by Susan Silvester through Aug 30. Shown above:“Huntress” By Silvester. Artspace is at 1616 Del Paso Blvd.
Tim Collom Gallery presents New Works by Richard Stein from Aug. 8 - Sept. 5. Shown below: “Valley Rivers Confluence” by Stein. 915 20th St. timcollomgallery.com
Patris Studio and Gallery feautures a student/instructor exhibition of the artists who study and teach at the studio in August. Shown below: “Black Vase “ by Patris.. 3460 2nd Avenue.
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HAVE “INSIDE,” WILL TRAVEL 1. Jan and Ray McNally in Havana, Cuba 2. DART at Arden Hills coach Brian Nabeta and swimmers Claire Pinson, Kailee Nabeta, Lizzie Menzmer, Amalie Fackenthal and Jordan Kirrene trained with Water Mates Swim Club in Yokohama, Japan 3. Johnny and Janie Rosso celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary in Belize City, Belize 4. Mary Ellen Kassotakis in Agra, India in front of the Taj Mahal 5. The Gomez family in Guatemala 6. Jane and Ada Gregory high up in the trees on the Capilano Suspension Bridge on break from cheering on the USA at the Women's World Cup!
Take a picture with Inside Publications and e-mail a high-resolution copy to travel@insidepublications.com. Due to volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee all photos will be printed or posted. Can’t get enough of Have Inside, Will Travel? Find more photos on Instagram: InsidePublications
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The King of R Street FOX & GOOSE CELEBRATES 40 YEARS
BY GREG SABIN RESTAURANT INSIDER
R
Street is the newest, hippest, slickest stretch in Sacramento, with new clubs,
bars, restaurants, artists lofts, even a barber bar. (That’s a bar and hair-cutting establishment in one, not to be confused with a drinking establishment featuring elephants, which would be a Babar bar.) Walk down R and everything looks new and bustling and fresh. However, the old Hollywood saying applies to old neighborhoods: There’s no such thing as an overnight success. Folks don’t just stumble on an empty patch of ground and infuse it with culture, class and desirability. Some group of like-minded people has been laying the foundation, doing the hard work and the small things that make a city a city and not just an overgrown
Fox & Goose Public House on R Street
mall. In this instance, the institution most responsible for the flourishing of R Street is Fox & Goose Public House. Opened in 1975, FnG was the baby of Bill and Denise Dalton. Inspired by a 200-year-old pub of the same name in Bill’s hometown of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, Sacramento’s Fox & Goose eschewed comfy, low-ceilinged, country-pub décor and instead made its home in an old paint and glass factory built in 1913. What the hefty brick building lacks in coziness, it makes up for in space and good cheer. With a soaring, thickbeamed roof and a nearly endless façade of brick, there’s no doubting
that this place is, first and foremost,
ILP AUG n 15
These days, Fox & Goose is known for many things: great music, great
road itself was in constant disrepair,
breakfasts and English expats among
watering hole, a place where
and the surrounding neighborhood
them.
lawmakers and law breakers rubbed
was, to use a polite word, transitional.
shoulders, where many a pint was
Through 40 years that saw great
thing coming out of the kitchen.
spilled, where many a fight ended
transformations in our town, FnG
Starting everyday at 6:30 a.m.,
with hugs and tears, where hearts
held down its corner at R and 10th.
there’s a fine combination of English
were broken and fences mended. In
There have been subtle changes
ingredients and California cooking to
other words, it’s a proper pub that
(a recent remodel helped with
be had. Traditional bangers, Heinz
serves a proper pint.
accessibility, expanded the outdoor
baked beans, grilled tomato and
Its history is that of a great
Breakfast is definitely the best
seating, updated the loo and carved
all the other fixings make up the
to their daughter Allyson in the ’90s.
out a lovely back room perfect for
“Full English” plate each morning.
She, in turn, sold the place just this
large parties and special events), but
Housemade scones with Devonshire
year to longtime employees Jessa
any visitors from 1975 would walk in
cream are a rare delight, and there
Berkey and Peter Monson. There are
the front door and immediately know
aren’t many other places in town
no plans to make any substantive
they were at the ’Goose.
where you can get a hot buttered
The Daltons sold the establishment
changes—music to the regulars’ ears.
62
When it first opened in 1975, the R Street row was mainly industrial. The
a pub.
crumpet.
INSIDE’S
MIDTOWN
Jack’s Urban Eats
1800 L St. 447-9440
L D $ Full Bar Made-to-order comfort food in a casual setting • Jacksurbaneats.com
1230 20th St. 444-0307
Aioli Bodega Espanola L D $$ Full Bar Patio Andalusian cuisine served in a casual European atmosphere
2115 J St. 442-4388
Biba Ristorante Fish & Chips from Fox & Goose Public House
Not all the food is traditionally
Evenings at the ’Goose are for
English, however. Standard American
drinking, music and conviviality.
breakfast fare can be had, as well
The old R Street anchor has been
as more modern plates like tofu
a reliable venue for up-and-coming
scrambles and freshly made quiche.
local musicians as well as seasoned
The standout, however, is the
veterans. Like any good pub, there’s
Welsh rarebit, a housemade cheese
also a trivia night (every Tuesday)
sauce so decadent as to be nearly
and open-mic night (every Monday).
illegal. Order it over the Benedict
So if you find yourself wanting to
Arnold, an eggs Benedict derivative
check out all the new happenings on
featuring poached eggs and roasted
R Street, carve a little time out of
corned beef on an English muffin.
your schedule to stop in at the joint
The rest of FnG’s menu of lunch
that started it all. Grab a pint, say
and late-night bites is strictly pub
your hellos and thank the folks at Fox
grub: fried bits and sandwiches
& Goose for holding down the fort for
typical of pubs the world over.
the past 40 years.
Breakfast is truly the highlight of the day and should be considered your destination meal. If you’re going on a weekend, though, plan to wait 45
Fox & Goose Public House is at 1001 R St.; 443-8825; foxandgoose. com
minutes to an hour for a table; a 40year tradition of excellent breakfast tends to be a poorly kept secret.
Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com. n
2801 Capitol Ave. 455-2422 L D $$$ Full Bar Upscale Northern Italian
cuisine served a la carte • Biba-restaurant.com
1801 L St. 446-3757
L D $$ Wine/Beer A counter service restaurant with high-quality chicken, char-roasted beef, salmon, and entrée salads
Lucca Restaurant & Bar L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Patio Mediterranean cuisine in a casual, chic atmosphere • Luccarestaurant.com
Moxie
2028 H St. 443-7585
Café Bernardo
D $$-$$$ Eclectic menu in a boutique neighborhood setting
2726 Capitol Ave. 443-1180 1431 R St. 930-9191
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio Casual California cuisine with counter service
Mulvaney’s Building & Loan
Centro Cocina Mexicana
L D Full Bar $$$ Modern American cuisine in an upscale historic setting
2730 J St. 442-2552
1215 19th St. 441-6022
L D $$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cooking served in a casual atmosphere • Paragarys.com
Old Soul Co.
Chicago Fire
B L D $ No table service at this coffee roaster and bakery, also serving creative artisanal sandwiches
D $$ Full Bar Chicago-style pizza, salads wings served in a family-friendly atmosphere • Chicagofirerestaurant.com
Paesano’s Pizzeria
2416 J St. 443-0440
1716 L St. 443-7685
1806 Capitol Ave. 447-8646
L D $$ Gourmet pizza, pasta, salads in casual setting • Paesanos.biz
Crepeville
1730 L St. 444-1100
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Outdoor Dining Crepes, omelets, salads, soups and sandwiches served in a casual setting
Ernesto’s Mexican Food 1901 16th St. 441-5850
Paragary’s Bar & Oven 1401 28th St. 457-5737
D $$ Full Bar Outdoor Patio California cuisine with an Italian touch • Paragarys.com
Suzie Burger
29th and P Sts. 455-3300
L D $ Classic burgers, cheesesteaks, shakes, chili dogs, and other tasty treats • suzieburger.com
58 Degrees & Holding Co.
The Streets of London Pub
L D $$$ Wine/Beer California cuisine served in a chic, upscale setting • 58degrees.com
L D $ Wine/Beer English Pub fare in an authentic casual atmosphere, 17 beers on tap
1217 18th St. 442-5858
INSIDE PUBLICATIONS
D Full Bar $$ Middle Eastern cuisine in a Moroccan setting
1615 J St. 669-5300
Buckhorn Grill
B L D $-$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Fresh Mexican food served in an upscale, yet familyfriendly setting • Ernestosmexicanfood.com
LIKE
Kasbah Lounge
Fox & Goose Public House
1804 J St. 498-1388
Tapa The World
1001 R St. 443-8825
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer English Pub favorites in an historic setting • Foxandgoose.com
Harlow’s Restaurant 2708 J Street 441-4693
L D $$ Full Bar Modern Italian/California cuisine with Asian inspirations • Harlows.com
Italian Importing Company
2115 J St. 442-4353
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer/Sangria Spanish/world cuisine in a casual authentic atmosphere, live flamenco music - tapathewworld.com
Thai Basil Café
2431 J St. 442-7690
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio Housemade curries among their authentic Thai specialties Thaibasilrestaurant.com
1827 J Street 442-6678
B L $ Italian food in a casual grocery setting
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A new twist on Sacramento’s longest-running y grea at summer jazz series. On 3rd Thursdays, enjoy great ional music curated and hosted by Vivian Lee, regional makes m jazz matriarch and aficionado. Jazz Night makes r.. Don’ the Crocker the cool place to be this summer. Don’t’t miss the last two concerts of the season! MEDIA SPONSORS
Ron Moton THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 6:30 PM CAFE STAGE: Cynthia Douglas
Carlos McCoy’s Latin Band THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 6:30 PM CAFE STAGE: Grant Union High School Sextet
216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org
The Coconut Midtown
Clubhouse 56
L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Food with Thai Food Flair
BLD Full Bar $$ American cuisine. HD sports, kid's menu, beakfast weekends
The Waterboy
Evan’s Kitchen
2502 J Street 440-1088 Lunch Delivery M-F and Happy Hour 4-6
Frank Fat’s James Beard Award-Winner, 2013
th Anniversary – Dinner Special* $28.95 per person
2000 Capitol Ave. 498-9891
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Fine South of France and northern Italian cuisine in a chic neighborhood setting • waterboyrestaurant.com
Zocolo
1801 Capitol Ave. 441-0303
APPETIZER
Chinese Chicken Salad
with pickled cucumber, almonds, and a sesame soy vinaigrette
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cuisine served in an authentic artistic setting • zocolosacramento.com
NY steak smothered in sautéed onions and oyster sauce
Honey Walnut Prawns Our award-winning recipe.
Chicken and Vegetable Stir-fry in spicy garlic sauce
Young Shew Fried Rice
with barbecued pork, Chinese sausage, lettuce, and shrimp DESSERT
Fat’s Famous Banana Cream Pie *
Two person minimum. No substitutions please. May not be combined with any other discount. Does not include tax or gratuity. Offer good August 1- 31, 2015. 806 L Street, Sacramento 916-442-7092 www.frankfats.com
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ILP AUG n 15
855 57th St. 452-3896
B L D Wine/Beer $$ Eclectic California cuisine served in a family-friendly atmosphere, Kid’s menu, winemaker dinners • Chefevan.com
Español 5723 Folsom Blvd. 457-3679
L D Full Bar $-$$ Classic Italian cuisine served in a traditional family-style atmosphere
Formoli's Bistro
ENTRÉES
Frank’s Style New York Steak
723 56th. Street 454-5656
EAST SAC 33rd Street Bistro
3301 Folsom Blvd. 455-2233
B L D $$ Full Bar Patio Pacific Northwest cuisine in a casual bistro setting
Burr's Fountain 4920 Folsom Blvd. 452-5516
B L D $ Fountain-style diner serving burgers, sandwiches, soup and ice cream specialties
Cabana Winery & Bistro 5610 Elvas 476-5492
LD $$ Wine tasting and paired entrees. Sunday Brunch 10 - 2. • cabanawine.com
3839 J St. 448-5699
B L D Wine/Beer Patio $$ Mediterranean influenced cuisine in a neighborhood setting
Italian Stallion
3260B J St. 449-8810
L D $-$$ Thin-Crust Pizza, Deserts and Beer in an intimate setting and popular location
La Trattoria Bohemia 3649 J St. 455-7803
L D Wine/Beer $-$$ Italian and Czech specialties in a neighborhood bistro setting
Les Baux
5090 Folsom Blvd. 739-1348
BLD $ Wine/Beer Unique boulangerie, café & bistro serving affordable delicious food/drinks all day long • lesbauxbakery.com
Opa! Opa!
5644 J St. 451-4000
L D Wine/Beer $ Fresh Greek cuisine in a chic, casual setting, counter service
Nopalitos
5530 H St. 452-8226
B L $ Wine/Beer Southwestern fare in a casual diner setting
Selland's Market Cafe 5340 H St. 473-3333
B L D $$-$$$ Wine/Beer High quality handcrafted food to eat in or take out, wine bar
Estelle's Patisserie
901 K St. 916-551-1500 L D $$-$$$ French-inspired Bakery serving fresh pastry & desserts, artisan breads and handcrafted sandwiches. EstellesPatisserie.com
Fat City Bar & Cafe 1001 Front St. 446-6768
D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine served in a casual historic Old Sac location • Fatsrestaurants. com
The Firehouse Restaurant 1112 Second St. 442-4772
L D $$$ Full Bar Global and California cuisine in an upscale historic Old Sac setting • Firehouseoldsac.com
Frank Fat’s
806 L St. 442-7092
L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Chinese favorites in an elegant setting • Fatsrestaurants.com
Il Fornaio
400 Capitol Mall 446-4100
L D Full Bar $$$ Fine Northern Italian cuisine in a chic, upscale atmosphere • Ilfornaio.com
Grange
926 J Street • 492-4450
Star Ginger
3101 Folsom Blvd. 231-8888
Asian Grill and Noodle Bar • starginger.com
B L D Full Bar $$$ Simple, seasonal, soulful • grangerestaurant.com
Hock Farm Craft & Provision 1415 L St. 440-8888
Thai Palace Restaurant
L D $$-$$ Full Bar Celebration of the region's rich history and bountiful terrain • Paragarys.com
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Authentic Thai cuisine in a casual setting
Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar
3262 J St. 446-5353
DOWNTOWN Foundation
400 L St. 321-9522
L D $$ Full Bar American cooking in an historic atmosphere • foundationsacramento.com
Chops Steak Seafood & Bar 1117 11th St. 447-8900
1530 J St. 447-2112
L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Japanese cuisine served in an upscale setting • Mikunisushi.com
Morton’s Steakhouse
621 Capitol Mall #100 442-50
D $$$ Full Bar Upscale American steakhouse • Mortons.com
Parlaré Eurolounge
L D $$$ Full Bar Steakhouse serving dry-aged prime beef and fresh seafood in an upscale club atmosphere • Chopssacramento.com
10th & J Sts. 448-8960
Claim Jumper
Rio City Café
1111 J St. 442-8200
L D $$ Full Bar Upscale American in a clubby atmosphere
Downtown & Vine 1200 K Street #8 228-4518
Educational tasting experience of wines by the taste, flight or glass • downtownandvine.com
D $$ Full Bar Relax with drinks and dinner in this stylish downtown space
5
1110 Front St. Old Sac 442-8226
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Seasonal menu of favorites in a setting overlooking river • Riocitycafe.com
Ten 22
1022 Second St. 441-2211
L D Wine/Beer $$ American bistro favorites with a modern twist in a casual, Old Sac setting ten22oldsac.com
Ella Dining Room & Bar 1131 K St. 443-3772
L D $$$ Full Bar Modern American cuisine served family-style in a chic, upscale space • Elladiningroomandbar.com
Esquire Grill 1213 K St. 448-8900
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Upscale American fare served in an elegant setting • Paragarys.com
4478 | CBSHALOM.ORG C CARMICHAEL, CA 95608 | 916.485.4478
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LAND PARK
Ettore’s
Casa Garden Restaurant
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio European-style gourmet café with salads, soup, spit-roasted chicken, desserts in a bistro setting • Ettores.com
2760 Sutterville Road 452-2809
TASTING ROOM events
ONLY A 30 -MIN DRIVE FROM SACRAMENTO
L D $$ • D with minimum diners call to inquire $$ Wine/Beer. Elegantly presented American cuisine. Operated by volunteers to benefit Sacramento Children's Home. Small and large groups. Reservations recommended • casagardenrestaurant.org
Freeport Bakery
2966 Freeport Blvd. 442-4256
B L $ Award-winning baked goods and cakes for eat in or take out • Freeportbakery.com
Iron Grill
Sunday, August 2 11:00am - 4:30pm
Wine tasting and lobster decadence. As seen on Shark Tank and national and local news! One of the cousins will be joining us! SUMMER SIPPIN’ SATURDAYS
We’re extending our hours ON the following Saturdays 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Sat, AUG 8 – Organic Countertop
Homemade Comfort food Sat, SEPT 12 – Cousins Maine Lobster is back! ~~~~~~~ MATCHBOOK WINE COMPANY 12300 County Road 92B | Zamora, CA 95698
open daily
11:00am – 4:30pm 530.662.1032
matchbookwines.com
Visit our website for detailed driving directions and event details.
13th Street and Broadway 737-5115
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Upscale neighborhood steakhouse • Ironsteaks.com
Jamie's Bar and Grill
427 Broadway 442-4044
L D $ Full Bar Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Dine in or take out since 1986
Riverside Clubhouse
2633 Riverside Drive 448-9988
L D $$ Full Bar Upscale American cuisine served in a contemporary setting • Riversideclubhouse.com
Taylor's Kitchen
2924 Freeport Boulevard 443-5154
D $$S Wine/Beer Dinner served Wed. through Saturday. Reservations suggested.
Tower Café
1518 Broadway 441-0222
B L D $$ Wine/Beer International cuisine with dessert specialties in a casual setting
Willie's Burgers
2415 16th St.444-2006
2535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 481-5225 L D $ Full Bar Made-to-order comfort food in a casual setting • Jacksurbaneats.com
The Kitchen
2225 Hurley Way 568-7171
D $$$ Wine/Beer Five-course gourmet demonstration dinner by reservation only • Thekitchenrestaurant.com
La Rosa Blanca Taqueria 3032 Auburn Blvd. 484-0139 2813 Fulton Ave. 484-6104
L D Full Bar $$-$$ Fresh Mexican food served in a colorful family-friendly setting
Leatherby’s Family Creamery 2333 Arden Way 920-8382
L D $ House-made ice cream and specialties, soups and sandwiches
Lemon Grass Restaurant 601 Munroe St. 486-4891
L D $$ Full Bar Patio Vietnamese and Thai cuisine in a casual yet elegant setting
Matteo's Pizza
5132 Fair Oaks. Blvd. 779-0727
L D Beer/Wine $$ Neighborhood gathering place for pizza, pasta and grill dishes
The Mandarin Restaurant 4321 Arden Way 488-47794
D $$-$$$ Full Bar Gourmet Chineses food for 32 years • Dine in and take out
Roma's Pizzeria & Pasta 6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-9800
ARDENCARMICHAEL
Roxy
L D $$ Traditional Italian pizza & pasta Family Friendly Catering + Team Parties • romas-pizzaand-pasta.com
2381 Fair Oaks Blvd. 489-2000
B L D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine with a Western touch in a creative upscale atmosphere
1537 Howe Ave. 927-1014 L D $-$$ Authentic Moroccan cuisine, lunch &
Ristorante Piatti
dinner specials, belly dancing weekends • bestmoroccanfood.com
L D $$ Full Bar Contemporary Italian cuisine in a casually elegant setting
Bella Bru Café
Sam's Hof Brau
571 Pavilions Lane 649-8885
5038 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-2883
2500 Watt 482-2175
B L D $-$$ Full Bar Espresso, omelettes, salads, table service from 5 -9 p.m. • bellabrucafe.com
L D $$ Wine/Beer Fresh quality meats roasted daily • thehofbrau.com
Café Vinoteca
Thai House
L D $$ Full Bar Italian bistro in a casual setting • Cafevinoteca.com
L D $$ Wine/Beer Featuring the great taste of Thai traditional specialties • sacthaihouse.com
3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 487-1331
Chinois City Café
3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-8690
L D $$ Full Bar Asian-influenced cuisine in a casual setting • Chinoiscitycafe.com
ILP AUG n 15
Jack’s Urban Eats
L D $ Great burgers and more. Open until 3 am weekends
Andaloussia
66
2376 Fair Oaks Blvd. 482-0708
427 Munroe in Loehmann's 485-3888
Willie's Burgers
5050 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-5050L D $ Great burgers and more n
This Month at the Market
A LOOK AT WHAT’S IN SEASON AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS IN AUGUST
FIGS
OKRA
PLUMS
This Mediterranean fruit is sweet and chewy, with tiny, crunchy seeds and a smooth skin. It’s a great source of dietary fiber and potassium. To eat: Sacramento’s now-defunct Fat Face restaurant used to serve poached figs inside a grilled brie sandwich.
This vegetable gets a bad rap for its sometimes-slimy texture. It’s a staple in Southern cuisine, particular gumbo. It’s low in calories—as long as you don’t fry it! To eat: Grill, roast or pickle.
This delicious stone fruit is a relative of the peach, nectarine and (surprise) almond. When dried, it’s a prune. To eat: Eat out of hand, or slice and bake for a cobbler, pie or upside-down cake.
GRAPEFRUIT
CARROTS
CANTALOUPE
Pucker up: This citrus fruit is tart and tangy. It’s rich in vitamin C and the antioxidant lycopene. It comes in white, pink and red varieties. To eat: Broil grapefruit slices until warm for a quick, healthful dessert.
This root vegetable is packed with beta carotene. Classically orange in color, it also comes in white, red, yellow and purple varieties. Look for tender baby carrots at the market. To eat: For a cooling summer soup, make carrot vichyssoise.
This melon has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It belongs to the cucurbit family of plants, which includes cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes. To eat: Using cantaloupe, Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis makes an unusual and tasty dish called Spaghetti al Melone.
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Coldwell Banker
#1 IN CALIFORNIA
LAND PARK! Transformed & Elegant Land Park hm w/modern amenities. 3bds, 2ba with an office/den at nearly 1700sqft. All brand new inside. ERNEST ABE 595-1900 CaBRE#: 00883904 BEREKELEY IN LAND PARK One of a kind duplex nestled in a magical rainforest environment. A unique opportunity. $599,900 PALOMA BEGIN & BOB LYSTRUP 628-8561 or 628-5357 CaBRE#: 01254423, 00991041
CONVENIENT LOCATION! Great access to Transportation & Shopping! Lovely 3BD/1BA w/great detailing, rmdld kitch, 2 patios & garden beds. $319,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986
CURTIS PARK PRAIRIE BUNGALOW! Rare & spacious nearly 1800sf, 3bd/1bth w/mouldings & builtN Gnestled I D ins from the craftsmen of yesteryear on a huge lot! N PE $529,900 STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787 POCKET AREA HALFPLEX! Charming move-in ready 3/2 w/freshly painted interior, new floor coverings throughout, updated fixtures, lovely patio/backyard, 2-car garage. SABRA SANCHEZ 508-5313 CaBRE#: 01820635
CLASSIC LAND PARK COTTAGE! 2 bdrm, 1 bath w/sweet updated kitchen & bath. Huge backyard w/ separate bldg... shop/playhouse/guesthouse? $399,900 STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787
LAND PARK CUTIE! 2bd cottage with hardwoods, fireplace, CH&A, French doors, deck, and sunroom. $339,900 PALOMA BEGIN 628-8561 CaBRE#: 01254423
SOUTH LAND PARK HILLS! Around the corner from Waldorf School. 3bd, 2ba on a spacious .30 acre lot. Lrg Ktch/fam rm. Outdoor deck. $389,000 SUE OLSON 601-8803 CaBRE#: 00784986
SPECTACULAR 1914 BUNGALOW! In the heart of Midtown Sac's Capitol Mansion District. 3bd, 3.5ba, hrdwd flrs, beveled & stained glass windows, multi-unit CH&A, fresh paint & so much more. $719,900 STEPH BAKER 775-3447 CaBRE#: 01402254 CURTIS PARK TUDOR Sparklingly fresh 3 bdrm, 1 ba home on tree-lined street in charming Curtis Park. From fresh paint to gleaming HW floors, this house makes a great home! STEPH BAKER 775-3447 CaBRE#: 01402254
URBAN LIVING! Solons Alley is releasing its highly anticipated additions “The Midtowner” & “The Urbanite.” Call for more info. $589,000 JEANINE ROZA & SINDY KIRSCH 548-5799 or 730-7705 CaBRE#: 01365413, 01483907
GREAT OPEN FLOORPLAN! South Natomas Cutie! Wonderful courtyard patio, updates roof, and CH&A. Easy care yard & plenty of space to hang out. Close to transit, short trip to downtown & all of the fun & excitement of the urban renaissance. $249,900 MARK PETERS 600-2039 CaBRE#: 01424396 TAPESTRI SQUARE! Beautiful semi-custom Highland model at Tapestri Square, 2307sf, 3bd/3.5ba. Master suite on 3rd flr plus den/guest rm. $699,000 MICHAEL ONSTEAD 601-5699 CaBRE#: 0122260
ESTABLISHED GREENHAVEN! Terrific single story, 3bd/2ba. Living rm & frml dining area. Separate family rm w/frplce. Brkfst nook in kitch. Expanded driveway at the side of hm for additional prking/& or possible RV/boat strg. MARGIE WONG 995-5185 CaBRE#: 00879949
NEW HOME - RENAISSANCE PARK! Phase 3 just released. Affordable & Modern! For more info Visit: www.newfaze. com/neighborhoods/renaissance-park. Starting in Low $200s CECIL WILLIAMS 718-8865 CaBRE#: 01122760
BROADMOOR ESTATES GEM! In one of Sacramento’s finest neighborhood. This amazing home is situated on the $595,000 TOM LEONARD 834-1681 CaBRE#: 01714895 WINNER ON “W” STREET Fabulous 2bd / 1ba adorable home with fabulous layout and many updates including kitchen remodel. Live close to downtown too! $269,000 JEANINE ROZA & SINDY KIRSCH 548-5799 or 730-7705 CaBRE#: 01365413, 01483907 GREAT METRO SQUARE HOME! 3bd/2.5ba w/highend kitch & master bath rmdl plus a 2 car garage & 2 car driveway. Move-In ready. HVAC replaced in 2010. $569,000 WENDY MILLIGAN 425.0855 CaBRE#: 01099461
METRO OFFICE 730 Alhambra Boulevard, Sacramento 916.447.5900
SOLID GREENHAVEN DUPLEX! Each side has 2 spacious bedrooms & 1 bath, tile roof, central heat and air, single car garage, covered patio and separate yards. $375,000 PAT VOGELI 207-4515 CaBRE#: 01229115
SAC RIVERFRONT MASTERPIECE! Built by renowned hm builder as his personal residence offers over 4,700SF of exceptional waterfront living & unsurpassed quality. $1,495,000 MAGGIE SEKUL 341-7812 CaBRE#: 01296369
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