Inside landpark dec 2013 by Inside Publications

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LAND PARK CURTIS PARK HOLLYWOOD PARK SOUTH LAND PARK MIDTOWN DOWNTOWN

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SPACIOUS ELEGANCE Unique 3 or 4 bedroom 3 bath home with a lovely garden and pool; that also includes an additional lot in rear. Downstairs master with sitting area, ¿replace, walk-in closets. Large separate family room marvelous sunroom and remodeled kitchen with great storage. $1,200,000 PAMELA RICHARDS 716-3615

EXCEPTIONAL PROPERTY The “Didion House” in Poverty Ridge! 4 bedrooms 2 full baths and 2 half baths with 3rd Àoor media room that features state-of-the art equipment. Turn of the century woodwork and detailing; new kitchen and full basement. Beautifully updated! $1,650,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

ON THE RIVER Private levee and Sacramento River in your back yard. Boat dock possible. 3 bedrooms 2 baths, French doors to pool/waterfall, spa. Granite countertops in kitchen and handscraped wood laminate Àoors. RV parking, walking distance to Didion School. Vacation living every day! $449,000 CARLA HONEY 719-3319

pending

FANTASTIC CURTIS PARK Hard to ¿nd 4 bedroom 2 bath home in Curtis Park!! Master bedroom has a balcony overlooking the sparkling pool. Formal dining room and breakfast nook. Backyard is perfect for entertaining. Tree lined street - steps to Curtis Park. This truly is the perfect place to call home! $549,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

WALK TO DIDION SCHOOL A rare opportunity to live close to Didion School. This spacious home, 2264 square feet, has all new interior paint, Àooring, light ¿xtures, granite counter tops in kitchen and all 3 baths, new dishwasher, and new gas range. Huge family room is just waiting for fun and games! $360,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715

CURTIS PARK Feels so Good! Separate of¿ce/art studio over new garage (2006) has a full bath and is beautifully done. Main house oozes with pride of ownership. 3rd bedroom has been opened up and Àows so well. French doors open to spacious backyard. One of a kind! $449,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395

pending

4 BEDROOM LAND PARK 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. $359,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395, ERIN STUMPT 342-1372

NEWER POCKET HOME Perfect for busy life style, you can walk to grocery store, pharmacy, bank and restaurants. 3 bedroom 2½ baths close to river and parks. Home features 9 foot ceilings, designer tile, granite counter, master suite with huge master bath, low maintenance yard. $319,000 MONA GERGEN 247-9555

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QUALITY GREENHAVEN Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath home with many upgrades in the highly desired Didion school boundaries. New paint in and out, re¿nished and newly painted cabinets, tile bathroom Àoor and hardware. Updated kitchen; spacious yard with fruit tree, covered patio, auto sprinklers. Wow!!! $349,000 MONA GERGEN 247-9555

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COVER ARTIST Patt Illouli Patt Illouli is a full-time water color artist. After working many years as a graphic artist in Los Angeles, Patt moved to Asia and spent seven years teaching, traveling, and painting. In 2001 Patt returned to the states and settled in Sacramento where she started her successful house portrait business. EAST SACRAMENTO

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Marybeth Bizjak mbbizjak@aol.com M.J. McFarland Cindy Fuller, Daniel Nardinelli, Lyssa Skeahan 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 50,000 households in Sacramento. Printing and distribution costs are paid entirely by advertising revenue. We spotlight selected advertisers, but all other stories are determined solely by our editorial staff and are not influenced by advertising. No portion may be reproduced mechanically or electronically without written permission of the publisher. All ad designs & editorial—©

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Publisher's Desk.............................................................. ....7 Inside City Hall................................................................. 10 Life in the City .................................................................. 14 Volunteer Profile ............................................................... 15 Out About the Neighborhood ........................................... 17 Shoptalk .......................................................................... 20 Inside Our Schools ........................................................... 26 Local Heroes .................................................................... 28 Home Insight.................................................................... 32 Getting There ................................................................... 36 The Club Life .................................................................... 42 Inside Out........................................................................ 44 Meet Your Neighbor ......................................................... 46 Doing Good .................................................................... 48 Garden Jabber ................................................................ 50 Building Our Future .......................................................... 52 Pets & Their People ........................................................... 54 Real Estate Guide ............................................................. 56 Spirit Matters ................................................................... 58 Art Preview ...................................................................... 59 Have Inside Will Travel ..................................................... 60 Theatre Guide .................................................................. 61 Writing Life ...................................................................... 62 Conversation Piece ........................................................... 64 Napa Know-How ............................................................. 66 The i List .......................................................................... 67 Artist Spotlight ................................................................. 68 River City Previews ........................................................... 70 Restaurant Insider ............................................................. 74 Dining Guide ................................................................... 76

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Park Renewal Takes Hold THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, A COMMUNITY GEM THRIVES

BY CECILY HASTINGS PUBLISHER’S DESK

ust over two years ago, my friend Lisa Schmidt and I embarked on a journey to save East Sacramento’s historic Clunie Community Center from closing and to ensure that McKinley Rose Garden would become a world-class public garden. It has taken far more time and energy than we ever expected, but the results are far more than we anticipated. As they say, no pain, no gain. Since assuming a five-year lease from the city for Clunie in October 2012, we have made remarkable

progress, most of which I credit directly to Lisa. For the past year, she has worked more than full time—on a volunteer basis—to transition the center’s operations to nonprofit management. She does it all: manages the finances and books, shows the facilities to prospects, attends events to make sure all goes as planned, manages the weekly schedule and works with our facility manager, Joe Pane, to manage our four part-time employees. She also handles more mundane chores like cleaning stains out of the carpet and dealing with plugged toilets—things definitely not on her bucket list! By establishing a new website and promoting the center’s rental facilities through our publications and other methods, we increased rental revenues by 150 percent. This increase leaves the facility essentially self-sustaining, something we had anticipated would take far longer than a year. When we inherited the building, it was a mess, the victim of deferred maintenance for many years. The last time the city improved the building was 17 years earlier.

We determined that a major facelift was needed to make the facility attractive to renters. Rental fees are the sole source of support for the center’s operation. So in 2012, a number of generous small and large donors came forward, and we raised $120,000. We then completely restored the lobby, Grand Hall and stage, East Sac History Room and Alhambra Room and converted a former city office space into the Reagan Board Room. The project included new paint, carpeting, lighting, furnishings and wood refinishing. Work was completed in January of this year. We are excited to be in negotiations with a local coffee roaster to place a coffee cart on the patio in front of Clunie to serve library, park and event users. This is the final part of our plan to make Clunie a true center of the community. While Clunie Community Center is Lisa’s baby, McKinley Rose Garden is mine. I live across the street from the garden and can see it from my second-floor home office window. We took over the garden lease in May

2012. The city had just completed infrastructure work on the garden, including new ADA-compliant concrete walkways, irrigation system and turf. But the garden plantings were in shambles.

Countless times this past year, Lisa and I looked at each other, laughed and repeated, “No good deed goes unpunished.” We took on the responsibility of raising $135,000 to replace more than half of the garden’s 600 rosebushes, install hundreds of new boxwood edging plants and plant the eight empty perennial flower beds in a botanical garden theme. We also refurbished 26 park benches with new Trex slats and had the iron bases PUBLISHER page 8

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FROM page 7 cleaned and recoated. Earlier, in 2011, we built a new brick monument sign with funds we raised from home tours. We also created an Adopt-A-Garden program, which allows donors to dedicate a small plaque in memory or honor of a loved one. The money raised through the program helps support the garden. It has been very successful and accounts for about 20 percent of the annual cost to maintain the garden. While rental revenues from weddings and other special events cover a good portion of the cost of a private weekly lawn and garden service, volunteers take full responsibility for the care of the rosebushes. Led by Ellie Longanecker—a rosarian and president of Sacramento Rose Society—volunteers fertilize, deadhead and prune the 1,200 bushes. I lead a group of a dozen volunteers who show up weekly to deadhead the roses. Sacramento Sheriff’s work release teams are also important to the garden’s maintenance, coming in groups of 40 or more to work several hours once a month. We provide the training, tools and supervision. This past summer, the Watkins family provided funds to construct a beautiful new wrought-iron shade gazebo in the center of the garden. It was built by local iron artist Bill Kuyper and fashioned after the existing iron arches installed more than a decade ago to support the climbing roses. While Clunie has been made selfsustaining, the rose garden presents a different situation, given it is still a public garden open to all to enjoy. Even though we have raised rental revenues by more than 150 percent, we still need approximately $10,000 in donated funds each year to keep the garden looking its best. Some of that money will go to hire a college horticulture student as a summer intern to oversee the garden, a job I have been performing. With our growing business, I cannot continue to devote the extensive volunteer time again next year. But I do plan to manage the intern. Keep in mind that, just five years ago, the city had two full-time park employees caring for the garden. Most

DEC n 13

public gardens of this size are run by much larger and better-staffed organizations. The summer intern will be our “boots on the ground” in the garden, overseeing maintenance and volunteer efforts and developing a manual on the garden’s care. If our nonprofit ever needs to turn the garden back to the city, city staffers will better understand what it takes to keep it going. Along with our rose garden volunteerism, we also organized more than 5,000 volunteer hours of general park maintenance with our McKinley Park Volunteer Corps. The arson that destroyed a portion of the McKinley Park playground was an added burden. At the request of City Councilmember Steve Cohn, we agreed to do a commemorative brick fundraising project. Led by Cathy Diepenbrock, the project raised $40,000 for the new community-built playground this past summer. We were grateful to receive Councilmember Cohn’s District 3 Volunteer of the Year Award in June. While I shared the award with Lisa, I believe she is far more deserving than me. Our arrangement is considered a public-private partnership and has worked relatively well as we have developed relationships with the top city park managers. This past year, the city repainted the small building in the rose garden and the exterior trim at Clunie at our request. City staff has been receptive of our efforts, and we are grateful. After numerous air-conditioning failures last summer, we are asking the city to replace the air-conditioning system this coming year. The biggest hassles we have faced came from a few members of the public who misunderstand situations. Early on, a preservation group accused us of endangering seniors and children by not opening Clunie’s restrooms to the public as the city had done previously. Our insurance carrier required the restrooms to have access limited via a key code to renters, event attendees and library patrons only. The security of visitors to the building had to be our first priority, and we were not in a position to accept the considerable risks. Plus, we pay to have the restrooms cleaned six days a week for our renters, a task

Unwrap Something Special This Holiday Celebrate the spirit of outstanding tailored pieces for the discerning male the city had performed just three times a week. When we removed old, diseased roses along the front entrance walk to Clunie and replaced them with lovely white rose trees, a woman complained to the city that we had removed some of the finest rosebushes in the city! Another time last spring, when we were unable to turn down the surging heat inside the building—the controls are located downtown in a city facility—the city got complaints that we were leaving the doors open and wasting energy. Countless times this past year, Lisa and I looked at each other, laughed and repeated, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Moving forward, we have established a fundraising campaign called the McKinley Park Renewal Fund, which we are kicking off this month. Donations will be used to preserve and renew McKinley Park. Our goals and projects for the next year include funding ongoing McKinley Rose Garden maintenance needs, a summer horticultural student internship, and tree and shrub fertilization and replacement. We also

are working on designing creative “parklets” within the park and increasing ADA accessibility parkwide. One of our goals for the rose garden and Clunie has been that this public-private partnership needs to be sustainable without Lisa or me. Last month, we hired a part-time reservation coordinator, Katie Talbot. We think that our rental revenue next year will bring in enough funds so that we can give Katie more hours, cutting back on the time Lisa spends with renters. We appreciate gifts of every size and work to make sure every last dollar is well spent. You can be a Friend for a $75 annual donation. Colorful McKinley Park banners will acknowledge donors who give $5,000 or more. Visit mckinleyparkcenter. org to donate online via Paypal. You can also send a check to Friends of East Sacramento, 3104 O St. #222, Sacramento 95816. Consider it a gift to your community this holiday season! Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com. n

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Red Ink PROPOSED ARENA BOND WOULD ADD TO CITY'S RISING DEBT

BY CRAIG POWELL INSIDE CITY HALL

n January, city treasurer Russ Fehr issued a stunning report on the city’s expanding debt obligations: The city was approaching $2 billion in debt, half in outstanding borrowings, the other half in rapidly rising liabilities for employee pensions and retiree health care costs. The city’s ratio of total debt to general fund revenue ($372 million) ranks among the highest in the country, which puts the city at greater risk of insolvency, particularly during economic downturns (like the one we’re slowing exiting).

Many Sacramentans have been facing similar challenges: rising debt and falling incomes. Most have responded by halting their borrowing and paying down their debt. That’s what rational people do. That’s not what our city has been doing. Instead, it has launched the biggest borrowing binge in city history with little to no regard for the future risks to basic services or taxpayers. City leaders seem to have one overriding preoccupation: how to find new ways to borrow more money—much, much more money. The latest city borrowing plan, as revealed by documents prepared by the city’s investment banker, Goldman Sachs, and obtained by city watchdog Eye on Sacramento, is to borrow as much as $304 million to finance a $212 million cash subsidy for the proposed new arena—in addition to noncash arena subsidies that include 3,700 free parking garage spaces (almost half the city’s total garage spaces), six electronic billboard sites and seven parcels of valuable real estate with a collective value of

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more than $138 million, according to an EOS analysis. Fehr said he expects the final amount of the arena bond to be a bit less than $304 million, perhaps in the range of $280 million. But he also recently released a snapshot summary of the proposed arena bond that still reflects the city’s originally projected $304 million bond offering. The city claims the noncash subsidies have a value of just $46 million and that the total subsidy is only $258 million, the subsidy figure frequently used by The Sacramento Bee. Part of the city’s claim: that the 3,700 garage spaces it intends to give away to the Kings owners have no value, despite a parking study that the city commissioned last year that found that an average city garage space has a value of more than $15,000, which would put the value of the garage-spaces giveaway at about $58 million. The city hasn’t bothered to obtain appraisals of the seven properties it plans to give away, even though two prominent Sacramento developers have privately been warning that one of the city properties, 60 acres adjoining Business 80 near Haggin Oaks Golf Course, has a market value four to five times higher than the value assigned to it by the city. Another parcel is being used by Crocker Art Museum as a parking lot. The city claims it’s worth just $490,000 even though the Crocker has been netting $200,000 annually using it as a parking lot. Why is the city resisting calls for appraisals? Because they don’t want the public to know that the properties are being grossly

undervalued and the actual subsidies are much higher than advertised. A citizens lawsuit is pending that asserts that the city is defrauding the public by intentionally understating the amount of the arena subsidy. After EOS representatives reviewed the Goldman Sachs projections and conferred with Fehr, the arena financing plan started to come into focus. The city is projecting that the $304 million bond would be issued at an interest rate of 5.75 percent and would require total payments of $770 million, of which $466 million would be interest. Put another way, in order to obtain $212 million cash to subsidize the arena, the city will be paying back $3.20 for every $1 cash subsidy, $2.20 of which would be interest cost, making it almost certainly the most expensive and inefficient borrowing ever issued by the city. Why is it so expensive? First, instead of deploying a traditional 25-year bond with fully amortizing principal and interest payments, the city plans to issue a long-term 35year bond with interest-only “teaser” payments for the first seven years. In its eighth year, it would shift to partially amortizing payments for 13 years and wouldn’t become fully amortizing until the bond’s 21st year. Annual payments would start at $17.5 million, rise to $19.9 million and reach $23.9 million for the bond’s final 16 years. Why borrow $304 million when the city needs $212 million to fund the cash portion of its arena subsidy, a

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Your Neighborhood Professionals Holiday Layaway We will store your holiday purchases till Christmas Eve. 916-254-RIDE | 5522 H St | Sacramento CA 95819 916-424-2453 | 354 Florin Rd | Sacramento CA 95831 FROM page 10 startling $94 million difference? First, the city is borrowing more in order to have the cash to make interest-only bond payments in the early years, comparable to an individual taking out cash advances on a credit card to make the minimum payments on that same credit card. Second, the city is borrowing almost $30 million to fund a third of the annual $9 million “backfill” to the general fund to replace the hit to the general fund caused by diverting city parking profits to arena bond payments in the early years—a general fund subsidy grossly mislabeled by city staff as “city parking revenue” in its key March 26 report to the council, perhaps to hide from the public the actual source of the funds. The rest of the borrowing is to create reserves, fund future parking garage repairs and cover bond issuance costs of $6 million. EOS estimates that because the city is not using a traditional 25-year term bond with fully amortizing annual payments, but instead plans to issue an exotic 35-year bond that doesn’t start to fully amortize for 21 years, the city will incur $196 million in higher, unnecessary interest costs over its term, a stunning 73 percent hike in public costs. EOS further estimates that the average Sacramento family’s share of arena bond costs will amount to $5,200. If a traditional 25-year bond were used, the average Sacramento family’s cost share would be $3,900. An NBA arena typically becomes functionally obsolete just 18 to 20 years after it’s built. As a result,

DEC n 13

annual payments will likely be payable on the bond for 15 to 17 years after the new arena has reached functional obsolescence, putting the city in the likely position of having to finance a second arena (to keep the team) while still making jumbo payments on the first one (if it even still exists). By that time, of course, every current councilmember and senior city manager will have almost certainly moved on. But city taxpayers will still be here, scrambling to handle the arena deal’s heavy legacy costs. There is also a major risk that bond costs will be much higher than projected. When Fehr floated the broad outlines of the arena financing plan in March, he estimated that the bond would be sold at an interest rate of 5.5 to 5.75 percent. Since then, the municipal bond market has been hammered, with long-term interest rates rising 2 percent over the summer before easing back somewhat in the past few months. (Market rates remain 1 percent higher than what they were when Fehr made his interest prediction.) Muni bond mutual funds have experienced 22 consecutive weeks of net cash outflows, reducing the demand for such bonds and driving up rates. With fears of the Federal Reserve easing back on its ultra-easy monetary policy, the recent Detroit bankruptcy and increasing concerns over the burden of retiree costs on struggling California cities (including Sacramento), the muni market is in a period of major volatility entailing a very real risk of further rate hikes. Instead of modifying his interest projection to reflect higher current

market rates, Fehr is sticking by his 5.75 percent interest rate prediction for the bond, claiming he anticipated the rise in rates over the past six months. If the arena bond were to be issued at a rate 1.5 percent higher than Fehr’s March prediction, the higher rate will drive up taxpayer costs by $121.5 million, according to EOS findings. Total interest costs would soar to $587 million and total payments would hit $892 million. Taxpayers would be on the hook for paying back $4.20 for every $1 of arena cash subsidy, $3.20 of which would be interest costs. Bond payments will be reliant primarily upon parking profits. If parking profits aren’t sufficient, the city’s hotel tax would be tapped. (The city’s general fund currently nets $4 million per year from the hotel tax.) Finally, if both of those sources aren’t enough, the general fund will be on the hook. Goldman Sachs optimistically assumes that parking revenues will rise 50 percent in the first three years of the bond. City officials say they have plans to aggressively raise parking revenues by raising hourly meter rates by 40 percent in the first two years, significantly expanding the number and location of parking meters, extending the hours of meter operation and expanding the number of neighborhoods subject to permit-only parking, not because such permits raise city revenue (they’re free), but because the city captures major fine revenue from hapless folks who park in permit-only areas without the requisite permit.

The city has not discussed, or perhaps even considered, the potential impact of major hikes in meter rates and a broad expansion of meters on Sacramento businesses and residents. Midtown businesses (and city revenues) will be hurt if cost-conscious shoppers elect to dodge higher parking costs by shopping in meter-free areas outside of town. While an updated parking report is expected this month, we don’t know whether it will include an analysis of the negative impact of such aggressive new meter policies on businesses and patrons. The city’s plan to issue $304 million in arena bonds is not the only major borrowing the city has done this year or is planning. Earlier this year, the city issued $250 million in new utility revenue bonds (pushing total city debt well past $2 billion), the first bond sale in a plan to issue $2 billion in utilities bonds over the next 15 years to install water meters, replace water and sewer pipes and rehab the city’s water plant. Critics of the plan, including Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber, urged the city to use far less debt and finance most of the improvements using less expensive pay-as-you-go water and sewer rate hikes. Last week, Fehr outlined to the city council a plan to issue $45 million of new debt to finance a rehab of the Community Center Theater, which would impose a new $3 million annual burden on the general fund. Next door, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau has promised to bring to the council a plan for a major expansion of the Convention

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Center, despite the fact that the center is currently losing $16 million annually, according to a September EOS report. (Maybe the city should hand the Convention Center over to Kings owners instead of other city properties.) Cost estimates for the proposed center expansion have been as high as $220 million, according to media reports. Meanwhile, CalPERS has issued advisories to California cities to expect to pay much higher annual pension contributions in future years.

Sacramento is facing a pension cost hike in the neighborhood of $30 million annually, and city budget director Leyne Milstein has stated that the city’s existing revenue sources will not be enough to fund the added expense. City manager John Shirey has advised that the city’s retiree health care cost liability is increasing by $30 million each year. Adding to the city’s future financial stress is the expiration of the Measure U sales tax hike in six years, which will punch a further $27 million annual hole in the general fund.

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In short, the city, while barely emerging from the recession, is rapidly building a tower of debt: pension debt, retiree health care debt, utilities debt, parking meter debt, theater debt and, unless voters intervene, very expensive arena debt. Meanwhile, the general fund, the lifeblood of core city services, is facing mounting burdens with no identifiable means of meeting them. This is how cities go bankrupt. To read EOS’s latest report on the city’s proposed arena bond financing, go to eyeonsacramento.org. You can download the arena initiative at ourcityourvote.com. The deadline for voters to sign the arena initiative and submit it to Voters for a Fair Arena Deal is Dec. 7. Craig Powell is a local attorney, businessman, community activist and president of Eye on Sacramento, a civic watchdog and policy group. He can be reached at craig@ eyeonsacramento.org or 718-3030. n

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The Long Goodbye I’LL TAKE ‘AWESOME’ FOR A THOUSAND, ALEX

BY JESSICA LASKEY LIFE IN THE CITY

f you’ve ever found yourself shouting obscure trivia answers at the television—or at “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek—you can appreciate how cool it must be to do that in person. Land Park resident Scott Claremon gets to just that on an episode of “Jeopardy!” that airs Monday, Dec. 2. But it’s not all just fun and games. Claremon had to go through an extensive vetting process to get to share the stage with everyone’s favorite cagey Canadian. “To get on the show, I had to pass an online 50-question test,” Claremon says. “Then I was invited to an inperson tryout/audition. They hold tryouts in around 10 different cities in a given year, and they happened to be doing one in Sacramento this year, so I didn’t have to travel too far. At the tryout, I took another 50-question test, and then they brought us up in groups of three to play mock games with the buzzers and a game board and to do a short interview.” Although it sounds intense, Claremon had been preparing for this day his whole life. “Growing up, my family would often watch ‘Jeopardy!’ together,” he recalls. “We’re all good at trivia

DEC n 13

A scene from the Sacramento Zoo's reptile house

games. And the older my siblings and I got, the more competitive it got. At some point, I figured if I was good enough to win against my family, I was good enough to compete on the show itself.” He was indeed. And now he gets to represent Sacramento on the country’s favorite quiz show. No pressure, right? “I’m a little nervous about how I look and sound on TV,” Claremon admits, “especially during the alwaysawkward short interview with Alex Trebek.” But he’s got a clever coping tool. “I have a lot of pictures of my daughter Haley on my phone, which I found myself looking at often when nervously waiting around,” Claremon says. You can be sure that when the episode airs, Haley and her mom,

Carrie, will be cheering on their dad and husband … and probably even yelling at the screen.

TO UPGRADE OR NOT TO UPGRADE? This is the question the city of Sacramento has been asking itself lately regarding the rehabilitation of William A. Carroll Amphitheatre in the middle of William Land Park. Home to the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, the historic structure was constructed as a project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and ’40s. The stage was added in the 1960s, but the updates and upgrades have all but ceased since then. The amphitheater doesn’t have its own restrooms, nor does it have a box

office, permanent technical capacity for lighting and sound, storage or dressing rooms. It doesn’t even have seat backs, relying instead on bench seating and a plethora of picnic blankets stretched on the grass at the foot of the stage come show time. A group of amphitheater aficionados, including Land Park residents, city officials and theater troupes, are in the process of raising an initial $150,000 to get started giving this local treasure the makeover it deserves. The total project could cost close to $3 million. “We don’t have anything else like it in Sacramento,” says Phil Harvey, an architect who is part of the rehabilitation effort. “We want to enhance it for not only the people coming to the facility, but also the

Bring a nonperishable food item or new and unwrapped toy to the zoo during December and receive $1 off regular admission. The food will be donated to River City Food Bank, and the toys will be donated to Toys for Tots, ensuring that needy families get a chance at a happy holiday, too. For all those who find it hard to get up and get dressed on those lazy pre- and post-Christmas days, don’t! On Tuesday, Dec. 24., from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., keep your PJs on and head over the zoo for free-admission Pajama Party day. No charge and no real clothes? Christmas Eve couldn’t get any better.

CARL BARNES HELPING SENIORS SAVE THEIR STORIES By Jessica Laskey

f you’ve noticed a film crew at the Sierra 2 Senior Center on 24th Street recently, you’ve probably seen Carl Barnes. Barnes coordinates the My Story project, an ambitious program that aims to capture the stories of the center’s seniors on DVD to save them for future generations. Barnes was teaching a pole walking class for seniors at the center when the idea first came up. “It didn’t take long for us to branch out and buy equipment and learn the process of filmmaking to make the project happen,” he says. Barnes is now the group’s resident filmmaking expert. “We started out by taking a class in iMovie,” Barnes says. “The teacher suggested I study the next step, a program called Final Cut Pro—the biggies the professionals use. I got really interested. Now I’m studying filmmaking at Sacramento City College, and I bring everything I learn back to the group.” The members of the My Story team act as “story coaches” for program participants, asking questions and getting a basic narrative together as a guide for the family member who will be acting as interviewer for the final filming.

“People are more relaxed when they’re talking to someone they know,” Barnes says. “We can be the guide and then let the family member do the talking.” Once Barnes and his creative crew put the footage through postproduction—editing the frames, adding music and family photos— they present the complete package to the “star of the show,” as Barnes puts it. The service is free, though the group accepts donations to perpetuate the program.

“The process belongs to that person,” Barnes says. “Of course, we keep an archive copy so we can watch it as a group to see how we can improve. We’re always trying to get better at what we do.”

performers, and make it a modern facility in a historic setting.” The amphitheater would be revamped so that it can accommodate other local events, like weddings and graduations, as well as offer the Shakespeare festival a more permanent and functional home. Harvey says the project could generate enough revenue to help maintain the park itself and make it even more attractive to residents citywide.

Do you want in on the effort? Donations can be made through the city’s Gifts to Share website (which administers funds for nonprofits and their causes throughout the city) at giftstoshareinc.org. Click on the “Donate” button and designate a gift to the William Land Park Amphitheater Renovation. Checks made payable to Gifts to Share can be sent to the organization at City Hall, 915 I St., Third Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

NAUGHTY AND MICE

If you like things with scales instead of fur, you’ll be thrilled to know that the Reptile House has some new residents.

For more information on the Sierra 2 Senior Center, go to sierra2.org. The Sierra 2 Center for the Arts and Community is at 2791 24th St. n

It’s the holiday season, and Santa Claus is making his list and checking it twice—for the animal kingdom! Don’t miss Holiday Magic at Sacramento Zoo on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. You’ll be able to watch your favorite zoo dwellers unwrap animal-friendly holiday goodies. Feeling in the giving spirit after watching all that gift unwrapping?

Your house is probably about to burst with friends and family at this time of year—and so is the zoo. A new female bongo recently joined the resident herd. At 2 years old, Sassafras is smaller than her adult counterparts, so she’ll be easy to see. And maybe someday soon, you’ll see even smaller bongos running around as part of the zoo’s plan to expand the herd. If you like things with scales instead of fur, you’ll be thrilled to know that the Reptile House has some new residents as well: the Madagascar giant day gecko (which can reach 10 inches in length by adulthood); the Oustalet’s chameleon, which will test even the keenest eye with its tricky camouflage; and the blood python. The chameleons are very skittish, so you might notice the one-way-vision window treatment. Your view is slightly shaded, while the chameleons are treated to a vibrant jungle scene to make them feel at home. The blood

LIFE page 16

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python, on the other hand, is hard to miss at six feet long and 24 pounds. The zoo is at 3930 W. Land Park Drive. For more information, call 8085888 or go to saczoo.com.

LUNCH AND A SHOW People might get inspired to donate money, food and clothes during the holiday season, but some people are busy doing it all year ’round. Casa Garden Restaurant draws in diners with monthly menus and exciting entertainment to better serve those in need. All proceeds and tips go to Sacramento Children’s Home. To join in on the generosity, be sure to make a reservation for Dreams of Christmas Past on Thursday, Dec. 5, with seatings at 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Mealtime music will be provided by VoCALs, a troupe of local musicians. Choose from lemon chicken and chipotle Caesar salad with shrimp. For reservations, call 452-2809. Casa Garden Restaurant is at 2760 Sutterville Road.

FIND AN UGLY SWEATER AND RUN Don your running shoes, an ironic mustache and your ugliest Christmas sweater for the aptly named Ugly Sweater Run on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 11 a.m. at William Land Park. There will be holiday-themed stations, photo booths, giant

DEC n 13

inflatables and plenty of holiday music to keep your blood pumping. No need to bring Gatorade—sip the complimentary hot chocolate instead. And as a reward for running, finish the day with your choice of a pint of Samuel Adam’s Winter Lager, Boston Lager or Angry Orchard Hard Cider. There will be awards for best real mustache, best fake mustache, best beard, worst sweater and best sweater following the 3.1-mile race. Tickets are $39. To register, go to theuglysweaterrun.com and search for Sacramento.

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Preschool Paradise ITS A SUNNY DAY CHILDREN'S GARDEN IN SOUTH LAND PARK

BY GREG BROWN OUT ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD

here’s a good, old-fashioned preschool in South Land Park called A Child’s Garden. Once you open the school’s spectacularly carved wooden gate, you enter a place of creativity and imagination. A Child’s Garden is an art-based, Waldorf-inspired, home-based preschool where the children learn through play. It’s run by Alison Alston, better known as Miss Sunny. Alston wears a vintage white apron the kids can hide behind or wrap themselves up in. “It’s a comforting thing for some children,” she says.

Miss Sunny thinks getting a child out in nature is important for their well-being. The preschool provides a rich sensory environment. The children paint with watercolors and make objects using natural materials like fairy wool and beeswax. They learn

Miss Sunny at A Child’s Garden Preschool on a fall morning

from listening to and repeating traditional songs and nursery rhymes. One of the nursery rhymes Miss Sunny uses is “Rig-a-Jig-Jig.” She walks around the inside of a circle of children while singing, “As I was walking down the street, down the street, down the street.” When she sings, “A friend of mine I chance to meet,” she stops in front of a child and shakes his or her hand while singing, “Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho!” They then cross hands and walk around while singing, “Rig-a-jig-jig and away we go. Away we go. Away we go. Rig-a-jig-jig and away we go. Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho!” They stop walking

and wiggle their bodies on the “riga-jig-jig” part. “I love the smiles I get when we’re done,” says Miss Sunny. There is actually a science to “Rig-a-Jig-Jig” and other traditional nursery rhymes. Some education experts say that linking language and music in early childhood can improve a child’s listening skills and ability. To encourage friendship among the children, Miss Sunny has them sing a song called “Make New Friends.” It goes like this: Make new friends, but keep the old./One is silver and the other is gold./A circle is round, it has no end./That’s how long I want to be your friend.

When 3-year-old Jackson recently helped a classmate who lost his boot while playing outside, Miss Sunny rewarded him by ringing “the kindness bell” that she wears around her neck. It’s just one of the many wholesome teaching methods Miss Sunny uses. The children are encouraged to look at the things around them. They spend a lot of time in the backyard, running, climbing and doing the things children are supposed to do. Just being kids. OUT page 18

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FROM page 17 Every Friday, they go on a nature walk to a spot Miss Sunny calls The Secret Glorious Place. With each child holding on to a long, knotted rope to keep them together, they navigate the winding, hilly streets of South Land Park while Miss Sunny points out the changing colors of the leaves on the trees, the puffy white clouds or a squirrel scampering up a mighty oak. “We try to get them aware of what they see,” she says.

The Secret Glorious Place is a nature area where the children walk a narrow dirt pathway that leads to a giant oak tree. The tree drops its acorn bounty for the birds, the squirrels and the children. All of the kids wear “stompy boots,” as Miss Sunny refers to them, so they can stomp in mud puddles without getting their feet wet. It’s a way for the children to learn about nature and have fun, too. Miss Sunny thinks getting a child out in nature is important for their well-being.

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Four-year-old Freddy gets ready to enter A Child’s Garden

Instead of playing Angry Birds on an iPhone, they actually look at angry birds in the trees. “Children at this age are such sponges,” says Miss Sunny. “They’re observing, watching and copying. I try to keep everything small and quiet and calm. The old fashioned works.” Beeswax is a large part of the art-based curriculum. The children use colored beeswax to make simple things with their hands. Miss Sunny likes the material because it comes from a living source, and because it requires (and generates) warmth to fashion it into forms. The children also use their hands to knead whole-wheat dough. They sing “Knead and churn, knead and churn, bake some bread that will not burn” while they form the bread that they’ll gobble up later in the day. When they’re done kneading, they wash their hands in a small tub and run outside to play on the teetertotter, the rope swing or the giant tree stumps while the bread bakes. Miss Sunny encourages parents to get involved at the preschool. She recently hosted a Craft and Conversation Night, when parents got together and made needle felt pumpkins while discussing the importance of rhythm and routine for their children. At the school’s

fall festival, the children and their parents dressed up in noncommercial costumes. Some parents volunteered to be characters like The Candlestick Maker, The Banker, The Miller and The Wizard. The school’s annual winter festival is a solemn celebration of winter that’s neither religious nor Santa-based. Elizabeth Gould, who has a 4-year-old daughter at the preschool, says, “I immediately thought A Child’s Garden was cute, and Miss Sunny paid a lot of attention to the kids. That’s what I liked about the preschool when I toured it. You can tell she invests a lot of time with songs and art projects. It’s not just baby-sitting” A Child’s Garden celebrates the innocence of children. It’s childprotective learning. “You want to keep them as young and childlike and in that fantasy world as long as possible,” Miss Sunny explains. At the end of each day, the children gather in a circle and sing, “It’s time for us to go, it’s time for us to go, we’ll play again tomorrow, it’s time for us to go.” Contact A Child's Garden at 4556611 or sunnyone57@yahoo.com. Greg Brown can be reached at McGregorradio@comcast.net. n

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Tread on Me MANSOUR YAGHOUBIAN SHARES HIS PASSION FOR ORIENTAL RUGS

All 4,000 of Mansour’s offerings have been knotted by hand by an individual weaver. He employs workers in India and Pakistan who weave exclusively for his shop, a practice that’s as time-consuming as it sounds. Oriental rugs can be made with a variety of materials, but Yaghoubian prides himself on using only the highest-quality, most-durable material—live wool, which retains some of the original animal oils to maintain its softness, shine and durability—and natural dyes, which ensure not only health safety but also a depth of color that’s impossible to achieve with any other method. “Color is so important in rug design,” Yaghoubian says. “I offer house calls to my clients because you need to see the rug in its environment. The colors can change. It will either look fabulous or ugly. You have to see it in the space.” With Yaghoubian at your door, you can bet that the rug you choose will look good underfoot for years to come.

BY JESSICA LASKEY SHOPTALK

hen Mansour Yaghoubian is telling you about rugs, you’d better listen up. The Iranian native has owned his rug shop, Mansour’s Oriental Rug Gallery, since 1979, but his carpet education started long before that. “Every summer in high school, I would go to my uncle’s rug shop and learn,” Yaghoubian says. “I learned about production, how to repair rugs, how to wash rugs, how to select colors. In this business, knowing colors is very important.” You could say that Yaghoubian’s eye runs in the family. In addition to his uncle, all of his mother’s side of the family is in the rug business, and his father’s side works with fabric. Quite an auspicious start for a kid who originally planned on being an engineer. Yaghoubian left Iran in 1974 and landed in Utah on his birthday, Dec. 22, to attend Utah State University. He decided to transfer to Sacramento State University to pursue engineering and came here in 1976. It didn’t take long after earning his degree, however, for Yaghoubian to discover that his passion truly lay in rugs. “I worked in a relative’s rug shop in Chapel Hill, N.C., for six months after graduating,” Yaghoubian recalls. “He offered to make me a partner in his shop, but I wanted to go back to Sacramento. It’s the place I know.” Once he got re-ensconced, Yaghoubian wasted no time opening up his own shop in Old Sacramento, where he stayed for nine years. In

DEC n 13

Mansour Yaghoubian has owned Mansour’s Oriental Rug Gallery since 1979

1988, he decided to make the move uptown to his current location on Fair Oaks Boulevard. And in 2003, he opened a second outpost at Roseville Galleria. Through it all, Yaghoubian has maintained the same basic principles that make his gallery the go-to place for ravishing rugs.

Are your floors feeling lackluster? Call Yaghoubian at 486-1221 (Sacramento) or 780-1080 (Roseville), or check out his offerings online at mansoursruggallery.com. Mansour’s Oriental Rug Gallery is at 2550 Fair Oaks Blvd. and 1113 Galleria Blvd. in Roseville.

“My goal is to educate people before SWEET TASTE OF they purchase,” he says proudly. SUCCESS “People come in with some idea of sther Son is the first person what they want, but they don’t know to admit that she has more about the quality or the workmanship. than just a hankering I believe in service and the quality for sweet things; it’s almost an and uniqueness of my rugs, so I teach obsession. them what they need to know.”

“I have a severe, almost addictive passion for sweetness,” she admits. But lest you think she’s confessing at some sort of Sugar Addicts Anonymous meeting, know this: There’s no one else you’d rather have at the head of a bakery than someone like Son. She’s the proprietor of Estelle’s Patisserie on K Street and Estelle’s Cupcakes (formerly on J Street, now enjoying a new outpost at Roseville Galleria). “My ultimate goal has always been to open a French bakery,” Son says. (Hence the business name Estelle’s, a French version of her first name, Esther.) “Ever since high school, I’ve had an enormous amount of interest in baking and pastries and dessert. But I wanted to start off with something less overwhelming (than a full French bakery), and I have a fascination for cupcakes. So I started with Estelle’s Cupcakes to practice.” Being the creative dessert diva she is, however, Son’s cupcakes are not your traditional run-of-the-mill mounds of sugary frosting atop a tasteless cake bottom. Unlike a

“regular” cupcake, Son’s morsels are modeled after Italian cakes with meringue instead of buttercream. Her cupcakes were an instant hit, which gave her confidence and capital to make her dream of running a patisserie a reality. “As soon as I opened Estelle’s Cupcakes in 2008, I started researching” for the bakery, Son says. “Everything was planned; nothing fell into my lap. I wanted to have an in-depth knowledge of the basics and traditions of French baking. I didn’t go to culinary school, but I studied everything I could: recipes, color, design, the economics of running a business. I knew what kind of people to hire and who to work with, and I knew what type of food and pastries we were going to have.” Now open for two years, Estelle’s Patisserie is a huge hit, drawing hungry crowds from all over downtown who drop in for a sandwich, made on bread Son bakes in-house and even sells wholesale SHOPTALK page 22

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But what about growing pains? “I’m so excited to wake up and do work. There’s so much to do!” Son says. “It’s really rewarding to get stuff done and grow an inch more. That’s the good thing about a new business: You’re never at a plateau.” The sugar high probably helps, too. Is your stomach growling yet? Sample some sweets at Estelle’s Patisserie at 901 K St., ogle online at estellespatisserie.com, or call 5511500.

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FROM page 21 to area restaurants, or a decadent dessert. “When I first signed the lease almost three years ago, everyone thought I was taking a really big

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walking traffic from state workers. With all of those people working there, I thought, ‘As long as I do a good job, they’ll come.’ If people took some time to taste it and feel it, I knew I could capture their hearts.” And capture them she did, with a combination of perseverance, business savvy and good old-fashioned sweets. Estelle’s Patisserie specializes in all the French dessert delicacies you can imagine, and then some: croissants, danish, muffins, cookies, macarons, tarts, éclairs, brioche, mousse, cakes, pain (that’s French for bread) and a concoction Son calls “croixnuts”— donuts made of brioche dough. (They’re as amazing as they sound. There’s a line out the door every Sunday morning, and, as Son says, “When they’re gone, they’re gone.”) With such sweet success, Son is all but resting on her laurels. In fact, now that Estelle’s has seemed to hit its stride, she’s hoping to stretch even further. “We’re still growing, maturing and improving,” Son says. “We’re always working on our customer service, our menu items, expanding our catering and wholesale business. We’re still a baby for a bakery. We’ll probably do some serious growing until we’re about 5 years old.”

hange is in the air— leaves are turning, the temperature’s dropping, socks and boots have come out of storage—in more than just the atmosphere. Mark Snyder and Amy Guthrie, co-owners of C & C Merchants, Inc. and the children of Bill Snyder, co-founder of the beloved bygone store William Glen, announced this May that their company will now be called William Glen Inc. in commemoration of what would have been William Glen’s 50th anniversary. “We are proud of our family’s five decades of welcoming Sacramentans into our retail stores,” says Guthrie. “With the new name, we feel like we’ve come home.” Guthrie and her brother’s popular retail outposts, Christmas & Company and Chef’s Mercantile, are still flourishing in Old Sacramento. They will retain their storefront names in the transition, but will operate under the umbrella of William Glen Boutiques. Joining the ranks just for the holidays will be the siblings’ annual pop-up shop, housed this year in two locations: at the Palladio at Broadstone in Folsom and Loehmann’s Plaza on Fair Oaks Boulevard. The seasonal stores boast boatloads of holiday-related merchandise—ornaments, candles, cards, linens and more. The Palladio pop-up will also serve as a test for how well William Glen fits in Folsom. (Guthrie hopes to expand there.) SHOPTALK page 24

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Head, Heart, Hands PUBLIC WALDORF SCHOOL OFFERS CHARMING LOW-TECH EDUCATION

BY JAN FERRIS HEENAN INSIDE OUR SCHOOLS

t’s easy to whiz by the driveway leading into Sacramento’s Camellia Waldorf School, hidden behind a dated Freeport Boulevard strip mall between Fruitridge Road and Sacramento Executive Airport. Once you’re on the grounds, however, charm and unconventionality abound, from the student-tended gardens and flock of chickens to the handwritten, illustrated booklets students assemble instead of using standard textbooks. The private school, which runs from preschool to eighth grade, operates on educational principles laid out by Austrian Rudolf Steiner. The philosopher and educator believed that instruction should align with children’s developmental stages and involve their “head, hearts and hands.” Step into Camellia Waldorf’s kindergarten classroom to see how that approach plays out. There are no individual desks, just one long, curvy wooden table, play areas (all toys made of cloth, wood and other natural materials) and a cozy loft. The walls are painted soothing colors, and the smell of almonds (to make fresh milk) fills the air.

DEC n 13

Camellia Waldorf School parent volunteer Tamis Reed answers questions and offers help to third-graders as they knit

Camellia fifth-graders play violin under the direction of strings teacher Tim Stanley

“Children at this age, they work out of play. They don’t want to be stuck at a desk,” says Camellia Waldorf administrator Shana Murray. Instead of traditional kindergarten instruction like memorization and ABCs, the Waldorf approach emphasizes rhythm, whether in storytelling (free form as opposed to from books), song or the predictable pacing of each day. By first grade, students are more ready to “sit and be present,” says Murray, whose own daughters are in fourth and sixth grade at Camellia Waldorf. “As you move forward in the grades, the academics start to even out.” First-graders are assigned a teacher who remains with the class until graduation from eighth grade. That enables the teacher to really know each student, as well as his or her family dynamic, she says. And homework assignments don’t begin until third grade. “Developmentally, they’re in a place where they want that extra responsibility,” says Sarah Rucker, who runs the front office at Camellia Waldorf and has a son in third grade. “You would not believe how excited these kids are to have homework. They come home enthusiastic and they want to dive into it.” Rucker wasn’t familiar with the Waldorf model until she began researching preschools for her son Lucas. The first two they visited were not a match for him, she says. When they walked onto the Camellia campus, with its small but comely courtyard and its warren of ruralized play areas, mother and son felt immediately at home. “It was

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Handiwork plays a big role in Waldorf education. Handiwork plays a big role in Waldorf education. Third-graders at Camellia, for instance, undertake a construction project each year. When Graham McLaren-Finelli, Cameron Riles and Mariam Alafranji were in third grade, they built a threestory fort with their classmates, the students (now in eighth grade) recall. “It was like a little house. It had walls and everything. You could even sit on the roof,” Riles said. Last year’s thirdgraders built an elevated walkway.

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This year, students made their own beds for their own vegetable garden. Students also learn to knit from early on, move on to crocheting and needlepoint and, eventually, turn to sewing machines. Outdoors, all sorts of movement is encouraged, from climbing trees and swinging on ropes to riding unicycles and learning other circus arts (a specialty in the fifth grade). Inside the classroom, students are encouraged to engage at all levels. There are no high-tech gadgets or other electronics, just traditional black chalkboards. Teachers make the most of them, with colorful drawings and other forms of instruction. “They don’t have laptops. It may seem so backward,” Rucker says, “but these kids still live in the world. They are not socially inept or outcasts or anything like that because they don’t have tablets in their classroom. I feel the way they’re taught allows for just more creativity and sense of self.” Classes are small at Camellia Waldorf. The enrollment of 133 counts everyone from preschoolers SCHOOLS page 31

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A Gift of a Day HELPING HOMELESS IS AS EASY AS WRITING A CHECK

BY TERRY KAUFMAN LOCAL HEROES

ow much does the average Sacramentan spend each day on housing? Most of us write a monthly rent or mortgage check but don’t think about what that breaks down to on a daily basis. The Give One Day campaign, which began Sept. 1 and runs until Dec. 31, asks each of us to do just that. As you make your payment, you are asked to write another check for one-30th of that amount and donate it toward finding a permanent solution to homelessness in our community. “On any given night, there are as many as 2,600 homeless people in Sacramento. On the national level, homelessness is up 7.6 percent since 2011, and family homelessness has risen 47.5 percent since 2009,” says Keith Hart, director of development and communications for Sacramento Steps Forward, a nonprofit agency that is coordinating the regional response to the homeless problem. “It’s important for individuals, everyday citizens, to be aware of the homeless.” The imperative is strong: “Homelessness results in blight, environmental hazards, and a

DEC n 13

Sacramento Steps Forward is a nonprofit organization, which coordinates area programs dealing with homelessness in the region. A recent Homeless Connect event provided services for homeless people, including shoes to prepare for cooler temperatures.

drain on social services,” says Hart. “Focusing resources on the problem save taxpayers money.” The problem is so critical that Mayor Kevin Johnson spurred a county-city initiative to bring the public and private sectors together and keep important programs running. Sacramento Steps Forward is the result of that initiative, tasked with overseeing the response to homelessness across all of the region’s agencies. Under its auspices, a collaborative application from all local organizations generates HUD funds of about $15 million each year, as well as before winter begins. An

individual paying $1,500 a month for rent would donate just $50 toward the campaign; a family whose monthly mortgage payment is $4,000 would be asked to contribute $133. Those

donations add up: $17,500 can keep five families off the streets and move them into housing. The long-term HEROES page 31

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goals are to provide permanent housing for as many individuals and families as possible, to offer training and job placement services that will enable them to maintain housing, and to transition the city’s winter shelter into a year-round emergency shelter. “We’d like to mobilize as many people as possible to get them engaged in this fundraising campaign,” says Hart. The campaign has made big pushes at the beginning and end of each month, when people are paying bills and making budgets. As the coordinating agency for social service programs in the region, Sacramento Steps Forward offers economic stability so that local organizations can focus on delivering direct services to the homeless. “Our mission is to provide a continuum of care so that providers on the front line can do what they need to do,” says Hart. His office works with such groups as Sacramento Housing Alliance, local women’s shelters and churches,

FROM page 27

whose volunteers help fill in the gaps. Although the ultimate objective is to get the homeless into permanent housing, there are more immediate needs, he acknowledges, such as providing shelter and sustenance and finding employment. A 2012 regional summit on employment for the homeless was transformed into a program that actually prepares homeless individuals for employment. On Oct. 25, Sacramento’s Southside Park was the site of Homeless Connect, which featured a range of providers including medical and dental professionals as well as personal care and hygiene purveyors. The Central Library hosted Employment Connect, which matched homeless job candidates with hiring employers. The candidates had been prescreened and undergone training on interviewing and other job-related skills. Of the 100 who attended the event, 83 received job offers. Job placement continues to be a huge focus for Sacramento Steps Forward.

“Matching candidates with jobs is a high-level priority,” says Hart, who hopes that his organization will be able to hold such events more frequently than once a year. Give One Day provides everyone the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution toward ending homelessness, but it should also cause us to reflect on the relative nature of our blessings. What many people spend daily for coffee or bottled water could significantly ease the burden for a family living on the streets. The campaign will end with the calendar year, but the needs will continue. To donate to the Give One Day campaign, go to sacramentostepsforward.org or contact Keith Hart at 993-7706 or khart@sacstepsforward.org. Terry Kaufman can be reached at terry@1greatstory.com. n

to eighth-graders. There are only seven students in the eighth grade. Alafranji has attended the school since preschool and is used to the low numbers. “It’s good because everybody really knows you really well, and we get along really well,” she says. “At the same time, there are no secrets.” Classmate McLaren-Finelli has been at the school since kindergarten. He has enjoyed the diverse types of things they’ve learned over the years, and the freedom of expression. The slower pace of instruction may seem odd to outsiders, he says, but it has worked well for him. “I know that a lot of public schools learn everything sooner than we do. It’s better here. You can understand it more when you’re older. You can understand it and absorb the information.” Camellia Waldorf offers monthly tours of its preschool and kindergarten programs. Visit camelliawaldorf.org for more information. n

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Home for the Holidays DURING CHRISTMAS TOUR, LIGHTS AND SPARKLE WILL ABOUND BY JULIE FOSTER HOME INSIGHT

East Sacramento resident Mary Gonsalves Kinney understands a bit about remodeling: Her father is a general contractor. So when Kinney and her husband Jason walked through their 3,200-square-foot French Tudor home for the first time six and half years ago, she grasped its potential. HOME page 35

DEC n 13

3. 1. The dining room is in the center of the home with views of both front and back 2. A large island is the focal point of the kitchen and offers lots of room for cooking

3. Ready for the tour! The Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour takes place Friday, Dec. 6, through Sunday, Dec. 8.

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“I felt the house was very dark and wanted to let in as much natural light as possible,” Kinney says. A spacious dining room with lots of room of family and friends

FROM page 32

he house had once been a duplex. The previous owners, who lived there for 20 years, had lovingly converted the twostory structure to a single-family home. But, though the house was in good shape, it needed a bit of reconfiguring and updating. “We had been looking for a new home for a while, and when we bought something, I knew we would do some work on it ourselves,” Kinney explains. People attending the 40th annual Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour this year will delight at this remodeled 1930s home decked out for the holidays by the design team from Haus, led by designer Taige Clark. The Kinneys retained many features of the original home, including the leaded-glass windows in the living room, two cast-iron tubs, wooden pillars in the living/ dining room and front entry, and several windows on the second story. Refinished wood floors and

DEC n 13

new interior painting in a palette of neutral colors enhanced the home’s existing charm. Landscaping created a more family-friendly backyard. By removing several walls on the ground floor and adding new ones down the center of the house, they created a new hallway out of the dark interior. With four sets of French doors along its length, the passageway allows the abundant Sacramento sunlight to penetrate the inner reaches of the home. “I felt the house was very dark and wanted to let in as much natural light as possible,” Kinney says. The couple had the kitchen gutted. The biggest change was removing a wall for additional space, then “flipping” the appliances over to the opposite side of the room. They also removed a staircase to make room for a breakfast nook, which receives plenty of daily use from the three Kinney children. Upstairs, they added a laundry room and walk-in closet off the master bedroom suite. The master bath received a complete facelift, including a water closet, a built-in

vanity, a new claw-foot tub and an ample-sized shower for Jason, who is 6 foot 3. Though the home is spacious, it lacked adequate storage space for a 21st-century family of five. “After being here for a while, we recognized our need for extra storage,” Kinney say. “We were putting guests’ coats over the backs of chairs all the time.” Kinney commissioned several custom built-in pieces, including a front-entry armoire for all those coats, a dining room hutch, a family room television unit, cabinets in the living room and a linen closet in the master bath. During the tour, the guest room will be decorated like Santa’s workshop. Mingled among the Kinney children’s toys will be a set of elflike figures made in Denmark and available at Haus. Two Christmas trees will adorn the home. The living room tree will be decorated in gold and silver, inspired by the recent movie remake of “The Great Gatsby.” Haus owner Jonathan Marquardt explained via

email that the tree will be loaded with shine and sparkle. In the back of the house, a second, more whimsical tree will embody a kid-friendly theme of nutcrackers, the 12 days of Christmas and sugarplums. As they leave the house, tour guests will see a decorated playhouse in the backyard and illuminated grapevines lighting their way. Garlands and wreaths will add a touch of glamour to the front entry while simple white lights will accentuate the home’s unique architectural lines. The Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour takes place Friday, Dec. 6, through Sunday, Dec. 8. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 after Dec. 5. Organizers predict a sellout and suggest advance purchase. For ticket retailer locations or to buy tickets online, go to sacredhearthometour. com. For more information, call the information line at 556-5050. If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Julie Foster at foster.julie91@yahoo.com. n

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A Taxi for the 21st Century SOCIAL NETWORKING TRANSFORMS FINDING A RIDE

BY WALT SIEFERT GETTING THERE

ber, UberX, Lyft and Sidecar are the odd names for new services that fill an old and common need: getting someplace. They are unusual not just for their names but for the way they work. They are like taxis, but with a twist and a tweak or two. They all work through smartphone apps.

High-tech devices combined with cars and low-tech bikes can give people more transportation choices, add convenience and save money. You can request a ride with a push of a button, see a photo of your driver and watch your ride approach on a map. Drivers, though vetted by the companies, are not employees. Payments are made via a charge to the credit card on your account, so no

DEC n 13

gauche and unsanitary cash need pass hands. Driver and passengers rate each other. Uber, the oldest service, has been around only since 2010 and in Sacramento since this past January. It started as a strictly upscale, stylish transportation service, using black town cars and SUVs. Rates are higher than taxis. Uber says its higher fares are based on its greater comfort and reliability. UberX, in Sacramento for only a few months, is a lower-cost spinoff. Lyft started its Sacramento operations in November. Like UberX, its drivers use their own cars. It’s a more casual service than Uber, with a chatty, social slant: Clients sit in the front seat and are greeted with a fist bump from the driver. Lyft cars sport

a wildly distinctive large pink, fuzzy mustache on the car’s bumper. Sidecar, like both Uber and Lyft, is a San Francisco-based company, but it hasn’t yet made it to the Sacramento market. Its operations are similar to Lyft, but the vehicles are a bit more understated: namely, no giant pink, fuzzy mustache. With considerable Silicon Valley startup financing, all three services have been rapidly expanding in major cities across the United States. Uber is in some foreign countries as well. Change is often difficult. California’s Public Utilities Commission now regulates the firms. The PUC had to create a new category for them: transportation network companies. Taxi companies haven’t been happy about the app-based

firms. Taxi officials and cabbies view Uber and its ilk as unfair competition: gypsy or pirate cabs taking customers out of their taxis and fares out of their pockets. Taxis are often highly regulated at the local level. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar have been adroitly avoiding regulation as much as possible. Though the California PUC has established standards for vehicles, insurance and drivers, taxi operators don’t believe the standards are adequate. Getting a ride through a smartphone app isn’t the only relatively new transportation option in town. If you are willing to drive yourself and aren’t too far away, car sharing is another possibility. Zipcar, Getting page 41

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Upcoming Performances & Events DON’T MISS ONE MOMENT OF THIS SEASON DESIGNED TO ENGAGE & INSPIRE YOU!

Join us for these unique in-studio events intended to enhance and broaden your experience of the Sacramento Ballet and its dancers. Wunderland, the Delicate Balance Jan 19: 5 – 6pm Ma Cong, Center Stage Jan 3:1 6 – 7 pm Where the Hands Go, The Invisible Strength of Male Partnering Mar 14: 6 – 7 pm Target Creativity Apr 11 6 – 7 pm Crafting the Vision Apr 18 6 – 7 pm Revealing the Music May 2 6 – 7 pm Sacramento Ballet Studios Tickets: $20 Get ready for Valentine’s Day by enjoying an evening program of excerpts from Wild Sweet Love, Wunderland, and a premiere by Ma Cong. Be immersed in the drama of how choreographers shape movement to create a physical language deﬁning relationships simple and complex. Chocolates, desserts and wine complete a fascinating evening where “love conquers all.” Feb. 8: 7 pm Sacramento Ballet Studios All inclusive Tickets: $25

Jan 11, February, March & April 2nd Saturdays, too! The Sacramento Ballet is pleased to announce the launch of its newest innovation, 2nd Saturdays at the Ballet, in January, February, March, and April. During these months, the Ballet will be offering a series of FREE Open Rehearsals in two sittings at 4 & 4:30 pm at the Free Open Rehearsal series is sponsored by District 4 of the Sacramento City Council

Featuring George Balanchine’s Apollo With premieres by Molly Lynch, KT Nelson and Melissa Barak May 15 & 16 7:30 pm May 17 1:00 pm Harris Center for Performing Arts Center – Three Stages – Three Stages Box Ofﬁce: threestages.net Tickets: $45

DEC n 13

FROM page 36 in Sacramento since 2011, recently increased the number of its car-share locations and added new car models to its fleet. The new locations are at H and 20th streets, N and 5th streets and Q and 5th streets. Zipcar already had cars at other midtown sites and on the Sac State and UC Davis campuses. Zipcar isn’t the only car-share model. Though not in Sacramento, Car2Go, a Daimler subsidiary, rents cars by the minute. The cars are all micro two-passenger Smart Cars. Unlike Zipcar, Car2Go allows you to drop off cars anywhere in a city. Hertz and Enterprise are also in the car-share business. Beginning in 2015, bike sharing could be another option for short trips around Sacramento, West Sacramento and Davis. The city council recently supported plans for a bike-share program. Funding could be approved soon by the regional transportation authority. With bike share, one can pay for and unlock a bike via an electronic kiosk and ride it from one bike station to another. Plans are for the Sacramento system to have 560 bikes at 80 stations. Bike sharing can work in conjunction with public transit, Amtrak and, perhaps, even car sharing. These new ways of getting around have commonalities and reflect some megatrends. They wouldn’t be possible without the latest technology, including smartphones, the Internet and GPS. They indicate a desire, especially among younger people, to be less dependent on cars and to drive less. They show that renting or sharing a car or bike can be superior to ownership. On the average, cars are driven by their owners only one hour a day. With shared cars or ride services, vehicles can be in use for longer periods instead of sitting idle and depreciating. Hightech devices combined with cars and low-tech bikes can give people more transportation choices, add convenience and save money. Walt Seifert is a bicyclist, driver and transportation writer. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net. n

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Funny Fairies MEMBERS RAISE MONEY FOR ART BY ENTERTAINING CROWDS

BY GWEN SCHOEN THE CLUB LIFE

“I

t’s never too late to have a happy childhood,” said Fran Haynes, founder

of The Sugar Plump Fairies, explaining why she and the rest of her troupe dress in fairy costumes and show up unannounced at various events in the Auburn area. So, how did you come up with the idea for Sugar Plump Fairies, I asked. (Appropriately, we were meeting in a bakery.) “Well, it’s sort of my twist on

The Sugar Plump Fairies

how society thinks of beauty,” said Haynes, a marriage and family therapist by profession, fairy for fun. Back in 1997, Haynes was in Detroit soon after a major storm. A women’s store there was having a storm sale on plus-size bridesmaid dresses for $5 apiece. Never one to pass up a good deal, she bought a dozen and shipped them home. “At the time, I had no plan other than I loved the dresses because they looked absolutely ridiculous on largesize women,” said Haynes. “I had also attended Camp Winnarainbow, a circus and performing arts camp

DEC n 13

for children and adults in Mendocino

bridesmaid dresses marched in the

“Then other groups began inviting

County. One day, while thinking

parade, entertaining the crowd.

us to attend events and do things like

about what I learned at the camp

“When Fran first told me her

and all those silly dresses, the idea

idea about dressing up and being in

Salvation Army. We participate in the

blossomed. I could dress up like a

the parade, I asked her if we’d been

Mountain Mandarin Festival. We are

fairy and just show up in various

invited,” said Beth Leydon, a sidekick

greeters for the Auburn Symphony

places to entertain people. Like a

fairy. “She said no. She just wanted to

KinderKonzert.” Most recently, they

street performer. Then I recruited

show up and see what happened. Well,

appeared in a mock beauty pageant at

friends who fit the dresses. The name

it was a lot of fun and people really

the Placer County Mandarin Festival.

Sugar Plump Fairies just seemed to

enjoyed seeing us. From then on, our

Each fairy wore a sash with names

stick.”

group just kept growing and soon

such as Miss Aligned, Miss Managed

people started remembering us.”

and Miss Understood. The winner

Their first public appearance was the 1997 Festival of Lights Parade

“At first we just kept showing up

in Auburn. Twelve fairies wearing

places unannounced,” said Haynes.

sell raffle tickets. We ring bells for

was presented with a canned ham.

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paying fairies. Most of them are 55

want to dress up and act silly in

to 70 years old. There are even a few

public, Haynes said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dressing up

men in the ranks, mostly husbands

gives you the chance to be whatever

who help with logistics. In the

you want. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just fun.â&#x20AC;?

beginning, Haynes supplied costumes

Eventually the group realized that

for all the fairies. But that got to be

they needed to focus on philanthropic

too much work. Now, each supplies

goals.

his or her own finery, mostly found at vintage clothing stores. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I started with a few dresses. Now

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our funds go to support all forms of art for the youth of the greater Auburn area.â&#x20AC;?

I have a closet full, an attic full and a rack in the garage,â&#x20AC;? said Leydon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have at least 100 pairs of shoes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an addiction.â&#x20AC;? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next on the fairy agenda? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m thinking about challenging the Red Hat Society ladies to a bowla-thon. I think the fairies could take

â&#x20AC;&#x153;So we created our ARTrageous

them,â&#x20AC;? said Haynes.

grant program,â&#x20AC;? said Leydon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our funds go to support all forms of art for the youth of the greater Auburn area.â&#x20AC;? The group has awarded nearly $20,000 to local schools for art materials, new band instruments and theater trips. In 2006, the group became an official nonprofit. There are 30 dues-

For more information about The Sugar Plump Fairies, go to sugarplumpfairies.org.

A whole lot more than what you remember from your fourth-grade ďŹ eld trip... When was the last time you paid us a visit?

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Holiday Show of Hands GRANDMOTHER CONTINUES SCHOOL CRAFTS FAIR TRADITION

BY DUFFY KELLY MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR

t’s one thing to be a steadfast church volunteer who year after year meticulously

minds the church gift shop. It’s one thing to be a mother of seven and a grandmother of 12 whose matriarchal mission is to foster kinship by hosting all manner of family reunions, from the Easter egg hunt to the regular Sunday brunch. It’s one thing to babysit those grandkids several days a week, year in, year out, and have your house continually filled with squealing, bustling children of all ages. And it’s one thing to don your best seasonal hat for church and sit in the same front right pew with your brood, a brood that five decades in the making has grown to take up about four pews at that very same church. But it’s quite another thing altogether to be that kind of woman on the home front while also being that same type of irreplaceable powerhouse in the community. Meet Carmichael’s Pat Holbus. And meet her just in time for this month’s 35th year of a signature holiday season opener craft fair, Holiday Show of

St. John the Evangelist school secretary Carole Czimskey and longtime volunteer Pat Holbus have been organizing the parish school’s annual “Holiday Show of Hands” weekend craft fair for 35 years. The fair runs Dec. 6 to 8 at 5701 Locust Ave. in Carmichael and features 150 crafters.

“We still have one of the lowest tuitions in the diocese,” she said.

are now spread over the entire

of a tradition to shop together.

campus, and profits for the school last

It’s a weekend that says, ‘It’s

year totaled about $100,000.

Christmastime.’ ”

Hands, the granddaddy of all crafts

Every year since, then she’s

fairs, held annually at St. John the

been the go-to, gad-about gal with

“People from all over Sacramento

Evangelist School the first weekend in

a spicy walk and even spicier way

and Northern California, even some

December.

was initially a crafter at the fair

of organizing hundreds of people,

from Washington, and Oregon and

but has been Holbus’ right arm as

Thirty-five years ago, when her

School secretary Carole Czimskey

events, deals and details. What

along the West Coast, come to shop,”

seven children were students at St.

the behind-the-scenes organizer for

began with about 20 crafters and

she says. “They plan their holiday

John, Holbus started the fair as a way

most of the past 35 years. The pair,

raised $1,000 has turned into an

shopping around it. For some, it’s

to help the school keep tuition down

along with Holbus’ husband, Martin

extravaganza of holiday shopping

become a mother-daughter reunion.

for all families.

Holbus, the Holbus kids as well as

with more than 150 crafters. Wares

Busloads of friends come as part

oodles of volunteers, work together

DEC n 13

1900 ALHAMBRA BLVD. Ř $0 30 ::: 6$&)22'&223 &20

each year to make the weekend bigger

grounds, shoppers can still count on

extension of what we do at home,”

and better. In the off-season, Pat

a busy kitchen dishing up the same

Holbus says.

and her husband scour the region for

sumptuous recipes for homemade

vendors, taking trips to craft fairs in

tamales, gourmet pizzas, lasagna,

out to be good, successful people. I

other cities, looking for something

sweet treats and steaming cups of

think it’s not just a reflection of what

new. It’s become so popular among

cocoa and coffee. The super-festive

we have done as a family, but also

crafters who want in on the action

shopper can sip the traditional Irish

what the school has done for them. I

that Holbus now juries potential

coffee or spiked “Sleigh Ride,” made

see it as a feather in the school’s cap

crafters in early spring, auditioning

all these years from oh-so-secret

that my children wanted to put their

them so no two vendors’ goods are

recipes.

own children at St. John’s school.

alike.

Following in Holbus’ footsteps are

“My adult children have all turned

Then GROW UP with a stylish vertical garden!

“This is why I continue to work

her three daughters, Christine Bagley,

for the school on a volunteer basis:

and 25 jewelers,” she says. ‘We

Amy Swanson and Erin Holbus, all of

because I really believe in what

want a good variety and we want

whom have their own children now at

happens here. It’s more than reading,

new vendors to keep the show fresh.

St. John. Christine and Amy co-chair

writing and arithmetic. It has a lot to

There’s always something new to

the fair’s auction while Erin is just

do with values. They got a lot of that

see and buy. We strive to carry all

jumping into the fray with toddlers in

at St. John’s.”

handcrafted, specialty items, not

tow.

“We don’t want to have 25 potters

Do you love being surrounded by nature, but don’t have space for your dream garden?

If you don’t get the chance to go to

“My kids say to me, ‘Mom, you

the Dec. 6-8 crafts fair, you might pop

are starting to sound like Grandma

in on a Sunday mass at St. John. Look

including refinished antique

Patsy,’ ” says Christine. ‘I could never

for Holbus and her family on the right

furniture, garden gadgets, homemade

really take her place, though. There’s

side.

soaps and lotions, local honey buns,

only one Patsy Holbus.”

store-bought things.” There’s something for everyone,

sweaters, cards, hats, jewels and ornaments, she says. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. While there’s now an ATM machine on the

One huge family, one parish school all these years. And one very elegant reason: “I really feel as my children flourished at St. John’s. It was an

The fair will be held at St. John the Evangelist, 5701 Locust Ave. in Carmichael, from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6; from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7; and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8. n

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Paso Country Club. For tickets, call 290-8203 or go to kidshome.org.

that helps kids or seniors. The prospects are endless.

BY GLORIA GLYER DOING GOOD

ecember: 31 days designed for family fun and good cheer. It’s also the month for everyone to dig deep and give, give, give. You don’t have to give a lot. How about a plate of cookies for a shut-in, neighbor, relative you rarely see or even the person sitting right next to you at work? Or consider replicating Operation Christmas Child, an international project that sends gifts to needy children overseas. It’s too late to participate in the project this year, but you could create a gift box for a needy organization here in Sacramento. Find a local nonprofit

BIRTHDAY GIRL

BIKE TREK

Grace Mahan is a kindergartner at Madrone Montessori School in El Dorado Hills. Just before her fifth birthday party, her mother asked Grace if she wanted to keep her birthday presents or donate them to children at Sacramento Crisis Nursery. At first, Grace said she wanted gifts “just like everyone else.” Her mom reminded her daughter that she did not have to be like everyone else. Grace thought about it for a few days and decided to give her presents to the crisis nursery. At her party, more than 40 classmates, friends and cousins showered her with usable gifts such as diapers, pasta, cereal, crackers, juice, clothing and gift cards. The greatest gift for Grace? Delivering the products to the nursery. For thinking of others, Grace will be honored at the Teddy Bear Tea presented by Friends of the Crisis Nursery on Saturday, Dec. 7, at Del

Breathe California’s 27th annual Emigrant Trails Bike Trek, held in September, raised more than $160,000 for the organization. More than 250 cyclists and 80 volunteers participated in the trek. The top fundraising individuals were Bob Roehrs, Sue Schooley and Barney Gerber. Top fundraising teams were Kaiser Permanente, Regional Transit and Bodacious Biking Babes. The Electric Bike Shop Superdogs fielded a small team with the highest fundraising average, and Team Pedal Club was the largest new team. Breathe California is a nonprofit organization devoted to preventing lung and other air-pollution-related diseases. For more information, go to sacbreathe.org.

CASA GETS A MAKEOVER Casa Garden Restaurant, which raises funds for Sacramento Children’s Home, won uLink Network’s $50,000 marketing makeover contest. The makeover will include the services of a team of marketing professionals for a year. Casa Garden rallied its customers to garner 46 percent of the 11,275 votes cast. For more information about Casa Garden Restaurant, call 4522809 or go to casagardenrestaurant. org.

FEST TIME DesCor Builders recently hosted its third annual Oktoberfest to benefit Sierra Forever Families, which helps place foster children into permanent homes. The average cost to place a child into a permanent home is $5,000. Each year for the past three years, DesCor has helped place two children into permanent homes. For more information about Sierra Forever Families, go to sierraff.org.

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With over 20 boutique owners and 5,000 sq ft of apparel, sports, jewelry, Áoral, gifts, home & holiday décor, crafts and one of kind items, this makes ESM one of the largest retail stores supporting small business owners in our community. Every purchase you make from Nov 29th until Dec 19th you are entered into a drawing for a limo lights tour for 8 of East Sacramento provided by About Time Limousines.

Call 416-1244 Excellent Reference By Inside Publications PLANT IT Sunburst Projects provides support services for families affected by HIV/ AIDS. Local plant expert Robert Hamm holds plant sales throughout the year to raise money for the group. This year, he has raised more than $8,000. For more information about Sunburst Projects, call 440-8889 or go to sunburstprojects.org.

SHELTER EXPANSION HomeAid Sacramento has taken on a new project: helping St. John’s Shelter expand from 14 to 31 bedrooms. The expansion will also allow the shelter to triple its childcare and classroom space and will create separate infant and toddler areas and an expansive fenced-in outdoor play area. Construction-industry participants in the project include Eskaton, K. Hovnanian, Capital City Drywall, Timberworks Construction, Heckman Construction, Citadel Premium Design and JMS Site Services. For more information, call 751-2746 or go to homeaidsac.org.

WEAVE HONOR WEAVE presented Bob Slobe with its Golden Hook award for his longtime support of programs for victims of domestic violence. Over the past three decades, contributions by Slobe and his North Sacramento Land Company have allowed WEAVE to expand dramatically and enhance its residential services for families. A recent donation of additional land will add a playground and park to WEAVE’s Safehouse campus. “We

are incredibly grateful for all that Bob has done for WEAVE,” says Beth Hassett, WEAVE’s executive director. “Bob is a great guy who cares a lot about his community and its future. Thanks to his commitment to victims of domestic violence, we have been able to create a safe and welcoming home for thousands of victims in our region.” The Golden Hook award was established in memory of the late B.T. Collins, a former assemblyman and longtime WEAVE supporter who lost his right arm and leg in 1967 while serving as a Green Beret captain in Vietnam. The award honors contributors who make a significant impact on the lives and safety of victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Previous recipients include John Poswall, Don Novey, Joyce Mitchell, Bill Lockyer, Dr. Glennah Trochet, Kings Women’s Organization and Stan Atkinson.

BIG HAUL In October, Women’s Empowerment held a gala attended by more than 650 community members, including 100 women who were once homeless. The event raised more than $160,000. Women’s Empowerment offers job readiness programs for homeless women and their children. For more information, go to womens-empowerment.org. Gloria Glyer can be reached at gglyer@sbbmail.com. n

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A Legacy of Trees PRESERVING OUR URBAN CANOPY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

BY ANITA CLEVENGER GARDEN JABBER

e who live in older Sacramento neighborhoods are fortunate to be sheltered by mature trees that were planted by generations before us. We tend to take them for granted until we hear the sound of a chainsaw buzzing and realize that another beloved tree is biting the dust. If a tree is felled in our urban forest, we all feel its loss.

There’s no way to put a price on how good trees make us feel. Sometimes people wish to take out a tree because it’s a nuisance. It drops too much litter, cracks the sidewalk, is in the way or casts too much shade. More often, the decision to remove a tree is a last resort, done because the tree is unhealthy or maybe even hazardous. Like all living creatures, trees have a natural lifespan, but they often decline prematurely because they haven’t received basic care throughout their life. It’s

DEC n 13

traumatic for the homeowner who has to say goodbye to an old friend, pay for its removal and adjust to the unaccustomed glare and exposure. It’s even more upsetting if there was something that could have been done to extend the tree’s life. What kinds of trees are growing on your property? What is their condition? Are you giving them the care that they need? If you are like me, you may have no clue. We lived in our house for 20 years before I took my Master Gardener training. Only then did I learn that the trees in our front yard are a Japanese elm variety, Zelkova serrata, that comes from a temperate climate that receives regular precipitation.

We were taught that you should inspect your trees on a regular basis for dead, weakened, diseased or dangerous branches. When I did that, I discovered that the branches of one of the Zelkovas were dying at the tips. If you find problems, it’s wise to consult with a certified arborist. I’ve now talked with several of them. They told me that the primary problem with trees is how we water them, either too much or too little. Many people still lavishly water their lawns, and oxygen-starved tree roots develop disease. Frequent shallow watering can cause trees to develop invasive surface roots. Other people water so little that their trees don’t get water where the roots need it, a foot below

the surface. That’s what happened to my Zelkova. The Sacramento Tree Foundation has advice about mature tree care on their website, sactree.com. They identify the watering needs for mature trees. Even drought-adapted trees benefit from an occasional watering, and moisture-adapted trees like elms, magnolias, plums, maples and redwoods do much better with regular deep watering when it’s not raining. I had a tree service remove the dead limbs and began deep-watering my trees once or twice a month by letting a soaker hose, spread around the drip line (outer edge of the canopy), run overnight. My Zelkova

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Davis Home Trends 2300 Fifth Street Davis, CA 530-756-4187 www.DavisHomeTrends.com still shows signs of damage, but it’s doing better. There could have been other problems with my trees. At least we had diligently removed mistletoe. They have never been topped or tipped to reduce their height, a destructive practice that invites disease and insect pests and stimulates weak growth. We hadn’t piled mulch or soil right up to their trunks, either, or built a planter around them. You should be able to see the flare of the trunk, the “crown” where the roots meet the trunk at soil level. Even a little frill of flowers planted around a tree’s base can cause too much moisture to accumulate and hasten its demise. The Sacramento Tree Foundation’s website gives other good advice about mature tree care, including how to inspect, water, prune, mulch and choose a reliable tree care company. Many people protect their valuable trees by scheduling regular visits from an arborist, who can spot and correct problems before it’s too late.

Sacramento, which prides itself on being the City of Trees, was recently recognized as one of the 10 best cities for urban forests by American Forests, a nonprofit organization. We got that designation based on how we manage our trees and plant new ones, not because we have so many trees in comparison to other cities on the list. Sacramento’s urban forest covers 17 percent of the city, compared to 21.5 percent of New York City, commonly considered an asphalt jungle. Austin and Portland are both around 30 percent. With such a relatively sparse canopy, we need to treasure each tree that we have and plant new ones as a legacy for our grandchildren. Trees have a significant economic value in terms of cooling effects, cleaning the air and water, and increased property values. There’s no way to put a price on how good they make us feel as we live under their shelter. Anita Clevenger is a Sacramento County UC Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, ncluding how to identify and care for your trees, call them at 875-6913. n

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Designs on Del Paso LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS WANT TO MAKE OVER THE SHABBY BOULEVARD

cars and not having walkable places to live and work.” Del Paso Boulevard already boasts theaters, a boutique hotel, an artistin-residence program, public art, notable restaurants and independent businesses, many of them operating out of art deco buildings from the 1920s through the 1940s. The neighborhood originally encompassed a stretch of Highway 40 and flourished after World War II, until a freeway bypassed the boulevard and the growth of nearby suburbs spelled the end of the area’s heyday. But the corridor’s good bones remain.

BY SENA CHRISTIAN BUILDING OUR FUTURE

here’s a bland warehouse on Del Paso Boulevard that sits empty and quiet most days of the month. If you’ve happened to pass by, you’ve likely never even noticed the building. But one day each month, that same space comes alive. Efforts to revitalize the boulevard began in 1994 when the city council established a special planning district. The warehouse transforms into an open-air marketplace called GOOD: street food + design market, where artisans sell handmade products and vintage goods and shoppers can check out a DIY station or devour a stroopwafel drizzled with caramel syrup. Now in its second year, GOOD attracts a couple thousand shoppers and nearly 50 vendors to each event. The monthly market, held the first Sunday of each month from May through December, is organized by Unseen Heroes, a Sacramento-based events marketing firm. “GOOD was the first project launched to create a consistent event to draw people here on a regular basis—not just anyone, but creative entrepreneurs and people attracted to quality design,” says Andrea Lepore, who guides branding and retail development for Del Paso Boulevard Partnership, a nonprofit marketing and promotional group. Lepore, who owns the Hot Italian pizzeria in Midtown, has a personal motto: Tutto è possibile, Italian for “anything is possible.” This philosophy manifests itself in her belief that Del Paso Boulevard—a shabby North Sac

DEC n 13

Once you’re on Del Paso Boulevard, where should you go?

Andrea Lepore is part of the effort to clean up Del Paso Boulevard. She guides branding and retail development for Del Paso Boulevard Partnership, a nonprofit marketing and promotional group.

corridor with a reputation for crime—can remake itself as a hub for the city’s creative class. Lepore believes the corridor can be dense, diverse and walkable, with economic activity hinged on the neighborhood’s unique character. Its numerous warehouses and large spaces make it ideal for design-related

showrooms and offices that could be leased by firms specializing in, say, architecture or web design. “This is one of our historic districts,” says Lepore. “I’m a big believer in urbanist development. It’s frustrating when I see development happening in the suburbs, because then we will always be dependent on

“Del Paso Boulevard has so many incredible buildings,” says Maritza Davis, who co-founded the GOOD market. “We knew that we needed a location that was centrally located. Del Paso Boulevard offered both.” Efforts to revitalize the boulevard began in 1994 when the city council established a special planning district. In 1997, M-1 zoning standards were adopted to allow residential, lightindustrial and commercial uses in the neighborhood. The goal: to retain existing businesses and attract new development. The zoning ordinance prohibits some uses, such as adult entertainment businesses, tattoo parlors, auto sales, tobacco stores and laundromats.

Fine Old Neighborhoods...Fine Old Homes SOLD 559 Swanston Drive Fantastic price in Land Park for a roomy & open 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with vaulted ceilings, LR ﬁreplace, big bedrooms with multiple closets. Beautiful backyard with Heritage Oaks and giant covered deck. Walk to Crocker Elementary..... $299,900

942 Sunwind Way Roomy single story Pocket home, nearly 1900 sqft, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, excellent open ﬂoorplan, hardwoods in kitchen, living room & dining room, master with huge walk-in closet & door to garden.... $319,900

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in a small courtyard alit with holiday lights to see the latest show at The Alternative Arts Collective’s Blue Box Theatre on the boulevard. Recently, the theater presented an original reimagining of a William Shakespeare comedy, “Midsummer Nightmare 5.” Some patrons arrive early to have dinner across the patio at Mama Kim Eats, a Creole-American fusion restaurant that opened in 2012. Or they check out the latest exhibit at the nearby Sacramento Temporary Contemporary art gallery, which opened four years ago. GOOD market. The Alternative Arts Collective plays. These are only two of the many attractions livening up the boulevard. Poets, graphic designers and muralists recently collaborated to create murals on some of the boulevard’s buildings for the Del Paso Words on Walls Project. Then, of course, there are the numerous brick-and-mortar businesses offering more reasons to visit—and stay awhile. n

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Three light rail stops give people from outside the neighborhood a way to get to the boulevard. And the 32-mile American River bike trail travels along Del Paso on its way from Old Sacramento to Folsom Lake. A $6.7 million investment in streetscape improvements means nicer sidewalks, better lighting and easier parking for visitors. So, once you’re on Del Paso Boulevard, where should you go? There’s Enotria Restaurant and Wine Bar, where chef Pajo Bruich serves upscale New American cuisine. Down the street is Prime Time Boxing, which offers boxing classes, personal training and fitness boot camps. At the 7,000-square-foot So-Cal Speed Shop, customers search for parts for hot rods; the business specializes in cars from the 1940s. Sacramento News & Review is headquartered on the boulevard, along with Schiff Estate Sales, which sells vintage goods, furniture, antiques, art and jewelry. Several evenings each month, ticket holders wait with anticipation

2221 Hollywood Way Roomy 3 bedroom cottage in a great Hollywood location! Updated kitchen w/ granite counters & new dishwasher, living room ﬁreplace, hardwoods under carpet, CH&A, updated plumbing & electrical, newer roof and much more.... $264,900

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4510 Attawa Avenue 171 Baxter 2530 O Street 2630 32nd Street 1815 Caramay Way 2141 Markham Way 2633 Curtis Way 5155 Teichert Avenue 5624 Elvas Avenue 5321 Lawrence Drive

4931 10th Avenue 4940 9th Avenue 5312 15th Avenue 3106 Iva Way 1728 Wentworth Ave 6995 Waterview Way 1309 Lynette Way 6300 Holstein Way 6703 4th Avenue 633 38th Street

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$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 M-F 7-6, Sat 8-6, Sun 8-4 | 551-1500 | info@estellspatisserie.com

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A New Tradition REMEMBERING PETS WITH A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS TREE

BY SUE OWENS WRIGHT PETS & THEIR PEOPLE

confess I can get a bit Grinchy at this time of year. We’d barely finished carving our jack-o’-lanterns before it began to look a lot like Christmas. Even before we gobbled up the Thanksgiving turkey, all the Christmas classics had already been shown on TV. When I heard carols playing on the radio Nov. 1 and knew I’d have to listen to those sappy songs nonstop for two more months, that old Grinch started to take hold. Is it any wonder? When I was younger, I loved celebrating Christmas. But with the expense, expectations and exhaustion that accompany the holidays nowadays, I would sometimes rather forget the whole thing. Of all the seasonal rituals of my youth, I most enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree, but even that has become a chore. That’s why I have started a new holiday tradition of decorating a smaller tree for my pets. Over the years, I’ve collected quite a few animal ornaments. Each one kindles a happy memory of a pet. As I unwrap a decoration and hang it on

DEC n 13

a branch of the tree, it’s like having that special dog or cat here with me again at the holidays. Butterscotch’s ornament adorns the topmost branch of the tree. Butter, as we called her for short, was our first in a long line of beloved basset hounds, and the only one we raised from a pup. She was a wonderful dog and the most well bred of them all, with a distinguished pedigree from the finest kennels. Although I’m not an avid promoter of breeders, I admit she had the best temperament and conformation of any of our dogs. Butter had a heart of gold. She reveled in every holiday celebration,

from greeting all the little goblins at our door on Halloween to keeping me good company while I decorated the Christmas tree. In photos of Christmases past, some of my dogs appear rather puzzled by the fact that a seven-foot-tall fir tree has suddenly sprouted in the living room. None ever took a notion to mark the tree as they would when outdoors, though some drained the tree water. Next to Butter’s Christmas ornament hangs the one for Tabitha, a stray black-and-white kitty who adopted us. Like most cats, she was fascinated by the shiny baubles suspended from the tree and loved to

bat at them playfully with a snowwhite paw. Tabby miraculously transformed Butter from a confirmed cat hater to a cat lover. I recall one stormy winter night when Butter deigned to share her doghouse with Tabby. The next morning, I was astonished to find them curled up together inside. From then on, they were best buddies. Dolly shared only five Christmases with us, but those years are remembered as the happiest of any I had with my bassets. A lively little hound the color of cinnamon spice, Dolly was the essence of joie de vivre. It was as if she understood that her

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time here would be brief and she had to fill every day with as much life as she could. She brought me such happiness in that short time. During the Dolly years, I hosted a basset hound picnic every summer, commemorated by an ornament of a little basset popping up out of a picnic basket. Daisy’s delicate china ornament looks like the pretty tricolored basset she was, but it doesn’t capture her impish nature. Thinking of Daisy at Christmastime evokes the memory of her devouring an entire box of my neighbor’s homemade fudge that had been carelessly placed with other gifts under the tree. No one made fudge as good as Bernice’s. Daisy obviously agreed. When the coveted holiday delicacy went missing, I found that naughty dog lying in her bed looking as innocent as the tree angel. But her fudgy bedding and muzzle were irrefutable evidence of who had committed this Christmas candysnatching crime. Fortunately, she didn’t suffer any ill effects from her infamous caper, but I always thought

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her chocolate-brown eyes were a little browner after that. When I decorate my pets’ special tree this year, I’ll brew myself a nice cup of hot cocoa, sample some fudge in honor of Daisy and unwrap my treasured collection of ornaments for Butter, Patience, Dolly, Bramble, Daisy, Bubba Gump and Tabby, too. I’ll ceremoniously place each one on a branch of the fir, including the newer ones I’ve collected for my current dogs, Peaches and Beau. They’ll remind me of the unconditional love all my animal companions have blessed me with over the years. My pets were the most treasured gifts ever to be found beneath our Christmas tree. Once again, they’ll be with me in spirit, making the holidays bright. Sue Owens Wright is an awardwinning author of books and articles about dogs. “Braced for Murder” is her latest book in the Beanie and Cruiser Mystery Series from Five Star Publishing. She can be reached at beanieandcruiser@aol.com. n

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Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Sales Closed August 2013

95608 CARMICHAEL 5313 MANZANITA AVE #3 2748 LEOLETA WAY 5543 WYNDHAM HILL CT 3929 PARK CIRCLE LN #A 6111 RUTLAND DR 3905 DELL RD 6207 VIA CASITAS 5624 VALHALLA DR 5938 VIA CASITAS 6442 RAMPART DR 5913 ASHWORTH WAY 7140 MURDOCK WAY 2634 NAPOLI CT 5489 WILDFLOWER CIR 5961 CAMRAY CIR 26 RIVER BLUFF LN 4606 SHAFTESBURY CT 6221 DAWNRIDGE WAY 6184 ORSI CIR 6140 RAMPART DR 2844 LA COLINA WAY 3700 CLAIRE DR 3329 WALNUT AVE 2433 GARFIELD AVE 5002 KEANE DR 4829 ANDREW CIR 1243 GARY WAY 5242 FAIR OAKS BLVD 5441 EARNELL ST 4818 OAK VISTA DR 6220 SAMOA WAY 6013 ELLERSLEE DR 5846 TOPP CT 4764 DEL HABRA WAY 6800 LANDIS AVE 5513 WILSEY WAY 3701 ORANGRIE WAY 4707 JAN DR 6352 EDGERTON WAY 4864 AMERICAN RIVER DR 4603 FOSTER WAY 2222 MARIE WAY 5521 LOCUST AVE 5144 KOVANDA AVE 5725 RIVER OAK WAY 6421 MORAGA DR 4909 PUMA WAY 2001 WINGFIELD WAY 2316 MARIE WAY 2017 SANTA LUCIA WAY 5229 WYNDHAM OAK LN 5633 ROBERTSON 6715 DUNCAN LN 6068 VIA CASITAS 4952 HEATHERDALE LN 4413 NORTHAMPTON DR 6391 PERRIN WAY 2417 GUNN RD 4545 GARFIELD AVE 5419 KIRKLAND WAY 5648 EL CAMINO AVE 4155 SCANTON CIR 3821 HORTON LN 6431 BELGROVE WAY 4916 PATRIC WAY 6331 SAMOA WAY 6418 LINCOLN AVE 3516 CALIFORNIA AVE 4740 LAKE DR 3529 CONDOR CT 6109 SLATE WAY

$82,000 $285,000 $440,000 $120,300 $239,000 $325,000 $71,500 $305,000 $78,400 $292,000 $229,900 $369,000 $465,000 $376,000 $303,000 $755,000 $375,000 $295,000 $105,000 $351,000 $449,000 $550,000 $250,000 $277,500 $737,500 $380,000 $418,000 $400,000 $215,000 $714,000 $360,000 $224,000 $269,900 $340,000 $346,000 $225,000 $335,000 $231,000 $130,410 $410,000 $178,000 $280,000 $749,000 $205,000 $490,000 $337,000 $350,000 $425,000 $275,000 $425,000 $325,000 $174,000 $225,000 $90,000 $275,000 $440,000 $285,000 $138,000 $305,000 $225,000 $410,000 $240,200 $200,000 $300,000 $415,000 $262,500 $368,000 $200,000 $340,000 $399,300 $250,000

95816 EAST SACRAMENTO, MCKINLEY PARK 2215 O ST 3627 T ST 2215 E ST 1049 SANTA BARBARA CT 1460 37TH ST 365 SANTA YNEZ WAY 3921 N ST 3111 T ST 330 36TH WAY 3249 B ST 1617 28TH 1326 W SUTTER WALK 1140 40TH ST 1335 38TH ST

DEC n 13

$373,100 $134,000 $271,195 $385,000 $750,000 $1,050,000 $440,000 $345,000 $806,000 $190,000 $190,000 $428,000 $620,000 $1,405,000

701 35TH ST 440 39TH ST 1514 24TH ST

95817 TAHOE PARK, ELMHURST 4215 12TH AVE 3627 T ST 6214 1ST AVE 3402 TRIO LN 2197 57TH ST 3123 33RD ST 2716 64TH ST 4908 T ST 3349 SANTA CRUZ WAY 3801 9TH AVE 4932 T 3827 V ST 3153 2ND AVE 3208 11TH AVE 2847 58TH ST 3445 TRUCKEE WAY 2003 59TH ST 3125 44TH ST 2609 SANTA CRUZ WAY 3109 SAN RAFAEL CT 2100 36TH ST 3889 7TH AVE 2156 GERBER AVE 3336 6TH AVE 3415 41ST ST

95818 LAND PARK, CURTIS PARK 773 4TH AVE 1325 1ST AVE 2301 PORTOLA WAY 2557 5TH AVE 1811 9TH AVE 2200 CASTRO WAY 1841 VALLEJO WAY 2717 FREEPORT BLVD 1841 8TH AVE 1922 5TH AVE 3715 COLLEGE AVE 1935 2ND AVE 1233 LARKIN WAY 1218 7TH AVE 2765 12TH ST 2120 10TH ST 1910 3RD AVE 2660 28TH ST 1610 12TH AVE 419 U ST 2232 9TH AVE 2832 MARSHALL WAY 1017 FREMONT WAY 2629 12TH ST

$1,260,000 $611,000 $379,000

$173,500 $134,000 $222,000 $254,586 $110,000 $162,999 $235,000 $351,000 $75,000 $84,000 $415,000 $429,000 $26,000 $196,000 $325,000 $222,000 $323,000 $150,500 $234,500 $70,000 $213,000 $67,500 $247,500 $81,500 $54,000

$450,000 $235,000 $356,000 $596,000 $680,000 $405,000 $420,000 $315,000 $601,000 $375,000 $1,150,000 $265,000 $375,000 $600,000 $595,000 $220,000 $425,000 $287,000 $615,000 $221,000 $415,000 $315,000 $260,000 $290,000

95819 EAST SACRAMENTO, RIVER PARK 801 48TH ST 5155 TEICHERT AVE 1744 42ND ST 1038 46TH ST 4008 D ST 878 EL DORADO WAY 1111 43RD ST 741 47TH ST 504 MEISTER WAY 5337 STATE AVE 1235 42ND ST 3921 N ST 4908 T ST 1333 51ST ST 5250 N ST 656 40TH 4932 T 500 SAN ANTONIO WAY 5623 MONALEE AVE 1366 47TH ST 5298 H ST 900 56TH ST 1001 43RD ST 5521 AILEEN WAY 88 PRIMROSE WAY 849 55TH ST 5326 SANDBURG DR

$372,500 $405,000 $359,000 $1,225,000 $226,818 $410,000 $885,000 $330,000 $430,000 $505,000 $1,300,000 $440,000 $351,000 $366,000 $330,000 $395,000 $415,000 $357,500 $710,000 $1,185,000 $281,000 $419,000 $955,000 $158,000 $378,000 $356,500 $432,200

1140 40TH ST 4807 I ST 5903 SHEPARD AVE 4847 Q ST 4651 BREUNER AVE 1360 51ST ST 4633 P ST 5611 MCADOO AVE

$620,000 $519,950 $330,000 $325,000 $400,000 $405,000 $405,000 $305,000

95821 ARDEN-ARCADE 2600 DANUBE DR 3340 BLUEGRASS RD 3632 EASTERN AVE 2385 TYROLEAN WAY 2848 ALAMITOS WAY 2101 MARCONI AVE 3020 SAND DOLLAR WAY 4038 HILLCREST WAY 3804 WILLIAM WAY 4841 HOPE LN 2418 TOWN CIR 2712 EDISON AVE 3504 SAINT GEORGE DR 3830 PAYTON ST 3716 HUFF WAY 3320 CLUB LN 4116 BIG LIVE OAK LN 3813 PASADENA AVE #4 2824 LA PAZ WAY 2400 MICHELLE DR 3025 POPE AVE 3612 RONK WAY 4421 HAZELWOOD AVE 4528 MCDONALD DR 2720 AVALON DR 4000 LAS NINAS CT 4001 ADELHEID WAY 2706 WRENDALE WAY 3101 YELLOWSTONE LN 3604 POPE AVE 3201 LASSEN WAY 2800 CALLE VISTA WAY 4601 GEORGIAN AVE 2630 BELL ST 2849 IONE ST 4728 WINDING WAY 4623 EMDEE CT 3309 BROOKWOOD RD 2585 DANUBE DR 3241 CLAIRIDGE WAY 3740 KINGS WAY 3621 E COUNTRY CLUB LN 3948 BRULE CT 3221 ARTHUR WAY 2562 CHARLOTTE LN 3675 MONTCLAIRE 4718 WINDING WAY 4526 BARON AVE 3117 LEATHA WAY 4624 MULFORD AVE 2560 BUTANO DR 3670 E COUNTRY CLUB LN #L 2701 ECHO WAY

$220,000 $195,000 $252,000 $230,000 $165,900 $110,000 $295,000 $281,384 $282,500 $283,000 $200,000 $100,000 $155,000 $365,000 $255,000 $309,000 $440,000 $180,000 $120,000 $190,000 $345,000 $269,400 $375,000 $215,000 $258,000 $336,000 $230,000 $335,000 $189,000 $198,000 $279,000 $549,950 $276,000 $215,000 $165,000 $898,000 $283,000 $255,000 $158,000 $445,000 $265,000 $165,000 $205,000 $167,500 $142,000 $180,000 $315,000 $155,000 $180,000 $250,000 $212,500 $185,000 $382,000

95822 SOUTH LAND PARK 2172 KIRK WAY 2269 67TH AVE 34 LUNDY CT 7330 22ND ST 5681 NORMAN WAY 2831 HING AVE 1201 14TH AVE 5120 EUCLID AVE 4651 DEL RIO RD 7353 BENBOW ST 2157 ONEIL WAY 6018 BELLEAU WOOD LN 1416 34TH AVE 4291 CUSTIS AVE 2500 37TH AVE 5120 GILGUNN WAY 1917 63RD AVE 7031 TAMOSHANTER WAY 7481 32ND ST 5867 LONSDALE DR 5980 WYMORE WAY 7232 TAMOSHANTER WAY 1440 MATHEWS WAY 1500 POTRERO WAY 2149 47TH AVE

$110,000 $129,000 $245,000 $177,500 $199,900 $157,000 $117,500 $267,000 $659,000 $157,500 $118,000 $127,000 $175,000 $107,000 $140,000 $220,000 $148,000 $162,000 $157,000 $225,000 $310,000 $126,000 $143,000 $845,000 $135,000

5644 DANA WAY 1161 DERICK WAY 4904 HARTE WAY 6655 24TH ST 6651 24TH ST 5937 MCLAREN AVE 2192 SHIELAH WAY 1421 ATHERTON ST 2217 62 AVE 5424 HELEN WAY 4125 CANBY WAY 5321 VIRGINIA WAY 7534 ADDISON WAY 7582 SAN FELICE CIR 1408 ATHERTON ST 2147 20TH AVE 2512 48TH AVE 2661 CASA LINDA DR 6223 24TH ST 6470 GOLF VIEW DR 6897 DEMARET DR 7517 LOMA VERDE WAY 7517 WAINSCOTT WAY 1456 32ND AVE 4510 ATTAWA AVE 7476 POIRIER WAY

95825 ARDEN

2741 HILLDALE RD 307 DUNBARTON CIR 2436 PARKWOOD DR 1204 COMMONS DR 2430 LARKSPUR LN #280 2131 EDWIN WAY 2020 UNIVERSITY PARK DR 102 ELMHURST CIR 2430 PAVILIONS PL LN #304 2274 SIERRA BLVD 2421 ETHAN WAY 2116 CORTEZ LN 1433 COMMONS DR 2216 WELDON WAY 606 WOODSIDE SIERRA #3 2516 EXETER SQUARE LN 2408 LARKSPUR LN #249 1525 CLINTON RD 323 HARTNELL PL 2201 CORTEZ LN 628 COMMONS DR 1003 DUNBARTON CIR 1019 DORNAJO WAY #259 1113 DUNBARTON CIR 1103 COMMONS DR 2500 EXETER SQUARE LN 879 E WOODSIDE LN #3 879 WOODSIDE LN E UNIT E3 2040 ROBERT WAY 2280 HURLEY WAY #45 2225 MEADOWBROOK RD 2317 BRUNTON 1629 WAYLAND AVE 924 COMMONS DR 2494 AMERICAN RIVER DR 3125 PENNLAND DR 2349 SKUBE (RIO DEL ORO) LN 2145 COTTAGE WAY 2539 EXETER SQUARE LN 2128 LANDON LN 1916 TERRACE DR 740 WOODSIDE LN E #1

95831 GREENHAVEN, S LAND PARK 6948 S LAND PARK DR 6400 HAVENSIDE DR 1256 47 AVE 1184 ROSE TREE WAY 6 RIVERPORT CIR 18 IRON RIVER CT 359 RIVERTREE WAY 380 DEER RIVER WAY 71 CAVALCADE CIR 7413 POCKET RD 6430 OAKRIDGE WAY 610 LELANDHAVEN WAY 76 CACHE RIVER CIR 1157 MONTE VISTA WAY 15 MARJORAM CT 6760 STEAMBOAT WAY

$63,000 $345,000 $270,000 $80,000 $76,000 $120,000 $272,500 $98,000 $158,000 $255,000 $276,000 $225,000 $154,000 $125,000 $154,000 $175,000 $130,000 $103,000 $167,000 $155,000 $135,000 $164,000 $203,000 $269,000 $235,000 $115,327 $169,000 $269,000 $130,000 $475,000 $86,000 $120,000 $349,000 $240,000 $510,000 $199,000 $151,000 $148,000 $249,900 $195,000 $84,500 $206,000 $75,000 $180,000 $207,500 $155,000 $285,000 $420,000 $109,900 $316,900 $285,000 $450,000 $72,000 $72,000 $110,000 $120,000 $139,700 $165,000 $160,000 $360,000 $279,000 $172,000 $307,500 $118,000 $224,999 $260,000 $275,000 $60,403

$160,000 $445,000 $450,000 $252,500 $169,000 $375,000 $328,000 $330,000 $380,000 $320,000 $440,000 $344,500 $199,900 $290,000 $224,900 $215,000

6910 ARABELLA WAY 5 RASHA CT 1380 CORNELL WAY 10 SEASIDE CT 6762 STARBOARD WAY 274 RIVERTREE WAY 553 VALIM WAY 958 BRIARCREST 6 REYES CT 446 FLORIN RD 19 EASTWIND 7507 MAPLE TREE WAY 7305 CAMINO DEL REY ST 813 CRESTWATER LN 283 RIVERTREE WAY 7336 IDLE WILD WAY 92 STARLIT CIR 11 FLORENCE CT 801 SAO JORGE WAY 7317 FLOWERWOOD WAY 6409 S LAND PARK DR 7249 RUSH RIVER DR 474 DE MAR DR 1309 LYNETTE WAY 635 CASTLE RIVER WAY 7591 SAILFISH WAY 6616 LAKE PARK DR 7448 SPICEWOOD DR 6240 FENNWOOD CT 6793 ORLEANS WAY 47 RIVERSTAR CIR 891 GULFWIND WAY 7323 PEYTONA WAY 357 RIVERGATE WAY 792 SAO JORGE WAY 7035 WAVECREST WAY 7111 RIVERSIDE BLVD

95864 ARDEN

288 MUNROE ST 4008 CAYENTE WAY 1530 ARROYO GRANDE DR 1831 WAYSIDE LN 1132 HAMPTON 2870 JOSEPH AVE 2700 LATHAM DR 2231 ROCKWOOD DR 4000 GREYWELL 2916 HUNTINGTON RD 1012 HAMPTON RD 4225 CORONA WAY 4548 OXBOW DR 1005 SINGINGWOOD RD 4059 RAMEL WAY 2661 FOLEY CT 1548 LOS MOLINOS WAY 2000 ADONIS WAY 3755 LAS PASAS WAY 741 EL ENCINO WAY 136 RIVER CHASE CIR 3421 WELLINGTON DR 3217 CHELSEA RD 123 RIVER CHASE CIR 810 EL ENCINO WAY 2340 GILA WAY 1911 EASTERN AVE 3595 LAS PASAS WAY 3304 MAYFAIR DR 913 AMBERWOOD RD 3712 DUBAC WAY 4245 LUSK DR 1050 LOS MOLINOS WAY 3038 MAISON WAY 1822 EASTERN AVE 1440 SEBASTIAN WAY 3404 WEMBERLEY DR 3201 MAYFAIR DR 760 SANTA RITA WAY 1521 CASTEC DR 2450 CATALINA DR 1800 CERES 4429 VALMONTE DR 4425 ULYSSES DR 4200 LOS COCHES WAY 908 SIERRA PARK LN 790 CASMALIA WAY 4388 DORKING CT 3231 SIERRA OAKS DR 3209 CHELSEA RD

$282,500 $352,000 $300,000 $175,000 $285,000 $309,000 $381,500 $266,310 $999,000 $150,000 $369,000 $220,000 $327,000 $155,000 $435,000 $227,500 $284,000 $260,000 $185,000 $359,000 $420,000 $337,500 $249,000 $335,000 $292,500 $270,000 $204,000 $284,500 $305,000 $349,000 $370,000 $280,000 $240,000 $324,000 $295,000 $297,000 $262,000 $419,000 $534,000 $419,500 $595,000 $160,000 $565,000 $725,000 $350,000 $580,000 $612,500 $155,000 $410,500 $300,000 $135,000 $888,000 $975,000 $400,000 $347,000 $395,000 $337,000 $397,000 $163,000 $195,000 $360,000 $332,510 $345,000 $372,500 $382,500 $212,000 $168,000 $269,500 $255,000 $270,000 $152,000 $235,000 $150,000 $182,000 $125,049 $1,150,000 $515,000 $385,000 $265,000 $481,000 $320,000 $575,000 $745,000 $318,000 $630,000 $1,000,500 $122,000

View Land Park from spacious 2bd w/family rm. Hardwood flrs, picture moldings. 2-car garage $285,000 Idelle Claypool & Rhonda Holmen 482-0221

Great Single Story Home! Spacious open floor plan w/vaulted Ceilings, 3 bd/2 bath. Call Today! $339,000 Pam Crawford 916-849-2167

1930’s Spanish Style 3 bd, 2 bth, 1 Stry courtyard hm w/orig. woodwk Leaded glass, chef’s kitchen. $599,900 Elizabeth Axelgard 916-747-7919

Striking mid-century modern With lots of open living space All ready for immediate occupancy $499,000 Lorene Warren 916-799-2121

Beautiful home in Land Park feat. Architectural period details And balcony views of yard and park $665,000 Lorene Warren 916-799-2121

Beautiful Spanish style 1 story Home in Land Park! Great location In prestigious College tract! $454,900 Jim Jeffers 916-730-0494

Walk to Fair Oaks Village. Sweet 2 bdrm w/picket fence & 2 car gar. On .35 acre at end of quiet street $279,000 Idelle Claypool 916-482-0221

River Park beauty Updated kitchen, baths & windows Newer roof, hardwood floors, studio $379,000 Suzie Smits 916-837-5302

Holiday shopping is a work of art when you visit the Crocker Art Museum. Give the gift of free admission and fantastic discounts all year long with a Crocker Art Museum gift membership. Visit the Museum Store where you can ﬁnd affordable original artworks by regional notables, exquisite wearable art, creative gifts for children, exhibition keepsake souvenirs, and more. To purchase a gift membership, visit crockerartmuseum.org, call (916) 808-6730, or visit the admission desk. To purchase a Museum Store gift or gift card, visit the Museum Store during regular Museum hours.

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No Laughing Matter NOT EVERYONE WILL ACCEPT A CARING TOUCH

BY NORRIS BURKES SPIRIT MATTERS

n the fall of 1990, I went from being a parish pastor to working as a hospital chaplain, all by way of an internship at UC Davis Medical Center. My one-year training involved multiple calls from the emergency room where, between the usual gunshot wounds and motor vehicle accidents, I learned to recognize the symptoms of ritualistic child abuse, the smell of maggots in infected wounds and the risks of using animals for erotic gratification. I learned that people do some tragically stupid things. While most patients learned not to repeat their risk-related behaviors, slow learners often made numerous returns. We called such patients “frequent flyers.” One of our frequent flyers arrived one hot summer afternoon strapped to a gurney and screaming complaints. Absent the profanity, she was saying something like, “It hurts! Oh, God, it hurts! You got to give me something for the pain.” Orderlies wheeled the woman into a treatment room, where a nurse

DEC n 13

peppered her with triage questions. Just outside the room, a few staff members erupted with giggles of recognition, breaking loose into fullblown guffaws and horselaughs. “Hey,” I called to a particularly tall, balding nurse, “why are you guys laughing at that lady? That isn’t cool. I think she heard you.” The nurse laughed some more, taking my upbraiding in better stride than I expected. “Were you here last week?” he asked.

While most patients learned not to repeat their risk-related behaviors, slow learners often made numerous returns. “No. I was on vacation.” “Then you don’t understand,” he said. He was right about that. “This lady was here last week with such convincing pain that we put her on an intravenous morphine drip,” he said. “And you find her pain funny?” He patiently shook his head at his uniformed chaplain and described how the woman failed to return after excusing herself for a brief smoke. “Campus police found her hitchhiking in her hospital gown on

the boulevard out front. She had an IV needle in one arm while holding the morphine bag with the other,” he said. “Why would she …?” My puzzled voice rose, barely audible from inside my naive cocoon. “She wanted to sell our morphine, Chaplain,” he said, reversing the upbraid. I studied the dirty floor between his feet as I felt the currents of emotions swirling about us. I had to admit that I could see the tragic humor in the case, but laughing at the woman’s condition felt like a sellout to the cynicism emergency room workers often use to insulate themselves from the pain that surrounds them. Jesus once encountered a woman like this. She had an incurable blood disorder that drained her of energy, money and dignity. Her search for a physician’s cure only made her situation worse. By the time she came seeking Jesus, she was looking only for a human touch, a caring touch.

I learned a lot that year. This event, more than most, taught me that not every patient would find healing, but every patient deserved a caring touch. I approached her gurney and said a prayer while doing my best to offer her the touch she deserved. A few minutes later, a caring doctor offered our patient quality psychiatric care in a rehab facility. Unfortunately, not everyone will accept a caring touch. This time, she laughed at us. A few moments later, she left our ER against medical advice, without drugs or a hospital gown—only a prayerful touch from her hospital chaplain. Norris Burkes is a chaplain, syndicated columnist, national speaker and author of the book “No Small Miracles.” He can be reached at ask@thechaplain.net. n

Steve Walker BROKER steve@walkerrealty.net

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Art Preview

GALLERY ART SHOWS THIS MONTH

2013 Redux: The Holiday Show at Alex Bult Gallery will feature the 2013 artists, including Susan Aulik, Bud Gordon, Ken Waterstreet, Judith Foosaner, Hearne Pardee, Colleen Maloney, Matt Bult (above), Larry Welden, Wayne Thiebaud, Darrell Forney, Jay Welden and Jeff Myers.The Alex Bult Gallery is at 1114 21st Street, Suite B. Visit alexbultgallery.com.

Sacramento sculptor Roger Berry has completed commissions throughout California and the West Coast. His new body of work on view is the result of an investigation of gravity, and how to present those ideas with large scale, “beefy” steel and bronze work. JAY JAY is at 5520 Elvas Ave. Visit jajayart.com

Tim Collom’s mini paintings (right) will be featured in the group exhibit” Small Treasures” at the Archival Gallery, 3223 Folsom Blvd. during the month of December. Collom is one of Sacramento’s up and coming artist and was many awards including “Best of Show” at the KVIE art auction. Visit archivalframe.com.

December is a theme show featuring several artists at the Artistic Edge Gallery at1880 Fulton Ave. Loretta Armstrong’s Fair Oaks Chicken is shown at left. Visit artisticedgeframing.com.

Joan Moment, has influenced many artists of our region as a professor of art at CSU Sacramento for many years. She is commissionedc on both coasts, including the recently commissioned glass mosaic floor, A Fragment of the Universe, at the Sacramento International Airport Terminal. JAY JAY Gallery is at 5520 Elvas Ave. Visit jajayart.com

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HAVE “INSIDE” WILL TRAVEL 1. The Waltermeyers and Werners at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany 2. John and Jane Rosso, Paula De Masi, Enzo Villella, and Luciana Rosso at Lago d’Orta, Italy 3. Michael, Adrienne & Madeline Kerins on Nantucket Island, MA 4. Oliver and Amy Black in Paris in front of Notre Dame Cathedral 5. John Bair and Alan Sears at Wurstelprater, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, in Vienna, Austria 6. The Vyvodas at the Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the United States, located on Oahu, Hawaii

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.

DEC n 13

THEATRE GUIDE Outrage

Thru Dec 14 Big Idea Theatre 1616 Del Paso Blvd, Sac 960-3036 Bigideatheatre.com “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” A time-bending roller-coaster ride through history. Outrage deftly moves between Ancient Greece, the Inquisition, Nazi Germany and modern day academia. It examines the price people pay for staying true to their principles in the face of vicious oppression and reminds us that the revolutionary of one era may become the tyrant of the next.

Crazy Horse and Custer

Thru Dec 15 Sacramento Theatre Company 1419 H St, Sac 443-6722 Sactheatre.org Crazy Horse tells of what was lost forever for his people when they won at the Little Big Horn. George Armstrong Custer, the “Boy General” of the Civil War, speaks for all those American qualities he cherished and ultimately died to secure for himself and his country. This goes beyond the iconic images of these two warriors to explore the men behind the myths and the imperatives in their characters that drove them to conflict greater than the battle they fought.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Thru Dec 22 Sacramento theatre Company 1419 H St, Sac 443-6722 Sactheatre.org Based on the 1946 film, this musical faithfully follows George Bailey’s life from his childhood dreams to his midlife disappointments and beyond. Cinematically scored and theatrically staged, this adaptation breathes musical life into a familiar story…..retaining warmth and humor. A new holiday classic for devotees.

Tommy J and Sally

Thru Dec 22 Celebration Arts Theatre 4469 D St, Sac 455-2787 Celebrationarts.net This isn’t your typical boy-meets –girl story. They meet 10 years after their high school graduation. The paths they’ve walked since are so different she has achieved fame, on the other hand, he is trying to define himself. Is it possible to understand the past and make today right?

Beauty and the Beast

Thru Dec 29 B Street Theatre – Main Stage 2711 B St, Sac 443-5300 Bstreettheatre.org Adaptation from the original, this tells the story of a merchant’s daughter, Belle, who sacrifices herself to save her father. A selfish Prince and his faithful servant are cursed by a magical old Crone, setting off a series of events that find Belle trapped and a captive of the once handsome Prince, now a hideous and terrifying Beast. Everyone must learn to look beyond the surface and take the greatest leap of faith, the leap of love.

The SantaLand Diaries

Dec 4 – Dec 29 Capital Stage Company 2215 J St 995-5464 Capstage.org Wicked funny tale from the outlandish and true chronicles of humorist David Sedaris’ experience as Crumpet the Elf in Macy’s SantaLand. Witty, sardonic and unpredictable, mercilessly cutting through the Christmas spirit to point the insane things we humans do during the holidays. Sedaris stands up for the Grinch in each of us.

Not in the Stars

Thru Jan 5 B Street Theatre 2711 B St, Sac 443-5300 Bstreettheatre.org This play tells the story of ill-suited blind daters, Yvonne and Clare, and a tenuously together couple, Maria and Mac. Things start off badly and quickly get worse for Yvonne who is gravely serious and Clare is funny and frivolous. While across town, romance is also on the skids in the home of Mac and his wife Maria. Mac, a man-child to whom his mother provided everything, finds empathy a foreign concept towards his wife, while his wife Maria find Mac a foreign concept. A tumultuous night of conflict that can end only one of two ways.

Reindeer in Space

Thru Dec 21 Chautauqua Playhouse 5325 Engle Rd, Carmichael 489-7529 Cplayhouse.org The Reindeer are back! Reindeer in Space is part of the popular Christopher Crum series starring Santa’s reindeer.

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My Archenemy

IN A BATTLE FOUGHT ON EBAY, IT’S DEEP POCKETS THAT COUNT

BY KEVIN MIMS WRITING LIFE

or years, I have been a casual collector of other people’s diaries, especially travel journals. At flea markets, garage sales, antiques stores and estate sales, my eyes are constantly on the lookout for small, leather-bound books with the words “My Travels” or “My Voyage Abroad” embossed on the cover. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, these were fairly easy to find, and I could afford to be picky when it came to buying one. If the price seemed slightly high or the content slightly ordinary, I could walk away from a journal confident that a better one would present

DEC n 13

itself on my next antiques hunt. But old-time travel journals have become scarce lately. I used to find a half-dozen good ones every year. Now, I’m lucky if I encounter one or two. Although the supply of handwritten journals is drying up, my appetite for them has not. And since I can no longer satisfy that appetite at local garage sales and flea markets, I’ve been forced to turn to that vast online time suck/money pit known as eBay. It won’t surprise you to hear that eBay has old-time handwritten travel journals aplenty. The site probably has silver-plated Peruvian nose-hair clippers aplenty. But eBay also has about a gazillion daily visitors, which means that when an elderly Curtis Park resident dies and the contents of her home go up for sale, I am likely to find myself competing for her 1937 travel journal not with just a few other Sacramento-area garagesale junkies but with every other handwritten-ephemera enthusiast in the universe. Fortunately, travel journals handwritten by obscure dead people

are nowhere near as popular as, say, Mickey Mantle rookie cards or 1964 mint-condition Spiderman comic books. Unfortunately, one online raremanuscripts dealer seems determined to completely dominate the market in handwritten diaries and travel journals. And his pockets are much, much deeper than mine. This man is my archenemy. His online shop is a handwritten-ephemera lover’s dream. Except for the prices. They are a nightmare. I don’t want to disclose my archenemy’s name. For convenience, let’s just call him Archie. Many’s the time I’ve placed what I thought was a generous bid on an old diary, only to be immediately outbid by Archie. At other times, he has allowed me to be the high bidder on an item for days on end, permitting me to get so close to success I can practically taste it on my tongue, only to swoop in at the last second and defeat me with his superior economic resources. If Archie were a true lover of ephemera like me, a person who derives an inexpressible thrill from holding an old diary in his hands and traveling to another place and time via the words of some long-dead human being, I wouldn’t begrudge him his victories over me. But love doesn’t seem to have much to do with Archie’s interest in handwritten ephemera. Mere days after he has defeated me in another eBay auction, I will visit his website and find that his latest acquisition is up for sale, always for at least four or five times what he paid for it. This isn’t a man who savors the touch and smell of an old leather-bound journal with

art-deco lettering embossed in gold on its cover. This isn’t a man who returns again and again to the same journals, reading over and over some 20-something young woman’s unpretentious account of her trip to Europe in 1927. No, Archie is a man with his eye on the main chance, always on the lookout for an opportunity to convert a one-of-a-kind literary treasure into cold, hard cash. Sometimes he does this in ways that I find shameless.

Unfortunately, one online raremanuscripts dealer seems determined to completely dominate the market in handwritten diaries and travel journals. A few months ago, Archie and I both bid on a journal written by an American woman while she was traveling through Europe in the summer of 1978. Naturally, Archie won the bidding war. This diary keeper (I’ll call her “Beth”) was 23 in 1978 and away for the first time in her life from her small hometown in the Great Plains. Like many another young American in the 1970s, Beth experimented freely with sex and drugs, and she wrote about it candidly in her diary. But, judging by the

excerpts from the diary that were posted on eBay, she wrote about a lot of other things as well: the excitement and scariness of being so far away from home, the thrill of encountering well-known European landmarks she had formerly seen only in movies and books, the oddity of foreign food and places and people. But you wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know all this from the description of the diary on Archieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s online store. The website uses Bethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s real name in full (unlike the eBay seller, who discreetly withheld it) and describes her diary as a tale of â&#x20AC;&#x153;drugs, sex, and rock and roll.â&#x20AC;? Despite the fact that the hippie era peaked 10 years earlier, Archie calls Bethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diary â&#x20AC;&#x153;a study in hippie era travel and indulgence and the writer shares it all.â&#x20AC;? In his semiliterate English, Archie goes on to say that Beth and her traveling companions â&#x20AC;&#x153;meet several men, smoked hashish and pot, drank and drugged quite a bit, and the writer describes their travels sometimes in a quite rank and salty language. She really holds nothing back. As with so many young people coming out of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the sixtiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which many call the age of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;irresponsible excess and flamboyance.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; This diary documents it well.â&#x20AC;? What is galling about this invasion of privacy is the fact that Beth died at 55, of breast cancer, in 2010, leaving behind two adult sons and several grandchildren. Judging from an online memorial created for Beth by her friends and family, she was an amazing person, a single mother who put herself through college, graduating with a bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in sociology at the age of 40. She was a lifelong lover of animals and eventually the owner-operator of her own small business, although earlier in her life she had often held two jobs at the same time just to make sure that her children never knew want. But you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t learn any of this from Archieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care enough about her to do any research into her life. As I recall, Archie acquired Bethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diary for $300. He is now offering it for sale at $2,295. For his treatment of Beth and for other reasons, I often find

myself despising Archie. But, if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m being honest, I have to admit that there are advantages in having an archenemy. Mine has saved me a truckload of money over the years. I love handwritten ephemera, but I am damned near a pauper and shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really be spending money on anything that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t an absolute necessity. Although I have never bested Archie in an auction, I have managed to at least do some damage to him. Through the years, I have forced him to spend thousands of dollars more for diaries than he would have if I hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t competed with him. Because, unlike Archie, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sell diaries online, he is almost certainly unaware of my identity. But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure he senses that I am out there. I can sometimes tell by the number of bids that he and I are the only ones competing for a particular item on eBay. I know who my competitor is but, if he knows me at all, it must be as The Shadow, a mysterious ephemera enthusiast who bids on almost every travel diary that gets posted on eBay but never wins the bidding.

Sadly, Archie possess more of the only superpowerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;wealthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; that matters in the skirmishes between us. Archie and I have never met. We live thousands of miles apart. But thanks to the Internet and our mutual interest in handwritten ephemera, we are bound to one another like Spiderman and Doctor Octopus, Superman and Lex Luther, Batman and The Joker. I am not a superhero (or even a regular one), but having an archenemy sometimes makes me feel as though I am. Sadly, Archie possess more of the only superpowerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;wealthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;that matters in the skirmishes between us. Ah, well. If nothing else, these skirmishes provide me with material for my own handwritten diary. n

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Michael Ault THE TIME IS NOW FOR DOWNTOWN

13th and K, they feel like much different locations. We know that there are distinctly different areas within the downtown core that have their own sense of identity. Our goal through the branding campaign is to champion that. You might work downtown, but that doesn’t mean you need to leave. Stay downtown, go to a show, the theater, a restaurant, a gallery, and extend that experience.

BY KELLIE RANDLE CONVERSATION PIECE

What are the plans for the stretch of K Street from 7th to 13th known as The Kay? There is obviously a lot of excitement around the arena. But while the Kings play 41 games a year, they’re talking about 200-plus events at the arena, so you have two thirds of the year when that facility will be active. The estimates are 3 million people a year will come to the arena. We want this to be a complete experience. You may be coming to a concert or an event at the arena at 8 o’clock, but we want you to come at 5, walk the district, go to dinner, grab a drink. When the event’s over, rather than just getting in your car, stay downtown. It becomes a destination. It extends the experience.

ig changes are coming to downtown Sacramento. As executive director of Sacramento Downtown Partnership, Michael Ault has been working toward this moment for 17 years. He wants to make downtown not just an employment center but a cultural and entertainment center for the region. What is Downtown Sacramento Partnership? It’s a property-based improvement district of 66 square blocks downtown. In 1995, Mayor Joe Serna and a group of leaders decided we needed a strong leadership voice for the central city. We were the first business improvement district in the state of California. There are now over 200 of them, with the goal of marketing, special events, clean and safe programs, retail recruitment, advocacy, lobbying and public policy. Our singular charge is to make the central city a stronger economic development destination. How did you come to lead the partnership?

DEC n 13

Michael Ault is the executive director of Sacramento Downtown Partnership

I was part of the organization in its early formative years. I left and did some consulting, then came back as executive director in 1997. I’ve been in this job for 17 years. It was a much smaller organization that focused on maintenance and security programs at that point.

Tell me about the new branding efforts for downtown districts such as the theater district and the railyards. Successful downtowns have a sense of identity within their neighborhoods. If you’re in Old Sacramento or you’re standing at

How does the development of K Street fit in with the proposed new arena? The arena is great but it’s not the only answer to what we’re trying to do downtown. While it brings excitement and momentum, the economy itself is bringing some new momentum. We want to create an active urban district. When you step out of the new arena at 7th and

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Is there a city you are using as a model as you redevelop downtown? Look at Denver with the Pepsi Center and Coors Field, and how it’s been able to activate the lower downtown. Look at Seattle with Safeco Field. And look right out our backdoor at AT&T Park in San Francisco. That was an area that was forgotten about. You couldn’t give away the land. Now, it’s absolutely transformed that area. What is the timeline for new developments? The arena is scheduled to open in 2016. So over the next few years, you’re going to see a lot of properties in play. The 700 block of K Street will be first. We have 14 leases signed with great retailers and businesses. Properties within blocks of that are in discussions. Describe the downtown Sacramento you see in five years.

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The level of interest and momentum are something we’ve waited 15-plus years for. I think we’ve got an opportunity to remake how people look at downtown. This is our time and we know it. We need to take advantage of this market. We need to do everything we can for the next five years. We can’t wait till this building gets built. We can’t wait till the market fully comes back. We need to be getting projects in the pipeline, projects through entitlements, working with owners and aggressively recruiting and making sure retailers, developers and brokers understand the momentum of where we’re going and get these projects under way. We have focused leadership with elected officials who understand this city’s perception. We need to be clear with the city that the time is absolutely right now. Kellie Randle can be reached at KellieR@me.com. n

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Napa Know-How STUART SPOTO CAREFULLY CULTIVATES HIGH-END WINE THAT’S ON THE RISE

BY DUFFY KELLY MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR

rom the outside, Stuart Spoto looks like a regular guy, trimming trees and hanging out with his family and big dogs at his Arden Oaks home. He tosses a few branches in a wood-chipper then goes into the kitchen to stir something on the stove. He adds a spice or two and pours an iced tea for company on this hot day. Nothing so out of the ordinary in all of that. But follow him downstairs and feel the mystique rise. Follow him to his wine cellar and cold storage rooms where his own gorgeous wooden wine barrels and bottles are filled with his own rare Cabernets and Bordeaux, where the temperature is controlled and constantly monitored with thermostats and timers. Follow him to his gleaming stainless-steel wine presses in his refrigerated garage, where giant shiny tanks with high-tech dials and gauges sit in perfect cleanliness. Follow him to his wine-tasting room for special guests, where beautiful pictures adorn the walls, and barrels surround the room beckoning you to sit and sip some wine. Suddenly, you feel you’re in Italy or France or Napa, anywhere but in the basement of a home off Watt Avenue. Spoto’s wine prowess has become as powerful as this Sacramentan is unassuming. After 35 years making wine, Spoto has become a rising force as a boutique winery among Napa Valley winemakers. His wines are

DEC n 13

Christy and Stuart Spoto

threatening to become “cult wines” that fetch hundreds of dollars per bottle. On average, one bottle of his Cabernet sells for about $120. Spoto began specializing in making Napa Valley wine after becoming a commercially licensed winemaker about 10 years ago. In the past decade, he’s grown from being a newcomer to the Napa wine scene to becoming a heavy hitter with the Oakville Wine Growers Association, where he hobnobs with a group of about four dozen of some of the world’s best winemakers, sharing wine-making secrets and ideas to preserve the integrity and stature of Napa Valley wines.

“I specialize in high-quality Napa Bordeaux blends and Cabernets,” he says. “I started buying grapes from different places, but one year we had this opportunity to get grapes from an Oakville source, the best appellation in the country, where some of the best grapes are grown. Oakville is known for producing the finest Cabernets in all of Napa.” At that point, Spoto’s wines took off. “We’ve always been different because we are a Sacramento winery, but our grapes are from Napa Valley,” he says. “We are the only winery in Sacramento focusing on highend Napa Valley wine. We are not

ashamed of being from Sacramento. Those who understand winemaking know good wine comes from two main starting blocks: good grapes and a certain type of cleanliness.” “Because we are small, and he pays attention to every single detail,” says Spoto’s wife, Christy. “He’s actually a slave-driver when it comes to winemaking. Those bottles go out with our name on it and he wants it to be perfect. He hand-numbers every single bottle just like a piece of artwork that’s hand-numbered and signed by the artists because that’s

NEIGHBORS page 69

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Arts Intersection TEACHER BRINGS EDUCATION TO THE MIX AT PERFORMANCE CENTER

BY DEB BELT ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

en McClara stands in the lobby of Grange Performing Arts Center, a modest building in Oak Park just off Stockton Boulevard, where he runs the Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy. “We seem to be in the invisible building here,” he says with a laugh. “When I describe the location, people ask: ‘There’s a performing arts center there?’”

Understated and amiable, McClara started playing music in the fourth grade, beginning with the violin.

Ben McClara runs the Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy

radar,” he says. “We are having the time of our lives.” McClara shares the center with Christopher Cook of Green Valley Theatre Company, two other music In spite of the seemingly phantom teachers and three visual artists. locale, McClara describes a rich They all chip in for the rent. McClara schedule of performance, theater and and Cook converted the building music education happening at the from a decrepit office space into a center. Productions of “The Rocky funky, intimate performance venue Horror Picture Show,” “Cabaret” and school, complete with a 47-seat and “Spring Awakening” have been theater, dressing rooms and music performed there over the past two studios. years, along with classical, baroque Students at the academy range in and bluegrass concerts. And the music age from 5 to 62, and McClara grants academy offers lessons in piano, scholarships to about 30 percent of his woodwind and string instruments, students, meaning they get free music basic percussion and musicianship. lessons. “When I see something like “We have amazing theater and a grandma paying for her grandson’s music going on here, just under the lessons with her Social Security check, I offer a scholarship,” he says.

DEC n 13

The academy also has a free string ensemble that students can join. The school benefits from donated instruments that are passed on to students. “You know you’re doing something right when someone calls out of the blue and says: ‘I have a keyboard to donate,’ which happened recently,” McClara says. The center has been running for two years at the intersection of Stockton and V Street. A community group called California State Grange helps make it happen. Bob McFarland, president of the agricultural organization, wanted the building to be a performing arts theater. When McClara heard of the idea, he told McFarland he needed a space to teach music.

“Bob offers affordable rent to artists, and I am grateful for that,” McClara says. “Chris Cook and I put in the blood, sweat and tears to transform the building, hauling out the old cubicles, putting down new flooring and painting every square inch of the theater black.” The theater seats came from Sacramento City College’s old venue. Tickets to performances at the theater range in price from $10 to $20 and generate money for upkeep of the center. A recent performance called “When the Bass Hits the Fan” featured Thomas Derthick, principle bassist of the Sacramento Philharmonic, who performed Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 at pitch on a double bass, an extremely difficult feat, according to McClara.

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how he feels about his wine. It’s an art.” As a young boy, Spoto learned to make wine from his father, Henry Spoto. “We always had some type of production in our home when I was growing up,” he recalls. “I remember back when I was 7 or 8 years old and we made wine at our ranch in Yuba City. I thought it was so cool, just like those little volcanoes at school. Then we moved to Davis and my dad fine-tuned his skills and I got a formal education in chemical and civil engineering.” While in Davis, the Spoto family developed strong ties with UC Davis’ viticulturists, a relationship that has stayed strong through the years. “If I have a question during the harvest or the process, I can find the answers,” Spoto says.

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“He received the longest standing ovation I have ever seen,” McClara recalls. “We go out of the way to bring special music here and that benefits students, the neighborhood and the public.” Understated and amiable, McClara started playing music in the fourth grade, beginning with the violin. He went on to play trumpet, baritone, tuba and electric bass before settling on stand-up bass. He recalls playing at the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee in the seventh grade and says he’s

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attended about “every college in town,” completing the music program at American River College, where he studied with Joe Gilman. At Sacramento State, he received a bachelor’s of music in classical performance, and he’s now working through a master’s program in music theory and bass performance at Sac State. “I am the product of wonderful Sacramento teachers,” he says. Growing up in the neighborhood near the center where he now teaches, McClara recalls going to the Coca-Cola Company on Stockton Boulevard to watch the green glass bottles roll by on the conveyors. He says he’s proud to be working in his old stomping grounds of Oak Park. “It’s important to me to teach in this neighborhood and help prepare students to compete at the collegiate level,” he says. “I’m keeping it local, and I believe in that.”

Hope is in the Wind For more information about Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy, call 382-2779 or go to sacprepmusic.com. n

This year, the Spotos produced about 6,000 bottles of wine. So what does it take to start a winery like he did? “The typical model is to borrow money from the bank, start with a large fortune and end up with a small fortune. But I threw that out,” he says. “I didn’t want to borrow any money. I started with hand-me-down equipment, got through that one vintage, sold some wine, then invested in another piece of equipment. “Everything—my press, tanks, even forklift—I own outright. Little by little, I’ve been building it. Every year I have been investing to make our winery more efficient and more high-end, upping the quality of our equipment and process.” As far as the actual winemaking process goes, come harvest time Spoto will be in the Napa vineyards monitoring and tasting grapes, waiting for the peak of the fruit. When everything is just right, he

calls in his trucks and harvesters and personally helps hand-sort and select the fruit. “He’s even there in the weeks before harvest, hand-picking dead leaves off the fruit,” his wife says. From there, Spoto hauls about five tons of fruit to his Arden Oaks crush pad, which sits outside his kitchen door. From there, the grapes move to a fancy destemming machine, then a picking bin where they are again hand-sorted and stray stems are picked out. And then it’s time for fermentation. “Once the fermentation is done, it’s a process of aging,” Spoto says. “It’s a very simplistic process, not difficult. The art comes from keeping your equipment clean and blending varietals. My job is then to try to put them together in a blend.” In 2010, Spoto jumped out of corporate life and started working in the wine business full time. “We were still in a major recession, so selling high-end wine was a very scary proposition,” he recalls. “But I said, ‘If not now, when?’ I knew the wine business was starting to grow. Turns out it was just the right time to expand. I went from selling to a half-dozen restaurants to growing exponentially. Sales started exploding. Now I am spending 50 percent of my time in Napa building the brand. People are starting to know our wine.” This year, the Spotos produced about 6,000 bottles of wine. The Spoto family, Stuart along with Christy and their two daughters, Lexi and Arianna, offers weekend tasting events at their Arden Oaks winery, a host of specials for wine club members as well as wine parties, fundraisers and special seasonal pairings and partnerships with some of Sacramento’s finest restaurants such as Matteo’s Pizza & Bistro and Enotria. The Spotos are gearing up for a November fundraiser for women to be held at Plates Cafe. To reserve a spot in the Spoto Wines tasting room or learn more about Spoto wines, go to shop.spotowines. com. Duffy Kelly can be reached at duffykelly@comcast.net. n

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Go Nuts for the Holidays SACRAMENTO BALLET’S SEASON INCLUDES LIVE MUSIC

By Jessica Laskey RIVER CITY PREVIEWS

t’s that magical time of year when visions of sugarplums dance in your head—only at the Sacramento Ballet, it’s the Sugar Plum Fairy who’s pirouetting through your thoughts. Ron Cunningham’s beloved holiday classic “The Nutcracker” returns to the Community Center Theater from Dec. 7 through Dec. 23, with live music for select performances. More than 500 children from all over the region will perform Cunningham’s choreographic delight with the ballet’s beautiful corps. Bring your kids in full fairytale finery and introduce them to the wonder of live, professional dance. Want to hear the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit? Get tickets for performances on Dec. 7, 8, 15, 20 or 23. To add to the magic, give the best gift ever and take your tykes to the Sugar Plum Fairy Tea from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8 in the Grand Hall of the Capitol Plaza Ballroom (1025 Ninth St., Suite 201). Guests will meet the cast of “The Nutcracker,” enjoy delicious desserts and kid-friendly drinks, have their

DEC n 13

Don't miss Sacramento Ballet's performances of The Nutcracker from Dec. 7 to 23

photo snapped with the Sugar Plum Fairy herself and receive a special memory book with a collectible ornament. It’s an afternoon they’ll never forget. For tickets and more information, call 808-5181 or go to sacballet.org. The Community Center Theater is at 1301 L St.

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS What better way to ring in the festive season than with beautiful singing ringing in your ears? Don’t miss Sacramento Choral Society’s Home for the Holidays concert, presented by Wells Fargo at 8 p.m.

on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Memorial Auditorium. A candlelit procession will set the musical mood for a program that includes an audience sing-along, new and familiar orchestral holiday songs and special guest performances by tenor Tevye Ditter and the Sacramento Children’s Chorus, directed by Lynn Stevens. To purchase tickets online, go to tickets.com. For more information, call 536-9065 or go to sacramentochoral.com. Memorial Auditorium is at 1515 J St.

MASTERS OF THE HOUSE They’re called the Master Singers for a reason. Listen to their “masterful” renditions of carols from around the world at their seasonopening concert, The World for Christmas, on Dec. 8, 14, 15, 19 and 22. After a candlelit processional to start the festivities, sit back and enjoy the premiere of Philip Lawson’s piece “Evermore,” followed by carols from Armenia, Canada, France, Spain, England, Argentina, Africa and more, as well as new arrangements of classic carols you probably already know:

“We Three Kings,” “Ave Maria” and more. For tickets and more information, go to mastersingers.org or harriscenter.net. Performances on Dec. 8, 14, 15 and 19 will take place at St. Francis Church, 1066 26th St. The performance on Dec. 22 will take place at the Harris Center (formerly Three Stages at Folsom Lake College) at 10 College Parkway in Folsom.

AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE Abigail VanCannon sure has an eye for art. SouthWestArt Magazine even named her one of the 21 artists under 31 years old to watch in 2012. Check out her luscious landscapes for yourself at her solo show at Galley 2110 this month. The Iowa native is no stranger to vast vistas, and here she turns her loving eye on Sacramento’s great outdoors, as well as other sweeping California scenes. The work shows well on the walls of Gallery 2110, which also houses several artists’ studios (VanCannon’s among them) as part of the Sacramento Art Complex.

For more information, visit gallery2110.com. Meet VanCannon at the Second Saturday artist’s reception on Dec. 14 or ogle her art online at vancannonart.com. Gallery 2110 is at (you guessed it!) 2110 K St. in midtown.

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HALLELUJAH! Good things come in threes. Case in point: At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, three powerhouse musical groups— Camellia Symphony Orchestra, Music Society at Cathedral Square and Valley Choral Society—join forces for a performance of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah like you’ve never heard before in the stunning Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Part one of the composer’s beloved Christmas chorale will be jointly directed by Dr. Robert Johnson, artistic director of Music Society at Cathedral Square, and Dr. Paul Allen, artistic director of Valley Choral Society. The maestros will be leading a total of 90 voices from three different choirs—Choir of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Capella Antiqua and Valley Choral Society—in a concert that will surely make you see angels.

R O

Kim Merrell Lamb CRS, CNE, GRI 916-837-4674 www.kimmerrell.com

For tickets and more information, call the CSO office at 929-6655 or go to camelliasymphony.org. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is at 1017 11th St.

AH CAPELLA Lest you think December will end without your getting the chance to again hear the virtuosic vocals of Capella Antiqua, the artists-inresidence at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, fret not. Lend an ear at their Victorian Christmas concert with Vox Musica at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20 at the cathedral.

Lic.# 01376040

The concert will include a mélange of all things Victorian: period choral music and Christmas carol responses, readings from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” and more festive festivities. For tickets and more information, go to capella-antiqua.org or voxmusica.net. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament is at 1017 11th St.

ON POINTE Are you nutty for “The Nutcracker”? Don’t miss the familyand budget-friendly performance of the Crockett-Deane Ballet Company and Deane Dance Center’s performance of a one-act version of “The Nutcracker” in tandem with “Christmas Angels” on Dec. 14 and 15 at the Center at Twenty-Three Hundred. For only $10, kids can enjoy the magic of the “Nutcracker” and enjoy a retelling of the story of Christmas complete with popular carols during Christmas Angels. Both ballets are directed by Allyson Deane (daughter of Barbara Crockett, the founder of the Sacramento Ballet) and Don Schwennesen, a husband-and-wife team that keeps the corps on their toes—literally. For tickets and more information, call 453-0226 or go to deanedancecenter.com. The Center at Twenty-Three Hundred is at 2300 Sierra Blvd.

Sacramento Choral Society’s Home for the Holidays concert, presented by Wells Fargo at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Memorial Auditorium. This photo is from their Italian tour.

PREVIEWS page 72

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The Sacramento Children’s Chorus performs A Merry Little Christmas on Dec. 13

FROM page 71

CRACK UP AT THE CROCKER Crocker Art Museum wants in on the festivities this season, but it’s ringing in the holidays with refreshingly un-Christmas-y options. First up is the Classical Concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8, featuring the RSVP Choir, which believes in making music to build a better world. Enjoy holiday classics with a tuneful twist at this energy-filled concert. Are you a “Seinfeld” fan? If so, run, don’t walk, to the Art Mix Festivus festivities from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12. Guests will get in on the comedic, un-Christmas fun with a Festivus pole-making table, a “Seinfeld” episode marathon, the “Airing of Grievances” onstage and “Feats of Strength” featuring the rough, tough gals of the Sac City Rollers roller derby team, live music by Gentleman Surfer and a re-gift (you read that right) exchange. Drink specials are $5 all night … and yada, yada, yada. For all of those “Sound of Music” softies out there (I’m proud to be one of them), sing your own rendition of “Do Re Mi” and all of your favorite things at the “Sound of Music” SingAlong at 2 and 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 26. Come dressed as your favorite character to compete in the

DEC n 13

costume contest, enter for the chance to win door prizes and goodie bags and yodel to your heart’s content. You might even win something for your efforts! Tickets sell out early, so buy now to make sure you won’t be a “Lonely Goatherd.” For tickets and more information to all Crocker events, call 808-1182 or go to crockerartmuseum.org. Crocker Art Museum is at 216 O St.

online at tickets.com. The Crest Theatre is at 1013 K St.

RISING STARS

You can say you knew them when: Emma Bradford and Lucas Dudley, both students at Christian Brothers High School, recently won first place in the first All-American High School Film Festival in New York City for their music video “Paper Plates.” Bradford and Dudley, who STANDING ROOM ONLY participate in the CB video production Stand up to homelessness when program and the student-run you attend Stand Up Sacramento, a television station KBFT, were stand-up comedy concert benefitting selected as two of 84 finalists from Transitional Living & Community more than 1,000 entries from all over Support at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the the world, including South Korea, Crest Theatre. Japan, South Africa, Canada and 40 TLCS is a social rehab agency that U.S. states. The competition, created has helped psychiatrically disabled by filmmaker and MTV regular adults who are homeless or close to Andrew Jenks, is designed to give it transform their lives and get back young directors an outlet to show off on their feet for more than 31 years. their work. What better place to show Help TLCS laugh its way to the bank it off than in the Big Apple? with the talents of six local comics, Their video was viewed by a who are all donating their time, for judging panel that included actors a showcase that is sure to be sideEdward Burns and Kristen Stewart, splitting. documentarian Morgan Spurlock, Want to give more than just enough screenwriter Diablo Cody and “Lost” for a seat? Buy a VIP ticket and get executive producer Carlton Cuse. access to a special pre-performance The dynamic duo emerged victorious reception complete with a silent in the music video category, earning auction at 5:30 p.m. first place—and, assumedly, supreme For tickets, call Erin Johansen Sacramento bragging rights. at 441-0123, ext. 115, email her Congratulations, Emma and Lucas! at ejohansen@tlcssac.org, or buy

Celebrate exciting Christmas customs from Mexico—ballet folkorico, street theater and a Mexican mercado—at the two-part Navidades! Christmas on K Street event on Sunday, Dec. 15 presented by Calidanza Dance Company, La Raza Galería Posada and El Teatro Espejo. Part one, “La Pastorela de Sacramento,” starts at 1:30 p.m. outdoors at the Convention Center Plaza at 13th and K streets. The performance, adapted by Tomas Benitez, Manuel Pickett and Marie Acosta, will include a 45-minute modern reenactment of Mexico’s traditional Christmas pageant. Audience participation is highly encouraged. Meander with the mobile pageant as it makes it way to the Crest Theatre at 3 p.m. for a stunning presentation of “Navidades y Tradiciones,” Calidanza Dance Company’s latest creation under the direction of Steven Valencia. Twentytwo dancers will be accompanied by Vinic-Kay folkloric musicians as they present various Mexican traditions: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Dia de Candelaria (Candle Mass Day), Afro-Jarocho (celebrating African heritage in Mexico) and Carnaval in Sinaloa. The dancing will give way to live music honoring Las Posadas and a mariachi Christmas complete with a piñata. You can also buy unique gifts at the Mexican mercado in the Crest lobby before and after the show. For tickets and more information, go to tickets.com, thecrest.com or La Raza Galería Posada’s website at lrgp. org. The Crest Theatre is at 1013 K St.

PAST PRESENT If all things holiday are starting to grate on your nerves, check out something decidedly secular, but no less fun: Big Idea Theatre’s season finale production of “Outrage,” running through Dec. 14. As an end cap to a season that has explored themes of revolution, oppression and the power of the human spirit to struggle against

tyranny, Itamar Moses’s play has a little bit of all of these. The timebending narrative takes audiences on a roller-coaster ride through Ancient Greece, the Inquisition, Nazi Germany and modern-day academia, all while examining the price people pay for staying true to their principles.

The play is deftly directed by Benjamin T. Ismail and features a large, local cast full of talent.

FROM page 77

Abigail VanCannon is featured in a solo show at Galley 2110 this month

Heavy stuff, but nothing Big Idea can’t handle. The play is deftly directed by Benjamin T. Ismail and features a large, local cast full of talent. For tickets and more information, call 960-3036 or go to bigideatheatre. com. Big Idea Theatre is at 1616 Del Paso Blvd.

IN THE MOOD To get you back in the holiday mood, don’t miss the Sacramento Symphonic Winds concert, Holiday Moods, at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8 at the Crowne Plaza Sacramento Northeast. The 60-piece symphonic band will take on “Festive Overture” by Dmitri Shostakovich, the beloved “A Charlie Brown Christmas” by Guaraldi/Mendelson, “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” by Leon Jessel, “A Christmas Festival” by Leroy Anderson and more magical, musical masterpieces. Tickets are sold at the door. For more information, go to sacwinds.org. Crowne Plaza Sacramento Northeast is at 5321 Date Ave.

ICE, ICE, BABY If you feel like you’ve been skating on thin ice lately, why not get some firmer, but just as icy, ground under your feet and check out the Sacramento Downtown Plaza

Ice Rink, open for its 23rd season through Jan. 20?

Notice something special about the ice? Its purple hue is in honor of the rink’s event partnership with the Sacramento Kings. Established in 1991 by the city of Sacramento, the rink has come to symbolize the celebration of the coming of winter—a snow-less affair in Sacramento, but chilly nonetheless. Don your woolens and strap on some skates for Tuesday Family Skate nights, theme nights every Thursday and My 58 Fridays. Notice something special about the ice? Its purple hue is in honor of the rink’s event partnership with the Sacramento Kings. So what are you waiting for? Go try some triple axels! The rink is open daily. For more information, go to downtownsac. org. Planning an ice skating party or group of 10 or more? Call 442-8575. The Sacramento Downtown Plaza Ice Rink is at 701 K St.

KIDDING AROUND The Sacramento Children’s Chorus wants you to have yourself A Merry Little Christmas, which is why it is presenting a concert by that very name on Dec. 13 and 15 at Westminster Presbyterian Church and Carmichael Seventh Day Adventist Church, respectively. “With a slight twist from our traditional choral performance, we will incorporate popular pieces such as ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ along with classical repertoire,” says Lynn Stevens, SCC founder and artistic director. Stevens and her colleague Julie Adams will be directing all five choirs, singing these selections as well as a modern version of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” created by the Emmy Award-winning composer Gary Fry.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Westminster Presbyterian Church (1300 N Str.) and at 4 p.m. on Dec. 15 at Carmichael Seventh Day Adventist Church (4600 Winding Way). If you’re wondering why the performances skip Dec. 14, that’s because the SCC will be performing at Sacramento Choral Society’s Home for the Holidays concert at 8 p.m. at Memorial Auditorium (1515 J St.). Why not see both and get a double dose of SCC? For tickets and more information, call 646-1141 or go to sacramentchildrenschorus.org. Jessica Laskey can be reached at goldman.jr@gmail.com. Please e-mail items for consideration by the first of the month, at least one month in advance of the event. n

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One Block, Two Winners A NEW MEXICAN RESTAURANT AND CHEESE STORE OPEN SIDE BY SIDE

BY GREG SABIN RESTAURANT INSIDER

here are a few cursed locations in Sacramento, buildings that can’t seem to keep a tenant more than a year or so. The old Fish Emporium spot on Fair Oaks Boulevard comes to mind, as does the revolving lunch enterprise, most recently Big Joe’s, on 10th and I streets. On J Street at 37th, a solid brick building bears the undeniable scars of having once been a Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment. In recent years, it’s been home to PGR Thai Noodle, then California Burrito. Over the past decade, it definitely took on the curse of the revolving storefront. But the curse may have been lifted. Chef Ramiro Alarcon, most recently of Tequila Museo Mayahuel, has rolled the dice in the hope that the old KFC can be reborn as a home to what he calls “Mexican gastronomy.” His new enterprise, Cielito Lindo Mexican Gastronomy, is a quiet, lowkey restaurant where the food is the star. Blending modern execution with quality ingredients and traditional, regional Mexican recipes, Alarcon is betting that the surrounding neighborhood will support a more elegant Mexican dining experience than that of California Burrito and its ilk. Most of his offerings are beautiful and stimulating. Croquettes of crab and chorizo are especially indulgent, rich and satisfying. Ceviche hits the mark as a light and tasty appetizer. A “tricolor” flank steak with green cactus, white cheese and red tomatoes

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Empanaditas de Salpicon con Papas

comes off much more elegantly than it sounds. Served with a petite enchilada, this hefty plate is a simple yet satisfying mix of savory flavors.

The real standouts, however, are the two moles on the menu. Let’s take a brief moment to discuss mole. This amazingly layered Mexican sauce comes from the labor-intensive

roasting and grinding of seeds, nuts, chilies, spices and herbs. The most popular version is mole poblano, dark brown and often highlighted with subtle hints of chocolate, nuts and chilies. A green or pipian mole is a completely different sauce, made with tomatillos and squash seeds among dozens of other ingredients. The hallmark of a mole is the almost ridiculous number of ingredients and the loving, painstaking effort it takes to roast and grind each one. Each region of Mexico has its own particularly favored recipe. Think of American regional styles of barbecue sauce and you start to get the idea. Cielito Lindo’s version of mole poblano with slow-cooked chicken is a classic preparation executed well. The real star, however, is the green mole topped with roasted squash seeds. The slow-cooked chicken underneath the smothering of sauce is as tender as piece of chicken as you’ll ever have, while the vibrant color of the expertly made sauce is a treat for the senses. The service is graciously attentive and polite. You are in no fear of having your water glass go empty during a meal. The one drawback is the décor and atmosphere, which still feels, despite a thorough scrubbing and some lively paint hues, like a casual quickbite restaurant. With a little more attention to the finer details—fresh flowers instead of fake, real cream rather than packaged creamer for coffee, and subtler lighting instead of the 300-watt overhead deluge from the drop ceiling—the diner would feel more comfortable with the price tag. (Most entrees are $17 to $23.)

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Directly next door, a brandnew establishment has nailed the modern dining vibe and promises to be a fixture in this emerging East Sac culinary block. The Cultured & The Cured is a small cheese and charcuterie shop occupying a space that most recently was home to an electric bike retailer. Little did we know that this odd transportation store would one day be a hip, friendly meat and cheese shop. The atmosphere is wonderfully calm and casual, and there are some beautiful design touches, including reclaimed wood paneling and a stunningly well-executed chalkboard menu. As of this writing, C&C had been open only a few days, so many of its menu items—mac and cheese, grilled sandwiches and anything else that requires heat—were still in the works while the kitchen takes form. But if you’re in the mood for wellcured and curated meats, great breads and world-class cheeses, this is your place.

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With these two new additions to the block, and the ever-popular Juno’s Kitchen & Delicatessen across the street, the 3600 block of J Street is quickly becoming a culinary destination for more than just East

Sac residents. Which brings me to this: Watch where you park. Almost every side street in the neighborhood has different parking rules. Read the signs carefully unless you want to add a parking ticket to your dinner check.

Cielito Lindo Mexican Gastronomy is at 3672 J St.; 736-2506; cielitolindomexicangastronomy.com. The Cultured & The Cured at 3644 J St.; 732-3600; culturedancured.com. n

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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

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 1530 J St. 447-2112

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

Morton’s Steakhouse

621 Capitol Mall #100 442-50

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

Parlaré Eurolounge D $$ Full Bar Relax with drinks and dinner in this stylish downtown space

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

Rio City Café

Ella Dining Room & Bar

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

L D $$$ Full Bar Modern American cuisine served family-style in a chic, upscale space • Elladiningroomandbar.com

Ten 22

1131 K St. 443-3772

Esquire Grill 1213 K St. 448-8900

1110 Front St. Old Sac 442-8226

1022 Second St. 441-2211

L D Wine/Beer $$ American bistro favorites with a modern twist in a casual, Old Sac setting ten22oldsac.com

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

LAND PARK

Estelle's Patisserie

2760 Sutterville Road 452-2809

901 K St. 916-551-1500 L D $$-$$$ French-inspired Bakery serving fresh pastry & desserts, artisan breads and handcrafted sandwiches. EstellesPatisserie.com

Fat's City Bar & Cafe 1001 Front St. 446-6768

D $$-$$$ Full Bar Steaks and Asian specialties served in a casual historic Old Sac location • Fatsrestaurants.com

DEC n 13

2225 Hurley Way 568-7171

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

L D $$$ Full Bar Global and California cuisine in an upscale historic Old Sac setting • Firehouseoldsac.com

10th & J Sts. 448-8960

Downtown & Vine

The Kitchen

Casa Garden Restaurant 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

427 Broadway 442-4044

Riverside Clubhouse

2633 Riverside Drive 448-9988

L D $$ Full Bar Upscale American cuisine served in a contemporary setting • Riversideclubhouse.com

Taylor's Kitchen

2924 Freeport Boulevard 443-5154

D $$S Wine/Beer Dinner served Wed. through Saturday. Reservations suggested.

Tower Café

1518 Broadway 441-0222

B L D $$ Wine/Beer International cuisine with dessert specialties in a casual setting

Willie's Burgers

2415 16th St.444-2006

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

ARDENCARMICHAEL

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

Leatherby’s Family Creamery 2333 Arden Way 920-8382

L D $ House-made ice cream and specialties, soups and sandwiches

Lemon Grass Restaurant 601 Munroe St. 486-4891

L D $$ Full Bar Patio Vietnamese and Thai cuisine in a casual yet elegant setting

Matteo's Pizza

5132 Fair Oaks. Blvd. 779-0727

L D Beer/Wine $$ Neighborhood gathering place for pizza, pasta and grill dishes

The Mandarin Restaurant 4321 Arden Way 488-47794

D $$-$$$ Full Bar Gourmet Chineses food for 32 years • Dine in and take out

Roma's Pizzeria & Pasta 6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-9800

Andaloussia

L D $$ Traditional Italian pizza & pasta Family Friendly Catering + Team Parties • romas-pizzaand-pasta.com

dinner specials, belly dancing weekends • bestmoroccanfood.com

Roxy

Bella Bru Café

B L D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine with a Western touch in a creative upscale atmosphere

B L D $-$$ Full Bar Espresso, omelettes, salads, table service from 5 -9 p.m. • bellabrucafe.com

Ristorante Piatti

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

5038 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-2883

Café Vinoteca

3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 487-1331

L D $$ Full Bar Italian bistro in a casual setting • Cafevinoteca.com

2381 Fair Oaks Blvd. 489-2000

571 Pavilions Lane 649-8885

L D $$ Full Bar Contemporary Italian cuisine in a casually elegant setting

Sam's Hof Brau

2500 Watt 482-2175

Chinois City Café

L D $$ Wine/Beer Fresh quality meats roasted daily • thehofbrau.com

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

Thai House

Ettore’s

L D $$ Wine/Beer Featuring the great taste of Thai traditional specialties • sacthaihouse.com

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

Willie's Burgers

3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-8690

2376 Fair Oaks Blvd. 482-0708

427 Munroe in Loehmann's 485-3888

5050 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-5050 L D $ Great burgers and more n

Kilt Pub

4235 Arden Way 487-4979

L D $ Beer/Wine British Pub Grub, Nightly Dinner Specials, Open 7 Days

Jack’s Urban Eats

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

IRON

tis’ the Season for Comfort

Good Food, Good Friends and Good Times

G R I L L

Keith K eith S Swiryn wiryn Executive Ex E xec cu uttiv i e Ch C Chef hef ef a and nd d General Manager Ge G ene nerra ner al Ma M an na age age ger er

Iron Commitments Organic, Natural & Sustainable Farm to Fork Freshness Seasonal Vegetables Stability and Innovation

Vegetarian Friendly

Patio Dining Special 1/2 OFF Any Entree served on the Patio

Keith Swiryn Executive Chef and General Manager

Dine with Us Before Your New-Years Celebrations! Come Back for New-Years Day Brunch!

13th & Broadway | 737-5115 | grill.ironsteaks.com

Celebrate the Holidays at Fat’s Open Christmas Eve

Closed Christmas Day. 806 L Street, Sacramento 916-442-7092 LoveMyFats.com

Frank Fat’s

INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

Coldwell Banker

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