Hyper Local

Hyper Local

Revolution Winery & Kitchen embodies vine to bottle and farm to fork. The menu celebrates local fruit, breads, produce and wine grapes, all from within 100 miles of Midtown.

Chef-owner Gina Genshlea was raised on a sustainable farm in South Sacramento. She says her family “grew everything” they ate.

Childhood was filled with chestnuts, pecans, walnuts, olives, stone fruits, chickens, cows, pigs, goats, house-cured prosciutto and coppa, plus grapes and wine production.

With winemakers Colleen Clothier and Samuel Wharton, Revolution pulls the best local wine grapes. The crew crushes, ferments, ages and sells its wines in the heart of town.

The company uses some off-site storage, but most wine is produced and bottled on S Street.

Unity Academy

Unity Academy

For LuTisha McGregor, principal at Umoja International Academy in East Sacramento, it’s all about love.

“I lead with love,” says McGregor. “I tell my students and staff I love them every day and the parents every week. That’s the type of leader I am. I want to come on campus and feel and see the love.”

Leading with love led to the school’s name change. Long known as Kit Carson, the combination middle and high school was one of three Sacramento City Unified School District campuses renamed in what Sac City officials call a “commitment to address school facility names that do not support the district’s values.”

Park’s Ranger

Park’s Ranger

Matt King knows how to get creative. He was named 2024 Volunteer of the Year by the city’s Department of Youth, Parks, & Community Enrichment, thanks to his creative efforts to revitalize William Chorley Park in South Sacramento.

“Even the parks department didn’t want to go there,” King says. “It had been ignored for about 10 years. The grass was 7-feet high. There was graffiti all over the bathroom. There were feces and needles all over the playground, drug and gang activity. It was bad and just got worse.”

A longtime South Sac resident, King took matters into his own hands after he saw a post on Nextdoor lamenting the state of the park. He realized uplifting this asset in his neighborhood would align with his own “journey to uplift.”

Welcome Home

Welcome Home

Last year’s elections showed city voters are almost divided over how we want municipal leaders to address local challenges.

Mayor Kevin McCarty and Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum both won tight races. They bring fresh perspectives to City Council, along with newly elected Councilmember Roger Dickinson.

Whether your candidate won or lost, we should all hope and pray the new council can tackle the problems facing our city.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm

In golden light surrounded by fields of plump rice and recently harvested corn, beans and wheat, wildlife pecks on dinner.

This is Pleasant Grove Farms, 3,000 acres in the wetlands north of Sacramento. Owners Ed and Wynette Sills drive me around the parcels that comprise the farm.

The test of a healthy farm is the presence of wildlife. While this might seem counterintuitive, farmers who practice organic and regenerative agriculture try to create spaces where crops and other living beings thrive in harmony.

Living History

Living History

The 1937 Spanish Revival-style duplex in Land Park is the perfect place for retired architect Peter Saucerman and his wife Susan Twining.

The house features an owner-occupied unit of 2,200 square feet and another 1,100-square-foot rental. The owner’s side has three bedrooms and two bathrooms on two floors connected with a curving staircase, plus a two-car garage.

Local architect Leonard F. Starks designed the property for himself and his wife Eleanor. One of the city’s most prolific architects, Starks designed the Elks Tower, C.K. McClatchy High School, Downtown Post Office and Alhambra Theatre, the latter demolished but still missed.