Memorable Times
If you have a question about wine, ask Mario Ortiz.
During his 50 years at The Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento, Ortiz has held nearly every position. He’s now wine director, general manager and sommelier.
Ortiz helped the restaurant build one of Northern California’s legendary wine cellars with more than 14,000 bottles and 1,800 individual labels, including a collection of rare wines housed in The Vault.
If Walls Could Talk
When Jim Prigoff began photographing street art in the late 1960s, he didn’t realize he was documenting an artistic revolution. But he knew there was something special about the spray-can art popping up on walls all over the world.
Prigoff, who became internationally renowned for his photos of graffiti, died in April at his Sacramento home. He was 93. Several weeks before his death, he granted an introspective interview to Inside Sacramento.
Calligraphy Girl
Calligraphy Girl East Sac resident makes handwriting an art By Jessica Laskey August 2021 You may have seen an ad in a recent Inside Sacramento that features a hammer made of words. The ad is a love letter from East Sac Hardware thanking the community for its support....
Green Thumbs
If you see two people in their late 70s weeding, planting or pruning in William Land Park, they’re probably Jeannie and Dale Claypoole, longtime Land Park residents who have made it their mission to keep the area beautiful.
“We’re advocates for the park,” says Jeannie, a certified Master Gardener and former school psychologist whose green thumb is behind much of the landscaping at McClatchy High School, along Sutterville Road and in Land Park. “If something’s not right, we try to find somebody who will make it right.”
Cutting-Edge Creations
Thomas Cannell is in the business of making beautiful, useful things.
A native of Newcastle, England, Cannell is the expert woodworker behind Block & Bowl, a new venture he launched with his wife Rosemarie in April to merge his passions for cooking and carpentry.
As a youngster, Cannell spent weekends building things in his grandfather’s backyard woodworking shop. He also loved to spend time in the kitchen and intended to become a chef upon graduating from high school. But his mother insisted he learn a trade.
Cannell set off on a two-year carpentry apprenticeship that turned into a five-year job as a cabinetmaker—in between some work in local kitchens.
