Stormy Day

In the foreground, R5 Records on Broadway (formerly Tower Records). In the background, the Tower Theater. Above it all, a rather ominous looking cloud.

Sacramento Scenes #4

The State Capitol building, just before 6 p.m., Friday, January 29.

Sacramento Scenes #3

The Freeport Bridge over the Sacramento River, as seen through my windshield.

Sacramento Scenes #2

West Sacramento, to be precise. The view walking out of my office, Tuesday January 26.

Sacramento Scenes #1

Esquire IMAX Theatre, K Street Mall, taken just after 5 p.m. Friday, January 22 from the parking lot of the Hyatt Regency.

The Incredible Shrinking Bee

The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento's hometown newspaper, has undergone a number of changes in recent weeks, none of them positive. A reduction in size, a reduction in staff, and subtle changes here and there have all contributed to a reduction in the quality of the newspaper, and if the slide continues at its current pace, within a year or so there may be no reason for the paper to continue - it will be nothing more than a compendium of wire stories and articles from other newspapers than can be found elsewhere. There are still a number of talented writers on the staff, but that number is dwindling at an alarming rate.

Yesterday, The Bee had a small story, one they did their best to hide from readers, announcing that The Public Editor position was being discontinued. The incumbent in the position, Armando Acuña, will be retained, but no longer play that role. According to the article,

The decision at The Bee "acknowledges several realities, the most pressing being our company's need to focus our resources on newsgathering, advertising sales and customer service," Publisher and President Cheryl Dell said in a memo. "Times have changed since the era in which many ombudsmen and public editor jobs were established. Readers now have multiple ways to be heard within the newspaper and in the community."

It may seem like a small thing, but this decision, more than any which has preceded it, is a clear indication that The Bee is a paper in the throes of a major crisis (and that the industry, unless it develops a new business model, is one facing the prospect of extinction in our lifetime). Set aside for a moment how insulting the Bee's rationale for the decision is to its readership (which is an arguable point, but that's my opinion). Instead, consider the description of the Public Editor function that Mr. Acuña himself wrote, in an email exchange I had with him earlier this year:

"...The Public Editor designation was established to give my office more territory to talk about things occurring not only at the Bee, but at other papers and with the media generally, such as various trends or controversies. The ombudsman designation implies a more rigid structure, where all a person does is take complaints and looks into it. I do that, too, but much more as well."

And that function is what The Bee has decided is no longer necessary to have as a regular feature in the paper. It's a terrible decision on the paper's part, and one that I hope is reconsidered. But I'm not holding my breath.

Fix I-5? Heck, Let's Move It

Dan Weintraub in The Sacramento Bee is on to something here.

Which begs that question again: If we are doing such a good job getting by without the freeway for a week, couldn't we do it for a month, or a year?

What if interstate traffic were routed around the city, and the existing freeway were turned into a four-lane boulevard similar to San Francisco's Embarcadero?

Zhang laughed nervously at the thought of such a change. He didn't think it was a serious question.

"I-5 is like one of the wheels of your car," he said. Without it, you might manage to limp toward your destination or find another ride to get where you are going. But for the long term, in his view, you couldn't get by that way.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said.

Maybe he's right. But the Big Fix of Interstate 5 has given us what might be our last best chance to wonder: Why not?

I don't think there's any question that Zhang, an engineering professor, is wrong on this one. People with no other choice but to commute by car (such as myself) would be willing to put up with a little inconvenience (like we did last week, and survived), and people who work downtown would finally have an incentive to use the public transit system that, while not perfect, served me perfectly well for close to a decade when I worked downtown. And who knows what impact moving I-5 would have on the prolbematic area around Old Sacramento and the Capitol Mall? California's Capital City could finally have an urban area of which it could be unblinkingly proud.

I'm with Weintraub on this one. Why not? Let's give it a try.

Oh Me, Oh My

The New York Times has seen fit to weigh in on the mayoral race in Sacramento.

And how do we fare at the hands of the journalistic elite? We're a "cowtown" with a "lackluster image." Gosh, I would expect that sort of thing from the Los Angeles Times, but New York? I may just head for home right now to begin my recovery.

An excerpt:

Overshadowed by state politics and a high-profile governor, Sacramento cannot seem to shake its reputation as a cow town, despite being the capital of California.

And it is the city’s lackluster image — as much as taxes or budgets or crime — that has been a recurring theme in the bitter and still unresolved race for mayor between Kevin Johnson, the former professional basketball star, native son and local businessman, and Heather Fargo, a career public servant seeking her third term as mayor.

Well, no. That's not quite right. But who am I, lonely blogger, to stand up to the mighty New York Times?

Avoiding Freeways

This morning was the first real test of how Fix I-5 is going to affect Sacramento commuter traffic, and so far things seem to have gone smoothly. I think the real test will begin tomorrow, because the Monday and Friday commutes are always lighter than the rest of the week. When the trucks heading up from Southern California hit Sacramento tomorrow morning, we'll see how things go.

In the meantime, my commute was very nice, although the route was a bit longer than normal. If you live in Elk Grove and work in West Sacramento, it's actually possible to avoid freeways altogether, by taking the River Roads. Not advisable at night or in the fog, but perfect for these late spring mornings.

First, you head south and then east towards the road on the east side of the river, near Hood:

Then, you cross the river to the west side, at the Freeport Bridge:

And then before you know it, you magically find yourself in West Sacramento.

From doorstep to office equaled 33 miles, about 12 more than normal. But few cars were in sight, the view is very nice (in fact, you have to be careful to keep your eyes on the road and not on the river, because if you don't you could find yourself in the river).

Heading home should present no problem, with only the northbound lanes being closed. In other words, so far so good.

Our Long Local Nightmare Has Begun

(Photo: Sacramento Bee)

If Your Mouth Doesn't Water While Reading This Post, You May Be Dead

The NorCal Explorer's overview of Sacramento's classic burger joints.

I've eaten at six of them:

Whitey's Jolly Kone - not far from where I work in West Sacramento; outstanding.

Fanny Ann's - haven't had the Jiffy Burger, which to be honest sounds disgusting.

Jim-Denny's - not far from where I used to work, in downtown Sacramento. Greasy heaven.

Earl of Sandwich - also downtown; sorry to hear that it is no more.

Nation Wide Freezer Meats - a bit overpriced for what you get, I think.

Ford's Real Hamburgers - Not far from where my wife and I used to live, near Land Park.

Haven't been there for years, but I always liked it.

Our Mayor Is A Better Point Guard Than Your Mayor

...OK, so he hasn't actually won yet, he's just announced he's running. But can there be any doubt that Kevin Johnson will do what it takes to win? One thing's for certain - he'd blow Antonio Villaraigosa right off the court.

Tower Theater

(Photograph by Michele Catalano. Used with permission)

The Tower Theater on Broadway, which opened in 1938, is one of the two remaining movie palaces in Sacramento (the other being the Crest Theater on K Street). The first movie I saw here was The Andromeda Strain in 1971, when I was 11 years old. I had read the book, so my parents thought it would be OK to bring me along. At that time, the theater hadn’t been broken down into smaller screens – it was one glorious Cinemascope-type nirvana.

The next time I set foot in the theater, it was my first date with my wife-to-be, on May 20, 1984. We had met in a seminar that Spring – I was a graduate student (one who would never finish his Masters Degree, but what the heck, I met my wife, so it wasn’t a total loss) and she was an undergraduate. The course was on Modern American Political Thought, with a focus on Lewis Mumford (we still have an entire shelf of Mumford books in our library). About halfway through the semester, she started to ask if I needed a ride home, and then on the last day of class, she gave me her address and phone number. Bright guy that I am, I figured this was significant, and in a week or so I called her to see if she wanted to go see a movie.

It was a Sunday afternoon, and the movie was Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. Not his best film, but certainly one that we’ll always consider to be meaningful. A little less than three years (and many movies, including some at the Tower) later, we got married. And we recently celebrated our 21st anniversary.

The Tower sign is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the city - when you fly into Sacramento in the evening, it is easily recognizable as the plane heads into Metro Airport. Across the street was the site of one of the city's Tower Records stores, along with Tower Books and (later) Tower Video. Now, Tower founder Russ Solomon runs a record store called R5 at the site, and The Avid Reader has taken over the old bookstore. Together, the stores serve as the gateway to the Land Park neighborhood of the city.

Posey's Cottage

(Photograph by Michele Catalano. Used With Permission)

The first in a series of posts about Sacramento, California – my hometown.

The Posey’s sign stands, at the corner of 11th and O Streets in downtown Sacramento, as a monument to an era in California politics which no longer exists. Located two blocks south of the State Capitol, Posey’s Cottage was the restaurant which housed the "California Derby Club," perhaps the most famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) of the Legislature’s so-called lunch clubs, where members of the State Senate and State Assembly – at the time, almost entirely male, almost entirely white – would gather, across party lines, to eat, drink, carouse, and make political deals. In his biography of Willie Brown, James Richardson described the clubs and their atmosphere:

The clubs operated out of the public eye. Their colorful names, such as "Caboose Club" and "Derby Club," evoked colorful origins. The Caboose Club was composed of legislators who had been old railroaders before they were elected. The Derby was a collection of legislators and lobbyists who wore English bowlers while eating and carousing. [Assembly Speaker Jess] Unruh ran his own feast, called the "Tuesday Club," meeting for breakfast on Tuesdays at the same time as the Derby. Another club, more of a drinking clique, was called "Moose Milk" after a concoction served up at all hours at a nearby hotel.

Lobbyists were, of course, club members and paid for everything. The clubs were more than just social gatherings; they were important and discreet marketplaces of political power. Lawmakers and lobbyists mingled cutting deals, telling off-color jokes, and schmoozing well into the afternoon. Legislators were often well pickled by the time they showed up for their late-afternoon committee meetings. The clubs were safe havens where the powerful could trade votes, form friendships, soothe feelings, and promise campaign contributions. The longest-serving state senator in recent times, Democrat Ralph Dills, recalled, "Usually you could find a place to go to have a free meal and a drink—almost any place in town and at almost any time of day. The Senator Hotel was full of such meetings. Sometimes committee meetings were held over there the night before—not too well publicized." The clubs were decidedly male institutions, reflecting the near-total male domination of the Legislature; in fact, a women's restroom was not installed in the Senate until 1976.

The California Derby Club, the only one that survived into the 1990s, was typical of the boozy clubs. Insiders got the joke: the club's initials were the same as those of the liberal and insufferably serious California Democratic Council. The Derby was a bastion of senators and a few select Assembly members. The club was founded and run by Siskiyou County's senator, Randolph Collier. The silver-haired Collier was the senior member of the Senate, having been elected in 1939, when Willie Brown was five years old. Another wheel in the club was the Senate president pro tem, Hugh Burns, who had condemned Willie Brown over the Vietnam telegram incident. The Derby Club was founded on silliness, inspired on a legislative junket to London in the 1950s. On a whim, the California lawmakers purchased derby hats in a London shop, and when they came home they sported their bowlers at lunch. The Derby clubbers thenceforth wore their bowlers at lunch every Tuesday, and they developed a whole series of silly rituals. "We don't usually talk politics. It's mainly just old friends enjoying a visit together," said Senator Alfred Alquist, elected to the Assembly in 1962 and still serving in the Senate three decades later.

The club members ate (and drank) at Posey's Cottage, a shabby meat-and-potatoes joint a block from the Capitol. Once a year, the members donned tuxedos and their derbies and marched intoxicated around the Capitol on their way to a banquet honoring themselves at a downtown restaurant. During one such banquet a drunken Derby member jumped up on the bar at Frank Fat's, which had just reopened after a fire, and urged the boys to burn the place down again. He was restrained. "It's more a tradition than an organization," explained John Foran, who was part of the San Francisco Democratic organization rivaling Brown and the Burton brothers. Foran was invited to join the Derby Club in 1964 as a sophomore assemblyman. Willie Brown and John Burton were never invited to join.

As outsiders like Brown and Burton joined the Legislature, and as Democrats and Republicans alike veered further from the center (particularly after the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978), the popularity of the lunch clubs declined. The final nail in their coffin was probably the approval of term limits in 1990, but as late as 1993, Posey’s Cottage was still listed as one of the country’s 50 top political hangouts in Campaigns & Elections magazine. The restaurant closed not long after that.

Certainly without question, the members of the Derby Club engaged in behavior that would be viewed as highly inappropriate today, behavior that quite possibly would have cost them their seats in the Legislature. On the other hand, anyone who believes that today’s California Legislature holds a candle to its predecessors is living in a dream world. The current legislative leaders, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, are men small in stature as well as their ability to move a positive agenda on behalf of the state’s citizens. It’s hard to imagine either of them engaging in productive after-hours socializing with their Republican counterparts. That they are now part of a roster that once included men like Randolph Collier, Al Alquist, Ralph Dills and Hugh Burns is little more than an historical accident.

As far as I can remember, I had dinner at Posey’s on only one occasion, on New Year’s Day in 1974. I don’t remember anything about the food, but I do remember enjoying the experience. Today, the building which once housed Posey's is a popular Mexican restaurant, Vallejo’s, which continues to host the occasional political fundraiser but without the atmosphere and collegiality of the past. O Street is no longer open to auto traffic, being part of the main Light Rail line.

(A note on the photographer: Michele Catalano is a well-known, long-time blogger who lives in Long Island, New York. I started reading her current blog, A Big Victory, about six months ago, and I’m just sorry that it took me so long to discover her. She recently paid her first visit to Sacramento, in and around which I’ve lived my entire life. She loved it, which is just another testament to her insightful nature and common sense. She has graciously given me permission to use her Sacramento photographs in my posts about the city (of which this is the first). Her entire Sacramento portfolio may be viewed on her Flickr site.)