Leon Sobon and his wife Shirley founded Shenandoah Vineyards in 1977, far ahead of the sustainable wine revolution. Based in Plymouth, the Sobon family became one of the first environmentally friendly producers to distribute local wines on a wide level outside the region.
Last month, Sobon was recognized with a California State Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. The patriarch’s dedication to the craft can be felt when Sobon describes how he turned a hobby into a second career.
Sobon was a research scientist for Lockheed living in Los Altos when he began making wine for fun. His hobby led him into a group of other enthusiasts. He and Shirley eventually moved their family of six children to the foothills to try professional winemaking.
Gone was a stable research career. But Sobon followed his bliss.
You’ll probably never meet anyone more passionate about music than Benjamin J. McClara.
The founder and artistic director of Sacramento Preparatory Music Academy, a community-based education program, gets choked up when he talks about music.
He shares that passion with hundreds of students and community musicians in academy lessons and performances.
“Our mission is to provide lifelong access to music education and a place where students can come and study music with professionals,” McClara says. “You don’t really get that in school.”
The academy offers private and group lessons at Midtown’s E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts in piano, guitar, ukulele, woodwinds and voice under McClara, Michael Dale and Anthony Tavianini.
A statewide signature-gathering effort is underway for a ballot measure to roll back provisions of California’s Proposition 47, which turned drug possession, drug trafficking and theft into misdemeanors.
If adopted by California voters next November, “The Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act,” or “Fix Prop. 47,” would give prosecutors discretion to charge drug addicts with a “treatment-mandated felony” after two drug convictions.
These are modest, necessary reforms to address drug trafficking, addiction and theft plaguing California.
Add John Hodgson and Bob Chase to the long list of prominent Sacramentans frustrated with city government’s response to homelessness.
Unlike some critics who hate to see encampments but offer no solutions, these two friends, both in their 70s, pursue creative ways to make a difference.
For the past three years, Hodgson, a land-use attorney and developer, and Chase, an architect with a history of public service, worked with colleagues from the Urban Land Institute and American Association of Architects Central Valley to promote their plans for transitional housing throughout the city.
If your organization needs public support, you need Edith Thacher.
The Natomas resident has decades of experience bringing people together. She’s been in the Peace Corps, a community development specialist working on women’s issues in Sudan, Niger, Mauritania and Singapore, and a project consultant for public agencies.
Now, Thacher is a citizen lobbyist for the Sacramento-Roseville chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which she co-leads with Lisa Howard.
When I heard the Chinese restaurant where I grew up was closing, I was inconsolable.
The Mandarin survived 40 years in Arden-Arcade. It was our family’s go-to restaurant, as much of a culinary tradition as Nana’s Sunday gravy or Auntie Nina’s potato salad.
Never again would I savor the General Tsao’s chicken, the snap and pop of sizzling rice soup or the doughy goodness of Mandarin’s pot stickers.
The good news is, due to an outpouring of support, The Mandarin stayed open. But the initial thought of its loss gave me the freedom to explore other Chinese standouts.
