Caiti Chan’s studio is located at the Verge Center for the Arts where experimentation with materials and processes captivates her. “Shown: “When Our Soul Leaves,” acrylic, ink, alcohol and pen on canvas, 40 inches by 30 inches. This piece is available at $4,000. Visit caitichan.com. Elk Grove Fine Arts Center presents works by Caiti Chan July 6–25.
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Isaac Gonzalez
by Aniko Kiezel
Crossing the street in the Sacramento region can kill you.
Local traffic accidents killed 377 pedestrians from 2018 to 2022, ranking the capital 20th on
By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk
Road Warrior
NEIGHBORHOOD LEADER WANTS US TO SLOW DOWN
Association, where Gonzalez has served on the board for 13 years. He’s the current president.
Traffic safety isn’t just a neighborhood problem. The association expanded its goals and introduced Slow Down Sacramento.
with seemingly little action taken in response. In the absence of organized community efforts, meaningful changes rarely occur,” he says.
Smart Growth America’s list of the most dangerous U.S. communities for people on foot.
Isaac Gonzalez is working to reduce those horrific numbers.
“The idea for an organization called Slow Down Sacramento first came to me in 2022. I was driving through Napa County when my GPS diverted me off the freeway onto a local street. There, I saw dozens of lawn signs that read ‘Slow Down Napa,’” says Gonzalez, a neighborhood association leader with a long history of making a difference.
“It was clear that the residents were frustrated with highway traffic being diverted through their residential corridor and had started a grassroots movement to address it.”
He learned Slow Down Napa is an active and accomplished organization. He decided to replicate the effort here. Slow Down Sacramento is a subsidiary of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood
“We officially launched Slow Down Sacramento in August 2023 with a press conference outside City Hall, about a week before the start of the new school year in the Sacramento City Unified School District,” Gonzalez says. “Our goal was to remind drivers to be considerate and drive safely around school campuses and children.”
He wanted to initiate a broader discussion about prioritizing people over speed in planning and policy processes, focusing on the importance of safe driving on residential streets.
Gonzalez had two main inspirations.
“First, I have witnessed far too much carnage resulting from crashes involving drivers and vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists,
He cites an example from 2011, when a young girl was killed on Fruitridge Road near West Campus High School. The community rallied and changes were made, including the installation of a stoplight at the deadly intersection.
More recently, the death of a parent at Phoebe Hearst Elementary while waiting to pick up her daughter prompted another community effort. Resources were allocated and a “road diet” traffic realignment program is underway.
“These instances demonstrate that without community advocacy, the status quo persists, and the cycle of tragedy continues,” Gonzalez says.
He was inspired by the Strong Towns movement, which advocates for quick, inexpensive changes to achieve radical improvements in street safety.
LOCAL TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS KILLED 377 PEDESTRIANS FROM 2018 TO 2022.
Photo
With an enduring eye for color, she continues to collect and curate, inspiring a love of art in the community around her.
Moved by a world of color, Davina Dubnick transformed flowers into stunning collages. Her one-of-a-kind pieces captivated art lovers in galleries around the world.
Acclaimed Mixed-Media Artist
Davina Dubnick, 83
“Streets have two inherent values: They either serve as conveyances from one place to another or as spaces where people find value and want to be. Most streets in our city function merely as conveyances, with little consideration for the people who live, work or travel on them by foot or bicycle,” he says.
The movement promotes transforming streets into places where people want to gather and spend time. Lower vehicle speeds increase the benefits for people who live and work nearby.
“This approach not only enhances safety but also boosts economic outputs for our city coffers. It’s a win-win situation and a hallmark of great cities,” Gonzalez says.
The biggest challenge is overcoming car-centric planning and design and the entrenched belief that vehicles should dominate city streets. He says many policymakers and city staff still adhere to this outdated approach.
Resistance also comes from people who dislike road designs that might hold them to the speed limit.
Under the leadership of Gonzalez, the Tahoe Park association flourishes. “We have an incredibly strong board that focuses on enhancing the quality of life for our residents through various
efforts. These include outreach with local developers and policymakers on key issues, organizing family-friendly events, such as monthly food truck gatherings and annual Halloween events, and raising significant funds for scholarships for high school seniors heading to college,” he says.
“People are extremely frustrated with the lack of urgency in addressing dangerous roads. We shouldn’t have to wait decades or hold countless meetings to make necessary changes.”
Visit slowdownsacramento.org for information and to purchase a yard sign for $15 or a logo T-shirt.
Readers ask how they can contribute to Inside Sacramento. Here’s how: Consider a paid supporting membership starting at $19.95 a year. Use the QR code and help support our mission to deliver local news. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at insidesacramento.com.
Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications. com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento. com. Follow us on Facebook and on Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Planning for a long-distance move
If you are you considering moving to a new state (or even region) this year, here are some ways to make the process easier. Declutter and donate or sell unused belongings. There’s no point in moving items you no longer use or need, so take this time to pare down your belongings.
Inventory your home. Take stock of the items you’ll be moving, including clothes, furniture, dishes and more. This will help you get accurate moving quotes and purchase packing supplies.
Make a detailed timeline. Work backward from moving day, and create a calendar of milestones that will ensure you’re ready by then. You can set deadlines for securing movers, packing up each room and more.
Prioritize new home items. Make sure your new home is ready when you get there. Get utilities and internet set up, enroll your kids in school and have a clear idea of what items will need to be placed in each room by your movers.
Planning a move in the near future? Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need help buying or selling a home.
This one of a kind Arden Park home has a style and grace that surrounds you the moment you walk in. You are greeted by high open beamed ceilings, beautiful contrasts of wood and color as well as a wall of framed windows that draws the large, lush backyard inside. You can easily visualize entertaining friends and family with the big open kitchen, sprawling backyard and beautiful dining area. Classic California indoor / outdoor living. Quality craftsmanship throughout and spacious living areas complete this place you will want to call home. Neighborhood, community, it is all here in Arden Park. Close to Sacramento’s best schools both public and private as well as the American River Parkway. See what makes this home and community so beautiful.
Chris Antemann (American, born 1970), Cameo, 2023. Porcelain, 27 × 18 × 18 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Ferrin Contemporary.
Atrail guide to the lower American River is available thanks to a local mom’s pandemic experience and love of outdoors.
“What began during the pandemic as a way to keep my preschool-aged boys from climbing out the windows soon turned into delightful daily discoveries along the lower American River,” says Ashley Shult Langdon, author of “Mildly Scenic: A Trail Guide to Sacramento’s Lower American River.”
“It’s the guide I wished I’d had at my disposal in 2020,” Langdon says. Langdon has traveled the world but found captivating nature in her own
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By Jessica Laskey Out & About
backyard. She decided to share it with others looking for a way to appreciate the beauty of our area’s biggest water feature.
The book is a compendium of more than 70 trails running from Downtown to Lake Natoma, plus photos, trail tips and easyto-read maps created in partnership with students in Sacramento State’s Geography Department.
“There’s no need to drive far or wait for the weekend. There’s a little slice of wild, natural beauty running right through Sacramento County,” Langdon says. “Spotting river otters on a run between work calls or finding wildflowers during an afterschool outing is entirely possible.
Nature Walk
TRAIL GUIDE OFFERS ADVENTURES ALONG LOWER AMERICAN RIVER
BLUE STAR MUSEUMS
“I’m excited for people to be able to use this guide just in time for summer,” she continues. “How lucky are we to have the mildly scenic American River right in our backyard?”
For information, visit mildlyscenic. com.
Calling all active-duty military personnel and their families! Through the Blue Star Museums initiative, seven area museums are offering free admission through Labor Day, Sept. 2.
The museums are Aerospace Museum of California, California Automobile Museum, California Museum, Crocker Art Museum,
Fairytale Town, Sacramento Children’s Museum and Sacramento History Museum.
Free admission is for those serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard (including reservists), National Guardsman (regardless of status), U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show military ID for entrance. For information, visit arts.gov/ initiatives/blue-star-museums or sacmuseums.org.
MARY GREGORY PARK
Pioneer Park in Old Sacramento has been renamed Mary Gregory Park to honor the early Sacramento businesswoman who once owned the land.
According to the Center for Sacramento History, England native Mary Eugenie Gregory settled in Sacramento with her husband in the 1850s. When her husband died, Gregory took over and expanded their retail stores. In 1883, she bought four lots in Old Sacramento and constructed a large building that served as a trade hub, shipping products across the U.S.
Ashley Shult Langdon pens guide to lower American River.
on the newly built Transcontinental Railroad.
“The name change is an important step toward recognizing the contributions of Gregory and other Gold Rush-era women whose role in the development of Sacramento has been largely overlooked,” the center reports.
For fun facts about Sacramento history, visit centerforsacramentohistory.org.
FRIDAY CONCERTS
Concerts in the Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza wraps up at the end of this month.
Headlining are MVSSIE on July 12 rock night, Kool John on July 19 R&B/ hip-hop night and The Brodys on July 26 pop/punk night.
Free Friday night concerts run 5–9 p.m. For information, visit godowntownsac.com.
COOL CARS
“The Cool Factor: A Celebration of Air-Cooled Automobiles” is on display at the California Automobile Museum in time for a sweltering summer. Check out 15 cars, including classic VW Beetles and buses, Porsches, Citroens and BMWs featuring aircooled engines popularized in the 1930s. New cars cycle in and out of the exhibit through September.
Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for vintage (65 and older), $10 for military and students, $6 for ages 6–17, and free for children 5 and younger. For information, visit calautomuseum.org.
ICONIC EMPORIUM
If you’ve ever needed a costume or gag gift, chances are you’ve entered the whacky, wonderful world of Evangeline’s in Old Sacramento. The iconic emporium celebrates 50 years in business this month.
Dorothea Evangeline Chaussé opened the store in the historic Howard House in 1974 to sell antiques. The store evolved into a destination for offbeat toys, funny cards and eccentric gifts. When Dorothea retired in 1985 and her daughter, Deborah Chaussé, took over, Halloween costumes were added to the mix.
“It’s hard for me to believe that it has been 50 years!” Deborah says. “I still look forward to coming to work every day and helping to keep Sacramento supplied with new and quirky gifts and toys. I love seeing how pop culture and trends have evolved over the years.”
To celebrate Evangeline’s birthday month, customers can enjoy prizes and free interactive experiences, plus lower prices on popular items from the 1970s, such as lava lamps, mood rings and Kit Kat clocks. For information, visit evangelines.com.
HABITAT PROJECT
Learn about a project to enhance crucial habitat for native fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout at a virtual information session July 24 at 6 p.m.
The River Bend area in Rancho Cordova and William B. Pond Recreation Area in Carmichael are critical for salmon and steelhead to lay eggs during spawning season.
The project includes construction of nearly 5 acres of spawning habitat, more than 3 acres of rearing habitat for young fish to hide from predators and find food, and more than 2 acres of enhanced riparian landscape.
During the session residents can ask questions of the project team, including what to expect during construction, scheduled for August through October. For information and to register, visit waterforum.org/habitat2024.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Park concerts are Fridays at Cesar Chavez Plaza.
Photo by Spencer Fields
Evangeline’s celebrates 50th anniversary.
SCHOOL VOLUNTEER SUPPORTS TEACHERS AND KIDS
Extra Help
If you need something cleaned, ask Nana Mary. Need something cut or copied, ask Nana Mary. Something fixed, laminated or drilled, ask Nana Mary.
Pretty much anything at all, ask Nana Mary.
Mary Bennick—everyone calls her Nana Mary—has volunteered at Theodore Judah Elementary School in East Sacramento for nearly 10 years. She arrived when granddaughter Lillian began transitional kindergarten.
After volunteering at Lillian’s preschool, Bennick decided to continue “helping wrangle kiddos, end-of-theday cleanup, whatever was needed” at Judah.
She followed Lillian through grades, helping in kindergarten, first and second. Eventually, Bennick realized the greatest needs were in TK and kindergarten. She returned to those classrooms, much to the relief of staff.
“She has been such a great help to our kindergarten team,” says Holly Hein, a Theodore Judah kindergarten teacher and Nana Mary fan.
“She helps with being extra eyes outside, helping with recess. She goes on all of our field trips. She also works in my class in the morning and has really helped my kids come so far this year in reading.
“During COVID, I had to create packets for the kids, so Nana Mary helped me create them and collect and prepare stuff. She’s also super creative and comes up with great ideas. She’s always supporting me and the kids and helping us get all of the jobs done.”
JBy Jessica Laskey Giving Back: Volunteer Profile
She never worked in education, but Bennick is a natural with youngsters.
“It gets me out of the bed in the morning and gets me going,” says Bennick, who retired after 30 years with the phone company when her daughter announced she was pregnant with Lillian in 2010. “Being there with the kids, they keep me alive. I’m 72.”
Bennick starts her day as TK and kindergarten greeter, a ritual from the pandemic when the school didn’t allow parents to walk kids into the classroom.
Next, she moves inside, organizing, cleaning and doing odd jobs. Then she heads outdoors for recess, where she watches children for at least an hour, so teachers have time to “take a break, go potty and just breathe.”
Once the school day ends, Bennick sticks around for lunch with the kindergarten teachers and preps for the next day and special events. She tends to the student garden, waters plants and takes on extra projects, such as fixing up a wooden bench and hanging classroom curtains.
“I’m naturally handy, I got that from my dad,” Bennick says. “I take my tools to school so I can fix minor stuff.”
Bennick encourages other grandparents and people with extra time to volunteer in the classroom, especially TK and kindergarten.
“It’s so rewarding and so easy to do,” Bennick says. “When I started working here, I saw how hard the teachers work. They do everything—all the personalities they have to deal with, and the kids, too. I’m so in awe of the teachers, that’s why I continue to do it. I feel like they need that little bit of extra help.”
That extra help is deeply appreciated. “She’s definitely my righthand gal,” Hein says.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Mary Bennick
Photo by Linda Smolek
Narrow Escape
BUDGET WON’T BE SO EASILY TAMED NEXT TIME
The City Council closed a $66 million deficit when it adopted a budget for fiscal year 2024–25. The good news is City Manager Howard Chan successfully avoided employee layoffs.
On the downside, departments must reduce budgets by 10%. Fees for services are going up. Some services and vacant positions are gone.
Most residents won’t see dramatic changes. City staff will work harder with less, capital improvement projects will be shelved, roads will deteriorate further.
Overall, the budget outcome wasn’t too painful. Sound good? Think again.
I dug into the budget to better understand the consequences of the strategies used to close the deficit.
I learned how one-time money—$36 million—was used to balance the budget. For starters, the city’s emergency reserve fund was curtailed for the next two years. This means the “rainy-day” account will be inadequate if the economy stumbles.
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By Jeff Harris City Realist
The emergency reserve fund should be 17% of the general fund. Now it’s below 10%. The city is exposed to economic vulnerabilities.
Here’s where things get worse. The next fiscal year starts with a projected $50 million–$77 million deficit. The gap depends on whether the city gets $27 million in state dollars for homelessness.
But $36 million of the deficit is structural. Even in a good year, the city spends more than it takes in.
Easy solutions closed the gap this year. Those fixes won’t exist moving forward. Passing a sustainable budget in June 2025 will be difficult.
The new mayor and City Council will have no money for new programs and projects that make citizens happy and help with re-election.
This year, Mayor Darrell Steinberg urged his City Council colleagues to forego a contribution to the emergency fund. He didn’t want youth and equity programs cut. He also wanted to subsidize higher service fees that impact underserved communities.
Fair enough. A budget crisis caused by the City Council’s overspending shouldn’t increase the burden on people with fewer resources.
How did councilmembers lead the city into this bind?
They spent federal pandemic dollars on pay raises for union employees. Those dollars were onetime windfalls.
But pay raises aren’t one-time expenses. They continue forever. The pay hikes amounted to $80 million in ongoing expenses—a textbook example of deficit spending.
Curiously, before Steinberg convinced the City Council to give firefighters union Local 522 pay increases totaling $13 million annually, the union reversed its position on Measure L, Steinberg’s youth-services measure passed by voters in 2022.
Two previous youth initiatives were defeated by voters and vehemently opposed by Local 522. But suddenly, the union switched sides and helped Steinberg pass Measure L. A big pay raise for firefighters followed. Was there a connection?
Measure L swallows $9 million annually from the general fund, increasing the deficit. Had the council been less generous with its unions, we wouldn’t be discussing raiding the emergency fund to keep social programs alive.
Bowing to organized labor’s demands often leads to campaign contributions from unions. Voting against those demands can prompt
a negative independent expenditure campaign that helps derail a politician’s career.
There’s another major problem with the budget. The city has $1.4 billion in unfunded capital project and infrastructure repairs over the next five years. The City Council ignores the realities of maintenance and upkeep.
This explains why parks and roads continue to degrade.
I often hear Steinberg claim by thinking big “we can have it all.” He means equity investments, capital projects, better support for youth and underserved communities.
Yes, these goals are achievable with fiscal responsibility. But that’s not what happened for the past eight years under Steinberg’s leadership.
The departing mayor walks away in December with the city facing its biggest financial challenge since the Great Recession, despite revenues standing at an all-time high.
The can has been kicked as far as it can go. The next mayor and City Council face very tough choices.
Jeff Harris represented District 3 on City Council from 2014 to 2022. He can be reached at cadence@mycci. net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento. com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Down, Not Out
I’m partial to downtowns. Growing up in Chicago, nothing was more exciting than a trip to the Loop, where the energy and attractions were better than anywhere else in the city or suburbs.
The comeback of downtowns after years of suburban flight became a familiar story the past few decades. Downtown was where the action was, where you went to see a play or concert, shop at the best stores, eat at the finest restaurants.
Downtown is a healthy city’s front door, welcoming workers and visitors. Because such a large part of the population works and spends leisure time there, a strong downtown is the economic engine that pays for many city services.
Then came COVID-19 and remote work. Downtowns, including ours, turned into ghost towns as quick as you
G D GD
By Gary Delsohn Building
could say “Dr. Fauci.” In Sacramento, some 70,000 state workers, who kept the place busy and the restaurants, stores and bars happy, suddenly worked from home.
Now, Sacramento, like other cities, is trying to figure out what comes next.
Our Downtown has begun to recover, especially since Gov. Gavin Newsom told state employees to return to their offices at least two days a week. But with an estimated 30,000 state employees permanently working at home, challenges remain.
This is where the Downtown Sacramento Partnership comes in. Since 1995, the organization has been an effective promoter for Downtown.
The partnership pushed for safer and better lighted streets. It brought in entertainment and attractions. With a budget raised from assessments on property owners, grants, sponsorships and contracts, it’s done a respectable job.
Now the partnership wants city and state officials and the rest of us to take advantage of this “all hands on-deck” moment to reimagine a Downtown built around something other than state workers.
The group compares the challenge to three decades ago, when three local military bases closed. The city and county needed a realignment strategy to replace lost economic activity.
PARTNERSHIP HAS PLANS FOR REVIVING CITY CENTER
The stakes are enormous. In March, the partnership released an economic analysis that said the city stands to lose $4.3 billion over the next 20 years from remote work.
In May, the group produced another report, this time with the Sacramento chapter of the Urban Land Institute, on how to speed up Downtown’s recovery.
There are no earth-shattering recommendations in the report. Much of it repeats familiar concerns.
People want to feel safe Downtown. The city needs more recreational and cultural attractions. More housing is crucial. Capitol Mall isn’t inviting and should hold more special events. And can we ever connect the waterfront to Downtown?
On that last point, the partnership could be aided by Rep. Doris Matsui, who has a request before Congress for up to $5 million for the Riverfront Reconnect Project.
Also, now that voters approved using revenue from local hotel and tourism taxes, the city has somewhere around $100 million to invest and leverage to get Downtown moving again. Expect a new waterfront plan this summer.
Another good idea in the report calls for academic campuses Downtown, but the city may have lost its best shot when UC Davis rejected an offer of free land behind the train station. Instead, the university developed Aggie Square,
the new innovation campus on Stockton Boulevard.
Although many such ideas have been around for years, the Downtown Partnership and Urban Land Institute deserve credit for starting a conversation long overdue. We can’t sit back and wait for state workers to return. It’s not in the cards.
“We need a foundational redirection of what a successful city center is going to look like going forward,” says Scott Ford, the partnership’s economic development director. “This really does empower everyone to be part of the solution because it’s going to require everyone to get on board to make this happen.”
We’ll keep an eye on the progress. But redirection won’t be easy. Considerable public investment is needed, and the city and state are both in the red.
Regardless of whether you go Downtown or not, we all have a stake in seeing the Partnership/Urban Land Institute ideas come to fruition. The city needs a resilient, energetic Downtown.
Gary Delsohn can be reached at gdelsohn@gmail.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
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FROM WORKPLACE ROMANCE TO PERFECT LOCATION
Six years ago, working as attorneys at the same Sacramento law firm, Heather and Dan Baxter fell in love. They married and decided to purchase their first home together.
Dan was raised in Carmichael. Heather comes from suburban Southern California. Dan was partial to the Arden-Carmichael area. Heather had been renting in Land Park and loved the tree-lined neighborhood filled with historic homes.
“I had to strongly encourage Dan to consider Land Park,” Heather says. “This neighborhood just was not on his radar.”
When they toured the Swanston Drive two-story home, both realized it was what they wanted. “It was built in 1937 and was in almost original condition, and we loved the floor plan,” Heather says. “And it had the charming vintage features that I loved and knew we could enhance with interior design changes.”
The couple purchased the property in July 2022 and moved in that October. The home is about 2,400 square feet with four bedrooms and two full bathrooms.
“The biggest changes we made to this home was in terms of paint. We repainted every surface both inside and out,” Heather says. “But we also ripped out old carpeting and refinished the original hardwood floor throughout.”
By Cecily Hastings
Kiezel
The living and dining rooms are open with windows that fill the space with natural light. Heather’s design concept was to introduce multiple colors, textures and patterns, and create a tapestry of vintage charm.
The room is centered with a vintage Ushak rug of teal, lavender and other non-traditional
Photography by Aniko
Open House
Heather and Dan Baxter
colors. “I was always drawn to traditional Persian rugs, but this vintage one has unique coloring I’d never seen before,” she says. “It grounds all the various color in the room.”
The fireplace was resurfaced with Moroccan tile in soft shades of bone and white. The effect is a somewhat British approach to design.
The dining room has hand-painted wallpaper with scenes of waterlilies, grasses and swans in shades of light blue, teal and grass green. The wainscoting is dark teal. A French door opens to the backyard. “We selected the wallpaper early and it became a color theme of sorts for the rest of the house,” Heather says.
A structural change opened the kitchen to the dining room by expanding the passage. The remodeled kitchen kept the same footprint but rearranged the appliances and sink. Highlights are whitewashed alder cabinets and marble counters. Rather than a new island, Heather opted for a stainless-steel rolling cart that gives flexibility when entertaining.
A wide-wall cabinet hides the refrigerator and stacking washer and dryer.
Bathrooms upstairs and downstairs were renovated. The downstairs bath has dark tone tiles and a colorful bird wallpaper. A unique copper wall-hung sink from Morocco fits perfectly in the compact space. “I used Etsy for so many great purchases for this home,” Heather says. “It’s a tremendous resource for interesting vintage finds.”
She continues, “We were so lucky to find a wonderful contractor in Benito Uribe. He totally understood our vision for this house and every step of the way he performed better than we could have imagined. And he brought in trades people that had that same attitude.”
The color scheme is more neutral in the master bedroom, bath and
dual offices, where the couple works primarily from home. An exception is Dan’s self-described “man cave,” a room with dark colors, television, bar and sectional sofa.
“It was my contribution,” Dan says. “But Heather also trusted me to select the freestanding bathtub in our master bath. Since I’m the one who enjoys the bath, it only made
sense. Heather gets credit for 98% of everything selected for this home.”
Heather made the experience a good one for the newlyweds. “I treated Dan like he was my client. He had to approve all my decisions,” she says. “And I knew comfort was important to him.”
“My favorite thing about this house is that it reflects Heather so perfectly,” Dan says. And Heather appreciates the freedom she had to design. “But overall, it is the neighborhood we live in,” she says.
“Land Park has so much history and character. I’m just in love with it. And Dan now certainly understands the appeal.”
With the Baxters, the neighborhood has another generation of homeowners to preserve it.
To recommend a home or garden, contact cecily@insidepublications. com. More photography and previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
When I caught up with Andru Defeye, the city’s youngest poet laureate, he was prepping for Sacramento Poetry Day, held last October.
“I want the entire city of Sacramento to know it’s Poetry Day,” Defeye says. “From kids in schools to the contest to the gala—however we can blow this up.”
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By Jessica Laskey
Meet Your Neighbor
Poet For All
CITY’S YOUNGEST POET LAUREATE CELEBRATES NO LIMITS
restaurant catering for the poets, which they deserve. Poets often get no support or resources, which is also why we go so big with the awards.”
Poetry Day was created in 1986 by the late Mayor Anne Rudin. But it hadn’t been celebrated at scale in years. After being named poet laureate in 2020, Defeye (pronounced “defy”) resurrected the event in 2022 with an Academy of American Poets Fellowship.
Last year’s Poetry Day included the creation and dissemination of free poetry curriculum to more than 250,000 students in area schools and cash prizes. There was a citywide poetry collection and ceremony honoring community voices.
Defeye went even bigger in 2023, in part to honor his father, a poet, preacher and Defeye’s “hero” who died last June.
“I was admittedly struggling with a lot of grief, but one of the last things my father and I talked about was my big plans for Poetry Day,” Defeye says. “We had billboards all around town and we did a gala with a Michelin-star
Much of Defeye’s artistic life has been about building up fellow artists. After living in San Francisco, he moved to Sacramento in 2009 for a slower pace. He became Sol Collective’s director of communications and, in 2014, founded Zero Forbidden Goals, a support system for creatives that innovates and advocates through guerilla art activations.
When a shooting outside Ace of Spades made it nearly impossible for hip-hop acts to get booked in local clubs, Defeye and Zero Forbidden Goals staged art flash mobs in protest. A hotline told audience members where to meet for pop-up shows in defiance of the hip-hop ban.
Zero Forbidden Goals created National (Guerrilla) Poetry Month, a video series on YouTube featuring people performing poetry in unlikely locations. An open mic event in Oak Park came next.
“I’m always trying to bring art into places where it wasn’t and highlight it in places that it is but isn’t being given attention,” Defeye says.
If this seems like a circuitous route to poet laureate, that’s the point.
“It used to be a lifetime achievement award,” Defeye says of the laureate title. “But for me, it wasn’t academics
or institutions that got me here, it was the people. They actually had to reformulate the rubric because it was built for published poets. I didn’t have that, but I had 100,000 YouTube views.”
Since taking over as laureate, Defeye made the poetry community more inclusive. He pressured Sacramento Poetry Center to diversify its board and offer more opportunities for youth and people of color and the LGBTQ community.
He’s continuing Zero Forbidden Goals’ activations, including The First Church of Poetry, a weekly gathering in McKinley Park, as well as other activities for National Poetry Month.
“This is a working title,” the poet laureate says. “Anytime I can use this title to advocate for poetry and the arts and push a poet forward, then I do that. I feel like I was put in this position to open some doors and shatter some ceilings for whoever’s coming after me.”
For information, visit Defeye’s Instagram @andrudefeye and sacpoetrycenter.org.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacrmento. n
Andru Defeye
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
Party Onward
LAVENDER COURTYARD MARKS FIRST ANNIVERSARY
By Rebecca Kuzins Meet Your Neighbor
Cory Whetstone, 69, had a hard time finding affordable housing. At some apartment buildings, he recalls, there were “a lot of young people, people into drugs and other issues going on. When you mix seniors in that bunch, you have ready-made victims and predators.”
Whetstone is particularly vulnerable because he is a transgender male. LGBTQ people often suffer housing discrimination.
Last year, Whetstone moved into Lavender Courtyard, a low-income apartment building for LGBTQ seniors. His housing problems were over.
Located at 1616 F St., Lavender Courtyard has 53 apartments for people ages 62 and older. Residents pay affordable rents based on federal guidelines. The building is owned and operated by Mutual Housing California, a local company with affordable housing communities in Sacramento and Yolo counties.
“Mutual Housing has been a great blessing in my life,” Whetstone says.
Rita Sanchez says Mutual Housing solved her housing crisis. She was homeless for three years before a social worker helped her secure an apartment at Lavender Courtyard. Her best experience was simply “walking in my door.” Today she enjoys talking to neighbors.
Sanchez, Whetstone and other Lavender Courtyard residents gathered in the community room this summer to celebrate the building’s one-year anniversary. Almost 95% of the original residents still live in the building, with 301 prospective tenants on a waitlist.
Lavender Courtyard is one of a handful of apartment complexes designed for LGBTQ seniors. Similar communities operate in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and other large cities. Lavender Courtyard is the only senior gay housing complex not in a major metropolitan area.
“We hope this inspires more of these communities in places that need them,” says Steven Root, communications director for Mutual Housing.
The building has four stories, with apartments on the top three floors
and laundry facilities on all four. The ground floor houses staff offices, a community room, courtyard and community garden where residents grow vegetables and flowers. Pets are allowed.
Mutual Housing partnered with SAGE, a national organization that provides advocacy and services for LGBTQ seniors, to build Lavender Courtyard. According to SAGE, LGBTQ seniors are twice as likely to be single and live alone than other seniors. They are four times less likely to have children, which means they often don’t have anyone to help with daily activities or provide care.
Lavender Courtyard staff helps residents with everyday challenges, such as transportation, medical needs, paying bills or even making sure their cell phones work. “We strive to be sensitive to everyone’s needs, keeping in mind the special concerns of seniors,” says Resident Coordinator Iyona Smith.
Lavender Courtyard cost $27 million to build. Money came from several sources, including a $2.5 million grant from The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, a charitable organization that assists people experiencing poverty by providing housing grants.
The project received $1.9 million from the city’s Housing Trust and $11.3 million from the California Multifamily Housing Program. A $800,000 acquisition loan from NeighborWorks Capital purchased the land. NeighborWorks provides financing to nonprofit affordable housing developers.
The one-year anniversary party at Lavender Courtyard wasn’t much different than activities at other senior facilities. Residents enjoyed lunch and played bingo. But there was one thing particular to this building and its residents.
Suzette, a drag queen in thighhigh boots and skorts, read the bingo numbers.
Rebecca Kuzins can be reached at kuzins63@att.net. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n
Cory Whetstone and Steven Root
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
Career Change Career
WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST SHARES LIFE STORIES
diversity of mammals, fish, insects and plants.”
While Jones has talent for working with the land, it was not his intended career. He started in the oil fields in his 20s, but oil prices tanked. Soon unemployed, he took a creative writing class at Coalinga College. Staff convinced him to become a full-time student majoring in journalism.
A chance encounter with a wildlife biologist made him change tack. He transferred to UC Davis to study natural resource science.
“In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to write,” he says. “I figured, if I got a job as a wildlife biologist, I could write any time. But it actually took me 30 years.”
Jones returned to his first love when it looked like he was running out of time. In April 2020, COVID-19 landed him on a hospital ventilator for more than a month. He was told he would likely die.
The prognosis got him thinking about the book he meant to write. He started composing on his phone in his hospital bed and “finished two years later on a chaise-longue in a hut in Panama over the water, looking down at the beautiful fish. Things change in your life and your troubles can change also,” he says.
The resulting memoir, “And There I Was… Just Minding My Own Business,” is a compendium of 50 chapters of true stories spanning 60 years of life.
“Every bit of it is true, but I think every single story isn’t just about me, it’s more general,” Jones says. “People can read it and think, ‘That’s me,’ or ‘I’ve never thought about that.’ I hope it reverberates bigger.”
Roger Jones has a thicket of trees named for him. It’s called Rawge’s Grove, situated in the Bufferlands natural habitat refuge on the outskirts of the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant in Elk Grove.
Rawge’s Grove—a nod to Jones’ nickname—is part of the 2,150-acre
JBy Jessica Laskey Meet Your Neighbor
Bufferlands. The grove honors the man who helped create the barrier between the treatment facility and surrounding neighborhoods.
In 1990, when Jones was a young wildlife biologist from UC Davis, he was hired to oversee the area’s habitat restoration.
“It was just me and one engineer on this 3,000-acre refuge,” recalls Jones, who grew up on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley. “The engineer, Roy Nelson, would say, ‘What could we do here? What do you want?’
“So I took the reins. I would suggest things and Roy knew how to make them happen with the county. In 30 years, we turned it into the incredible Bufferlands.”
Bufferlands is home to restored wildlife habitats, including Upper Beach Lake Wildlife Area and Laguna Wetlands Complex. There’s the Trail of Trees with 6,500 native trees and shrubs. There’s the historic 1940s Nicolaus Dairy restored in 2016 to host hands-on educational experiences.
Thanks to Jones and Nelson, Bufferlands welcomes thousands of visitors for tours and events.
“It’s only about 2,500 acres—the farm I grew up on was about the same size—but it’s 2,500 acres of magic,” Jones says. “We have 250 species of birds. Yosemite is 50,000 acres and they only have about 20 birds more than us.
“There may not be any other place in California that has this amount of
Jones retired in March after 34 years at Bufferlands. He set off on a twomonth book signing tour and trip to Mexico with his wife, “my muse and my support” Rhonda. Of his first six days back, two were at Bufferlands.
“They still seek my counsel and I’m so thankful they still reach out to me. I love these people,” Jones says. “We’re all friends. We’ve been in each other’s weddings. The six of us are very close, which is as good as you could ever hope for in your lifetime.”
For information, visit rawge.com and sacsewer.com/bufferlands.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Roger Jones
Photo by Linda Smolek
Criminal Intent
ILLEGAL TRAPPING GOES UNPUNISHED BY FISH AND WILDLIFE
The heavy metal trap clamped down on the opossum’s neck with the power of a jackhammer.
Spring-loaded to deliver deadly force, the trap drove the young marsupial over a wood fence separating two Elk Grove homes where he hung for 24 hours before the neighbor called for help.
The old-style, body-gripping device “crushed his esophagus,” says Sandra Foreman, animal care manager with the Wildlife Care Association of Sacramento. “It was tight around his neck, like someone strangling you.”
After sawing through the thick metal bars to free the animal, Wildlife Care staff and volunteers were hopeful. The opossum began eating and drinking.
He died two days later.
Body-gripping devices, like the one used to trap the opossum, are illegal in California.
found “minor issues that resulted in a warning,” says Patrick Foy, a captain with Fish and Wildlife.
A opossum illegally trapped and hanging by his neck for hours was dismissed as a “minor issue.”
No citation was given. No report filed with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.
Two months later, another illegal trap was mounted on the same Elk Grove fence.
“The concerning aspect of this complaint is that violations continue to occur despite the warden’s warning,” says attorney Hilary Bagley Franzoia, former head of the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Unit and Animal Cruelty Task Force. “The whole point in banning the use of squeeze traps is the unnecessary physical suffering that they cause.
“Setting such a trap on a shared, residential fence poses the same risk of tortuous pain to neighborhood cats that was ultimately inflicted on the wildlife in this case.”
Illegal body-gripping devices include steel-jawed traps, leghold traps, snares and conibear traps, named after Frank Conibear, who invented the trap in the 1950s. The conibear uses metal bars hinged together that collapse onto an animal’s body.
“Padded body-gripping traps are lawful to use for licensed trappers,” Fish and Wildlife’s Foy says.
The device used to trap the opossum was not padded. The trapper was not licensed.
Licensed trappers can legally use cage traps, box traps, nets and suitcase-style traps that snap shut over the animal, usually used to catch beavers.
Legal traps must be registered with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and tagged with an identification number.
Traps cannot be set within 150 yards of residences without written consent from the homeowners.
Once an animal is trapped, he must be immediately euthanized or released where trapped.
another and poses a risk to the displaced animal and ecosystem. Shooting or gassing are common methods to kill an animal in a trap. Strangling, poisoning, intentionally drowning, injecting with a chemical not intended for euthanasia and “chest crushing” are not permitted.
Rehabilitating injured, ill and orphaned animals, as provided by the Wildlife Care Association, falls under different rules. Rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing animals is allowed by those licensed and permitted.
Of the 7,000 animals treated each year by the Wildlife Care Association, 5% to 10% are injured by traps, such as a peacock caught in an illegal body-gripping device. “He was flying around with a trap on his foot that cut off his circulation,” Foreman says.
The law allows rodent snap traps, available at most hardware stores, to catch mice, rats, gophers, moles and voles. When tripped, the trap breaks the neck or squeezes the body until the animal suffocates. It’s a brutal way to die.
Last season, Wildlife Care “saw baby opossums and baby skunks with rat traps on their neck or foot,” Foreman says. Broken bones are common.
Also legal is rodent poison or bait, which can kill “non-target” animals, including domestic cats and dogs.
Wildlife Care has treated 10 animals this year who were caught in legal rodent sticky traps, also called glue boards. Paws and noses get stuck, the animal starves or suffocates.
For the person who trapped the opossum in Elk Grove, Franzoia says, “The thumbing of his nose by the violator is nothing new and is common occurrence.
“The warden now has the ability to prosecute on the initial incident and on the subsequent and continued setting of the illegal trap.”
The question is, will he?
By Cathryn Rakich Animals & Their Allies
When a game warden with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated the crime, he
Relocating wildlife is not permitted. Relocation moves the “nuisance” from one location to
Cathryn Rakich can be reached at crakich@surewest.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Sandra Foreman holds illegal body-gripping device used to trap the opossum.
Tranquility Base Base
CHURCH MEMBERS FIND PEACE, FRIENDSHIP IN PLANTS
Gardens are sanctuaries, swathed in color, fragrance, creatures and peace. A church garden has more layers. It’s spiritual and steeped in creation.
Fremont Presbyterian Church, a block from Sacramento State
By Dan Vierria Garden Jabber
University, is perched at the gateway to River Park and East Sac. It sprawls on four acres. One acre is garden beds, borders and open spaces wrapping buildings and parking lots in pleasing hues and textures.
Unrest throughout the world nudges us to seek tranquil environments, like gardens. At Fremont Presbyterian, pastors, the congregation and community are welcome to wander and worship among birds, bees and butterflies. Preschoolers can stroke soft velvety leaves of perennial lamb’s ears.
Volunteers foster this treasure.
A dozen gardeners maintain the grounds, arriving one morning each week to prune, plant, spread mulch,
collect debris and, sometimes, assist in planning the next project.
“My hope is people who see the gardens feel peace,” landscape coordinator Joan Smith says. “There is so much ugliness in the world, but here we create beauty and enjoy two hours of peace every week.”
Smith, who began coordinating the beautification projects nine years ago, purchases plants and designs new garden areas. She spent more than 30 years maintaining the grounds before taking the lead position. Church leadership is supportive. Her volunteer group evolved into a family unit.
“The church has allowed us to do whatever we feel is necessary,” she says. “They understand how much it
means to the congregation. People love the plants, the gardens.
“Our gardening team has their own gardens at home but here it is a community. We meet people for the first time who attend different services. Some of us have worked together for years. We have developed relationships and know each other’s families. We share our gifts and talents with the community. Our gift is gardening, and it is our gift to the church. God created gardens.”
Fremont Presbyterian does not have the common “Bible Garden,” featuring plants mentioned in the Bible. There are surprises around every corner, a streetside border of red kangaroo
Joan Smith (far right, standing) with her garden helpers.
Photo by Linda Smolek
Service
paws, loads of salvias, and eye-catching desert willow and Meerlo lavender.
Smith introduces flashes of whimsy with bulbs and annuals for additional cheery notes. Some plants have labels, but most do not.
Original plantings are being replaced by California natives and plants that require minimal water. She says she wanted, “different plants, not Home Depot plants.” The gardens transitioned from sprinklers to drip irrigation.
Smith scours plant sales, including the UC Davis Arboretum’s events. Fair Oaks Boulevard Nursery stocks a good selection of California native plants, she says. Trips to Southern California are reasons for Smith to seek out more plants at select nurseries.
“We gardeners love giving our time and talents to enhancing the church campus for the enjoyment of the congregation and broader community,” volunteer Elaine Moody says. “Fremont is on a busy corner in East Sacramento, and we like presenting a pretty, inviting corner for all who pass by.”
An area fronting Carlson Drive is the site of major transition. With the aid of a city rebate program for water-efficient landscapes, traditional lawn was removed and replaced with
kurapia, a drought-tolerant, lowmaintenance groundcover. Kurapia uses about 60% less water than traditional lawn, Smith says.
A barren area off a parking lot was selected as a future daylily bed. A group trip to Amador Flower Farm in Plymouth is planned.
“Our team will go up and pick out three or four favorite daylilies each and we will plant them next spring,” Smith says.
“She shares her vision for the work we do,” says Moody, who credits her increased knowledge of plants and techniques to Smith and the other volunteer gardeners. “Joan makes everyone feel included. It’s fun!”
Dan Vierria is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener for Sacramento County. He can be reached at masterg29@gmail.com. For answers to gardening questions, contact UCCE Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338, email mgsacramento@ucanr.edu or visit sacmg.ucanr.edu. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
TFirst Responder
THEY ASK AND THE PASTOR HAS ANSWERS
he caller to my church office had a question. “First,” he said, “I’m curious as to what kind of church you are running up there?”
This was the kind of question I get since returning to the pastor role.
Many callers are like the young mother of three who told me, “I have three churches I’m considering attending. But first, I’m asking the pastors to answer some questions.”
She squashed that ordinal number “first,” as if drawing a line in the theological sand.
“First, does your church teach tithing?”
I assumed she knew most churches encourage donations. But not wanting
to scare her off, I was slow to answer. Was she looking for a discount? Or searching for a rich church?
Some people call the church directly. Others find me through my local column. Readers usually leave a voicemail, graciously giving me time to formulate an answer.
I played back a message from a man last week. He asked how he could donate to Chispa Project. I returned the call, excited to tell him about my upcoming trip to Honduras, where my daughter runs the program to outfit school libraries.
But he too began with a question.
“First, I want to know if angels are able to speak to us.”
His question made me want to ask, “Can I call a friend? Or ask the audience?” Maybe I should have said, “Yes. The angels are telling you to donate to Chispa Project at chispaproject.org.”
Another man noticed I arranged for a woman to preach while I was away.
“First of all, should women really be allowed to preach in church?”
By Norris Burkes Spirit Matters
I knew he was referring to 1 Timothy 2:12: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet” (New International Version).
Since I assumed he knew I invited the guest pastor, his question seemed more challenging than inquisitive. Much like political questions I get.
“You must first believe that abortion is wrong,” suggested a pro-life advocate.
“Isn’t God against homosexuality?” was the message left in a weathered tone. “God first made man and then made woman.”
“We need to first return prayer to the schools,” said one visitor who attended without first checking my political pedigree.
“God is on the side of Israel! Shouldn’t we all be calling for the destruction of Hamas?” asked one local pastor.
Many books have been written about these issues by good Christians on both sides. Sincere believers can disagree.
But I try to discourage those seeking a binary faith of yes-and-no answers by sharing first, the words from The Message in Matthew 22:36-40.
“When asked what was the first and most important of all of God’s laws, Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list.
“But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you
love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”
I know I didn’t answer most of my callers as they would have hoped. But perhaps once I’ve mastered Jesus’ list, I’ll have better responses.
Finally, my best call began like this: “First,” the caller said, “I think your new picture makes you look like JeanLuc Picard.”
Of course, as a Star Trek fan, I knew he was referring to Patrick Stewart, who plays the captain of the USS Enterprise-D in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
I felt a bit affronted as Stewart is totally bald. I’m not. Yet.
Should I allow this caller to make the final cut for our church membership? Stay tuned.
Norris Burkes can be reached at comment@thechaplain.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. Burkes is available for public speaking at civic organizations, places of worship, veterans groups and more. For details and fees, visit thechaplain.net. n
READERS NEAR & FAR
1. Gerry McIntyre, Della Gilleran and Loren McIntyre visit The Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand.
2. Jennifer Gibson hikes the O+W circuit of Torres del Paine Nation Park in Chile.
3. Doreen Morrissey readies for Bioluminescent Night Kayak Tour on Tomales Bay.
4. Kelye Lotz in Belfast, Maine.
5. Cinthia Spitaleri and Chris Mejia in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
6. Tim and Paige Beach-Hall stop in Noi Bai, Vietnam, during their honeymoon.
Delta Neat
ISLAND DISTILLERY THRIVES ON HOME-GROWN INGREDIENTS
At Victoria Island Farms and Sabbatical Distillery & Tasting Room, where Delta crops have grown since 1964, farm to fork blossoms into distilled spirits.
Guests sample blueberry lemon vodka, single-malt whisky, straight bourbon and Sabado gin, all made with botanicals, corn, blueberries and citrus from this historic farm.
Sabbatical is the first distillery in San Joaquin County since prohibition. Founded by Danny Leonard and Jack Zech, the company builds on the agricultural roots of Zech’s family, which has owned Victoria Island Farms for generations.
Victoria Island Farms was one of the largest producers of asparagus,
G M GM
By Gabrielle Myers
with 1,000 acres in production. Global competition and production costs forced the farm to diversify.
The farm and distillery stand on Victoria Island, a 7,000-acre patch in the San Joaquin Delta. With a system of levees, canals and pumps, Victoria Island uses Delta water to feed diverse crops before replenishing the watershed.
The farm continues to grow asparagus, tomatoes, almonds, island wheat, barley and alfalfa. Sabbatical’s tasting room occupies the old asparagus processing facility.
The blueberry orchard provides picking opportunities for visitors for five or so weeks in May and June. Unpicked blueberries infuse the distillery’s flavored vodka and other spirits.
When I visited, I could see and hear thousands of bees near the blueberry blossoms, buzzing in the coming season. Their honey is sold in the distillery, along with organic pistachios raised by neighboring Nichols Farm.
Leonard and Zech, who met at UC San Diego, developed their signature spirits after lengthy training and
Photography by Aniko Kiezel Farm To Fork
Jack Zech and Danny Leonard
Danny Leonard
experimentation. The pair played with white and yellow non-GMO corn varieties. Next, they plan to try Texas blue corn.
Sabbatical’s Sabado gin is made from 13 farm-raised botanicals, including juniper berries, sarsaparilla, angelica, chamomile, rose petals, coriander, blueberries, dehydrated lemon, grapefruit and orange peels.
When I visited, Leonard held up a bag filled with thick cuts of lemon rinds. He described the process of distilling gin that won a double gold award in the World Spirits Competition in 2022.
Blueberry lemon vodka is part of the Island Harvest Series. The two primary fruits come from the farm’s orchards. Lemon vodka, reminiscent of Italian limoncello, offers a bright depth and citrus aroma.
What distinguishes the series is the vapor extraction of citrus essences and infusion of peels. Leonard explains how “fruit sediment is left in and not filtered out” to impart an intense lemon flavor.
Sabbatical employs sustainable practices by spreading out distillery byproducts, such as mash and stems, into the fields. The distillery uses electric stills and solar panels.
When asked about plans for Sabbatical, Leonard says he and Zeck would like “to expand the space to offer more year-round, farm-to-bottle experiences and grow more crops throughout the year.”
They also hope to partner with UC Davis and offer learning and educational pathways.
Visit Sabbatical most Saturdays or by appointment. For information, visit drinksabbatical.com/tours.
Gabrielle Myers can be reached at gabriellemyers11@gmail.com. Her latest book of poetry, “Break Self: Feed,” is available for $20.99 from fishinglinepress.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Community Events INSIDE OUT
PHOTOS BY SUSAN MAXWELL SKINNER
1. Locked-N-Loaded band members (from left) Brad Polidori, Mike Crouch, Mark Dayton, James Harkins and Paul Sutherland play at Carmichael Park concert series.
2. Disabled veteran Dennis Deutscher gets a service pup, sponsored by the Higher Purpose Foundation. RRUFF Healing Heroes donates funds for the puppy’s training. Pictured are foundation President Whitney Webb, All Stages Canine Development owner Miranda Viani, Vicki Curtis with RRUFF Healing Heroes and Yvette Kroesing with Creme Brulee Goldens.
4. Enjoying the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society show are volunteers (from left) Luanne Leineke, Eric Trygg, Patrice Farncomb and Burnette Alling.
5. Friends of the Sacramento Public Library celebrate almost $98,000 in Big Day of Giving donations. Pictured (from left) are Sacramento Library staffer Catlin Greenwood and Carmichael Library Friends Barbara Safford, Margot Howard and Sydney Sadler.
6. Carmichael Recreation and Park District Advisory Board members Joel Levine (left) and Mike Blondino toast Joyce Carroll who retires after serving on the board for eight years.
3. Sacramento Fine Arts Center anniversary revelers are (from left) David Peterson, Joan Hall, Sally Durante, Paul Dessau, Skip Lee and Joan McMurray. Members dress as famous artists from history.
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Savor Twice
NEIGHBOR MEXICAN RESTAURANTS EXCEL AND SURPRISE
Two styles of Mexican cooking are on display at two Arden-Arcade restaurants. Separated by one block, their styles couldn’t be more different. Each excels at unique Mexican cuisine.
TAQUERIA LA PERLA TAPATIA
Taqueria La Perla Tapatia is a 3-year-old establishment on Marconi Avenue. When it opened in 2021, it was a modern little storefront that blended into a shopping center. Last year, it turned into an internet sensation when a ratings site listed it as one of the top 100 taquerias in America.
Just like that, La Perla went from a quiet, casual eatery to a destination foodie spot. Order a meal there and learn why.
By Greg Sabin Restaurant Insider
The dishes, to borrow a phrase, are Instagrammable. Towers of seafood
come out like architectural wonders, glistening with sauces and topped with thin slices of avocado. Molcajetes, hot lava-rock bowls filled with more ingredients than I can list, are a primordial wonder stew.
A gimmick dish—stuffed pineapple— is surf and turf on steroids. It’s a half pineapple, hollowed out and crammed with shrimp, pork, vegetables and sauce, covered with melted cheese. Gimmicky yes, but flavors are spot on, spicy, briny, savory and sweet.
The tacos are no afterthought. While some taquerias might feature three to four, or even five meats, La Perla offers
nearly a dozen preparations, grilled or stewed, off the hook or hoof.
I’m a sucker for carne desmechada, shredded beef. Served in a double tortilla street taco, it’s a savory wonderland. Upgraded to the crispy taco—tortilla lined with cheese, lettuce, sour cream and salsa—it’s a food memory.
The décor is bright and fun. Video screens show sports, news, customer testimonials and banda videos. Booths are packed and upholstered. They belong in a 1964 Impala. The dining room is bright as an operating theater.
It’s easy to get lost in La Perla’s style and swagger. At heart, it remains a casual eatery, with friendly service and food that takes itself more seriously than you’d expect.
La Perla has two sister restaurants, Taqueria La Neuva Vallarta in Roseville and on Northgate Boulevard.
LA ROSA BLANCA
Around the corner is a longtime neighborhood favorite, La Rosa Blanca. This cozy eatery started as humble digs on Auburn Boulevard nearly 30 years ago. Its current location on Fulton Avenue is a step back in time.
From old-fashioned decorations to mariachi music on the hi-fi, La Rosa Blanca makes nostalgia feel new. Every dish satisfies like comfort food. The straw basket of chips and enchilada plate arrive straight from the broiler, smothered in melting cheese and finished with a petite salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato and black olive. These dishes are no surprise. They represent classic Mexican American cooking. But one plate is unique: Mama’s Chicken.
What seems like a simple chicken dish smothered in red sauce is more sweet, spicy and complex than expected. The secret? I won’t spoil it other than imagine it involves the soda fountain.
La Rosa Blanca is what I think of when I think of a local, family Mexican restaurant. La Perla Tapatia is what I’m going to think of when I picture the modern California taqueria. Experience both.
Taqueria La Perla Tapatia is at 2820 Marconi Ave.; (916) 550-2616; taquerialaperlatapatia.com. La Rosa Blanca is at 2813 Fulton Ave.; (916) 484-6104; larosa-blanca.com.
Greg Sabin can be reached at saceats@gmail.com. Previous reviews can be found at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
All photos from Taqueria La Perla Tapatia by Linda Smolek
Hazel Jackson
He remembers, “She was kind of a loner. Very smart. She helped me with spelling. A lean, tall girl. Loved sports. She kind of had her own way and disposition. Very likable. I never saw her with any guy. We didn’t date or anything. Just excellent friends.”
David and Hazel were neighbors on Second Avenue in Curtis Park. She had problems at home.
Discord with parents Sadie Bell and Selious Jackson pushed young Hazel into Grandmother Hattie’s arms.
“Her folks disowned her,” Carboni says. “It was more her father, not her mother. He was rough. There was nothing you could do about it back then.”
Hazel, Remembered
BRIEF, SAD LIFE OF BIKE RIDES, ICE CREAM, REJECTION
Hazel Jackson isn’t coming home.
The young woman who shamed community leaders and brought down Land Park’s “whites only” public swimming pool is buried in a mass grave in Pennsylvania.
Hazel is mixed with eight or 10 other people who died without friends, family or money in 1969.
A representative from Mt. Zion Memorial, the cemetery near Philadelphia International Airport where Hazel is buried, tells me:
“She’s in a public grave with other people who unfortunately couldn’t afford internment. There’s no stone or
R G RG
By R.E. Graswich Sports Authority
marker or names. It’s sad. We don’t do that anymore, but that’s how it was in the 1960s.”
I’ve been piecing together Hazel’s life, starting in January when Inside Sacramento first told the story of the 14-year-old girl whose bravery prompted closure of Land Park Plunge, the city’s fanciest water sports center for nearly 50 years.
With a mountainous slide, fountain, changing rooms and picnic grounds, Land Park Plunge was a posh refuge on summer days. Investors in the Riverside Boulevard center were prosperous, prominent residents.
The pool had another feature Sacramento must never forget. It proudly turned away Black, Asian and Hispanic guests. The pool bragged about “restricted” admissions in newspaper ads.
That’s why Hazel deserves a hero’s honor today. She was a Black teenager who didn’t accept “restricted” policies.
She wanted to swim at Land Park Plunge, just like her white friends. With help from her grandmother, Hattie Jackson, Hazel sued the pool’s
owners in 1952. She won the right to swim.
Grandmother Hattie knew a good lawyer. Her daughter Jerlean was married to Nathaniel Colley, the city’s first African American attorney. Hazel’s mother, Sadie Bell Jackson, was Jerlean’s sister.
Rather than accommodate young Hazel, the pool closed in 1955. The ownership, led by Sam Gordon of Sam’s Hofbrau, sold the property to Congregation B’nai Israel.
“They would rather go out of business than integrate their swimming pool,” Colley observed then.
David Carboni, 86, remembers Hazel. They rode bicycles to Land Park and Gunther’s Ice Cream on Franklin Boulevard. One day they rode to Land Park Plunge.
Carboni paid $1.50 for two admissions. The attendant pushed back 75 cents and said Hazel couldn’t enter.
“Hazel took off on the bike and I chased after her,” Carboni says. “She was crying and all that. I said I was sorry. I didn’t know they would be like that.”
David and Hazel planned to walk together at the 1956 McClatchy High School graduation. Hazel didn’t show up. “Nobody knew what happened to her,” Carboni says. “She didn’t go to the all-night dance. Nobody ever saw her again.”
Hazel skipped graduation. Three years later, she married a man named Jerry Miller in Reno. From there, records fade.
The final certainty is her death certificate. She committed suicide by drug overdose in Philadelphia on Aug. 2, 1969. She was 31.
The Colley-Jackson family waited decades to learn this. When Hazel left town after high school, she stopped communicating with her family.
“Now we finally know what happened to her,” a cousin tells me.
David Carboni worked four decades as a gardener and plumber at Sacramento State University. He never forgot Hazel Jackson.
“I just miss the girl,” he says. “I wish she were still around. If you find where she’s buried, I would be willing to pay to have her removed and brought home.”
I found her. But Hazel’s not coming home.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
David Carboni
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
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Cecily Hastings Publisher
Big Picture
OIL PAINTER PLAYS WITH REALITY ON A LARGE SCALE
At
first glance, the 5½ foot tall painting of a frog poking its head out of the water looks like a photograph. You can almost hear the gentle “bloop” of the
JBy Jessica Laskey Open Studio
delicate ripples, shimmering reflections and tiny bubbles created by the frog’s movement.
But look closer and realize it’s not a photo. It’s something more. It’s an oil painting done with such fine layers, richness of color and skilled brushwork you can’t help but say, “Wow.”
That reaction is courtesy of Thomas Nardinelli, prolific painter and retired arts educator who specializes in capturing the natural world—flora, fauna and faces—in vibrant color.
The Sacramento native started “doodling” in grammar school, an
interest he passed on to his son Daniel, a graphic designer and Inside Sacramento’s chief operating officer.
The elder Nardinelli’s parents were both artistic. Dad owned a hardware store in Fair Oaks and did metal crafts. Mom won an art contest as a kid.
But it was thanks to his brother that Thomas pursued art as a career.
“I had started off as a business major (at Sacramento State), but I liked doing art and going to museums,” Nardinelli says. “My older brother was in the military but was also a graphic designer. When he came back and
reenrolled at Sac State, he said, ‘Why don’t you major in art?’ So, between 1970 and 1973, I took nothing but art classes. It was like going to art school.”
After studying with the likes of Joseph Raffael, Joan Brown, William Allan, Carlos Villa and Eduardo Carillo as an undergrad, Nardinelli pursued a master’s degree. He planned to teach college. But the job market was disheartening.
“A lot of other people were trying to get jobs and not having much success,” he says. “I went to the library and found the addresses of all the colleges
Thomas Nardinelli
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
in the U.S. and I applied to every one on the West Coast. And this was the old days. You had to type out each envelope on a typewriter. I got a lot of rejection and even more no responses.”
Nardinelli found it hard to break into the local gallery scene, so he focused his efforts where they were needed: in junior high and high school classrooms. He retired in 2010 after 28 years at Lodi High School as an art instructor and visual arts chair for Lodi Unified School District.
“It was very gratifying, encouraging my students and watching them feel good about what they were doing,” Nardinelli says. “Lots of them hadn’t received any positive reinforcement about their art and didn’t realize their talent.”
Retirement allowed Nardinelli to return to making art full time. This time with a different perspective.
“I got so bummed out early on because it was hard to find someplace that wanted to show large work,” he says. (He makes his own canvases that are mostly 4 feet or larger.) “I paint now for self-gratification. I’m not obligated to anyone else. I paint for myself. It’s hard to push yourself to do that, but I get up and do it every day.”
Over the decades, Nardinelli honed his process and style influenced by college instructor Joseph Raffael. Raffael encouraged him to work from photographs, and work in thin layers of oil paint that almost resemble watercolor.
Nardinelli still works from his own photographs but plays with the color
palette and the subject matter to make a work that’s his own.
“When I’m doing a painting, it’s like doing a puzzle,” he says. “When (photos) get enlarged, you can see that all the little details are actually weird shapes that get put together as you paint. It’s a microcosm, all these little things put together. Those shapes allow me to explore while I’m painting. I let the painting take me where I want to go.”
For information, find Thomas Nardinelli on Facebook or email tnardinelli@hotmail.com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
“Alstroemerias” by “Alstroemerias” Thomas Nardinelli at at Twisted Track Gallery Twisted Track Gallery.
TO DO
THIS MONTH'S CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS
By Jessica Laskey Calendar Editor
ART
Blooming Brilliance: Thomas Nardinelli
Twisted Track Gallery
July 5–28
First Friday Reception July 5, 6–9 p.m.
Second Saturday Reception July 13, 5–8 p.m.
Closing Reception Sunday, July 28, 1–4 p.m. 1730 R St.; (916) 639-0436 or (916) 769-2700
Thomas Nardinelli showcases a mastery of color and detail, capturing the beauty of blooms in a unique and captivating style.
Glue, Paper, Scissors: Kerri Warner
ARTHOUSE Gallery
July 11–Aug. 5
Opening Reception July 13, 5–8 p.m.
1021 R St.; arthouseonr.com
Dive into Kerri Warner’s contemporary design with found and repurposed objects.
Introductions
Archival Gallery
July 4–27
Second Saturday Reception July 13, 5–8 p.m.
3223 Folsom Blvd.; archivalgallery.com
Meet new, emerging and established artists showing in the gallery for the first time. Introducing GB Hettrick, Jo Anne Marquardt and Dawn Pedersen.
Celebration of Watercolors
The Art Studios
Saturday, July 13, 2–8 p.m. 1727 I St.; theartstudiossacramento.com
Feast your eyes on dynamic watercolors by resident artists Adele Ohs and Linda Zempel, featuring Teresa Steinbach Garcia, Elaine Hudson, Allison Spreadborough and more.
Air, Land, and Sea: Amy Vidra
The Art Studios
Saturday, July 20, 2–8 p.m.
1727 I St.; theartstudiossacramento.com
Amy Vidra’s sculptural installation is a connection of raw materials, simplicity and time.
Membership Medley
Blue Line Arts
July 13–Aug. 24
Opening Reception Saturday, July 20, 5–7 p.m.
Closing Reception Saturday, Aug. 17, 5–7 p.m.
405 Vernon Street, Roseville; bluelinearts.org
The annual show features new and established artists who are gallery supporting members.
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Sad Summer Festival
The Backyard
Thursday, July 11, 2 p.m.
1600 Exposition Blvd.; sadsummerfest.com
Tickets: $59–$125
Get your fill of pop-punk acts like Mayday Parade, The Maine, The Wonder Years and We The Kings at Cal Expo’s new outdoor venue.
Concerts in the Park
Downtown Sacramento Partnership
July 12, 19 & 26, 5–9 p.m.
Cesar Chavez Plaza (910 I St.); godowntownsac. com
The free Friday night music series continues with Grammy-winning artists, DJs and Sacramento legends, plus food trucks and beverages.
Music in the Park
Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association
Sunday, July 28, 6–8 p.m.
William Curtis Park (3349 West Curtis Drive); sierra2.org
Bring a blanket, chairs and picnic (no alcohol) and rock out to local bands at this free music series.
DCI Capital Classic
Sacramento Mandarins Drum & Bugle Corps
Sunday, July 7, 5:30 p.m.
Sacramento City College Hughes Stadium; mandarins.org
Lend an ear to Sacramento’s nationally acclaimed drum and bugle corps with guest performers, food trucks and more.
FAMILY FRIENDLY
4th on the Field
Sutter Health Park
Thursday, July 4, 6–9:30 p.m.
400 Ball Park Drive, West Sacramento; sutterhealthpark.com
Tickets: $15 Parking: $15
Enjoy live music, food trucks and fireworks to celebrate America’s birthday.
California Classic
Golden 1 Center
July 6, 7 & 9
500 David J. Stern Walk; kings.com/caclassic Tickets: Three-day passes start at $66
The Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors host the California Classic Summer League featuring three days of game play.
California State Fair
Cal Expo
July 12–28
1600 Exposition Blvd.; calexpostatefair.com
Keep up the tradition of food, fun, rides, exhibits and live music Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m.
California Capital Evening Airshow
Mather Airport
July 13 & 14, 6-10 p.m.
10425 Norden Ave.; californiacapitalairshow.com
Tickets: $42.50 general admission (online only, no sales at the gate)
Take in the magic of flight at this year’s show featuring Italy’s Frecce Tricolori, U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, pyro-musical fireworks, aircraft displays and more.
Grub Fest Food Market
Ikenation Entertainment
Saturday, July 13, 4–11 p.m.
Albert Winn Park (1616 28th St.); eventbrite.com
Indulge in dishes by Sacramento’s top chefs while enjoying live music, an artisan market and craft beverages. Admission is free; reserve your spot online.
Twilight on the Bufferlands Bufferlands
Wednesday, July 10, 6–9 p.m.
Sacramento Area Sewer District, Elk Grove; sacsewer.com/bufferlands
Explore Central Valley habitats at dusk for a chance to see beavers, river otters, muskrats, raccoons, owls and more. Admission is free. Advanced registration required. Email Chris Conard at conardc@sacsewer.com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
“Birds Eye View” by Kerri Warner at ARTHOUSE Gallery.
California Capital Evening Airshow at Mather Airport.
“The Dragons Return to Sacramento, Tower Bridge” by Dawn Pedersen at Archival Gallery.
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