Sacramento After 20+ Years: Short Notes from a Brief Return (Alhambra: middle-class, salons)

[JefferyT]

I lived in Sacramento in the mid 1980s and returned for a brief visit to return my recently deceased partners ashes to his family. He was a native Sacramentan. He spent his early childhood in Alkali Flat and lived nearly all of his Sacto life in the Old City, along E Street. He lived with me here in Dayton, Ohio since 1988. So this was a final homecoming for him and a return to old haunts for me.

To & From the Airport

Noted that there are a lot more skyscrapers. Back when I was living in Sacto the “Miami Vice Building” on Capital was the tallest, and the Darth Vader Building was either just announced or under construction (I remember the old Clunie Hotel that it replaced). Now there are lot more. Including one across the river. I also noticed that Natomas-area development has extended beyond the Arco Arena, getting closer to the airport. Arco Arena was built while I lived in Sacto, out in the flatlands of Natomas.

Freeport & Franklin Blvd/Sutterville/Land Park Area

I stayed with the sister and brother-in-law in their house. The neighborhood was the area south of Sutterville Road, between the railroad and Franklin, directly south of Curtis Park. This is older suburbia (though their house might have been from the 1970s). Older but OK area, it seems. Franklin and Freeport Blvds hasn’t changed much at all, though I notice they have I guess a light rail line down there (noticed a station). The area around Land Park and on Land Park Drive remain exquisite, great old ranch houses and older places further north on Land Park Drive. Just a real nice treatment the way the houses front the park and the excellent maintenance on the park, which doesn’t seem scruffy at all (never did). This has to be one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city, and would be a primo location in an Ohio city. Dayton has nothing at all like Land Park (or McKinley Park for that matter).

Looking for the Buffalo, finding a Safeway

Did some exploring of the Old City to revisit where I met my partner the first time, at the old Buffalo Club on S Street, I think. I couldn’t find it (maybe it was torn down?) but saw instead a very nice infill project for a Safeway and other things. Liked how they put that little water tower on the store as a reference to the R Street industrial corridor. And that little Peets Coffee building was a nice touch. I guess this replaced the Safeway on Alhambra?


A few blocks east there is a new Rite-Aid drug store, which was a very good site-adaptation of their standard store design. They would never do this here, but apparently the Sacto planning department prevailed on Rite-Aid to build right to the corner instead of setting the store back behind a parking lot. Noticed some apartments or townhouses next door and across the street. The general area, S & T on either side of that new light rail line, seems like a great area, in pretty good condition compared to what one would find here in Ohio for an inner city area. The long tree lined streets remind me still of the side streets of Chicago and older Chicago suburbs like Oak Park or Cicero.

Capital Park Area

Seems there is a big effort to do infill in the Old City. This was the case even in the 1980s when I lived across from Capital Park. I lived in the Thayer, on N Street. It’s still there and still being rented as a mix of offices and apartments, but with a new paint job. I loved that little building, such a fun place to live. I’d move back there in a minute if I returned to Sacto. The area seems to have bulked-up a bit, with things where that community garden used to be (Mandela garden?…I had a plot there ). Also saw that the east side of Capital Park was replaced by these huge state office buildings that go back along M for two blocks. But they did save at least two of the art deco/moderne apartment buildings on the east side. Seems that residential would have been a better use for Capital Park frontage. Oh Well.

Noticed that the Fox & Goose was still in buisness in that old factory building on R Street. I used to go there a lot for bluegrass and celtic music. They also had a Sunday brunch, which apparently is still going on, based on the cars parked in front.

Return to Lavender Heights

This was the gay bar district between, say, J and M, along 20th or 21st Street (?), next to the railroad. Spent a lot of time in this area back when I lived in Sacto. The bar where I met my partner for the second time (and for good) was the old Mercantile, and it was still there, but with what looked like a copy of a Chicago-style hot dog stand next door. I notice that the old Americos (?) Italian restaurant is now the “Waterboy”. Faces has expanded..it looks like they added a second floor. Another old haunt, the Western, is now some sort of upscale gay bar (it used to be more of a dive bar that would get the occasional hobo jumping off those slow moving freights from the railroad). I didn’t go in these places, just drove by on a Sunday morning, so can’t report on the clientele or vibe.

I noticed some new construction across from Faces and the Western, new buildings with restaurants, bars, a comedy club, and another of those Peets.

Walked around the block to 21st Street, which was a little business district. Time Tested Books was still there, seems to have been rearranged inside, but still had a good politics section, though not as much Californiana as it used to. Bought two books there. Cant be beat for used books.

At 21st and L or Capital was a big new infill building. 4 or 5 stories it seemed. Housing with ground floor retail. Seems this area is doing OK.

Quick Spin to Downtown & Old Sac

Drove down I to the Old City. Noticed some big new construction, big parking garage just before you get to Plaza Park. Also the re-do of the library. Not much to say about the Old City, except they have finished restoring the Delta King, now a floating hotel/restaurant. Sister ship Delta Queen is or was based in Cincinnati, not far from me. I skipped the downtown shopping mall as I had already seen the re-do of it during a 1990s visit (spent more on the Coast that time).

J Street has really not changed that much (except for that fancy McCormick and Schmicks in the Elks Building). The vacant board ups west of Plaza Park where there in the 1980s and are still there. But I was really missing The Broiler, which was this steakhouse/cocktail lounge place from the 1950s, I think. I and my partner used to go there for steak and martinis when I was flush after payday. Not there anymore! Didn’t notice the old MGM Grand SRO, where they used to have poetry readings in the lobby or restaurant on the ground floor.

McClellan and the North Area

I used to work at the base and lived briefly in Hillsdale area, so had to see what happened after BRAC. The base itself was a surprise, that they didn’t tear down some of the old wood buildings but did demo the big concrete test cells. Noticed that the maintenance shops are sort of like spec industrial space now. Noticed that the old 1930s-era officers housing is still being used as housing (not sure who lives there) and that they are apparently still doing some sort of clean-up on the west side of the base. Big tent structure and what looked like little portable incinerator rigs set up there. Hmmm.

Watt Avenue and North Highlands (used Don Julio as a shortcut to Walerga) was the same. Old, 1950s suburbia. Looks the same as it ever did. Looks like something you’d see in Ohio or Kentucky from the same era.

I lived for awhile at an apartment complex at Roseville Road and Walegra, which was brand new in the 1980s. Still there but it’s gated! Must be a crime problem. The place itself looked nice, landscaping is now mature and being maintained. The subdivision just south of it was brand new then too, and the maturing landscaping there has softened the stark new subdivision look, as did some new paint jobs. Those apartments were a sweet setup for suburbia because shopping was in walking distance, at Walerga and Hillsdale. The Bel Air (or was it Alpha Beta?) is now a Mexican supermarket, though. So I guess the area is getting more Latino.

Return flight was right over the Old City and suburbs to the south. I didn’t know too much about that area but my “brother-in-law” said they have a half-finished abandoned shopping mall in Elk Grove. If I had more time that would have been a site to see. I also didn’t see Alkali Flat, which I used to drive through on my way home from work. I always found that neighborhood interesting.

Coda

Despite the melancholy circumstances of this return Sacramento seems to be improved since I last saw it, moving forward and hasn’t suffered the kind of decline that has happened in Ohio over the past 20 years. Places like the Old City would be a half-abandoned slum in a typical larger Ohio city, not a fairly nice neighborhood. The place still seems fairly prosperous and apparently people actually want to live in the older parts of town, or there wouldn’t have been the market for the infill housing that I saw.

This is one of the things that always set Sacramento apart from what I see here, that people do want city living of a certain style, that there is apparently a demand for it. I sure wish we’d have that attitude here in Dayton.

Sacramento, the older parts, remains for me a grossly underrated city.

[NewToCA]

Always interesting to read the perspective of someone who has been away for awhile. Often, they have the most accurate view of the changes over a period of time.

[NorCal Dude]

Agreed, that was a good post

[wburg]

You used to write the "Daytonology" blog, right? I was a fan of that--I think you commented on my Sacramento history blog a couple of times too.

Originally Posted by JefferyT

Franklin and Freeport Blvds hasn’t changed much at all, though I notice they have I guess a light rail line down there (noticed a station). The area around Land Park and on Land Park Drive remain exquisite, great old ranch houses and older places further north on Land Park Drive. Just a real nice treatment the way the houses front the park and the excellent maintenance on the park, which doesn’t seem scruffy at all (never did). This has to be one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city, and would be a primo location in an Ohio city. Dayton has nothing at all like Land Park (or McKinley Park for that matter).

The "Blue Line" light rail line has a bad reputation (it goes into the south area) but I know a lot of middle-class commuters who take it to work downtown. Curtis Park has seen a few interesting things appear: Pangea Cafe and Coffee Garden are two popular spots that have appeared along Franklin, right around the old Gunther's Ice Cream stand, which is still there.

Did some exploring of the Old City to revisit where I met my partner the first time, at the old Buffalo Club on S Street, I think. I couldn’t find it (maybe it was torn down?) but saw instead a very nice infill project for a Safeway and other things. Liked how they put that little water tower on the store as a reference to the R Street industrial corridor. And that little Peets Coffee building was a nice touch. I guess this replaced the Safeway on Alhambra?

The Buffalo Club went out of business 10-12 years ago, it was briefly replaced with a really sleazy club that drew a very dangerous crowd. It was demolished along with the nearby warehouses for the Safeway, sadly enough. The one on Alhambra is still there, both locations are doing well. The resemblance to railroad buildings is intentional: the architect is a board member of the Railroad Museum. The Peet's with the tower feature is located roughly where the Southern Pacific/Western Pacific interlocking tower stood.

A few blocks east there is a new Rite-Aid drug store, which was a very good site-adaptation of their standard store design. They would never do this here, but apparently the Sacto planning department prevailed on Rite-Aid to build right to the corner instead of setting the store back behind a parking lot. Noticed some apartments or townhouses next door and across the street. The general area, S & T on either side of that new light rail line, seems like a great area, in pretty good condition compared to what one would find here in Ohio for an inner city area. The long tree lined streets remind me still of the side streets of Chicago and older Chicago suburbs like Oak Park or Cicero.

I like that neighborhood (Poverty Ridge) a lot too; I can't quite afford a house there, but live a couple blocks away (in a part of Midtown I sometimes refer to as "poverty adjacent.") The units behind it are interesting: the building in the back is an old tilt-up industrial building converted to apartments, the little buildngs in the front are new and were built on the industrial building's parking lot.

Seems there is a big effort to do infill in the Old City. This was the case even in the 1980s when I lived across from Capital Park. I lived in the Thayer, on N Street. It’s still there and still being rented as a mix of offices and apartments, but with a new paint job. I loved that little building, such a fun place to live. I’d move back there in a minute if I returned to Sacto. The area seems to have bulked-up a bit, with things where that community garden used to be (Mandela garden?…I had a plot there ). Also saw that the east side of Capital Park was replaced by these huge state office buildings that go back along M for two blocks. But they did save at least two of the art deco/moderne apartment buildings on the east side. Seems that residential would have been a better use for Capital Park frontage. Oh Well.

I am a great fan of the Thayer and the amazing apartment buildings along N Street near Capitol Park. The "East End" office complex has been something of a boondoggle: its high points are its two retail pads (a sports bar on one end, a wine bar on the other) but other than that the whole area becomes a dead zone at 5:00 when the state workers go home. Its parking structure is something of a boon too: there are a ton of popular restaurants in Midtown (near the old Java City and the former sites of Greta's, New Helvetia and Americo's) and the state parking structure has $2 parking, which takes some parking pressure off the neighborhood. New restaurants like Zocalo, Mulvaney's (where New Hel was) and Old Soul Coffee Co. (who have an alley bakery location, and also took over the old Weatherstone) draw a lot of people, both from the neighborhood and the suburbs. Two new buildings on L and 18th (one condo, one apartment) have changed the street scene--the condo is undersold and its retail space still vacant, but the apartment building brought another 200 or so people downtown and added a few more restaurants and a wine bar to the mix.

Noticed that the Fox & Goose was still in buisness in that old factory building on R Street. I used to go there a lot for bluegrass and celtic music. They also had a Sunday brunch, which apparently is still going on, based on the cars parked in front.

If you come back check out the 1400 block of R Street; there is a whole row of repurposed warehouse/factory buildings including a dance club, live music venue, three restaurants, two bars, a yogurt place, two salons, and 12 second-floor residential loft units.

This was the gay bar district between, say, J and M, along 20th or 21st Street (?), next to the railroad. Spent a lot of time in this area back when I lived in Sacto. The bar where I met my partner for the second time (and for good) was the old Mercantile, and it was still there, but with what looked like a copy of a Chicago-style hot dog stand next door. I notice that the old Americos (?) Italian restaurant is now the “Waterboy”. Faces has expanded..it looks like they added a second floor. Another old haunt, the Western, is now some sort of upscale gay bar (it used to be more of a dive bar that would get the occasional hobo jumping off those slow moving freights from the railroad). I didn’t go in these places, just drove by on a Sunday morning, so can’t report on the clientele or vibe.

I noticed some new construction across from Faces and the Western, new buildings with restaurants, bars, a comedy club, and another of those Peets.

The building across from the Western is the same building that was there when you left; a 1930s-40s concrete warehouse, now known as the "MARRS" building. It has been something of a catalyst.

Walked around the block to 21st Street, which was a little business district. Time Tested Books was still there, seems to have been rearranged inside, but still had a good politics section, though not as much Californiana as it used to. Bought two books there. Cant be beat for used books.

While it is the same bookstore, it is not in the same place: they used to be in the space right next door. The owner owns the whole building, he expanded into the new corner unit and uses the rest for storage.

Drove down I to the Old City. Noticed some big new construction, big parking garage just before you get to Plaza Park. Also the re-do of the library. Not much to say about the Old City, except they have finished restoring the Delta King, now a floating hotel/restaurant. Sister ship Delta Queen is or was based in Cincinnati, not far from me. I skipped the downtown shopping mall as I had already seen the re-do of it during a 1990s visit (spent more on the Coast that time).

A couple things worth mentioning in Old Sac: The Mechanics Exchange, across from the Railroad Museum, is now condos, the "iLofts." A re-creation of the Orleans Hotel was recently built on 2nd Street, filling a hole that had been vacant for decades, also residential with a restaurant on the ground floor--another reconstruction is underway on K Street where the Ebner/Empire Building once stood.

J Street has really not changed that much (except for that fancy McCormick and Schmicks in the Elks Building). The vacant board ups west of Plaza Park where there in the 1980s and are still there. But I was really missing The Broiler, which was this steakhouse/cocktail lounge place from the 1950s, I think. I and my partner used to go there for steak and martinis when I was flush after payday. Not there anymore! Didn’t notice the old MGM Grand SRO, where they used to have poetry readings in the lobby or restaurant on the ground floor.

Actually the Broiler relocated to the "Ban Roll-On Building" at 12th & K. It still looks like the old place inside, and the steaks are still great. A few other things that have changed downtown: the Woolworth's is now a cabaret, nightclub, restaurant and theater; the old office building at 926 J Street is a hotel and restaurant; the old Levinson's Books is a coffee shop. Sadly there are fewer SRO hotels, and thus more homeless people, and a quarter-block of old buildings at 8th & K is a vacant lot after a tragic "accidental" fire.

Despite the melancholy circumstances of this return Sacramento seems to be improved since I last saw it, moving forward and hasn’t suffered the kind of decline that has happened in Ohio over the past 20 years. Places like the Old City would be a half-abandoned slum in a typical larger Ohio city, not a fairly nice neighborhood. The place still seems fairly prosperous and apparently people actually want to live in the older parts of town, or there wouldn’t have been the market for the infill housing that I saw.

This is one of the things that always set Sacramento apart from what I see here, that people do want city living of a certain style, that there is apparently a demand for it. I sure wish we’d have that attitude here in Dayton.

Sacramento, the older parts, remains for me a grossly underrated city.

Thanks for saying this. Plenty of people here consider the Old City to be a half-abandoned slum. Compared to the ultra-wealthy parts of California, perhaps it is, but it has quite a bit of beauty, culture and charm for those with the eyes to see it. Fortunately there are more of us these days, and we're starting to outnumber the nay-sayers.

[Curmudgeon]

Excellent observations, JefferyT, and most interesting. We'll be returning to Sacramento periodically to visit family and as the city continues to grow and evolve it will be interesting to see what changes have taken place over the intervening periods.

J Street has always been an interesting one to stroll the length of from the central city down to Alhambra. There are always changes in stores and merchants and some of the same coming back up K Street. The central city has decidedly become more vibrant and that's a good thing!

Thanks for posting.

[JefferyT]

^
Unfortunately I missed K Street, and wanted to see the Crest again. In my time it was a good venue for live music of all kinds. I saw acts like the Dead Kennedys, Norman Blake, and John Prine there. K also had little Mexican stores, a pretty good used record store, and a (at that time) punk/new wave place called Club Can't Tell, where I saw Los Lobos for the first time.

@@@@

...and big thanx to wburg for providing the backgrounders on my post, elaborating on what I was noticing. Interesting stuff..and I appreciate the intel..thanx! (and yes, I did run Daytonology...shut it down this past summer).