Mar 28, 2025
Alison and Ryan De Anda purchased their Curtis Park home in January 2020, just before the pandemic.
“We are super glad we did it then because the housing market heated up in the coming months and we likely would have been priced out completely,” Ryan says.
The couple moved from San Francisco where they worked for Macy’s. Ryan grew up in West Sacramento, Alison in Oregon.
“We were priced out of the market in the Bay Area and wanted to be closer to Ryan’s large family,” Alison says. “Sacramento was the perfect place for us.”
Ryan works for the state as an IT project manager. Alison is a vision care retail buyer. She also buys and sells vintage items.
With its inventory of century-old homes, Curtis Park filled the couple’s wish list. “It had the charm of the older San Francisco neighborhoods we enjoyed. And we loved the eclectic architecture of the homes,” Ryan says.
Mar 28, 2025
Javier Plasencia is the new director of education at the Crocker Art Museum. He oversees eight programmers and educators in the planning and execution of more than 300 programs to serve about 35,000 people each year.
The job is a homecoming for Plasencia, who grew up in Pocket-Greenhaven. His experience includes work with the arts and design team at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York and Museum of Modern Art.
Most recently, he was program manager for the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at University of San Francisco. He recruited, advised and taught graduate students.
Mar 28, 2025
Dr. Scott Fishman could have retired last year. Instead, he opened a new door to continue his work in pain management.
Fishman became executive director of the UC Davis Office of Wellness Education. He’s the Jacquelyn S. Anderson endowed chair of wellness for the organization. He’s also a professor emeritus for UC Davis Health Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine.
“Jacquelyn Anderson was a patient of mine who had cancer, and when she passed away, her husband Jim left us a gift of $5 million that founded this organization,” Fishman says.
Feb 28, 2025
Andy Harris was a pioneer house flipper. By 1988, he was on his third house. He bought them, made repairs and resold for profit.
But he knew the Curtis Park home was special. It was designed by Earl Barnett, the architect who conceived Memorial Auditorium, Sutter Club, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
It was no candidate for flipping.
Jan 28, 2025
Mayor Kevin McCarty took a bold step at his first full City Council meeting in December. He voted with five colleagues to fire City Manager Howard Chan.
We don’t know if McCarty led the revolt, or if the list of failures under Chan and former Mayor Darrell Steinberg prompted the council to remove the city’s chief operating officer. Councilmembers offered no explanations other than vague remarks about fresh starts.
There was only the final vote—6–3 against extending Chan’s contract for a ninth year. Rick Jennings, Lisa Kaplan and council newcomer Phil Pluckebaum voted to keep Chan. It would be nice to know the motives of all nine members. Their reasons would be instructive. But we got nothing.
Jan 28, 2025
The McKinley Park Tudor started out with a garage. Over the years, the garage gave way to a storage shed. When Theo and Paige Martenis bought the home in 2015, they decided their growing family needed more living space.
The answer was an ADU—accessory dwelling unit. The shed that replaced the garage was replaced by an additional 1,000 square feet of living accommodations.
“We want to have another child,” says Theo, whose daughter Sofia is 4. “We needed a place where family could stay with us and help.”
There was just one big hangup. A giant heritage redwood stood on the lot line with neighbors to the rear. Both households love the tree and wanted it preserved.
The mission to save the redwood was accomplished by architect Dennis Greenbaum and contractor Michael Higgins with MT Higgins Construction.
“We gave the architect the directive to build around the tree,” Theo says. “And we worked diligently with the architect, contractor and an arborist to spare the tree as little trauma as possible.”
