Jenson Brooksby is worth watching this summer. Look for him at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open tennis tournaments.

At the 2021 U.S. Open, Brooksby played Novak Djokovic, one of the world’s best players. Djokovic won in four sets, but Brooksby took the first set 6-1. At age 21, Brooksby showed courage and resolve on the center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The day after that match, I learned Brooksby was from Sacramento. A woman I played tennis with told me she and her husband purchased Brooksby’s family home in Sierra Oaks. When they bought the house, they noticed dents in the garage door, evidence of young Jenson’s practice sessions.

It’s unthinkable now, but in 1962, when Pat Brown was governor and California moved past New York in population, Brown staged an elaborate ceremony at the Capitol to celebrate our status as America’s most populous state.

At 17 million strong—less than half today’s population of 39 million—Brown predicted “the balance of the most powerful nation in the world will shift from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”

Maybe so. But being the most populous state also puts us at the top of the list for being unable to build enough housing. No one celebrates that fact, especially Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s using raw political power to move the needle on California’s housing challenge.

If the farm-to-fork movement has a scribe who tells the story, the scribe’s name is Mike Dunne.

In 50 years of writing about regional wine and food, Dunne followed the pioneers, witnessed their successes and setbacks, and helped set standards that fortified our position as California’s capital of culinary excellence.

Dunne spent most of those years at the Bee, where he wrote about wine and reviewed restaurants. Along the way he got to know luminaries such as Alice Waters, Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, Randall Grahm and Darrell Corti.

After reporting and thinking about their ideas for a half century, he notes they “continue
to have a lot of influence and set the standards. They have very strong voices within the California wine and food scene.”

Two years ago, I wrote a couple of paragraphs about a new wine bar at Southside Park called Betty.

Here was a comfortable and cute place for a bottle of wine, package of macaroni or quick bite. Two years and an ownership change later, Betty’s a must-visit destination.

The revamped Betty is more than a wine bar. Led by Chris Barnum-Dann, chef at Michelin-starred Localis, Betty serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with approachable, unpretentious, satisfying style.

A local wine bar should offer vino from around California, plus global labels. Betty is far more ambitious. To call it a wine bar discounts its range.

The house with the 6-foot banner, poems and illustrations on Ninth Avenue near the zoo belongs to Lance Pyle. Stop and say hello. He’s happy to see you.

Pyle has displayed banners, original poetry and drawings in front of his house since 2023. His goal is to bring joy to the neighborhood.

“Every once in a while, someone stops and reads and I catch them on my Ring,” Pyle says.

A chat with Nisa Hayden explains why she has so many successful careers. It’s about people skills.

As an actor, freelance writer, gallery director, arts consultant and garden manager, Hayden’s ability to connect led to a wildly diverse employment history.

The Alaska native grew up in the East Bay and planned to become an attorney. A summons to jury duty at age 18 “turned me off the process,” she says, and prompted her to forego a partial college scholarship.