Feb 26, 2020
I’ve lived in Sacramento for almost 40 years, so I’ve been to Celestin’s Restaurant. It seems like a fact of life for any long-term diner in this town—if you’ve been around for more than two decades, you’ve eaten at Celestin’s.
You might have dined at the J Street location, where Patrick Celestin and his wife Phoebe held court starting in 1983. That same space became the first home of Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, by the way. If my spatial geography is on point, I believe that same space is now the tiki bar extraordinaire, The Jungle Bird.
Feb 26, 2020
When I catch up with artist Bryan Valenzuela on the phone, he asks if it’s OK that he’s talking to me on a headset while he paints. In San Francisco. On the side of a building. Three stories up.
Valenzuela is hard at work on a 48-foot mural in the courtyard of a renovated hotel. What should have taken only a couple of weeks is taking far longer due to unseasonal rains that halt his progress for days at a time. Valenzuela says he doesn’t mind the pauses, but he does worry that he has other projects to attend to and, more importantly, “the faster I get it done, the sooner I can see my dog.”
Feb 26, 2020
Most people know about Habitat for Humanity and its mission to provide affordable housing. But fewer are aware of ReStore, Habitat’s 45,000-square-foot warehouse selling donated construction materials, home furnishings, fixtures and other items.
Feb 26, 2020
Similar to a scene in a Nancy Drew mystery novel, homeowner Cathy Skeen pushes open a secret door concealed within a library bookcase and walks through the hidden passageway.
What’s on the other side? Another complete house.
Feb 25, 2020
It’s been awhile since Sacramento’s design and architecture mavens had a big conflict with the state over a building project. But there is a passionate little battle taking place right now over the fate of the historic but dry fountain west of the Capitol.
This fight is nowhere near as pitched as the disagreement that festered between the city and state over the giant East End office complex near the Capitol in the early 2000s. That project achieved some important urban renewal objectives, clearing blight and consolidating scattered state offices and workers. But critics said the potential for a more eclectic and pedestrian-oriented streetscape was squandered.
