Inside land park feb 2015 by Inside Publications

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PRSRT STD US Postage PA I D Permit # 1826 Sacramento CA

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P U B L I C A T I O N S . C O M

2015

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LAND PARK CURTIS PARK SOUTH LAND PARK HOLLYWOOD PARK MIDTOWN DOWNTOWN

I N T O

T H E

N E I G H B O R H O O D

HOLLYWOOD PARK CUTIE Move-in-ready 2 bedroom home within easy walking distance of James Mangan Park! Updated kitchen and nook, updated bath; central heat and air. Nice sized backyard with small patio, 1-car garage with extra storage closet. Convenient and comfortable, don’t wait! $175,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715

SOUTH LAND PARK HILLS Wonderfully spacious ranch style home in desirable South Land Park. Double doors open to a beautiful entry and inviting family room with plantation shutters and view of backyard. 3 or 4 bedrooms 2½ baths, kitchen pantry living room w/ wood burning ¿replace insert. $449,000 BETH SHERMAN 800-4343

pending

AMAZING REMODEL Recently remodeled 3 bedroom 2 bath home in the Didion School boundaries. New kitchen, electrical, baths, Àoors, windows, doors, paint in and out, baseboards, lighting, (includes LED lights), ceiling fans, landscaping, quartz counter top, farm house sink, designer tile Àoors and much more. $389,000 MONA GERGEN 247-9555

pending

HANDSOME LAND PARK Spanish style home in the heart of Old Land Park. 3 bedrooms 2 baths, spacious rooms, great Àoor plan, full basement and a backyard made for entertaining... One of a kind detailing and style. Paradise is personal but I think you might just ¿nd it here. $799,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

sold

SOUTH LAND PARK TERRACE Mid-century ranch in the hills of South Land Park Terrace. Living area opens to beautiful backyard and pool. 3 bedroom, 1½ bath family home; bright and light and oh so charming. Perfect for entertaining. Convenient location. New roof! $449,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

sold

MOVE-IN READY Enjoy this well maintained home! Highly sought after single story 4 bedroom 3 bath home with roomy master suite. The family room adjoins the kitchen and is perfect for the chef to chat while making dinner! Located on a quiet street just steps from the Sacramento River. Pretty backyard! $425,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715

for current home listings, please visit:

DUNNIGANREALTORS.COM 916.484.2030 916.454.5753 Dunnigan is a different kind of Realtor.

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A BYGONE ERA Beautifully renovated from head to toe - The Didion House - Rich wood, ¿ne detailing and spacious rooms. Historical in in both style, heritage and culture. 4 bedrooms 2 full baths and 2 half baths with new kitchen, three Àoors, including media room, and a full basement. $1,395,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

sold

CUTE CURTIS PARK CRAFTSMAN 2 or 3 bedrooms 1½ baths, high boxed-beamed living room ceiling open to the dining room (shared gas log see-through ¿replace) with French doors opening to private deck and enchanting yard with winding paths, cute guest cottage and storage shed. $385,000 DAVID KIRRENE 531-7495, JERRY KIRRENE 455-1001

sold

4 BEDROOM HOME Super clean, close in, and ready to go! Hard to ¿nd 4 bedroom home with 2½ baths in Land Park! Energy ef¿cient and beautifully maintained. Conveniently located, an easy walk to Land Park, Vic’s Ice Cream and Crocker Riverside Elementary School. It’s waiting for you! $325,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395, ERIN STUMPF 342-1372

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COVER ARTIST Tim Mulligan Timothy Mulligan is an emerging artist who utilizes innovative techniques and different styles to discover the colors, light, and shadows of a subject. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in the Sacramento region and in the Bay Area. Red Dot Gallery at 2231 J Street will have a show of his work this month.

Visit timmulliganfineart.com

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

FEBRUARY 2015 VOL. 18 • ISSUE 1 7 8 14 18 20 22 24 26 28 32 34 36 38 40 42 46 48 50 52 54 56 60 62

Marybeth Bizjak mbbizjak@aol.com M.J. McFarland Cindy Fuller, Daniel Nardinelli Linda Smolek, Aniko Kiezel Michele Mazzera Jim Hastings, Daniel Nardinelli 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—©

SUBMISSIONS Submit cover art to publisher@insidepublications.com.

Submit editorial contributions to mbbizjak@aol.com. SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions at $25 per year guarantees 3rd class mailing. Pay online at insidepublications.com or send check with name & address of recipient and specify publication edition.

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Publisher's Desk Inside City Hall Life in the City Volunteer Profile City Beat Meet Your Neighbors The Art of Teaching Local Heroes Home Insight Sports Authority Partnerships Thrive Doing Good Garden Jabber Building Our Future Writing Life Spirit Matters Farm to Fork Getting There Science In The Neighborhood Artist Spotlight River City Previews Restaurant Insider Dining Guide

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Lessons Learned LOOKING BACK ON ALMOST TWO DECADES OF COMMUNITY PUBLISHING

BY CECILY HASTINGS PUBLISHER’S DESK

his month we celebrate our 20th year of publishing. When my husband and I made the decision in 1996 to start our first publication, Inside East Sacramento, we had no idea where this journey would ultimately lead us. We started publishing our second edition, Inside The City (now called Inside Land Park), in 1998. We added Inside Arden in 2000 and Inside Pocket a year ago. When I was a young college student, both my mind and my heart were in the world of design. I studied product design, along with interior and graphic design. While I never designed products, I worked for a decade in commercial interior design before going into publishing. And for the past two decades, my graphic design skills have been put to use. But honestly, design alone would have left me unfulfilled over time. I’m grateful that while working in interior design, I was introduced to the world of sales and sales management by my husband, with whom I worked at the time. This

skill is crucial to our publishing business, which is solely supported by advertising sales. And while the world of graphic design can be wonderful and creative, it also would have not been enough to keep me working in that field for 20 years. Looking back, I am very grateful for my mother who—while never having a paid career—made huge contributions to her community as a volunteer. Recently, while cleaning out my library, I came across a book on the history of the Detroit neighborhood where we grew up. I vaguely recalled that the book was written while I was an adolescent. I read the book’s forward and was stunned: It was a beautiful thankyou from the author to my mom for her diligence and hard work as a volunteer organizing the history and getting the book published. Someplace deep inside me, a seed had been planted that ultimately grew into our publishing business. My job as publisher came without a job description. I had worked as an editor for another neighborhood newspaper for two years and saw the basics of publishing being undertaken by the owner. I got that job solely because of my work founding a neighborhood association. My writing skills were marginal at best, I was told. But with practice and lots of reading, they improved. When the owner put his business up for sale, I asked about buying it. He declined and told me to start my own newspaper. For the entire time I worked for him, I shared my ideas to improve the design and content of the paper. He rejected almost all of them.

So I started with a playbook of sorts on what we wanted to create to serve the neighborhood. My husband Jim serves as our chief financial officer and handles the accounting, contract management, printing, distribution and technology. As publisher, my job is to manage the community relations, ad sales, editorial, design and monthly production of the paper. Our different personalities and unique set of complementary skills helped us find success in a difficult business. Reflecting back, I want to share the lessons my husband and I have learned in this venture.

QUALITY MATTERS Our team members are all sticklers for quality in everything we do. Whether it is our writing, editing or design we insist on the best. There are so many details in this business, and our entire staff treats them with artisan-type precision. We are proud that our staff has successfully developed a streamlined approach to a complicated business. We strive for perfection on every page. But with millions of words and hundreds of pages each month, errors happen. Accepting that our staff is human is important. I rarely have to beat anyone up over errors as they do it to themselves first!

STAY FOCUSED Over the decades, we have tried a couple other business ideas beyond just publishing what you are reading. At the time they seemed like good ideas. But none ever proved to be good. A few years ago, we decided to simply pursue our main mission,

which is delivering a high-quality publication of local content to our readers each month.

NO COMMENT In the past decade, the idea of anonymous readers commenting to articles posted online grew dramatically and then proved to be somewhat disastrous for publications as discourse fell into the gutter and brought grief to the writers. This idea never appealed to me, so we never did it. I get an occasional nasty anonymous email. But if a reader takes the time to respond thoughtfully to anything I or our writers have written, we reply in kind. One thing I’ve found is that oftentimes readers are critical of things that were actually never written.

TREAT EMPLOYEES LIKE FAMILY We have a staff of 15, and most work part time. And we contract with dozens of writers and artists whose contributions are essential. A good portion of our staff have been with us a decade or more. We work out of offices in our home garage and basement, but most have the option of working at home and do so often. That we have created these jobs and a comfortable working environment is extremely meaningful to us. We not only hold our staff members in the highest regard, but we treat them like family. We have discovered that if we take our time to hire people and evaluate them over probationary periods, we make good decisions. PUBLISHER page 9

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Repeating History? CITY RETURNS TO LONG-TERM LABOR DEALS WITH LATEST FIREFIGHTER CONTRACT

BY CRAIG POWELL INSIDE CITY HALL

hilosopher George Santayana’s historic admonition—“Those who do not remember the past are destined to repeat it”—was ringing in my ears as I watched the city council approve a four-year labor pact with Firefighters Local 522 last month. The new contract includes three pay raises that will increase most firefighters’ pay by 12.5 percent over the next two years, on top of a 5 percent raise firefighters received two years ago. The average pay for a Sacramento firefighter, including overtime and retirement cash-outs, amounted to about $98,300 in 2013, according to an analysis by The Sacramento Bee. All other factors remaining the same, the raises should bring annual pay for a typical city firefighter to about $110,500 in two year’s time. A little bit of history is in order. Just before the onset of the Great Recession in 2007 and 2008, the city council, thinking perhaps that prosperity would last forever, foolishly entered into five-year labor contracts with just about every city union. When the recession struck with full force, the city was unable to rein

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in benefits costs or cancel generous pay hikes that it had promised in the five-year labor contracts. It had shackled its own hands with the fiveyear contracts. The only tool left in its toolbox was to fire city employees, which it did by the hundreds, year after year as the recession dragged on, leading to a great retrenchment in city services that remains largely unchanged today. If the council had not approved such long-term contracts and had adopted one-year labor deals, it could have rather easily canceled the pay and benefit hikes. Instead, city officials had to go to each city union on bended knee and beg them to make concessions. It was a very hard sell, to say the least. Why would labor leaders agree to concessions that would only anger and disappoint their members? When the unions did agree to concessions, they were modest, mostly involving a deferral of raises for a year or so. For the most part, the city fired people to close its growing budget deficits. It was no way to run a railroad, and the public bore the brunt of it with degraded parks, laid-off cops and firefighters, browned-out fire stations, closed city pools and community centers, terminated recreation programs for the young, etc. The council at least had the excuse that it didn’t see the Great Recession coming. (Heck, few did.) How could it have known that, within a year, the national economy would tank and Sacramento would be the epicenter of what’s come to be known as the Great Recession. So we can’t be too harsh on the council for its judgment error.

But the source of the city’s great retrenchment—its toxic long-term labor contracts—has been widely acknowledged by city officials, editorial writers and me over the past several years. Eye on Sacramento, the watchdog group I head, met with councilmembers at the time to ask them to commit to never again approve such contracts. Not long after John Shirey was hired as city manager, he assured members of the Sacramento Business Coalition that the days of the city entering into such contracts were over and that, in the future, labor contracts would be limited to 18 months to preserve the city’s fiscal flexibility.

When the recession struck with full force, the city was unable to rein in benefits costs or cancel generous pay hikes that it had promised in the fiveyear labor contracts. Fast forward to today. Over the past year, Shirey has been warning the council and the public that the city’s budget, which has had tiny surpluses for a year or so, is poised to return to progressively larger deficits. He has warned that the city is set to go off a “fiscal cliff” in 2019 and

2020 due to rapidly rising CalPERSmandated pension contributions, rising retiree health care costs, rising salaries and the expiration in 2019 of the Measure U half-percent sales tax hike. The cliff will lead to $50 million deficits if the city doesn’t change policy. Annual $50 million deficits would wipe out the city’s existing budget reserve in just six months and eat through a city workforce already diminished from years of layoffs. While not a single current member of the city council was on the council back in 2007 and 2008 when the five-year pacts were approved, they were presumably reading newspapers and observing the budgetary carnage the city’s long-term contracts were causing. So how in the world could the city council last month approve a four-year labor contract with the firefighters union, containing sizable raises, with the fiscal cliff looming? Did they learn nothing from the devastation of city services during the Great Recession? The council of 2007/2008 has the excuse that it didn’t see the recession coming, but current councilmembers have no such excuse. They know the fiscal cliff is coming and how steep it is. Are they Pollyannas who think we’ll simply grow our way out of the fiscal hole with some new buildings downtown? The hole we face is too deep and the tax revenues the city would collect from development too slender for downtown development to come close to closing the coming deficits. Compounding the problem is the council’s new appetite for spending CITY HALL page 10

PUBLISHER FROM page 7 In the past decade, we had a few hires that didn’t work out. In all cases, it was our fault for not adequately checking references or properly identifying their personality and character profiles. Another lesson is to fire quickly once you have lost faith in an employee, rather than expecting the employee to change.

DELIVER TO EVERYONE Probably the single smartest decision we ever made was when we decided 20 years ago to direct-mail our publications to the homes in an entire neighborhood we serve. It is very costly and in the beginning took a huge chunk of our budget. But it has proven to be the key to bringing a neighborhood together. And since our advertisers pay all the bills associated with the cost of production, it helps their ads become very effective at reaching their prospects. Most small businesses reach customers in a five-mile radius. Our delivery strategy gets them deep into their surrounding neighborhood.

When you sit and look at one publication, it is hard to realize the collective impact of 68,000 copies a month we publish. My husband calculated that we printed 5,350,000 total pages last month alone.

TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN OUR FRIEND We have embraced every technology breakthrough as it was developed, and there have been huge strides in the past 20 years. We want our team to have every tool imaginable to do their jobs as easily as possible. Being small has made this easier as we can decide quickly to make changes to enhance productivity.

SUPPORT THINGS THAT MATTER I especially love the arts, animal welfare and neighborhood volunteerism. So over the years, we have spent considerable money helping sponsor costs of advertising for these types of nonprofit organizations. It is our way of

contributing directly to help these organizations grow and prosper. My mission is life is to help bring neighborhoods and communities closer together. While we may not have started with this exact goal, it certainly grew out of the experiences we’ve had in the past 20 years. And it will remain our mission as long as we are able.

IN SOLIDARITY We stand in solidarity with the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after 12 members of its staff were savagely murdered by Muslim extremists in its Paris office last month. The publisher expanded its weekly print run for the first issue of Charlie Hebdo after the terror attack to 7 million copies. Its normal circulation is 40,000.

The expanded print run was financed in part by other media groups and distributors that agreed to waive their fees so that the proceeds would go to the newspaper and victims’ families. Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com n

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CITY HALL FROM page 8 money on new projects. The city is either already committed to fund or is considering funding, in whole or in part, an array of pricey new projects, including a new community theater, a new performing arts theater, a new children’s theater, the Powerhouse Science Center and a new streetcar system. They can also look forward to a $15 million tap to the general fund in the next few years once the arena bonds are sold and reserves set aside from arena bond sales to fund bond payments in the early years are exhausted. The city is rapidly raising rates on city parking garages and meters, as well as installing new smart meters with dynamic pricing capability (such as the ability to remotely hike parking rates during high-volume events like Kings games), all in a frantic effort to mitigate the impact of the arena bond payments. It’s also moving ahead with plans to extend the hours of operation of parking meters and install meters in areas currently without meters.

In addition to big raises for firefighters, last June the city council approved a new three-year contract with city police that will give cops cumulative raises of 9.3 percent over the next two years. A Sacramento police officer’s average base pay was $91,200 in 2012, according to the Bee study. That number is likely to rise to about $99,700 in the next two years, $11,000 less than what firefighter pay will likely be, just shy of the city’s new $100,000-per-year club that will soon be admitting city firefighters as charter members. (Just how important are these contracts? The police and fire contracts, collectively, account for well over one-half of the city’s $385 million annual general fund budget.) Do these raises bear any reasonable relationship to market labor rates? No. If they did, pay for police officers would be higher than firefighter pay, if for no other reason than it’s much tougher for folks to pass through the tight employee screening required to become a police officer. Firefighter screening, while rigorous, is not

as challenging as police screening, although many firefighters are also certified as EMTs and paramedics. Plus, when firefighter job openings are announced, fire departments are typically deluged with hundreds and sometimes thousands of applicants. In 2013, 1,300 showed up for firefighter jobs in Houston, and more than 1,000 showed up a few years ago in Miami for 35 positions offering a starting pay of $46,000 per year, with many camping out overnight. In Tacoma, 3,000 applicants lined up for 20 firefighter jobs. When the number of applicants for a particular job wildly exceeds the number of positions available, it’s a clear sign of a market failure, where the compensation offered is much, much higher than the compensation that qualified applicants are willing to accept. For jobs in local government, who wins and who loses when markets fail in setting pay levels at rational levels? City taxpayers lose as they’re forced to pay dramatically higher wages and benefits than the market would set. Qualified job applicants lose out on capturing a job that they’d be perfectly willing to take for pay much lower than the pay being offered by local government. Finally, we all lose out on the chance to improve (or at least preserve) the level of government services we all receive because lower average pay levels mean the government can afford to employ more people to provide services.

The police and fire contracts, collectively, account for well over one-half of the city’s $385 million annual general fund budget. Then there’s the fairness issue. Isn’t it unjust to deny someone a job for which he or she is perfectly qualified and for which he or she is

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LoreneWarren.com willing to take for less money than the pay offered? Is it unjust to hand that job to someone who, through sheer random luck or connections, lands on the top of a heap of applicants? Of course it is. Landing a job in a municipal fire department in California these days is like winning the lottery, or being accepted into a highly exclusionary—and anticompetitive—guild of the Middle Ages. So if market forces are having no influence on setting firefighter pay, what forces are at play? This one is not hard to figure out. Pure political pull is what’s driving firefighter compensation into the upper atmosphere. Such pull comes from the large contributions that the firefighters union’s political action committee can deliver, and from the willingness of rank-andfile firefighters to walk precincts during elections, as well as the high campaign value (or, more accurately, the high perceived campaign value) that the firefighters union’s CITY HALL page 12

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just don’t seem to count for as much as they once did in council races in Sacramento, which I take as a sign of a healthy and robust grass-rootsoriented democracy. The impact of the public safety unions, however, is much greater in mayoral races, where money counts more and it’s harder for candidates to talk to every voter.

physically ill as the contract was discussed and approved by council. Now we’ll get to see firsthand how much pain the new contract will inflict on city residents.

ARE STREETCARS REALLY THE KILLER APP FOR FUTURE GROWTH? The city’s slow-moving streetcar project kicked into high gear in midDecember when the city suddenly announced that it was moving up the schedule for an advisory vote of downtown and Midtown property owners. They’ll be asked if they want to impose a special property tax levy on themselves to help fund construction of the proposed $150 million Sacramento-West Sacramento streetcar system.

VISIT

endorsement has to campaigns for city council. Why are firefighter salaries jumping so much ahead of police salaries in Sacramento? It’s more difficult for applicants to pass strict police screening (reducing the pool of eligible applicants), and cops are arguably exposed to more frequent dangers and unremitting stress than firefighters, particular since 90 to 95 percent of all actual fire department service calls these days are for medical response and medical transport. As one wag accurately put it, the fire department in recent years has become an ambulance service that occasionally puts out fires. Firefighters make more because firefighters wield more political pull than cops. They’re more willing to walk precincts for council candidates, a high-visibility role that firefighters seem to enjoy and that cops shy away from, perhaps for good reasons. A firefighter needn’t be concerned about knocking on the door of someone he or she may have recently arrested. (It’s also not a good way to win a vote.) If you look at the election results, however, the money, the precinct walking and the official endorsements of the firefighters and police unions don’t have the campaign value or cachet that a lot of politicians perceive them to have. In two of the most hotly contested recent council elections, Jay Shenirer’s tough first campaign for council and Jeff Harris’ victorious run in November, neither of the winning candidates had much in the way of endorsements from recognized special interests. The public employee unions opposed them both. The candidates won because they burned through a lot of shoe leather incessantly talking to voters at their homes and successfully connecting with them. They both defeated candidates who had the fullthroated support of both public safety unions, as well as numerous other supposedly influential endorsements. Endorsements from organizations, special interests and elected officials

insidepublications.com

CITY HALL FROM page 10

Property owners who own parcels within three blocks of either side of the proposed streetcar route would be subject to the tax if it’s approved. The city council approved a $7

So if the actual power of public employee unions to affect the outcome of council races is waning, why is the council still approving labor contracts that provide excessive compensation to firefighters? Because we always have a number of councilmembers with ambitions to run for higher office, particularly for seats in the legislature. (We had three councilmembers running for the legislature in November.) And in legislative races, public safety union endorsements are more valuable, as the need for cash is greater and it’s almost impossible to meet the entire electorate in person. The reality is that the firefighters union has been a stalwart political ally of the mayor’s from before his first day in office, and in the November election the mayor augmented his roster of council supporters. Last month, the union’s steadfast support of the mayor paid off with a generous and reckless new contract. City manager Shirey looked

million city government contribution

streetcars would likely have the

to the project on Jan. 13, the same

catalytic effect on local development

night it kicked off an advisory vote

that supporters of the project claim

of property owners. If a majority of

(probably not).

property owners approve of the tax

EOS also addressed some matters

by the end of voting on Feb. 17, the

of particular concern to voting

city will call a formal election in April

property owners, including the

or May of registered voters in the

absence of protective provisions that

proposed community facilities district,

could reduce owner risks, the fairness

most of whom are renters. As a

of how the tax burden would be

special tax, it will require a two-thirds

spread among owners, clarification

majority vote of registered voters to

of the amount and duration of the

approve it.

assessments (40 years), and concerns

On Jan. 14, Eye on Sacramento

over a special discounted tax rate

issued a report on the streetcar

for arena developers that EOS

project to help inform the public

estimates will save arena developers

and property owners about key

approximately $10 million in tax

details and potential impacts of the

levies, at the expense of all other

project, including traffic impacts

owners in the proposed financing

on city streets and freeway ramps

district. The EOS streetcar report can

(mostly negative), construction

be viewed at eyeonsacramento.org

impacts on merchants, the risks and consequences of cost overruns, the experiences of other cities with streetcars (mixed), impacts of the streetcar system’s operating deficits on the city’s general fund and, most important to many, whether

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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Lion Around THREE NEW CUBS MAKE THEIR DEBUT AT THE SACRAMENTO ZOO

buy-in gets you access to a seat at the table, delicious food, drinks, raffle prizes and more. Not sure how to play Texas Hold ’em? The dealers will be happy to show you the ropes—then step back while you clean up the table! Space is limited, so call 8088376 to RSVP and reserve your place by Feb. 17. The Sacramento Zoo is at 3930 West Land Park Drive.

BY JESSICA LASKEY LIFE IN THE CITY

MUSEUM DAY AND MORE

f you notice three extra furry faces frolicking around the Sacramento Zoo’s African lion exhibit, that’s because the trio of cubs born in October now have periodic access to the public exhibit. This new routine will give the two female cubs and their brother a chance to get used to the sights and smells of their new surroundings while also having plenty of time for catnaps—lions sleep 16 to 20 hours a day—and continued bonding with their mother. Once everyone is comfortable and the cubs have learned all their necessary skills, the entire pride (that is, group of lions) will be on display regularly. In the meantime, get real-time updates about their whereabouts at saczoo.org and keep your eyes peeled for the new prince and princesses of the animal kingdom! Wondering what you can do that will wow your valentine come Feb. 14? Why not take him or her on a romantic safari at I Heart Sacramento Zoo on Sunday, Feb. 8, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.? The zoo’s teen volunteers have cooked up a delightful day full of valentinethemed activities, animal enrichments

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Come see the lion cubs at the Sacramento Zoo!

and informative talks, including an interactive demonstration on water conservation—all included in general admission. Calling all card sharks! The zoo’s first-ever Texas Hold ’em Showdown

Poker Tournament will be held on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 11 a.m. at Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. The event will let you practice your poker skills while you help the zoo raise funds for its new Biodiversity Center. A $100

If you’re gearing up to participate in Sacramento Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 7, don’t miss the local Land Park institutions that are participating and offering reduced admission in honor of the event. The 17th annual Sacramento Museum Day is the brainchild of Sacramento Association of Museums and Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau. It grants access to 30 of Sacramento’s coolest cultural sites for free or half-price admission. Fairytale Town will open its doors for the day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will offer half-price admission for all: $2.75 for adults and children ages 2 and older. (Admission for children 1 and younger is free, as always.) If you’re busy on Feb. 7, you can get holiday admission prices for Lincoln’s Birthday on Monday, Feb. 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or for Presidents Day on Monday, Feb. 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Holiday admission is $5.50 for adults and children ages 2 and older, free for children 1 and younger. For more information, call 808-7462 or visit fairytaletown.org LIFE IN THE CITY page 16

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LIFE IN THE CITY FROM page 14 Fairytale Town is at 3901 Land Park Drive. The Sacramento Zoo will be open on Museum Day for half-price admission from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call 808-5888 or visit saczoo.org The Sacramento Zoo is at 3930 West Land Park Drive. For more information on Sacramento Museum Day and maps of all participating locations, visit sacmuseums.org

RHYME TIME Are you a poet and you know it, or are you completely new to the art form and want to pick up a pen? Join instructor Alexa Mergen for her How’s a Poem? workshop for seven Saturdays—Feb. 7 through March 21—from 1 to 3 p.m. at Sierra 2 Center for the Arts.

literature at George Washington University, UC Berkeley and UC Irvine. She will lead class participants through a series of journaling exercises and discussions. “This is an ideal class series for those who have not explicitly studied poetry and have an intuitive love for it,” Mergen explains. “It’s also ideal for anyone who comes from an academic background in literature or creative writing who wants to rekindle a heartfelt feeling for the art.” No previous experience with poetry is necessary. Class size is limited to eight participants. To reserve a space, contact Mergen at 606-9952 or alexamergen@gmail.com For more information, go to riversongmeditation.com Sierra 2 Center for the Arts is at 2791 24th St.

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Mergen has spent 30 years writing, editing, performing, teaching and publishing poetry as well as studying literature. Mergen has spent 30 years writing, editing, performing, teaching and publishing poetry as well as studying

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Do you need a helping hand when it comes to wading through the genealogy materials at California State Library? Then make sure you’re in attendance when Sandra Harris speaks to the Genealogical Association of Sacramento on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Belle Cooledge Library. Harris—who works extensively with the library’s California History Room—will provide tips, tricks and research techniques to those looking to flesh out their family trees. For more information, call 383-1221 or visit gensac.org

Belle Cooledge Library is at 5600 South Land Park Drive.

AFTER ‘HAPPILY EVER AFTER’ If you’ve been hiding under a rock these past few months, you might not know that Stephen Sondheim’s twisted fairytale musical “Into the Woods” has taken the world by storm with Christmas Day release of the bigbudget movie version starring Meryl Streep. Local theater companies are jumping on the bandwagon to present live productions of the show so Sacramento Sondheim fans can get their fill. Don’t miss Flying Monkey Production’s presentation of the masterful musical Feb. 6-14 at 24th Street Theatre. The show incorporates several well-known fairytale characters— Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack of beanstalk fame and Rapunzel—into one wacky, wackedout and wonderful story about what really happens when you get what you wish for.

For tickets and more information, call 215-9077 or visit flyingmonkeyproductions.org 24th Street Theatre is at 2791 24th St.

HARP ON IT Did you ever think you’d hear harpsichord described as “electric”? Come see what all the buzz is about when Zweikampf, the harpsichord duo of Faythe Vollrath and Stephen Gamboa, performs at All Saints Episcopal Church on Sunday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. Vollrath and Gamboa will present their unique sound in a one-of-akind concert that’s sure to make you develop a new appreciation for this historical instrument. For tickets and more information, call 422-5168 or visit allsaintssacramento.org All Saints Episcopal Church is at 2076 Sutterville Road. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com n

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Emily Malcolm SHE’S THE LEADER OF THE PACK

BY JESSICA LASKEY VOLUNTEER PROFILE

ot all of us are cut out to be the leader of the pack, but Emily Malcolm embodies that role—literally. For the next two years, Malcolm will serve as scoutmaster for Troop 136, the local Boy Scout troop chartered by the Sacramento Zoo. “When my son Marcus started first grade, we joined the local Boy Scouts of America Cub Scout Pack here in Land Park,” says Malcolm, who was adopted from South Korea at age 5 and moved to Land Park from Montana in 2002 to be closer to family. “When he was in Cub Scouts, I just helped the den leaders, but after five years, he bridged over to Boy Scouts. When we joined the troop four years ago, I decided to become an assistant scoutmaster.” Malcolm discovered that the extra Emily Malcolm with her son Marcus involvement suited her well. An outdoors enthusiast who “An ASM is there to help the boys the boys leadership skills and outdoor skills that they’ll hopefully utilize loves to camp, hike and backpack, run the program side of the troop,” after they leave Boy Scouts.” Malcolm is the perfect person Malcolm explains. “We also teach to lead the troop on alfresco adventures. She even took a group, including her son, hiking up Mount Whitney last summer. In her new capacity as scoutmaster, Malcolm will have even more opportunities to give her troop members memorable experiences like these, as well as the responsibility to make sure the • Drought Tolerant • Exterior Lighting troop stays on track for future fun. Landscapes • Pruning • Consultations • Plantings & Sod “The scoutmaster is more • Sprinklers & Drainage • Full Landscaping involved with the politics of the troop,” Malcolm says. “I will be working with the troop committee

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as well as overseeing the program side with the ASMs. We’re considered a large troop, with a total of 60 to 80 scouts in a given year, and troops are all run by volunteer parents. We’re extremely lucky to have such a parent-involved troop. We also have a strong ASM leadership group that I enjoy working with, as well as a dedicated committee of parents.”

“It’s rewarding to know that you can make a difference in someone’s life.” With this ambitious adventurer at the helm, Troop 136 is sure to be in for an active couple of years, which couldn’t please Malcolm more. “I’ve always loved helping people, especially kids,” she says. “It’s rewarding to know that you can make a difference in someone’s life.” For more information on Boy Scouts of America, visit scouting. org Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com n

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Before the Bulldozers A PLAN TO TEAR DOWN THE PROJECTS—BUT THEN WHAT?

BY R.E. GRASWICH CITY BEAT

astor Mark Meeks brings his flock to order each Sunday at Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School, which for the purposes of faith and worship is briefly transformed from a secular public education site on the northwest corner of Land Park into a house of God called City Church of Sacramento. The arrangement is not perfect: Meeks would love to have a church building to call his own, and not just borrow one on Sundays from the school district. But in his line of work, each journey starts with one step. And City Church is a step. Behind the scenes, Meeks has another mission. He knows that the city and an impressive array of entities, from the local redevelopment agency to the county and even the Federal Reserve Bank, have been eyeballing the place where many City Church parish members live, with the goal of tearing down the homes to build something new. Many City Church parishioners hang their hats at places called Marina Vista and Alder Grove, two adjacent public housing projects

ILP FEB n 15

Pastor Mark Meeks

historically known as Seavey Circle and New Helvetia. As history goes, the brick facades at Marina Vista and Alder Grove have seen just about everything in their seven decades of life. They were

enviable addresses for proud, young African-American families in the post-World War II era and the days of the civil rights movement. Later, they were drug-infested warrens where police hesitated to patrol.

Today, they are old but safe and serviceable—about 750 units providing shelter for some 2,500 people, many of them children, generally overseen by one-sided parental hierarchies led by young women. Pastor Meeks, a retired civil engineer, has one true goal beyond spreading the gospel at the corner of Fifth Street and McClatchy Way on the edge of Land Park. He wants his flock—the people of Alder Grove and Marina Vista—to have a voice in the decisions made about tearing down their homes. And that simple objective can be vastly more difficult than you might think. The problem, Meeks says, was driven home when he and some fellow churchmen were knocking on doors at the projects to share the City Church word. “One of our people was invited into a home where a woman—a young mother with several children—was busy trying to change diapers on an infant,” Meeks recalls. “He noticed another child was stabbing the infant in the leg with a fork while his mom changed the diaper. The woman looked at my friend and said, ‘If you really want to help me, then help me raise these children.’” There are several points Meeks makes with his story, but one is that many residents at Alder Grove and Marina Vista have other priorities: duties far more important than going to meetings and sitting with city redevelopment staff to discuss architectural designs and relocation schedules for replacement of the brick projects.

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Bring in this ad and receive a FREE gift. Downtown location only. No purchase required. At the same time, the pastor notes that residents who live next door to the projects, homeowners in Land Park whose Tudor and Spanish cottages rank as some of the most desired real estate in the city, do manage to find time to make their desires and concerns known to city authorities. Hence, the vacuum: everybody weighing in on the future of Marina Vista and Alder Grove except the people who live there and whose lives will be uprooted when the bulldozers arrive. I went to a meeting organized by Pastor Meeks called the Community Wellness Forum on the Land Park projects. There were some very smart and powerful people in the room and on speakerphone: city, county and federal officials, representatives from private institutions that work in development, finance and health care for low-income residents. There were graduate degrees on top of graduate degrees. Meeks admitted he didn’t know what the words “community” or

Where Sacramento Gets Engaged! “wellness” meant in the context of the housing projects. It soon became apparent that nobody knew—which was Meeks’ whole point in bringing the group together. And it became apparent that none of the professionals knew quite how to get the residents involved in the decision-making. They spoke of “ignorance” and “fear” and noted, “The challenge is to maintain engagement.” The talked about “indigenous leadership” and cited examples in other cities but warned it was very hard to replicate. “The problem isn’t the lack of good, smart people trying hard to address a problem,” Meeks told me. “And the problem isn’t money. There are plenty of good people and lots of money.” The challenge is more elusive and difficult to talk about. The challenge is to find the spark to inspire people to step from their homes and control their collective destiny. If they don’t, the bulldozers surely will. R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com n

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The Artful Pourer WINE DIRECTOR COMBINES LOVE OF JOB WITH PASSION FOR PAINTING

BY DUFFY KELLY

From busboy to server, the progression is natural. But Ortiz had two hidden talents that opened him up to the world of wine. Those talents were soccer and painting. How in the world would they steer him to wine?

MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS

ittle did Mario Ortiz know that a weekend job as a busboy would lead him to the top at one of Sacramento’s premier restaurants. Ortiz was a junior at Burbank High School more than 40 years ago when he decided to pass some free time on the weekends by washing dishes and clearing tables at The Firehouse in Old Sacramento. That was the first place he worked. And it appears it will be the last. More than four decades later, this Land Park resident is now the well-known and even better-respected wine director at The Firehouse. With his gentle demeanor and rock-solid dedication, he worked his way up through the years, learning about the business of good service, great food, delicious wine and how, if you look for it, all of life is interconnected. It wasn’t just hard work and stickto-itiveness that propelled his success. Ortiz fell in love with working banquets and large events because that’s when he really got to know his customers. It was at the banquets and big dinner parties that Ortiz saw something even more captivating that made him want to stay at The Firehouse. “I liked the ambience at The Firehouse. It’s always been a very pretty restaurant. But it was the people that I met who really got me hooked,” he said. Ortiz enjoyed his childhood and being one of eight children. But he learned some big lessons from the community.

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Ortiz fell in love with working banquets and large events because that’s when he really got to know his customers.

Mario Ortiz is the wine director at The Firehouse and also an accomplished artist

“I grew up in a very modest family and I wanted to learn about Sacramento, how people interacted. It intrigued me to learn about how businesspeople and leaders operated,” he said. “At The Firehouse, I met people that I read about or saw on

the news. People like Andy Warhol, politicians, businessmen, famous people. “I realized I liked being around the leaders in the community. I thought, ‘Wow! These people are important.’”

To play soccer, Ortiz would “sneak away” to nearby cities, as he puts it. One of those places was Napa. He fell in love with the picturesque countryside of Napa Valley and realized some of the wine he was pouring at The Firehouse came from wineries he spotted in that countryside. With paintbrush in hand, Ortiz began to ask permission from a few wineries to paint their vineyards. “Some of the time, I got to meet the winemakers and they invited me to their homes to paint,” he said. “I became friends with some amazing people. That’s how I learned to like wine. “Let’s say I met a winemaker and we would sell his wine at The Firehouse. I would say, wow, now I know this person who makes this beautiful wine. So everything became connected together—wine, food,

business, leaders, big decisions. A lot of people make their business decisions while having a meal. I thought this was so beautiful how everything in my life is connected.”

Ortiz soon began painting famous people on the wine bottles themselves.

“I paint with acrylics and watercolors and enamel on glass,” he said. “But I also just pour a little wine and actually paint with the wine.” Ortiz and his wife, Sue, along with their daughter, Kate, live in Land Park, where Ortiz plans to keep on painting and keep on pouring wine. Oh, and for the record, it is impossible for Ortiz to name a favorite wine. “Burgundies and pinot noirs are right up there, but there are too many good wines to name just one,” he said. n

Ortiz soon began painting famous people on the wine bottles themselves. He tells the story of how he painted a portrait of Clint Eastwood on a bottle for a WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) fundraiser. Eastwood himself bought that bottle. Ortiz went on to paint custom wine bottles for heads of state and CEOs of major corporations. He also painted some private labels for Bogle Vineyards.

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The Art of Teaching THIS SAC STATE PROFESSOR IS IN LOVE WITH MODERN ART

BY LESLEY STEIN MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR

oday’s college professors do a lot more than deliver lectures and grade student papers. Just ask Elaine O’Brien. A professor of art history at Sacramento State University, O’Brien writes books, recruits guest lecturers, serves on art juries and organizes art symposiums with leading arts educators from around the country. “Education is changing a lot, especially technology,” says O’Brien, who specializes in modern and contemporary art history and theory. “We’re all figuring out how to take advantage of it without losing what we care about, which is direct interaction with real people. That’s important.” According to O’Brien, Sac State is very supportive of its professors. “My job,” she says, “gives me this institution behind me so that I can use their publicity, their rooms, their equipment. And if I want to do a lecture series or produce a newsletter, I can.” Recently, O’Brien formed a committee of local arts professionals to organize the university’s Permanent Art Collection. Sac State owns fabulous works of art, including pieces by local artists Ruth Rippon and Robert Arneson and by internationally known artists Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Frank Stella. But the collection remains mostly out of sight. Lacking a permanent museum space, the art has been haphazardly stashed for years. “The goal is to get it under professional management, and that includes proper storage,” explains

ILP FEB n 15

CSUS art history professor Elaine O'Brien

O’Brien. “It needs a proper place for display and a knowledgeable person overseeing and taking care of it.” She adds, “Unfortunately, the art department doesn’t have the means to properly administer the collection.” Although O’Brien finds her work inspiring, she and her colleagues face the realities of tightened budgets. “It’s hard on the students because the classes are bigger,” she says. “The more students you have per teacher, the less the students get.” Sac State’s art department has been shrinking, she says. “We’d really like to add another full-time art historian. I’d also like to hire somebody who could teach curatorial studies. I’m sure we

could easily fill these classes right away.” Specializing in modern and contemporary art history is “all about falling in love,” says O’Brien, who lives in Midtown. “It’s a passion. It’s a subject I know I will never, ever lose interest in. I don’t want to offend anybody, but I believe it’s the most relevant. This is the art of living people.” She adds, “I’ve never been interested in history for history’s sake. It just doesn’t interest me.” O’Brien has a reputation as a tough and knowledgeable instructor. Soft spoken but commanding, she structures her classes around lectures paired with carefully culled

slides of important artworks. She’s also been known to guide students through museums. O’Brien says she strives to give students “a way of thinking: critical thinking.” “Elaine O’Brien is one of the most intelligent individuals I’ve ever met,” says Terry Lee, a former student and Sac State alum. “She held me to her standards, which were very rigorous. I was awarded for my hard work, but it was not what you would call an easy A.” After raising two children in Southern California, O’Brien made a midlife decision to shift gears and resume her education, earning a Ph.D. in art history from

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The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) in 1997. She considers herself lucky. “Very few people go back to school,” she says. “I went back when my daughter was in college. That’s really rare.”

“It’s a passion. It’s a subject I know I will never, ever lose interest in ... I believe it’s the most relevant. This is the art of living people.” Now a 67-year-old grandmother of four, O’Brien settled in Sacramento, rather than a hot art market like New York or Los Angeles, in order to secure a full-time tenured position and to live close to her family. Early inspirations for O’Brien came from her mother, an artist, and an

uncle who was a sculptor. Looking back, O’Brien says, “I did make a lot of art, but once I got serious about art history, I completely stopped.” Art history she says, “is all consuming.” In 2012, O’Brien’s book, “Modern Art in Africa, Asia and Latin America,” was published. Its premise: how the world stole the idea of modern art. “The genesis of the book came out of teaching criticism of Eurocentric modern art,” she says. O’Brien is currently writing a book about the Sacramento region’s art scene during the 1960s and ’70s, a period she refers to as “the glory days.” She’s focusing on the area’s major art figures while exploring the art and politics of the day, including the Chicano, Native American, African-American and feminist movements. Satisfaction for O’Brien is a result of usefulness. “I don’t want to do just what I like doing; I want to do what people can use,” she explains. “I don’t want to sound too altruistic, but teaching is where you can really feel you are giving.” n

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Fit for Life SENIORS HELP THEIR INSTRUCTOR MOVE TO A NEW EXERCISE FACILITY

BY TERRY KAUFMAN LOCAL HEROES

or the seniors in Paul McCarthy’s fitness classes at the YMCA on Eastern Avenue, it was the worst possible news: The doors of the YMCA were closing. Although rumors had circulated for some time that the facility would fold, there was real distress when the class schedule began tapering down. Some of the students had been attending the Y for more than two decades. When the doors finally closed last August, however, a plan had been hatched. The plan included all of McCarthy’s devoted students, and it envisioned no discontinuation of their relationship with him. “What Paul did for us was just amazing,” says Julie Lavine, 81, who has attended his early-morning balance ball classes religiously. “He had such a profound influence on all of us that unquestionably anybody would follow him.” The 60 or so students in the senior balance, weight and aerobics classes— ranging in age from 55 to 90—found McCarthy a new workout studio on Marconi Avenue just past Eastern, then packed, drove, schlepped, hauled, lifted, cleaned and organized his new space.

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Paul McCarthy runs Fit4U with the help of Linda Martin

“The place needed a lot of work,” recalls McCarthy, “and I wasn’t financially able to do what needed to be done. But as a family we cleaned this place. They cleaned bathrooms, scrubbed floors. We’re talking people in their 70s and 80s.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Even today, I have individuals who come in to dust and empty the trash. How often do you have a business where people pay to be members, and then they come in to empty the trash?” The mastermind behind the scheme was Linda Martin, one of McCarthy’s most dedicated followers. “Linda is like my right hand,” he says. “She has been a godsend.” Martin found

the new location (next to Tricks Gymnastics), took McCarthy to see it and challenged him to think big. “She said, ‘What if we … ?’ She knew that I needed help to do it, so she set up a volunteer list, got everybody to sign up, organized the workers and just made it happen.” That McCarthy generates this degree of loyalty is no surprise to those who know him. He has worked for years as a personal trainer, helping athletes improve their mental and physical condition, as well as a health and wellness coach for individuals at all stages of life and health. Five years ago, he was approached by the managing partner

at Ellis Law Group to run a training program for the firm’s lawyers. “I had coached his kids in soccer, and he needed a personal trainer,” says McCarthy. “He told me that he was moving his firm to a new building and he asked me, ‘How about if we put a gym in there for the employees? They sit in their offices a lot of hours.’ They can come in on their lunch hours or before they head home, work out for a half hour, shower and get back to work.” McCarthy continues to train the lawyers, but now he has his own business, called Fit4U, to run. That business is made possible by a group of seniors for whom he is

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the difference between wellness and decline, both physically and mentally. “When I started at the YMCA, I saw that they didn’t have aerobics or other classes that this group needed,” McCarthy says. “I was 50, not 20 or 25, so I said, ‘Let’s start programs that work for you.’”

That business is made possible by a group of seniors for whom he is the difference between wellness and decline, both physically and mentally. His new workout space is large, and McCarthy has large plans for it. Lean University will be a 10-week

class on healthy eating. High school and college students can take part in speed and agility training, and there will be off-season training for athletes. Recognizing the benefits of exercise for aging brains, he intends to offer classes for seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. He will hire additional trainers, but the senior classes will remain with him. “They share what’s going on with them, and I share what we can do,” he says. “We collaborate. I formulate classes based on what’s going on with them. I’ll be their lifeline to health and fitness. I wasn’t put on this planet for myself, only for others. I’m inspired to see them doing it. I want to be where they’re at when I’m 75.” Fit4U is at 4440 Marconi Ave. For more information, call 487-1945 or go to thefit4u.com Terry Kaufman can be reached at terry@1greatstory.com n

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Master Class A CREATIVE INTERIOR DESIGNER SHOWS HOW THE MAGIC HAPPENS BY JULIE FOSTER HOME INSIGHT

f you’ve ever felt overwhelmed when choosing a new paint color for your living room from the dozens and dozens of shades of blue available, imagine the decisionmaking required when planning the interior of a five-bedroom, threeand-a-half-bath home that’s been stripped down to the studs.

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“We love that we were able to maintain a lot of the signature components of the home while celebrating a modern style,” says Kelly.

Interior designer Kerrie Kelly recently completed work on just such a project: a 3,100-square-foot East Sacramento home built in 1933. Next Generation Capital, which purchased the house as an investment, tapped Kelly for the project. The remodel, the third she has worked on for the company, took her two months. She was tasked with

retaining the home’s classic East Sac charm while layering in contemporary elements that would appeal to the greatest number of buyers.

“We lay out everything so we can begin to see the flow, color, textures, lines and shapes of things." “We love that we were able to maintain a lot of the signature components of the home while celebrating a modern style,” says Kelly. Creating an interior that flows gracefully from room to room requires looking at the big picture. A very abbreviated list of the items Kelly needed to choose included paint colors

for doors, walls and trim; kitchen cabinets, hardware, backsplash tiles and appliances; light fixtures and carpeting; floor and wall tiles; and plumbing fixtures for the bathrooms. Kelly, who calls her business a design lab, assembles all her choices on a large table. “We lay out everything so we can begin to see the flow, color, textures, lines and shapes of things and even how easily things can be maintained,” she explains. One Home Construction performed the major renovations, which were complete by the time Kelly and her team began. The house was rewired and replumbed. An energy-efficient Nest thermostat system and new windows will help keep energy bills under control. The kitchen’s Leviton switch plates can be configured as regular outlets or USB ports and can be easily removed and run through

HOME page 30

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HOME FROM page 29 the dishwasher when culinary grime becomes an issue. “I love it that you can move into a house with so much personality and everything works,” says Kelly. “You don’t have to worry about whether the outlets work or any efficiency issues.” In the dining room, modern furnishings, new wainscoting and a dramatic paint color (SherwinWilliams’ Folkstone) complement the

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original built-in hutch and its leadedglass doors. Kelly’s attention extended to the smallest details, such as the kitchen cabinet door pulls. She chose simple, wide handle pulls because they won’t show fingerprints and will extend the life of the cabinets’ paint finish. The kitchen cabinet’s clear glass panels with wire mesh detail mimic the dining room hutch doors, melding the new and old. Counter tops are

sleek Silestone that make for easy cleanup, while the wedge-shaped backsplash tile captures the eye. The kitchen’s peninsula-shaped counter and seating area extends into the family room, linking the two spaces. A commodious pantry with a wine rack provides additional storage. A wall-mounted television suspended above a rectangular gas fireplace creates a cozy gathering area. Two

sliding doors offer access to the refreshed backyard. The three full bathrooms and the downstairs powder room are especially luxurious. Kelly wanted a jewel-box effect in the powder room since it was a space guests would use. Shimmering geometric wallpaper, sconces, beveled tiles and a marbletopped vanity with chrome fixtures evoke classic style.

Kelly notes that the house, which she calls a traditionally tailored Tudor, contains many beautiful finishes and high-tech features. “You can get a high-end look by saving on money on tile and other finishes from Home Depot, then splurge on signature light fixtures,” she explains. The house’s exterior also received a facelift. A new concrete patio and pergola off the back of the house provide more usable living space. In the front, concrete steps are tucked into the

grass. A sliding door off the kitchen nook allows for easy access to the front porch. “This home now has the modern amenities everyone wants combined with the style of an older home,” she

says. “Now is the time to layer on the artwork and just live here.” If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Julie Foster at foster.julie91@yahoo.com n

INSIDE PUBLICATIONS

Interior designer Kerrie Kelly

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The Curse of the Kings ONCE RIDING HIGH, OWNER VIVEK RANADIVE IS ITS LATEST VICTIM

BY R.E. GRASWICH SPORTS AUTHORITY

ings owner Vivek Ranadive is a math guy who understands numbers and percentages. He’s never been stopped by long odds stacked against him. That’s his trademark. As a teenager in Mumbai, India, he won admission to one of the most selective schools in the world, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He convinced the Indian government to support his move to Boston. He arrived in the United States essentially broke but studied hard and eventually built a very successful data company, Tibco. In 2013, in hot pursuit of the Kings, Ranadive challenged the CEO of Microsoft, a man whose net worth runs to several billion dollars. They fought for ownership of a basketball team that bounced through four cities, one of the worst franchises in pro sports. The Kings sold for a record price. Ranadive won. Or did he? Today it’s time for a tantalizing question: Now that he’s nearing the end of his second year as owner of the Kings, how is Ranadive doing? It’s an important question, one that runs deeper than the win-loss record of the Kings.

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Kings owner Vivek Ranadive chats with former Kings player Vlade Divac

Three events—the clumsy, earlyseason firing of coach Mike Malone, Ranadive’s exit from the CEO suite at Tibco, and a lawsuit by former partner Darius Anderson—indicate the Silicon Valley engineer is slipping down the familiar path taken by his predecessors. Which, if you’re like me and want to see Ranadive succeed with the Kings, is not good news. Since their birth in the Depressionera snow banks of Rochester, N.Y., the Kings have developed an alarming habit of devouring their owners— pulling them in and crushing their spirits, depleting their wallets, dominating their interests to the neglect of other affairs and generally leaving them wondering why they ever got hooked up with the franchise

in the first place. The team, you could say, is cursed. The franchise founder and guiding spirit, Les Harrison, won an NBA championship—still the Kings’ only title—but ended up moving and selling out when fans in Rochester turned their backs and stopped buying tickets. In the next city, Cincinnati, owners were forced to sell when government authorities took exception to the cozy relationship between the club’s management and Las Vegas mobsters. The management’s company was called Emprise. A federal jury convicted Emprise of conspiracy involving an ownership deal with a Vegas casino. The team changed its

name and started fresh in Kansas City. The Kansas City owners were always short of cash. They hung on for several years, content with mediocrity, until a reasonable offer arrived from a precocious young Sacramento land developer and dream merchant named Gregg Lukenbill. The offer—$4.5 million in cash, $4.5 million in deferred payments, plus $1.5 million when the team moved—looks ridiculously low 32 years later. Even so, Lukenbill didn’t have the money. He had to partner with a bigger developer, Joe Benvenuti. I won’t waste more than a few words on the next two owners, Jim Thomas and the Maloof family. It’s

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enough to say things went bad for both of them. Thomas was dependent on his partners for cash flow, and when the partners grew tired of writing checks for the Kings, Thomas had to beg and borrow from the city. The Maloofs blew through their family fortune while trying to hang onto the team. This brings us to Ranadive, who, like Thomas in the early going, has the benefit of very wealthy co-owners. Ranadive may need some assistance, thanks to his divestment from Tibco. Not long after Ranadive bought the Kings, Tibco’s value began to falter. Some investors complained the boss was spending too much time on his NBA fun. Ranadive gave up the Tibco chairmanship. He exited with about $290 million, nice but not exactly a sum that impresses NBA owners these days. (The Maloofs sold their interest in the Kings for $347 million.) I wanted to speak to Ranadive and ask how the Tibco affair would impact the time he spends on the Kings. I

asked the team, but they just sent me a press release. As for Malone’s firing, Ranadive was unable to explain the move with clarity worthy of a CEO. Apparently, Malone was sacked by a committee of guys whom Ranadive identifies by youthful nicknames: Petey, Mullie and Bratzy (general manager Pete D’Alessandro, senior adviser Chris Mullin and junior adviser Mike Bratz). It’s not clear if Ranadive was an instigator, collaborator or spectator. And there’s the Anderson lawsuit, which claims Ranadive helped cheat Anderson out of an equity position with the team. The Kings say the suit is “frivolous.” Whatever else he may be, Ranadive is a brilliant engineer. But there’s another discipline that should interest anyone who invests with the Kings: historian. R.E. Graswich is the author of the book “Vagrant Kings: David Stern, Kevin Johnson and the NBA’s Orphan Team.” He can be reached at reg@ graswich.com n

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Partnerships Thrive FOR SAC BALLET DIRECTOR, IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO BRING A CLASSIC TO LIFE

BY JESSICA LASKEY

f anyone knows what it takes to be part of a team, it’s Ron Cunningham. Since 1991, the Sacramento Ballet’s artistic director has shared the title with his wife, Carinne Binda, whom he affectionately calls “my co-director and slave driver.” This strong leadership partnership has seen the Ballet through more than 20 seasons, an economic recession that threatened dozens of local arts groups, 40 Sacramento premieres of new work and 38 world premieres. (They’ll add another to that tally this month when Cunningham’s brand-new production of “Peter Pan” opens on Feb. 13.) But there’s more to success than choreographic output, as Cunningham well knows. He understands that in order to make enduring art, each element must come together equally— collaboratively—and he’s willing to wait until it does. “I’ve wanted to do ‘Peter Pan’ for a long time,” Cunningham says. “There are certain ballets I’ve had in my head for a long time, and for this one I had never liked any music I’d heard for it. For me, if I don’t have the music to support the drama, it never works.” The years of waiting paid off when a friend introduced him to the music of contemporary Italian composer Silvio Amato, who has written tunes for a variety of media, from sitcoms and soap operas to documentaries and live theater. “Amato wrote music for a production of ‘Peter Pan on Ice’ for Italian TV,” Cunningham says. “When I heard the music, those beautiful

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Local painter Stephanie Taylor has created artwork to be projected onto the backdrop during "Peter Pan"

melodies, I thought it was just delightful.” It turned out that Amato had recently moved to California from Boston, where Cunningham and Binda met as young dancers. So Cunningham contacted him and an artistic relationship was born. Amato even granted the choreographer the right to move the music around (a rare occurrence during these times of copious copyrights), which serves the ballet best when it’s finding its footing in the rehearsal room. Finally satisfied that he had the music that would make “Peter Pan” fly, Cunningham turned his attention to the other artistic details that were necessary to make the show soar. The Ballet is borrowing the “physical production” (the scenery and props) from Eugene Ballet Company, which produced its own version of “Peter Pan” in 2013. But

Cunningham decided that he wanted to add an extra, unique element to his piece: original paintings to be projected onto the backdrop during one very important scene change. “I’d seen projections done in other productions for the transition going from a real place—the Victorian bedroom—to the fantasy of Neverland,” he says. “You want some kind of transition so the change doesn’t seem so harsh. So I started thinking, ‘Gee whiz, how would I do it?’” To solve the scene change challenge, Cunningham asked Sacramento arts patron Marcy Friedman to recommend an artist. Friedman suggested local painter Stephanie Taylor, a fourth-generation Sacramentan whose resume includes stints as the art director and creative director for advertising agencies in Los Angeles as well as large-scale commissions for Disneyland Hotel

in Paris, Shoji Corporation in Kyoto, Japan, Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas, Crowne Plaza in New York and MGM Studios in Los Angeles. She has also done lots of local projects including installations at Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento Public Library, California State Railroad Museum and many others. It was her deep connection to Sacramento and her extensive work with Disney that sold Cunningham. “It’s right up her alley,” he says. Taylor has a sentimental attachment to the piece that made her even more eager. “My mom took me to see Mary Martin as Peter Pan on Broadway when I was 10 years old,” Taylor recalls. “I remember thinking that the song ‘I've Gotta Crow’ was such a celebration of self-esteem. That’s a wonderful thing for a child, and it’s something my mom gave me. I have an appreciation of the traditions of ballet as well, so my part in providing

this transition is to honor that tradition and keep it simple. Plus, Ron and I hit it off right away.”

“Our goal was to try to show shelter animals in a different way.” Taylor’s involvement as an outside artistic resource is not unprecedented for the Ballet, which has long relied on the support and interaction of the community to survive and grow. For this particular season (the Ballet’s 60th anniversary), Cunningham and Binda have been more focused than ever on bringing disparate groups together for a common artistic cause. Case in point: their wildly successful partnership with Front Street Animal Shelter for December’s production of “The Nutcracker,” Cunningham’s trademark Christmastime classic. While the presence of a four-legged friend has long been a staple of the production’s opening scene, Cunningham decided to go all in this year and feature a different canine cast member for every performance. “It started with a lovely boy, Chandler, who had cerebral palsy and appeared in ‘Nutcracker’ for me for 10 years or more,” Cunningham says. “In the last couple of years, he acquired a service dog and asked if he could bring him out onstage. I

thought, ‘Why not?’ You could hear the reaction in the audience when that dog came out, so this year we worked with Front Street to include dogs that were up for adoption. We even added a cat to the party scene. I have two cats, so why not have cats, too? It was wonderful marketing for us.” Bobby Mann, the public relations ambassador for Front Street, echoes Cunningham’s sentiments.

“Our goal was to try to show shelter animals in a different way,” Mann says, “to present them in a way they’ve never been presented. We featured a new adoptable animal in every show, and we were in the lobby with six to 12 animals at any given performance. Every animal we brought—51 of them—was adopted.” It wasn’t just the cats and dogs who benefited: The Ballet saw a significant bump in ticket sales thanks to Front Street’s strong social media presence.

The partnership was a great success all around, a trend that Cunningham hopes to continue when “Peter Pan” takes flight this month. “Collaborating with another artist is a wonderful thing to do,” he says. Wonderful enough to make you want to crow. For tickets and more information on “Peter Pan” and the Sacramento Ballet, visit sacballet.org n

Dancers from “The Nutcracker” spend time with a kitten from the Front Street Animal Shelter

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Everyday Heroes AMERICAN RED CROSS HONORS THOSE WHO TOOK MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS

BY GLORIA GLYER DOING GOOD

he American Red Cross recently paid tribute to community members who performed extraordinary acts of courage at its 14th annual Heroes Luncheon at Woodland Community & Senior Center. The annual event honors everyday heroes who went above and beyond. The honorees were nominated for such selfless deeds as saving lives, performing first aid or CPR, and providing support to military veterans. Here are the heroes: Renee Lancaster (Animal Rescue) took in 11 neglected Rottweilers confiscated from an animal facility and nursed the dogs back to health. Donna Cameron (Adult Good Samaritan) performed CPR when her husband, Dan, collapsed of a heart attack in their home. Judy Vera (Senior Good Samaritan) cared for and supported her four grandchildren and helped others in need. Skylar Berry (Youth Good Samaritan) performed lifesaving hands-only CPR on a boy who was pulled unresponsive from the bottom of a pool. She has started a club called

Staying Alive to teach others how to perform hands-only CPR. Maggie Burns (Law Enforcement Hero), an officer in the El Dorado County Probation Department, noticed a youth acting strangely. After attempting conversation, she learned he had just tried to commit suicide. She remained with the boy until additional help arrived. Christopher Williams (Military Veteran Hero) performed the Heimlich maneuver on a choking woman at a restaurant. Chris Lundin (Workplace Hero), an employee at Davis Athletic Club, performed chest compressions and rescue breathing on a 2-year-old boy who stopped breathing after falling into the pool. Alena Anberg (Spirit of the Red Cross), a Red Cross volunteer, provides assistance to many people struggling with poverty, delivering care packages filled with basic household supplies such as soap, toilet paper and laundry detergent to families once a month. Sean Tatum (Hero of the Year), a California Highway Patrol officer, came upon a multivehicle accident with one victim trapped inside a burning vehicle. Tatum pulled the woman to safety. The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters, provides nearly half of the nation’s blood supply, teaches lifesaving skills and supports military members and their families. The organization depends on volunteers and the generosity of the public. For information about donating or

volunteering, go to redcross.org/ goldcountry

CHRISTMAS CHEER During the holiday season, more than 100 local residents donated 130 stockings and 192 gifts through Koinonia Family Services and New Morning Youth and Family Services. Dozens of volunteers with United Way’s Women in Philanthropy wrapped the gifts. Women in Philanthropy (a United Way member) brings together local women to help foster youth. To learn more, go to yourlocalunitedway.org/womenphilanthropy

GRANT FOR THE DISABLED United Cerebral Palsy’s Community Living Arrangements Services and Program (CLASP) received a $15,000 grant from Bank of America to help people with developmental disabilities find affordable housing and develop financial skills. “Too often when someone is diagnosed with a disability, society assumes the only option is to forever lock that person into a life of dependency, which can be a drain on society and on the spirit of that person,” said Doug Berman, president and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy. “We are grateful to Bank of America for recognizing that people with disabilities can live life without limits when they are empowered with the right tools.” CLASP serves 52 people each month. They receive individualized instruction in personal and social

development, financial management, affordable housing, health, nutrition, cooking, public transportation, navigating the health care system, household management and selfadvocacy. According to UCP, helping people with disabilities live independently reduces state costs by up to two-thirds. For more information, go to ucpsacto.org

EMPOWERING HOMELESS WOMEN Women’s Empowerment received $25,000 from Save Mart CARES to help homeless women in Sacramento find homes and jobs. The organization’s eight-week program addresses homeless women’s basic needs such as health, mental health and housing while preparing them to become ready for work. For more information, go to womensempowerment.org

DEADLINE FOR GRANT APPLICATION Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Alliance raised more than $65,000 at its Art of Medicine auction and dinner last April. The alliance provides grants of $2,500 to $10,000 to local nonprofit organizations for programs relating to the advancement of community health or health education. Applications for grants are now being accepted. Visit ssvmsa.org for information and an application. The deadline for submitting an application is Feb. 27.

DOING GOOD page 39

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HAVE “INSIDE,” WILL TRAVEL 1. Albert Torres and Fumi Marshall at the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota 2. Michael Walker, Laura Walker, Lisa Sargent and Jim Sargent at Market Square in Burges, Belgium 3. Joyce and Steve Weinberg stopped in Cologne, Germany while on a River Cruise on the Rhine 4. Doug and Marsha Arnold at the Gorges de Galamus during a cycling tour of the French Pyrenees 5. Richie & Annette Rowsey, Howard & Penny Wong, and Donald & Jackie Chan visiting Machu Picchu in Peru 6. Victoria Coleman, Rosie Broderick, Sydney Hammes, Monica Dorfﬂer, and LesAnn Dorfﬂer in Paris at the Eiffel Tower

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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Sunshine on a Stem NOW’S THE TIME OF YEAR TO CELEBRATE THE COLOR YELLOW

BY ANITA CLEVENGER GARDEN JABBER

his is the time of year when splashes of bright yellow flowers punctuate an awakening landscape. This color of distilled pure sunshine is not my favorite in later spring and summer, when vivid yellow clashes with more subtle pastel palettes. It seems to hog the spotlight. “Look at me! Look at me!” it shouts. Much as I love summer’s sunflowers, I tend to avoid hot colors in my garden during Sacramento’s sizzling heat. In late winter and early spring, however, yellow is just right. Acacias are one of the first plants to bloom each year. Their puffy, lemonyellow flowers are spectacular but hated by many who blame them for allergies. Experts say that’s unfair. Acacias produce and drop copious amounts of pollen, but the grains are large and don’t blow in the wind like pollen from deciduous trees and grass. Some people are sensitive to acacia’s fragrance. If your eyes are red and you are sneezing, don’t blame the pollen of these beautiful yellow Australian trees. Late in February, forsythia’s bare, arching branches suddenly burst into a flower fountain of sunny blossoms. Its display lasts just one

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or two delirious weeks, although you can force earlier bloom by bringing some cut branches inside. Prune after bloom by cutting out a third of the flowering branches and removing weak or dead wood. The shrub will retreat into oblivion until next year’s moment of glory. If you see yellow-flowered vines cascading over a fence or down an embankment, they possibly are Carolina jessamine. In March, yellow Lady Banks roses clamber up trees and in great mounds along the highways. Daffodils may be the quintessential yellow spring flower. They are part of the narcissus family, which has many different colors and shapes of flowers. However, it’s the classic all-yellow trumpet narcissus that

the poet Wordsworth celebrated and that artists feature on Easter cards. Daffodil Hill in Volcano is a popular destination in March. Visitors see many different kinds of daffodils there, but the yellow ones attract the most attention. Perennial and annual flowering plants can also contribute petal sunshine to your landscape. Calendula, pansies, snapdragons and columbine are among the winter and early-spring flowering varieties with bright yellow flowers. I grow California poppies in my home garden and in the Historic Rose Garden in Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. They are usually deep gold, or even orange, in color. Until I encountered a botanist when visiting Rancho Seco’s vernal pools

last spring, I was unaware that another native poppy, the Frying Pan poppy, paints the Sacramento Valley with low-growing yellow flowers in the spring. From a distance, they are indistinguishable from several other low-growing native wildflowers, such as California goldfields, that create large, bright, sunny patches on meadows and hillsides. Some pretty yellow flowers in your gardens or along the roads are weeds. Dandelions, of course, bloom just about all year long. In winter and spring, Bermuda buttercup, an oxalis, is exceptionally attractive, with shamrock-shaped leaves and clusters of bright flowers. The University of California considers it a nuisance, however, because it spreads so readily by underground bulbs and is

hard to eradicate. I’ve got it in my garden despite my husband spending many hours trying to remove it. You probably have it, too. In the Napa Valley, mustard billows between the rows of vines, a breathtaking sight. Nearly as pretty, but quite invasive, is the Scotch broom that infests much of California’s wildlands. Is it a coincidence that so many early-spring flowers are yellow? It’s possible that yellow flowers attract pollinators. Bees don’t see red at all, but they do perceive yellow, blue and ultraviolet light as they seek sources of pollen and nectar. Perhaps there is no scientific reason for there being so many yellow spring flowers. Maybe they just bloom to make us happy and to give us hope for many sunny days ahead. Anita Clevenger is a Sacramento County UC Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, call 875-6913 or go to ucanr.edu/sites/ sacmg

Fair Oaks Horticulture Center will hold its next open garden on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon, at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd. Master Gardeners will demonstrate how to prune ornamental grasses and shrubs and finish pruning fruit trees and grapevines, and they’ll answer questions about vegetable gardening. n DOING GOOD FROM page 36

KIDS LEARN JOY OF GIVING Students from Merryhill Preschool participated in the holiday giving season by delivering toys for patients in the Child Life Program at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. The school set up giving trees and asked family and friends to make donations of new toys based on the Child Life wish list. The purpose? To encourage students to learn the importance of giving back to the community while helping the more than 100 children in the program. Gloria Glyer can be reached at gglyer@sbbmail.com or (530) 4775331. n

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Solar and More CHANGES AHEAD FOR SUTTER’S LANDING REGIONAL PARK

BY STEVE SWINDEL BUILDING OUR FUTURE

t was once industrial wasteland, an asphalt-covered patch of dirt over construction debris. But thanks to the efforts of former city councilmember Steve Cohn and the city’s Recycling and Solid Waste Division, it is now home to a solar array providing clean, renewable energy to SMUD customers. The solar project, located in Sutter’s Landing Regional Park is, according to Mike Gravely of the California Energy Commission, “a great example of how you can get what you want [and] produce power on land that would otherwise not be usable.” Gravely spoke at the ribboncutting ceremony celebrating the completion of the solar array project on Oct. 27. The nearly $5 million project, built by the German company Conergy, produces 1.5 megawatts of power from three kinds of collectors. A ground-mounted array, the largest of the structures, produces about 1 megawatt. A shade structure over a parking lot and “solar trees” located in the adjacent off-leash dog park provide the remainder. Both the shade structure and the solar trees provide much-needed shade in a park that has little shade to offer. The solar project is part of a much larger plan to redevelop the former landfill for recreational and habitat uses. Cohn said the project provides the city “an opportunity to repurpose an industrial site, reclaiming it for habitat and recreation.”

ILP FEB n 15

A foggy morning at Sutter's Landing

The ground-mounted array presented some special problems in design and construction. The land it is built on is constantly shifting and settling, making typical concrete support piers unusable. The solar panels are instead mounted on “ground screws” that remain stable even as the earth shifts and that won’t damage the landfill cap. Partial funding for the solar project was provided by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission. Long-term financing for the project came from Washington Gas Energy Systems, which will also operate the system. SMUD has agreed to buy the energy produced from the solar project for 20 years. Conergy’s David Vincent called the project “truly remarkable.” The Sutter’s Landing solar park is only one of a number of projects in the pipeline for the park. There is also a plan to enhance habitat on the

The solar project, located in Sutter’s Landing Regional Park is, according to Mike Gravely of the California Energy Commission, “a great example of how you can get what you want [and] produce power on land that would otherwise not be usable.”

riverbank within the park, introduce interpretive features and extend the paved bike trail. In short, the city intends to establish Sutter’s Landing

Regional Park as a prime gateway to the American River. The paved bike trail will begin at the end of the current Sutter’s Landing Bike Trail, where it

intersects with the levee adjacent to the skate park. It will extend from that point to the railroad trestle just west of Capital City Freeway along the three-quarters of a mile of the park that faces the American River. According to Karen Verpeet from ecological consultants H.T. Harvey & Associates, the trail will be a paved 10- or 12-foot-wide path located either on the top of the levee, currently a gravel maintenance road, or at the foot of the levee where a dirt path exists. There is some concern that sharing the space on the top between maintenance trucks and cyclists, runners and walkers may result in some dangerous interactions. However, Verpeet noted, the lower option will require additional permitting, cost and time to complete. Verpeet presented the latest plans for development of Sutter’s Landing at a public meeting in late October. Verpeet said the interpretive features will be graphic but will

employ elements that “are not signs,” such as faceted face sculptures, winding steel bands embossed with images of wildlife and history and a meandering seat wall depicting the river. Topics will include the area’s history, its ecosystem and the possible future effects of climate change on the park. People attending the meeting voiced a need to create a greater sense of respect for the area as wildlife habitat, with less partying and garbage, fewer off-leash dogs and a ban on fires and smoking. They also expressed a desire to minimize the use of concrete in the project and to create a “natural playground for kids.” The project is being managed by Tin-Wah Wong, a landscape architect who works for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. The anticipated completion date is late 2015. n

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The Music of Triumph AN EARWORM FROM THE 1970S PROVIDES A SOUNDTRACK FOR SUCCESS

BY KEVIN MIMS WRITING LIFE

hen I was a lad in the 1970s, I and most of my friends were regular viewers of a program called “This Week in Pro Football,” a production of NFL Films. Hosted by Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier, the show aired every Saturday from September through December and featured highlights of the previous Sunday’s professional football games. One of the most memorable aspects of the program was its music, which was composed by Sam Spence, a legendary musical magpie who was notorious for cobbling together soundtracks from suspiciously familiar bits of other people’s work. Generally, any highlight segment on “This Week in Pro Football” that featured a long and dramatic scoring drive was accompanied by a rousing instrumental called “Up She Rises,” which was Spence’s variation on the old sea shanty “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” Week after week, while my friends and I watched players like Gale Sayers and Duane Thomas and Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton perform their on-field heroics, the music of “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” became

ILP FEB n 15

subliminally linked in our minds with athletic greatness. Quite often, I and three other friends would gather at some local park or playground to play a game of two-on-two touch football. In these games, the offensive team had only a quarterback and a receiver. The defensive team had one guy to cover the receiver and another to rush the quarterback. A single play could sometimes last for nearly a minute while the quarterback, Tarkentonlike, would scramble around behind the line of scrimmage, dodging the lone pass rusher while waiting for the receiver to shed his coverage.

God only knows what passersby must have thought upon encountering four boys playing football in their Catholicschool uniforms while humming a tune about alcoholism and lasciviousness. Invariably, during these long plays, at least a few of us would find ourselves humming “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” under our breaths as we darted around the field. We did not, of course, hum this song in unison. Some would be

humming it louder than others. Some would be humming it faster than others. Some hummed only when they were on offense. But at least one or two of us were always humming the old sea shanty as we scrambled around some patch of gravel or blacktop or dirt that we were using as a football field. God only knows what passersby must have thought upon encountering four boys playing football in their Catholic-school uniforms while humming a tune about alcoholism and lasciviousness. Back then, none of us knew the name of the song or that it had lyrics. As far as we knew, it was simply the music of triumph on the gridiron. But the song, as I know now, does have lyrics. Among the traditional answers to the question posed in the title of the shanty are such things as: Put him in bed with the captain’s daughter. And: Put him in the bilge and make him drink it. And: Chuck him in the longboat until he’s sober. And: Give him a hair of the dog that bit him. And: Give him a taste of the bosun’s rope end. My passion for the NFL has not survived into middle age. I’d be hard-pressed to name 10 recent NFL players, and those I can name (Ray Rice, Ray Lewis, Aaron Hernandez, Adrian Peterson, etc.) are known to me primarily because of their behavior off the field rather than on it. The only NFL game I am sure to watch every year is the Super Bowl,

and I watch that only because my wife and I are annually invited to a Super Bowl party at the home of a married couple with whom we are close friends. Curiously, although the NFL is no longer a part of my life, “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” remains a staple of my mental soundtrack. It often pops into my head when I am exerting myself physically. Several times a year, I will compete in a 10k run or a half marathon. I am a slow runner. I am generally happy to let the faster runners blow past me. But always, as I approach the finish line of an organized run, I will find myself trying to pass just a few of the runners who are slightly ahead of me. About a quarter mile from the finish line, I will begin my “kick.” My stride will lengthen, my pace will quicken and, without any volition on my part, I will begin to hear the tune “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” playing in my head. More than anything, it seems to be that tune that helps propel my aging body past at least one or two of the runners who stand between me and the finish line. Sometimes, when I am playing tennis on the courts of Sacramento City College and my partner and I are engaged in a long rally, I will hear that old sea shanty in my head as I chase yet another ball into the far corner of the court and whip it back across the net. While out kayaking with friends, I will sometimes find that I have fallen a hundred yards or so behind my nearest companion. At that point, I will begin driving my paddle in and out of the water with pistonlike efficiency in order to catch up with

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to grow heavier. To urge myself on, I began humming the old shanty. Soon I was actually mouthing syllables in sync with the melody: “Bum ba-da bum ba-da bum bum bum bum.” The rain kept gaining strength and I needed to bolster myself for the remaining half mile of my run, so for perhaps the first time ever, I actually began singing the lyrics of this song that I first encountered as a wordless accompaniment to video recordings of the exploits of men like Roger Staubach, Chuck Foreman and Larry Csonka. The students who were gathered in small cliques outside McClatchy High School seemed a bit startled as a soggy 56-year-old man sprinted past them down Freeport Boulevard while, at the top of his lungs, he sang:

Put him in the guardroom till he’s sober. Put him in the guardroom till he’s sober. Put him in the guardroom till he’s sober. Ear-lie in the morning.

the rest of the party. As my muscles start to burn and the scenery along the shoreline starts to fly by at a blurry pace, I will find my arms pumping to the beat of “What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?” For obvious reasons, the song is even more appropriate to kayaking than it is to football. Tom Brookshier and Pat Summerall are both dead. “This Week in Pro Football” was canceled in 1975. I haven’t played touch football since the 1980s. Heck, even my Catholicism didn’t survive the 1970s. But that old sea shanty plays on and on in my head whenever I find that I am pushing myself physically. Back in December, I was doing my daily jog around Land Park when the weather turned cold and a few drops of rain began to fall. I wasn’t dressed for bad weather and the park is a mile from my home. Ordinarily, after jogging around the park, I walk back home along Freeport Boulevard. On this particular occasion, I decided to run home so as not to be caught in a downpour without the proper attire. As I started for home, the rain began

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? What shall we do with a drunken sailor? What shall we do with a drunken sailor? Ear-lie in the morning?

Even when youth is long gone, its melodies tend to linger. God only knows what those McClatchy students will be singing to themselves in their mid-50s as they strive to keep their aging bodies in shape. Perhaps it will be a song by Taylor Swift or Kanye West. Something tells me that it won’t be an old sea shanty. Only to men of a certain age and background is that tune inextricably linked with physical triumph. I expect to hear it even while lying on my deathbed. Maybe it will give me the strength to draw out a few extra breaths and spend an extra minute or two among my loved ones. Kevin Mims can be reached at kevinmims@sbcglobal.net n

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Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Sales Closed December 1-31, 2014

95608 CARMICHAEL

3116 KOBROCK WAY $300,000 3121 STEINBRENNER CT $390,000 2116 HOMEWOOD WAY $280,000 4706 PEDERSEN WAY $280,000 4024 JANE CT $238,000 4053 CHAMPLAIN LN $364,000 6609 LINCOLN AVE $650,000 2626 NAPOLI CT $570,000 5102 RICHON VISTA CT $165,000 4916 ENGLE RD $235,000 3128 SMATHERS WAY $295,000 5332 SANDSTONE ST $197,000 4477 STOLLWOOD DR $448,000 4801 TONO WAY $309,500 5257 WYNDHAM OAK LN $685,000 4831 OAK VISTA DR $800,000 3521 PICKWICK CT $335,000 5205 WHISPER OAKS LN $485,000 5952 MALEVILLE AVE $208,500 5112 KOVANDA AVE $246,000 2121 MADDOX CT $279,500 5722 CARTIER LN $313,500 5619 HASKELL AVE $315,000 1606 ARDEN BLUFFS LN $620,000 4904 CLEAR CIR $295,000 6320 ASLIN WAY $200,000 5324 HALSTED AVE $245,000 5260 GRANT AVE $330,000 6720 LINCOLN AVE $334,000 6304 LINCOLN AVE $383,000 2124 CLAREMONT RD $785,000 6136 DAHLIA DR $141,500 3519 VERLA ST $288,300 6333 SUTTER AVE $355,000 6801 RAPPAHANNOCK WY$379,900 5229 MCKINNEY WAY $212,000 5949 CAMRAY CIR $274,050 4401 MARBLE WAY $349,000 6142 FOUNTAINDALE WAY $395,000 2417 GUNN RD $423,000 6111 WINDING WAY $259,000 2464 VIA CAMINO AVE $119,000 2100 BIRCHER WAY $282,000 5638 VEGA CT $335,000 2608 LOS FELIZ WAY $365,000 1571 BARNETT CIR $870,000 6133 VIA CASITAS AVE $114,900 6024 CHERRELYN WAY $160,000 5501 KIVA DR $281,000 7141 MURDOCK CT $355,000 6147 ORSI CIR $168,000 2348 CALUMET ST $292,000

95816 EAST SACRAMENTO, MCKINLEY PARK 417 ALHAMBRA BLVD

ILP FEB n 15

$395,000

1409 35TH ST 1545 38TH ST 3701 T ST 2519 Q ST 3180 C ST 3838 MCKINLEY BLVD 841 38TH ST 3248 C STREET 1553 34TH ST 216 32ND 2504 P

95815 WOODLAKE 212 JOHNSTON RD

95817 TAHOE PARK, ELMHURST 3280 9TH AVE 5449 U ST 2819 57TH ST 3432 6TH AVE 3224 SAN JOSE WAY 3264 8TH AVE 2021 61ST ST 2746 64TH ST 2500 53RD ST 3500 1ST AVE 3181 U ST 2915 35TH ST 6121 3RD AVE 3316 41ST ST 2768 43RD ST 3775 7TH AVE 2049 35TH ST 3804 2ND AVE 3208 X ST 3251 X ST

95818 LAND PARK, CURTIS PARK 1875 8TH AVE 2024 17TH ST 2700 21ST ST 2592 17TH ST 2830 27TH ST 2417 6TH AVE 2681 17TH ST 1646 CASTRO WAY 2215 21ST ST 1964 3RD AVENUE 2979 GOVAN WAY 2018 X STREET 3500 24TH STREET 2720 13TH ST 2017 CASTRO WAY 2109 9TH AVE 3504 24TH STREET

$680,000 $820,000 $399,000 $350,000 $425,000 $647,500 $587,000 $555,000 $318,000 $409,500 $346,500 $370,000

$157,500 $329,000 $330,000 $169,900 $78,000 $156,000 $275,000 $340,000 $310,000 $172,000 $325,000 $329,000 $340,400 $118,000 $165,000 $219,600 $320,000 $387,000 $215,000 $270,000

$654,000 $339,000 $420,000 $720,000 $467,000 $359,500 $550,000 $845,000 $340,000 $790,000 $232,500 $544,210 $600,000 $385,000 $560,000 $546,695

2709 FLORENCE PL 2664 14TH ST

$387,000 $540,000

95819 EAST SACRAMENTO, RIVER PARK

618 52ND ST $460,000 1380 45TH ST $1,425,000 5311 SPILMAN AVE $535,000 5260 MINERVA AVE $485,000 5224 CARRINGTON ST $330,000 4851 T ST $435,000 5314 SANDBURG DR $455,000 820 45TH ST $980,000 17535 1ST ST $229,000 5301 S ST $305,000 5101 H ST $461,500 424 40TH ST $640,000 1530 54TH ST $327,000 143 FERN CT $345,000 461 46TH ST $549,000 5717 MODDISON AVE $432,000 54 PRIMROSE WAY $345,000 5200 CALLISTER AVE $431,000 5843 O ST $325,000 5408 MONALEE AVE $468,000 1448 47TH ST $705,000 4201 D ST $765,000 4100 FOLSOM BLVD #4A $397,000 1900 48TH ST $252,500 5214 C ST $355,000

95821 ARDEN-ARCADE

3744 HUFF WAY $203,000 3340 BLUEGRASS RD $204,000 3027 KERRIA WAY $289,000 3434 WHITNOR CT $409,000 3509 CHADSWORTH WAY $383,000 3017 TAMALPAIS WAY $185,000 2660 HOWE AVE $83,000 3564 LARCHMONT SQR LN$130,000 2581 HOWE AVE $220,000 3905 HILLCREST LN $333,000 2836 AVALON DR $273,500 3401 POPE AVE $720,000 4200 LYLE ST $304,000 3708 WILLIAM WAY $255,000 4513 ROBERTSON AVE $281,500 2471 ROLAND RD $183,500 2871 ASHBOURNE DR $790,000 2905 GREENWOOD AVE $305,000

95822 SOUTH LAND PARK 5851 14TH ST 2146 63RD AVA 5637 23RD ST 633 PIEDMONT DR 142 QUASAR CIR

$335,000 $175,000 $176,850 $425,000 $87,250

5441 MICHAEL WAY 3245 TORRANCE AVE 6743 GOLF VIEW DR 63 PETRILLI 4945 VIRGINIA WAY 1156 ROSA DEL RIO WAY 5204 MONTEREY WAY 4140 MULBERRY LN 30 QUASAR CIR 1460 68TH AVE 747419TH ST 2711 5OTH AVE 2120 BERG AVE 2341 KNIGHT WAY 7551 32ND ST 6137 HERMOSA ST 1419 HOPKINS 1408 WACKER WAY 2405 34TH AVE 7470 HITHER WAY 2159 55TH AVE 2194 MONIFIETH WAY 7057 21ST. ST 1533 69TH AVE 7551 24TH ST 1717 68TH AVE 1135 DARNEL WAY 1429 WACKER WAY 6724 GOLF VIEW DR 2796 GARDENDALE RD 2141 65TH AVE 2142 STOVER WAY 1651 BELINDA WAY 7414 BALFOUR WAY 2097 20TH AVE 7516 CANDLEWOOD WAY

95825 ARDEN

$225,000 $251,000 $141,000 $305,000 $315,000 $255,000 $260,000 $399,000 $113,000 $135,000 $132,000 $101,000 $117,000 $278,000 $182,000 $130,000 $170,500 $154,500 $215,000 $254,490 $202,000 $130,000 $193,000 $110,000 $111,000 $160,500 $245,000 $155,000 $170,000 $175,000 $192,500 $342,000 $132,000 $175,000 $128,000 $138,750

2909 CRESCENT CT $286,000 863 WOODSIDE LN #9 $87,500 3230 CASITAS BONITO $183,000 812 DUNBARTON CIR $319,000 5 COLBY CT $284,900 2105 BYRON RD $190,000 2201 WOODSIDE LN #9 $76,000 2201 BYRON $120,000 2022 UNIVERSITY PK DR $305,000 923 COMMONS $318,000 1513 GANNON DR $202,500 1326 OAK TERRACE CT #7 $80,000 2320 WYDA WAY $152,000 891 E WOODSIDE LN #2 $157,500 2340 CORTEZ LN $191,500 500 DUNBARTON CIR $342,500 1840 BELL ST $142,000 2294 WOODSIDE LN #15 $70,000 524 WOODSIDE OAKS #8 $94,000

2316 WYDA WAY $185,000 1224 COMMONS DR $660,000 641 WOODSIDE SIERRA #6 $87,500 730 WOODSIDE LN #10 $94,000 2328 BARCELONA WAY $120,000 2313 LAREDO RD $224,900

95831 GREENHAVEN, S LAND PARK

795 PORTUGAL WAY 730 HARVEY WAY 547 LEEWARD WAY 6960 GALLERY WAY 777 BELL RUSSELL WAY 315 ROUNDTREE CT 7287 RUSH RIVER DR 7479S LAND PARK DR 1 GALLEY CT 6541 LONGRIDGE WAY 1012 EILEEN WAY 462 WINDWARD WAY 305 ROUNDTREE CT 880 SHORESIDE DR 15 ASSAY CT 6759 SWENSON WAY 66 RAMBLE OAK 18 IRON RIVER CT 6616 SURFSIDE WAY 6484 OAKRIDGE WAY 7707 RIO ESTRADA WAY 216 ROUNDTREE CT 7542 MYRTLE VISTA AVE

95864 ARDEN

$396,000 $210,000 $187,100 $280,000 $546,500 $125,000 $270,000 $412,500 $245,000 $350,100 $449,000 $310,000 $123,000 $335,000 $378,000 $410,000 $355,000 $389,000 $165,000 $389,000 $640,000 $135,000 $339,000

4020 BERRENDO DR $410,000 2412 ANDRADE WAY $220,000 4220 BIRGIT WAY $351,000 812 TREEHOUSE LN $689,000 535 WILHAGGIN DR $775,000 1521 WATT AVE $155,000 3800 RANDOM LN $755,000 2871 JOSEPH AVE $390,000 801 SIERRA OAKS VISTA LN$647,400 4110 WINDING CREEK RD$1,100,000 1324 GLADSTONE DR $155,000 1132 SINGINGWOOD RD $202,500 3600 LA HABRA WAY $420,000 1229 GREENHILLS RD $190,000 800 WATT AVE $160,000 3604 CODY WAY $250,000 4416 ARDEN WAY $283,000 1525 SEBASTIAN WAY $245,000 1005 AMBERWOOD RD $175,000 3409 HUMBOLDT WAY $150,000 4512 ULYSSES DR $266,000 2701 LAUREL DR $941,000 1140 AMBERWOOD RD $218,000

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Vows of Love LET ME DIE IN YOUR ARMS

stroking his face, as he strummed a John Denver medley on a guitar. After about 10 minutes, he switched chords and nodded toward his eavesdroppers as if to ready us for his finale. His wife took her cue by sitting up in bed with crossed legs, brushing her hair behind her ears and wiping her tears. Then she stared deeply into his dark eyes as if going toward a preplanned rendezvous with his soul. She clearly knew what was coming. For it was her song, “Annie’s Song.” “Come let me love you, let me give my life to you,” he began with a crackling voice. He stopped for an unwritten rest beat, forced a smile and pushed further into what seemed a prayer set to music. Let me drown in your laughter / Let me die in your arms Let me lay down beside you / Let me always be with you Come let me love you / Come love me again While a few of the staff members held their professional composure through the songs, it’s a safe bet that

BY NORRIS BURKES SPIRIT MATTERS

s a minister, I officiate at dozens of picturesque weddings with a pageantry of limos, gowns and tuxedos. During these ceremonies, I stand before a couple as they publicly proclaim poetic promises accompanied by an elegantly performed love song.

To this day, I’ve never heard a love song as beautiful as the serenade that came from the room of a 45-year-old cancer patient in 1991. It’s easy to see the exchange of vows as the most beautiful part of the ceremony. But as a chaplain who’s been doing this marrying-burying thing for more than 30 years, I can tell you that nothing matches the beauty of watching those same vows

ILP FEB n 15

Spirit Matters page 49

Becky and Norris Burkes exchange vows in a January 1980 ceremony

being fulfilled by people who meant what they said when they promised “for better or for worse … till death do us part.” To this day, I’ve never heard a love song as beautiful as the serenade that came from the room of a 45-year-old cancer patient in 1991, when I was serving as a chaplain intern at UC Davis Medical Center.

The song drew me down the hallway toward the room. Several staff members were gathered outside the door. Inside the room lay a jaundiced patient with a liver that was clearly failing. All of his organs were failing. Doctors were measuring his life in days, if not hours. So into his bed came Anne, his wife of 22 years and maybe all of 98 pounds. She nuzzled alongside him,

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A Singular Crop LOCAL MUSHROOM FARMER GROWS FUNGI THAT ARE SOUGHT AFTER BY CHEFS

that when the pins (sprouts) begin to form, she cuts the bags open or removes the cotton-ball plugs so that the mushrooms can fruit through the openings. She pulled open a door to one of the hoop houses and invited us to step inside. It was a truly amazing sight. There were well over 8,000 bags, all stacked neatly on wooden

BY GWEN SCHOEN

shelves higher than my head. Perfect blue oyster mushrooms sprouted

FARM TO FORK

from nearly every bag. I expected the

growing rooms to be dark, but Walker

ven the most adventuresome

explained that mushrooms like soft

foodie has to admit that some

light, not darkness. The air felt damp

types of mushrooms look too

and smelled woody. “We spray the

weird to just pop into your mouth.

room with misters similar to the ones

That is, until they meet Roxana

used at grocery stores,” she explained.

Walker.

“Mushrooms don’t like to be wet.

Walker describes herself as a

But they do like dampness, so we

farmer, but really, she’s more of a mushroom evangelist who grows

Roxana Walker, owner of Dragon Gourmet Mushrooms, holding a shiitake mushroom log

an amazing variety at her Dragon Gourmet Mushrooms farm in Sloughhouse. She invited us for a visit on “bagging day,” when the farm was buzzing with activity. As we stepped out of the car, she immediately launched into a sermon about the benefits and culinary delights of mushrooms. We were instant converts. Hallelujah. Walker is a scientist by trade. She retired from the state after working for 30 years as an air-quality chemist. About 20 years ago, she became fascinated by the health benefits and the use of mushrooms in Eastern medicine. Following a class in mycology and learning how mushrooms remove toxins from soil, she began experimenting with

ILP FEB n 15

spray between the rows to keep the humidity high.” Once mushrooms begin to grow,

growing oyster and shiitake varieties

follows a Chinese method she learned

they are harvested daily. Recently,

as a hobby. In 2000, she launched

from her mentor in Washington.

Dragon Gourmet Mushrooms

Dragon Gourmet Mushrooms out of

“Bagging day is a busy time,”

celebrated one ton of oyster

a warehouse on North B Street. A

Walker explained. “We grow the

mushrooms harvested in a single

year ago, after retiring, she bought

mushrooms in a mixture of untreated,

month. A bag will last about five

property in Sloughhouse and decided

hardwood sawdust reclaimed from a

months before it is removed and the

to “go big,” as she says.

molding shop. It is mixed with other

process begins again. The sawdust

growing materials, then pasteurized

material left in the bags once

be lonely. There are no big tractors

with steam and placed in plastic

production ends is carefully collected

making noisy passes through fields.

bags about the size of the Sunday

and donated to gardeners to use for

No birds to chase out of the crops. No

newspaper. Mushroom spawn (seed)

mulch.

bands of farm workers harvesting the

is added. The bags are sealed with a

fields. Walker, though, is surrounded

ball of cotton and moved to growing

Bistro, Andy Nguyen’s Vegetarian,

by family members and friends who

sheds we call hoop houses.”

The Kitchen, Roxy Restaurant and

Life as a mushroom grower could

help with the day-to-day duties.

The hoop houses, which she built

If you’ve dined at Boulevard

Bar, Mama Kim Cooks or Lucca

We followed along as she clomped

herself, look like Quonset huts with

Restaurant & Bar, you’ve probably

through the mud from shed to hoop

heavy canvas covers. Currently she

tasted Dragon Gourmet Mushrooms.

house, checking on her crops and

has four houses and plans to add

Chefs who specialize in farm-to-table

explaining her growing process. She

more this summer. Walker explained

dishes often add shiitake, oyster,

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trumpet and beech varieties to their

“I discovered Roxana while shopping at the Sunday farmers market,” said McBride. “She has a wonderful variety of mushrooms that I enjoy featuring at Lucca.” Some of McBride’s favorite ways to use mushrooms are really quite simple. “Trumpet and oyster mushrooms are thick and meaty, so we like to grill them brushed with some lemon olive oil and serve them on steaks,” he said. “They are also wonderful roasted in brown butter. The beech mushrooms, which range in size from toothpick to pinky finger, make a wonderful chutney dish because they soak up flavors and they pair beautifully with currants.” Gwen Schoen can be reached at gwen.schoen@aol.com n

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our stoicism didn’t last through the entreating lyrics, “Let me die in your arms.” The physical and spiritual intertwining I witnessed in this couple sharing a hospital bed will always recall for me the scripture from Genesis that says, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh….” It’s a wonderful moment when couples pledge their togetherness with “until death do us part,” but it was a sacred moment to behold this couple turn their “I do” vows into a goal-line declaration of “We did.” Brother, that’s love. Sister, that’s pageantry! Thirty-five years ago this month, my wife and I said, “I do.” And by the grace of God and our love for each other, we still do. Happy anniversary, sweetheart. Note to readers: If you’ll share your love story of lifelong commitment, I’ll post it on my website, thechaplain. net. Please send your story to ask@ thechaplain.net or P.O. Box 247, Elk Grove, CA 95759. Leave your recorded comments at (843) 608-9715. n

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Streetcars of Desire? IT’S NOT SURE THESE ‘PEDESTRIAN ACCELERATORS’ REALLY DO THE JOB

BY WALT SEIFERT GETTING THERE

acramento, West Sacramento and government transportation agencies are planning to bring streetcars back to Sacramento. The proposed $150 million line would run from West Sac’s Civic Center past Raley Field and across Tower Bridge to Sacramento’s train station/ transportation hub and down K Street. The 3.3-mile route would then head into Midtown as far as 19th Street, looping around the convention and community centers on J and L streets. Funding for the venture is set to come from the federal government, the state, Sacramento County, the two cities and an annual assessment of property owners near the line (if approved by their vote). Construction could start in 2016. On K Street, sleek, modern streetcars would replace light-rail trains. To get buy-in and appease K Street business owners who feel that long light-rail trains block access to their properties, Regional Transit would move light rail off K and onto H Street at an additional cost of $17 million. Apparently, whatever is done to fix K Street, it’s never enough.

ILP FEB n 15

During the first half of the 20th century, Americans got there in droves by streetcar. They commuted, shopped and went to amusement parks by rail. In Brooklyn, streetcars were so ubiquitous that the local baseball team (now in Los Angeles) was named after the people dodging them. Sacramento, much more

compact then, had streetcar lines blanketing its urban and residential core and beyond: through Midtown to East Sac, Land Park, Curtis Park, West Sac, North Sac, Rio Linda and the evocatively named Joyland in Oak Park.

Sacramento joins many cities across the United States that have reintroduced streetcars or are now planning for them. Not all the streetcar systems in the United States have been successful. While some have met or exceeded passenger goals, others have underperformed.

Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Tournée du Chat Noir (Tour of the Chat Noir), 1896. Color lithograph, 55 7/8 x 39 3/8 in. Stichting Het Kattenkabinet, Amsterdam.

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216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org Proponents hail streetcars as engines of economic development, spurring investment in districts close to the tracks and boosting property values. The argument is that the permanence of the track infrastructure provides certainty. Developers and property owners know rail transit service will continue. Bus routes can disappear overnight. Physically, and maybe psychologically, streetcars are more attractive than bus service. A streetcar can carry more passengers in greater comfort than a bus. Some view riding a bus as a last resort, something done only by the transitdependent. Streetcars are used by “choice” riders who have the means to get around in other ways. Streetcars seem to offer more fun and panache than a bus. Vintage streetcar systems, such as the cable cars in San Francisco and New Orleans’ St. Charles line, certainly attract tourists. To be truly successful, streetcars have to appeal to more than visitors with a yen for nostalgia. They have to provide meaningful everyday transportation for residents.

Sacramento’s old streetcar routes got people from neighborhoods to downtown jobs and shopping. They facilitated social trips. Today, jobs and shopping are more dispersed than they were a century ago. The proposed Sacramento system has been called a pedestrian accelerator, useful for trips within the urban core. Critics of streetcars question their cost-effectiveness in providing transportation. Sacramento’s line will cost $50 million a mile, with the potential for the same cost overruns that bedeviled light rail’s construction downtown. Streetcar vehicles cost more than buses and require specialized storage. Since streetcars run in “mixed flow” traffic on streets along with vehicles, streetcars can’t move any faster than buses and other traffic. A Missoula, Mont., study estimated average streetcar speeds at 8 to 12 mph. Breakdowns, crashes or roadwork can block streetcars because of their lack of maneuverability. Plans are for the streetcars initially to run every 15 minutes. That infrequent schedule, coupled

with operation in traffic, means that pedestrians may not be “accelerated” very much. It’s difficult to know if streetcars have spurred economic development in other cities. Growth may have occurred anyway. In many places, local governments subsidized development with financial incentives in the same locations the federal government subsidized the streetcar systems. While tracks in the street provide a sense of permanence, the narrow gaps along the tracks pose a tire-catching hazard for bicyclists. Portland, which has lots of both streetcars and bicyclists, has experienced many track-related crashes. There are less expensive alternatives to streetcars, including regular buses, electric rubber-tired trolleys, bus rapid transit and bicycle facilities. I’ll discuss those in next month’s column. Walt Seifert is a bicyclist, driver and transportation writer. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net n

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Counting the Birds ANNUAL EVENT RELIES ON CITIZEN SCIENTISTS TO COLLECT DATA

BY DR. AMY ROGERS SCIENCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

hen I lived in Minnesota, we envied the birds that flew south before the onset of our frigid winter. The first robin to return home was always a happy harbinger of spring. This explains my particular delight here in Sacramento when I see an entire flock of red-breasted birds—in January. But there’s more than robins in my yard. Have you seen the birds in Sacramento in winter? You probably notice crows or pigeons, but what about the birds that flit past the corner of your eye, that roost in the trees or hide in the shrubbery, or gather in the water around Yolo Causeway? Have you ever taken a few minutes to really look at them? You should. Sacramento is a hub of bird activity in the winter. Tens of thousands of birds come to town, rather than leave, drawn by our mild temperatures and wetlands. These avian tourists arrive from as far away as the Arctic Circle, traveling a superhighway in the sky known as the Pacific Flyway. The flyway stretches all the way from Alaska to South America. Like any freeway, it

ILP FEB n 15

Photo courtesy of Jenner Junghans

has rest stops along the way, places where weary birds can eat and regain their strength. The Sacramento region is a major rest stop, or even winter home, for migratory birds. The Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area around Interstate 80 between Sacramento and Davis hosts thousands of traveling birds, including many species of ducks that feast on leftover rice in the fields and high-flying snow geese, white with eye-catching black wing tips. The Cosumnes River Preserve (south of Elk Grove just off I-5) is noted for its sandhill cranes, impressive birds with a 6-foot wingspan and distinctive call.

National wildlife refuges at Stone Lakes (south on I-5), Colusa (40 miles north of Woodland, off I-5) and Sacramento (another 25 miles north of Colusa) are bustling with waterfowl and other bird species in the winter. Birding (the term aficionados prefer over “birdwatching”) in these places requires nothing more than time. Part of the fun, though, is identifying particular species. There is a scavenger-hunt kind of thrill to checking birds off a list. It’s easier than you might think. Just grab a pair of binoculars, print a page of bird pictures specific for our area (such as “What’s This Bird?” at

SacramentoAudubon.org) and head out. The visitor centers at Cosumnes and Yolo also offer bird guides. Or carry a smartphone app, which will give you photos and recorded birdsong to help with identification. Merlin Bird ID (free) and iBird (not free) are both great for beginners. You don’t have to leave your own neighborhood to identify remarkable birds. Jenner Junghans, education chair of the Sacramento Audubon Society, says, “When people who are not birders see photos of our local birds for the first time, they’re often stunned. They had no idea we have local birds with such bright colors and bold patterns. People feel like they’re

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looking at photos of birds from someplace like South America.” Some local birds are even international celebrities. Every day in my Arden neighborhood, I see large, beautiful, black-and-white birds with long tail feathers and striking yellow beaks. This seemingly common bird is in fact a rarity. The yellow-billed magpie is not found anywhere on Earth except California’s Central Valley. February is the perfect time to give birding a try. Feb. 13-16 is the Great Backyard Bird Count, a worldwide annual event that anyone can participate in. GBBC is an important scientific research project that relies on ordinary people to collect data. It’s quite simple. For 15 minutes, count all the birds you see, whether you’re gazing out your kitchen window, walking downtown or hiking through a nature area. Submit your location and number of each species you saw to gbbc.birdcount.org. With data collected by a large number of people in a variety of places, scientists are able to track bird populations and migration patterns.

Over time, this information helps scientists see trends and determine how bird populations are affected by development, habitat loss, disease and climate change. Scientists can then make recommendations to conserve and protect habitat and birds, all because of the combined efforts of citizen scientists—people like you. If you’d like to join in the bird count but don’t know a meadowlark from a mockingbird, the enthusiastic, experienced birders of the Sacramento Audubon Society invite you on two birding trips dedicated to the GBBC. Birders will meet on Friday, Feb. 13, at 8 a.m. at William Pond Park and on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 8 a.m. at Discovery Park. The Audubon Society offers beginning birder events throughout the year and also has new birding trips and activities especially for kids. Visit SacramentoAudubon. org for the latest information. Amy Rogers is a novelist, scientist and educator. She can be reached at Amy@AmyRogers.com. Learn more about her book “Reversion” at AmyRogers.com n

THEATRE GUIDE NUNSENSE

CLOUD NINE

Thru Feb 15 STC – Sacramento Theatre Co 1419 H St. Sac 446-7501 SacTheatre.org The zany plot, in this musical comedy, revolves around five of nineteen surviving Little Sisters of Hoboken, on an island south of France. They discovered their cook, Sister Julia, accidentally killed the other 52 residents of the convent with her tainted vichyssoise while they were off playing bingo.

Thru Feb 14 Big Idea Theater 1616 Del Paso Blvd. Sac 960-3036 Cloud Nine is about relationships between women and men, men and men, women and women. It is about sex, work, mothers, Africa, power, children, grandmothers, politics, money, queen Victoria and sex. A sharp comedy, it is provocative and an amusing study of sexual politics. It unlocks the imagination, liberates the mind and leaves you weak with laughter.

JULIUS CAESAR

IDEATION

Feb 28 – March 22 STC – Sacramento Theatre Co 1419 H St. Sac 446-7501 SacTheatre.org This history play concerns the conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, his assassination, and the defeat of the conspirators at the Battle of Philippi. STC’s production will apply a modern concept to this classic text: The Roman Republic was where money and politics were nearly synonymous, and comparisons between pre-Empire Rome and modern America are easy to make.

Thru Feb 22 Capital Stage 2215 J St. Sac 476-3116 Aaron Loeb brings a dark comic edge to this psychological suspense thriller, in which a group of corporate consultants work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project . As the lines between right and wrong are blurred, these characters must navigate the cognitive dissonances and moral dilemmas to decide for themselves if everything is as it really seems.

LOVE LETTERS

Thru Feb 27 CSZ Sacramento 2230 Arden Way, Sac 243-8541 A hilarious mix of improve comedy with the popular show “Survivor”, has plenty of laughs and twists. Twelve contestants compete for a $100 prize through a series of comedy challenges. The contestants try to avoid elimination through alliances, betrayal and winning immunity, but each week a contestant is voted off.

Thru Feb 22 Geery Theatre 2130 L St. Sac WJGeeryTheater.com No one forgets their first love. Andrew wrote his first letter to Melissa to tell her she looked like a lost princess. They were both seven years old. For the next fifty years, through personal triumphs and despair, through wars and marriages and children and careers, defied a fate that schemed to keep them apart, and lived ---through letters.

5 SONGS by Jack Gallagher Thru March 1 B Street Theatre (Mainstage) 2711 B St. Sac 443-5300 Bstreettheatre.org The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of the Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT Feb 5 – Feb 8 STC – Sacramento Theatre Co 1419 H St. Sac 446-7501 SacTheatre.org The company’s Pre-Professional ensemble tells the classic story about how a toy rabbit learns the tru meaning of being real. In this enchanting musical, the Velveteen Rabbit earns the love of a young boy and learns about the joys and pains of love, loss and self-esteem.

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THE DINNER DETECTIVE MYSTER DINNER SHOW Thru Feb 28 Double Tree by Hilton Hotel 2001 Point West Way, Sac TheDinnerDetective.com A favorite across the country, Dinner Detective serves up a tasty whodunit along with a seated four-course dinner. You’ll never know whether someone at your table is one of talented cast of improvisers. In fact, everyone’s a suspect …… even YOU!

MAMMA MIA Feb 9 – Feb 11 Harris Center for the Arts 10 College Parkway, Folsom 608-6888 Mamma Mia is the ultimate feel-good show! Writer Catherine Johnson’s funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago. The story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs propels this enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship!

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Artful Pair THESE MURALISTS WANT TO BEAUTIFY SACRAMENTO BRIDGES, HIGHWAYS AND MORE

BY JESSICA LASKEY ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

hen you first meet Sofia Lacin and Hennessy Christophel—the “L” and “C” behind LC Studio Tutto, formerly LC Mural & Design—you might be struck by how young and lovely they both are. But take a moment to get to know them and you’ll quickly see that they’re much more than pretty faces. In fact, the dynamic duo is taking the Sacramento art scene by storm. “We love working on all kinds of projects as long as they’re creatively challenging and contribute to our city’s authentic growth,” Lacin says. “Tutto translates to ‘all’ or ‘everything’ in Italian, which captures our desire and mission to integrate fine art into daily life.” Muralists Sofia Lacin and Hennessy Christophel

This desire to change the world through art is an interest the two women have shared since they first met at Mira Loma High School. Lacin and Christophel are the ambitious artistic forces behind large-scale public art projects that give new life to Sacramento’s most blighted neighborhoods. One of their

ILP FEB n 15

current projects, Bright Underbelly, is transforming the underside of the W/X freeway at 6th Street where the Sunday farmers market takes place into a colorful canopy of natureinspired imagery. Another, Hanging Mist, is an installation made up of 72 perforated aluminum panels painted in soft layers of color mounted on the walls of the inner courtyard of Warehouse Artist Lofts at 11th and R streets. Their project Contagious Color covered the bridge structure at 12th and C Streets in vibrant abstract murals. “This project has been so exciting because of the dramatic transformation,” Christophel says. “It’s amazing to be able to change someone’s daily commute from

dreary and depressing into something inspiring.” This desire to change the world through art is an interest the two women have shared since they first met at Mira Loma High School. They were classmates in advanced art as part of the rigorous International Baccalaureate program, where their working relationship began. “We always dreamt of working together,” Christophel says. “We’re a good mix within our artistic skills. I’m more detail-oriented; Sofia is more big vision.” “And our artistic personalities translate as business personalities,” Lacin adds. “I like to brainstorm about the future, take meetings and be the contact person. Hennessy loves

to present to big groups and keep track of records and details. We divide tasks business-wise but do everything together creatively, which is why we’re able to work in public spaces. We have two perspectives.” Both Lacin and Christophel come from creative backgrounds: Lacin’s parents own a commercial photography studio; Christophel’s mom is an artist. So it might seem only natural that the two would follow in those footsteps. But their artistic perspective is all their own. “We’re both interested in designing environments that connect you to your space,” Christophel says. “The large-scale nature of our work helps it become an environment that you move through and walk through.

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CCT Box Office | 916.808.5181 or TICKETS.COM We started doing murals, but our canvases aren’t just walls anymore. They’re water tanks, underpasses and freeways.”

“There’s a real hunger for art here. It’s been a great place to start our business and make significant contributions to this art landscape.” “As artists, we’re idealistic,” Lacin says. “Everyone should be able to experience art, so when we’re choosing a site, we aim to have very diverse audiences.” “That way everyone can experience it,” Christophel continues. “That’s

part of the challenge of the scale that we love: It becomes a communal experience.” LC Studio Tutto is involved in each project from its inception until the last brushstroke, which means that Lacin and Christophel are responsible not only for dreaming and drafting, but also getting down and dirty for their work. “We walk the line as designers with our modern, cool studio in the River District, but at the same time we’re kind of like construction workers,” Christophel says, “riding scissor lifts and eating carrots, sitting on the sidewalk covered in paint and dirt. Our job is never the same and always active. It’s fun to be dirty.” “We have to reintroduce ourselves to people sometimes,” Lacin says with a laugh. The grime is clearly part of the appeal, as is the community they work in. “When we were younger, we didn’t imagine staying in Sacramento,” Christophel admits. “But we found

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we were getting so many interesting projects here. There’s a real hunger for art here. It’s been a great place to start our business and make significant contributions to this art landscape.” “It’s nice to be in a city where people are interested in art and very collaborative,” Lacin concurs. “Everyone wants to be together to create.” Their ultimate goal, however, might surprise you.

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Lambtrust.com

“Our dream for when we’re older and not climbing around on scissor lifts like monkeys is to open a B&B,” Christophel says. “It would be a combination art experience and luxury experience. We love giving people beauty and novel experiences.” For more information on LC Studio Tutto, go to lcmuralanddesign.com n

ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

‘Peter Pan’ Premiere SACRAMENTO BALLET’S RON CUNNINGHAM TO SHARE INSIGHTS ON HIS LATEST WORK

BY JESSICA LASKEY RIVER CITY PREVIEWS

f you’ve been lucky enough to see Ron Cunningham’s stunning original productions at the Sacramento Ballet throughout the years, make sure to mark this month on your calendar. His production of “Peter Pan” will have its world premiere Feb. 13 through 15 at the Community Center Theater, and themed events all month long will make you want to crow. Learn about the hard work and endless imagination that went into creating this masterful piece when Cunningham himself hosts “Inside the Director’s Studio: The Making of Peter Pan” at 6 p.m. on Feb. 6 at the ballet’s studios at 1631 K St. To purchase tickets, call the ballet box office at 552-5800, ext. 2. Then, on Feb. 13-15, join Peter, Wendy, Tinker Bell, Tiger Lily and everyone’s favorite villain, Captain Hook, for Cunningham’s familyfriendly ballet. The production will be presented with George Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes,” so you’ll be able to get into a patriotic American mood just before flying off to Neverland.

ILP FEB n 15

Don't miss the world premiere of Sacramento Ballet's "Peter Pan" Feb. 13 through 15 at the Community Center Theater

Interested in seeing what happens behind the scenes? The ballet is offering a rare chance to observe an open rehearsal, for free, from 4 to 5 p.m. on Second Saturday, Feb. 14, at its midtown studio. Don’t miss the chance to get a sneak peek at what it truly takes to make ballet magic! If all this talk of fantasy is making you yearn for a piece of the Peter Pan action, don’t miss the “Take Me to Neverland” Gala from 7 to 11 p.m. on Feb. 21 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Delectable food, signature drinks and fabulous

entertainment will whisk you away to the island of your imagination. Feel like dressing the part? Costumes are “admired, but not required,” as the ballet puts it. Tickets are $250 each—80 percent of which may be tax deductible—and table sponsorships are available. For tickets or more information, call 552-5800. The Sacramento Memorial Auditorium is at 1515 J St. For “Peter Pan” tickets and more information, call 808-5181 or go to sacballet.org

The Community Center Theater is at 1301 L St.

THE DAY AT THE MUSEUM If you’ve been holding off on exploring some of Sacramento’s fascinating cultural sites due to a tight budget, make sure you take advantage of Sacramento Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 7. Now in its 17th year, this exciting event offers free or reduced admission to 30 of our capital’s coolest cultural

sites, thanks to a partnership between the Sacramento Association of Museums (SAM) and the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau. Discover the wealth of art, history, science and wildlife that abounds all over our fair city. Due to the popularity of Sacramento Museum Day, some locations must limit the number of admissions for safety reasons, so event coordinators suggest selecting no more than two or three sites to visit to maximize the time you have to “ooh” and “aah.” The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., but the last guests will be admitted at 4 p.m. For more information as well as a map of participating locations, go to sacmuseums.org

AMERICA THE TUNE-FUL Hear a melodic tour of American history when the Sacramento Children’s Chorus (SCC) presents its annual mid-winter concert, “Après Le Noël: Our American Journey,” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8 at St John’s Lutheran Church. The SCC’s advanced and high school choirs, Cantoris and Capella, will perform under the direction of Lynn Stevens alongside special guest group the Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace, under the direction of Jennifer Reason. The program will feature all kinds of music from America past and present, including hymns, barbershop, ragtime, spirituals and patriotic songs such as Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times,” Randal Thompson’s “Choose Something Like a Star” and selections from Aaron Copland. For tickets and more information, call 646-1141 or go to sacramentochildrenschorus.org St. John’s Lutheran Church is at 1701 L St.

THE ART OF LOVE There’s no better way to celebrate a day of romance than to take in an art show entitled “Valentine’s Love,” which opens Feb. 14 at the Bon Vida Art Gallery. Maybe throw in a bottle of champagne for good measure …

Featuring artists from Northern California, this show is part of Bon Vida’s mission to display Latino, Chicano and Outsider Art with Mexican art themes in its Franklin Business District gallery to introduce the work both to the underserved Latino community of Franklin as well as to the Sacramento art community at large. For more information, call 5191200 or 400-3008. The Bon Vida Art Gallery is at 4429 Franklin Blvd.

LA VIE MODERNE What do Henri de ToulouseLautrec, improv comedy, cello music, prom and prints have in common? They’re all part of a funky February at the Crocker Art Museum guaranteed to rock your socks. The exhibition “Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 18801910” starts the month off with a bang on Feb. 1 and will be on display through April 26. As the Modernist movement descended on Paris in the late 1800s, artists such as Henri de ToulouseLautrec and adherents to the Naturalist, Symbolist, Incohérent and Nabi art schools were at the forefront of a movement that sought to leave the French Academic standards behind and usher in a new period of excitement found in the cafés, concerts, circuses and theaters of Montmartre. Explore the artists, writers, performers and musicians who made this era enthralling. This exhibition is organized and circulated by Art Services International of Alexandria, Va. Experience your own little bit of Paris at the Twisted Sacratomato Salon at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5. Described as a “weird combination of a bar quiz night and the famed salons frequented by writers and artists of Paris in the early 20th century,” the event promises games, storytelling, art tours and lots of laughs provided by the Comedy Spot’s AntiCooperation League and its members’ impressive improv skills. A cash bar will be available for aperitifs. The event is free for museum members and free with general admission for nonmembers.

Hear a melodic tour of American history when the Sacramento Children’s Chorus (SCC) presents its annual mid-winter concert, “Après Le Noël: Our American Journey,” at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8 at St John’s Lutheran Church

To get you in the musical mood for the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit, check out the Classical Concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8, featuring the San Francisco Munich Trio with Rebecca Rust and Dmitriy Cogan on cello and Friedrich Edelmann on bassoon. The talented trio will perform pieces such as Georges Enesco’s Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano, which was composed in 1898 and first performed by Pablo Casals in Paris in 1907. Space is limited, so reserve your tickets early by calling 808-1182. Tickets are $6 for museum and Capital Public Radio members, $10 for students/youths and $12 for nonmembers. For many of us, prom was the highlight—or, for probably more of us, the nadir—of our high school existence, so why not experience it from the adult perspective at the Crocker’s Art Mix Prom Night from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12? Don your best prom duds and dance the night away to live music with DJ Kaprisun, get inked with some temporary tattoos, have your hairstyle touched up by Deeda Salon, design your own studded leather bracelet and browse the DISPLAY California pop-up store for that extra accessory to complete your ensemble. Drinks are under $5 all night and tickets are free for museum members, $10 for nonmembers and $2 off for college kids.

The exhibition “Of Cottages and Castles: The Art of California Faience,” on display Feb. 22 through May 17, is the first of its kind to display the work of ceramic engineer William Bragdon and his business partner, potter Chauncey Thomas. After meeting as classmates at Alfred University in New York, the two talented artists joined forces in the early 1900s to create California Faience, a company that created decorative tiles, vases and sculpture and was commissioned by architect Julia Morgan to create a complete tile environment for William Randolph Hearst’s famed home and grounds in San Simeon. The exhibit will feature some of those very tiles, as well as the work the dynamic duo completed in the Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and Moderne styles. Keeping in the same vein of never-before-seen art on exhibit, “The Nature of William S. Rice: Arts and Crafts Painter and Printmaker” opens Feb. 22 and runs through May 17 and will feature rare pieces from the collection of artist and naturalist William S. Rice. Rice was a prolific painter of the California landscape when he moved West in 1900, but he’s perhaps best known as a printmaker and the author of two definitive books on the classic Japanese art of ukiyo-e PREVIEWS page 58

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PREVIEWS FROM page 57 (woodblock printing, or “pictures of the floating world”). Is the chilly winter weather getting you down? Why not boogie the blues away with Tom Rigney & Flambeau in concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26? The groovy group specializes in fiery Cajun and zydeco two-steps, low-down blues, and funky New Orleans tunes that have made them a definitive favorite at the Sacramento Music Festival for years. Need a drink to loosen up your dancing feet? Enjoy Happy Hour before the concert at the Crocker Cafe by Supper Club from 4 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 for museum members, $18 for students/youths and $20 for nonmembers. For tickets and more information on all Crocker events, call 808-1182 or go to crockerartmuseum.org The Crocker Art Museum is at 216 O St.

MUSICAL MÉLANGE Where can you hear the floating notes of flutes as well as the toetapping tunes of Gypsy Jazz? Sacramento Community Concerts offers both in one dynamic, kooky concert at 3 p.m. on Feb. 8 at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Part I will feature the Camellia City Flute Choir, under the direction of Marty Melicharek since its founding in 1998. Lend an ear to its haunting, unusual and unique collection of contrabass, bass and alto flutes. Part II will get your blood flowing with a performance by Hot Club Faux Gitane, an acoustic Gypsy Jazz-style swing band that specializes in traditional Gypsy tunes, jazz standards and original compositions. The group is composed of five talented musicians who play guitar, acoustic bass, mandolin, bassoon, clarinet, melodica and saxophone. For tickets and more information, go to sccaconcerts.org Westminster Presbyterian Church is at 1300 N St.

50th class reunion this year, get a head start on the festivities and check out the reunion website to find out more and connect with old classmates before the official reunion on Oct. 24 and 25 at the Red Lion Woodlake. Reunion organizer Gail Harris Thearle is trying to get in touch with all SHS Class of ’65 alumni, so give her a call at call at 215-8042, go to classreport.org/usa/ca/sacramento/ shs/1965 or email her at gail.thearle@ gmail.com The class reunion will be held from 6 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, Oct. 24, followed by a brunch the next day. The Red Lion Woodlake is at 500 Leisure Lane.

The exhibition “Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne: Paris 1880-1910” starts the month off with a bang on Feb. 1 and will be on display through April 26 at the Crocker Art Museum

RAW DEAL See it here first! Check out emerging artist Timothy Mulligan’s first solo exhibition “Raw, Real & Re-imagined” at the Alex Bult Gallery from Feb. 12 through March 7. After graduating from California State University Sacramento, Mulligan studied as a printmaker and started experimenting with watercolors, pastels and pencil drawings. He has exhibited at the Crocker Art Museum, the Haggin Museum in Stockton, the California State Fair and other local galleries, and he’s won dozens of awards in national and regional art competitions, including first place in the California Gold category of the KVIE Art Auction. Hobnob with Mulligan in person at the preview reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb.12 or at the Second Saturday opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14. For more information, call 476-5540 or go to alexbultgallery.com The Alex Bult Gallery is at 1114 21st St., Suite B in midtown.

CLASS OF ’65 Calling all alumni of the Sacramento High School Class of 1965! As you’ll be celebrating your

ILP FEB n 15

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

Check out emerging artist Timothy Mulligan’s first solo exhibition “Raw, Real & Reimagined” at the Alex Bult Gallery from Feb. 12 through March 7

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More Than Beer TWO NEW BARS OFFER GREAT FOOD ALONG WITH SPORTS AND SUDS

BY GREG SABIN RESTAURANT INSIDER

f you’re looking for a spot to catch a game or throw some darts or just throw a few back

with a ragtag gang of revelers, odds are you don’t think about grabbing some well-made food while you’re at it. The average corner pub or sports bar doesn’t spend much time curating a gastropub menu, sourcing local ingredients or hiring well-trained chefs to execute a culinary vision. More often than not, you’re likely to get a pile of frozen bits dumped in the fryolator and served with a side of special bottled sauce, each item chosen from the regional restaurant supplier for its price point and shelf life and not much else. It’s refreshing that two operations have opened in the past few months that manage to balance well-executed cuisine with giant flat screens, craft cocktails with American macrobrews,

Stop by Field House and enjoy Rally Nachos while watching a game of your favorite sport

and cheese boards with shuffleboards. Field House American Sports Pub—This sports bar comes from the ownership group that brought you one of America’s best bars (according to Esquire Magazine, no less). The trio of personalities that made Shady Lady Saloon a success turned their sights toward other projects last year. Field House was one. Located on Fulton Avenue in the former home of Mandango’s Sports Bar & Grill, Field House is a welcome update on the sports bar concept. You can still find a wall of big-screens

ILP FEB n 15

tuned to everything from college

fried chunks of snapper are a welcome

order, this titanic treat starts with

football to more college football, and

treat.

a quart-sized Mason jar filled with

you’ll still find a shuffleboard table

Burgers are finely crafted using

spicy blend of tomato juice and vodka.

and a row of dartboards. But you’ll

a beautiful ground beef mix and

Then, a handful of pickled green

also find a bar stocked with fine

ethereal fresh buns. Wings are

beans and asparagus is thrown in

wines, craft beers and the fixings to

well above average and come with

the mix. A skewer of pearl onion,

make exquisite cocktails.

your choice of sauce: traditional

olive and cherry tomato is added,

The most surprising thing,

American hot sauce or something

along with a skewer of shrimp and

however, is a menu that—while not

more international like spicy Thai or

pickled egg. Next, a bacon-wrapped

too creative at first glance—pays

Vietnamese sauce.

sausage is skewered and added to the

off with expert preparation and fine

The standout is the Full Court

party. Finally, a petite hamburger—a

ingredients. A dish of fish and chips

Press, a 32-ounce bloody mary

slider—is set atop yet another skewer

gets a bump with housemade tartar

garnished with an entire meal of

and proudly driven into the beverage

sauce and hand-cut fries, and the pan-

skewers. The perfect one-stop brunch

like a Spanish flag planted by some

Couch potato no more.

The dining room at Field House

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mustachioed conquistador in a bygone

tables are a bit rough, being made

age. The whole thing costs $18 and

of concrete and hard woods, but the

fills you up like no other beverage/

ample sunlight coming through the

meal you’re likely to encounter.

windows and the commodious patio

Given the owners’ experience and

out back are bound to be favorites

successes, they’ve made a smart

once the spring sunshine starts to

decision by not going full gastropub

make an appearance.

here. This is, after all, a sports bar,

The beer selection is impressive

and quirky, challenging food is not

and probably the best in the

the right fit. Instead, smartly, they’ve

neighborhood next to Capitol Beer

crafted a comfortable menu and

and Tap Room. The selections are

let the cooking do the talking. Well

almost all California brews, with a

played.

few Rocky Mountain choices sprinkled

Field House American Sports Pub is at 1310 Fulton Ave.; 487-1045; fieldhousesac.com

INSIDE PUBLICATIONS

through. The menu is simple and straightforward, with sandwiches and bar appetizers the order of the day.

Duke’s Plates & Pints—Open in

But little touches like housemade

Arden Town Center since November,

ketchup, locally sourced sausages and

Duke’s Plate & Pints already has

surprisingly excellent sliders make

a growing legion of fans from the

Dukes a lot more than a beer bar.

nearby Arden Park and Wilhaggin

If you live in Arden Arcade, don’t

neighborhoods. Featuring a deep,

be surprised to hear more and more

diverse selection of beers on tap and

of your friends ask, “Grab a pint at

some surprisingly good food, the joint

Dukes?”

has all the makings of a local favorite. Taking over the former digs of Beach Hut Deli, Duke’s simplified the

Dukes Plates & Pints is at 510 La Sierra Drive; 514-8430; dukesplatesandpints.com

layout and really opened up the room. Unfortunately, some of the stools and

Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com n

ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

INSIDE’S

Midtown

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

Aioli Bodega Espanola L D $$ Full Bar Patio Andalusian cuisine served in a casual European atmosphere

Biba Ristorante 2801 Capitol Ave. 455-2422 L D $$$ Full Bar Upscale Northern Italian cuisine served a la carte • Biba-restaurant.com

Buckhorn Grill 1801 L St. 446-3757 L D $$ Wine/Beer A counter service restaurant with high-quality chicken, char-roasted beef, salmon, and entrée salads

Café Bernardo 2726 Capitol Ave. 443-1180 1431 R St. 930-9191

1230 20th St. 444-0307

Kasbah Lounge 2115 J St. 442-4388 D Full Bar $$ Middle Eastern cuisine in a Moroccan setting

Lucca Restaurant & Bar 1615 J St. 669-5300 L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Patio Mediterranean cuisine in a casual, chic atmosphere • Luccarestaurant.com

Moxie 2028 H St. 443-7585 D $$-$$$ Eclectic menu in a boutique neighborhood setting

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

1215 19th St. 441-6022

2730 J St. 442-2552 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

2416 J St. 443-0440

D $$ Full Bar Chicago-style pizza, salads wings served in a family-friendly atmosphere • Chicagofirerestaurant.com

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

B L D $-$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Fresh Mexican food served in an upscale, yet familyfriendly setting • Ernestosmexicanfood.com

1806 Capitol Ave. 447-8646 L D $$ Gourmet pizza, pasta, salads in casual setting • Paesanos.biz

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

The Streets of London Pub

1217 18th St. 442-5858

1804 J St. 498-1388

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

Fox & Goose Public House

Tapa The World

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 1827 J Street 442-6678 B L $ Italian food in a casual grocery setting

ILP FEB n 15

Paesano’s Pizzeria

58 Degrees & Holding Co.

1001 R St. 443-8825

1716 L St. 443-7685

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

Art Preview

GALLERY ART SHOWS IN FEBRUARY

Red Dot Gallery presents a themeoriented group exhibition called California Scape: Beyond the Snapshot. Participating artists include Tim Mulligan, Margarita Chaplinska, Susan Ballenger, Leslie Philpott, Bud Gordon and Matt Bult. Shown left: “Highway 101” by Margarita Chaplinska. 2231 J Street, Ste. 101

An exhibit of the work of Trent Burkett, a potter, sculptor and professor of art, will be at Jay Jay Art. Show runs through Feb. 28. Shown above is a detail of a work by Burkett. 5520 Elvas Avenue; jayjayart.com ARTHOUSE on R presents “Popstractions” featuring the work of Sid and Donine Wellman. Exhibit runs Feb. 14 to March 10. Shown left: “Fly” by Sid Wellman. 1021 R Street, sidwellman.com

Artspace1616 will exhibit paintings by Alejandro Rubio and sculpture by Numan Begovic in February. Shown above: A work by Alejandro Rubio. 1616 Del Paso Boulevard

Animal House is the10th Annual Juried Fine Art Exhibition of Animal-themed Artworks at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center from Feb. 18 to March 8. Shown above: “Ahi” by Sandy Lindblad. 5330B Gibbons Drive, Carmichael

ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

French-inspired pastries, cakes and breads handcrafted on-site every morning by artisan bakers and chefs!

FRIDAYS Doughnut Day &

SUNDAY Croixnut Day (ﬂavor changes every week)

FRENCH TEA SERVICE $25/PERSON Set menu includes: tea sandwiches, assorted pastries, macaroon, tarts and choice of organic tea (reservation required)

Located on the corner of 9th & K in downtown Sacramento Mon-Fri 7-5, Sat-Sun 8-4 | 551-1500 | info@estellspatisserie.com

The Coconut Midtown 2502 J Street 440-1088 Lunch Delivery M-F and Happy Hour 4-6

Clark's Corner Restaurant 5641 J St.

L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Food with Thai Food Flair

L D Full Bar $$ American cuisine in a casual historic setting

The Waterboy

Clubhouse 56

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 L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cuisine served in an authentic artistic setting • zocolosacramento.com

723 56th. Street 454-5656

BLD Full Bar $$ American cuisine. HD sports, kid's menu, beakfast weekends

Evan’s Kitchen 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

EAST SAC 33rd Street Bistro

Buy one entrée and get a second entrée FREE!* *$16 maximum value. Seniors 55 and older, must present proof of age. Coupon required. Offer valid 1-1 through 3-31-2015. Not valid February 14, 2015 (Valentine’s Day.) May not be combined with any other offer or Fat Tuesday discount. Tax and gratuity not included.

1001 Front Street, Historic Old Sacramento 916-446-6768 www.fatcitybarandcafe.com

ILP FEB n 15

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

5723 Folsom Blvd. 457-3679 L D Full Bar $-$$ Classic Italian cuisine served in a traditional family-style atmosphere

Formoli's Bistro 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

Fat City Bar & Cafe

5090 Folsom Blvd. 739-1348

1001 Front St. 446-6768

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

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

ISL A N G O D H

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 B L D Full Bar $$$ Simple, seasonal, soulful • grangerestaurant.com

Hock Farm Craft & Provision 1415 L St. 440-8888

L D $$-$$ Full Bar Celebration of the region's rich history and bountiful terrain • Paragarys.com

Star Ginger 3101 Folsom Blvd. 231-8888 Asian Grill and Noodle Bar • starginger.com

Thai Palace Restaurant 3262 J St. 446-5353 L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Authentic Thai cuisine in a casual setting

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant 1111 J St. 442-8200 L D $$ Full Bar Upscale seafood, burgers in a clubby atmosphere • Mccormickandschmicks.com

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

(ALL FEBRUARY) LUNCH, DINNER AND HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS

ALSO FEATURING COCKTAIL SPECIALS, PAIRINGS AND FLIGHTS

WWW. ELLA DINING ROOM AND BAR.COM 1131 K STREET DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO 916.443.3772

1530 J St. 447-2112

DOWNTOWN

L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Japanese cuisine served in an upscale setting • Mikunisushi.com

400 L St. 321-9522

Morton’s Steakhouse

Foundation

L D $$ Full Bar American cooking in an historic atmosphere • foundationsacramento.com

Chops Steak Seafood & Bar

621 Capitol Mall #100 442-50

1117 11th St. 447-8900 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 D $$ Full Bar Relax with drinks and dinner in this stylish downtown space

Downtown & Vine

Rio City Café

Educational tasting experience of wines by the taste, flight or glass • downtownandvine.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

Heart-Shaped

D $$$ Full Bar Upscale American steakhouse • Mortons.com

Parlaré Eurolounge

1200 K Street #8 228-4518

Valentine s Day

1110 Front St. Old Sac 442-8226

L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Seasonal menu of favorites in a setting overlooking river • Riocitycafe.com

Fresh Strawberry Tart

Jewel wel B Box Cake

Our Mini-Cake...Perfect for 2

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

• Cupcakes • CakePops • Cookies • Cheesecake ke

Two of Hearts Tw Cake for Two C

1213 K St. 448-8900 L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Upscale American fare served in an elegant setting • Paragarys.com

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

2966 Freeport Boulevard • 442-4256 Visit freeportbakery.com

ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

Visit Land Park’s Newest Café

Vic’s Café

LAND PARK Casa Garden Restaurant 2760 Sutterville Road 452-2809 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

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

Fiona loves the “Hobbit” house her Dad built

Willie's Burgers 2415 16th St.444-2006

Innovative Designs and Remodels

1537 Howe Ave. 927-1014 L D $-$$ Authentic Moroccan cuisine, lunch &

ILP FEB n 15

916-826-1849

License No. 938975

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 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

Ristorante Piatti 571 Pavilions Lane 649-8885 L D $$ Full Bar Contemporary Italian cuisine in a casually elegant setting

Bella Bru Café

Sam's Hof Brau 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

3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 487-1331 L D $$ Full Bar Italian bistro in a casual setting • Cafevinoteca.com

L D $$ Full Bar Asian-influenced cuisine in a casual setting • Chinoiscitycafe.com

ImpactBuilders.org

Leatherby’s Family Creamery

dinner specials, belly dancing weekends • bestmoroccanfood.com

3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-8690

Call Impact Builders for your FREE estimate today!

L D Full Bar $$-$$ Fresh Mexican food served in a colorful family-friendly setting

Roxy

Chinois City Café

Decks, Porches, Kitchens & Bathrooms

D $$$ Wine/Beer Five-course gourmet demonstration dinner by reservation only • Thekitchenrestaurant.com

ARDENCARMICHAEL

Creating spaces for

gatherings & entertaining with beauty and comfort

2225 Hurley Way 568-7171

6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-9800

5038 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-2883

“Consider Our Impact”

The Kitchen

L D $ Great burgers and more. Open until 3 am weekends

Andaloussia

You’ll love what Neil can do for your home remodels

2535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 481-5225 L D $ Full Bar Made-to-order comfort food in a casual setting • Jacksurbaneats.com

3032 Auburn Blvd. 484-0139 2813 Fulton Ave. 484-6104

L D $ Full Bar Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Dine in or take out since 1986

3193 Riverside Blvd (Next to Vic’s Ice Cream) 475-1223 • cafevics.com

Jack’s Urban Eats

steakhouse • Ironsteaks.com

427 Broadway 442-4044

Between 3-6pm. Mention this ad. Expires 2/28/15.

B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio European-style gourmet café with salads, soup, spit-roasted chicken, desserts in a bistro setting • Ettores.com

La Rosa Blanca Taqueria

Jamie's Bar and Grill

*with purchase of any entreé

2376 Fair Oaks Blvd. 482-0708

13th Street and Broadway 737-5115

L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Upscale neighborhood

Free specialty coffee drink*

Ettore’s

427 Munroe in Loehmann's 485-3888 L D $$ Wine/Beer Featuring the great taste of Thai traditional specialties • sacthaihouse.com

Willie's Burgers 5050 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-5050L D $ Great burgers and more n

! !

! ! ! ! ! OUR AGENTS ARE HERE TO HELP. RE/MAX Gold shines in sales and productivity because our agents are extremely passionate about what they do. We bring top-quality service to your neighborhood. RE/MAX Gold agents are your trusted guides, offering informated advice and support. Whether searching for a new house or your dream !

home, call a RE/MAX Gold agent today.

MIDTOWN

SIERRRA OAKS

NATOMAS

ELK GROVE

FAIR OAKS

FOLSOM

2014 CAPITOL AVE. #100 SACRAMENTO, CA 95811 916.227.8155

3620 FAIR OAKS BLVD #300 SACRAMENTO, CA 95864 916.609.2800

2081 ARENA BLVD. #100 SACRAMENTO, CA 95834 916.285.1000

9280 W. STOCKTON BLVD #111 ELK GROVE, CA 95758 916.405.5200

5252 SUNRISE BLVD. #6 FAIR OAKS, CA 95628 916.537.2400

2340 E. BIDWELL STREET FOLSOM, CA 95630 916.948.8778

ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

Coldwell Banker PENDING

#1 IN CALIFORNIA

ADORABLE LAND PARK COTTAGE! Well maintained 2bd/1ba orig hm w/hrdwd ﬂrs, lrg kitch, nook, lndry rm, dual pane windows & all the expected charm! $350,000 LAURA MCKINSTRY 396-6308 CaBRE#: 01875991

SOLD

CURTIS PARK COLONIAL CRAFTSMAN! Magniﬁcent & spacious 4bd/2 bth w/all the vintage charm intact. Updtd Kitchen/baths & family rm for modern living. $649,000 STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787 TURN-KEY LAND PARK HOME! Spacious entry leads to a 3bd/2ba1663sqft hm! Lrg LR w/FP, frml DR & lovely kitch. Den w/French doors opens to pretty yrd. $565,000 LAURA MCKINSTRY 396-6308 CaBRE#: 01875991

PENDING

CURTIS PARK URBAN BUNGALOW! Rare 2bd/1.5ba beauty w/recently updtd bathrms & kitchen. Reﬁnished ﬂrs, carport & easy access to light rail & dwntwn! $369,900 STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787

CUTE COTTAGE! Many updates. Granite counter & new cabinets in kitch, lovely doors thu-out, enclosed patio & lovely yard plus. $439,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986

CUSTOM DUPLEX! Joined by separate 2 car garage. Each home is 3bd/2ba, approx 1800sqft (per seller) every thing on the .37 of an acre has been remodeled. $775,000 JAN LEVIN 341-7883 CaBRE#: 00672462 STUNNING REMODEL! 2/2 in Woodlake. Move in ready! Living room with ﬁreplace, remodeled kitchen and baths. Bonus ofﬁce/family room. $285,000 WENDI REINL 206-8709 CaBRE#: 01314052

HEART OF LAND PARK! Gorgeous 3bd/2ba w/ hrdwd ﬂrs, lrg LR w/FP & frml DR. Dual pane windows w/ plantation shutters. Lovely courtyard & gardens! $619,000 LAURA MCKINSTRY 396-6308 CaBRE#: 01875991

EAST SACRAMENTO'S EXCLUSIVE CONDO! Located in the Fab Forties. Rmdld w/state of the art modern decor & ﬁnishes. 3bd/2ba w/Quartz cntertops in kitch & baths. $519,000 KARIN LIBBEE 230-6521 CaBRE#: 01908304

STUNNING LAND PARK HOME! 3b2 baths, spacious kitch w/breakfast nook & dining rm w/built in's. There's even a 2 car garage. Close to everything! $479,000 WENDI REINL 206-8709

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Quintessential East Sac 2bd/1ba. Frml liv & din rms w/crown molding. Brkfst nk off kitch. Hrdwd ﬂrs. Interior lndry rm. THE WOOLFORD GROUP 834-6900 CaBRE#: 00680069, 01778361, 00679593 EAST SACRAMENTO! Cute 2bedrooms, 1 bath with large family room and large lot. THE POLLY SANDERS TEAM 341-7865 CaBRE#: 01158787

A DESIGNER’S HOME! Enjoy this warm beautiful 3bd, 2.5ba custom halfplex w/over 2500sqft in the gated community of Stillwater at Riverlake. $529,900 PAT VOGELI 207-4515 CaBRE#: 01908304

CHARMING & COMFORTABLE EAST SAC HOME! 3bd/2ba, wood ﬂrs, updtd kitch, open ﬂr pln, lrg master bdrm w/newer sliding doors to bckyrd. Detached garage opens to alley. $465,000 CORRINE COOK 952-2027 CaBRE#: 00676498

STUNNING SLP REMODEL! 3bed/3ba, 2000/sqft+, open ﬂoor plan, chef's kitchen, fam rm, 2 car garage, gorgeous yrd, close to the Zoo. Call for pricing. PALOMA BEGIN 628-8561 CaBRE#: 01254423

STYLISH “STRENG” BEAUTY! In the heart of Carmichael this 3 bd & 2 bath, with 1797sqft, has remodeled kitchen and shines with updates & located on a fabulous court too! JEANINE ROZA & SINDY KIRSCH 548-5799 or 730-7705 CaBRE#: 01365413/01483907 HOLLYWOOD PARK AREA! Adorable 2bdrm, 1bath w/Newly rmdld kitchen, updtd bathroom, refinished hrdwd flrs. Cozy little breakfast nook. Light & airy with spacious living room and dining room. Huge backyard. $269,950 KARIN LIBBEE 230-6521 CaBRE#: 00862357 THE L STREET LOFTS! City living w/concierge, quality finishes! 4 unique flr plans From the mid $300,000’s. Models Open W-M, 10a-5p. LStreetLofts.com. MICHAEL ONSTEAD 601-5699 CaBRE#: 01222608

METRO OFFICE 730 Alhambra Boulevard, Sacramento 916.447.5900

RENAISSANCE PARK! A New Home Community w/the essence of Sacramento at your ﬁngertips. Visit: www.newfaze. com/neighborhoods/renaissance-park. From the Low $200s CECIL WILLIAMS 718-8865 CaBRE#: 01122760

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