Beautiful, colorful rolling works of art are attracting long lines of ticket buyers to the California Automobile Museum’s “Rucas y Carruchas: Ladies in Lowriders” exhibit.
Many cars on display are heirlooms, worked on by generations of families and cherished by women in a culture historically regarded as male dominated.
Museum exhibits manager ShaVolla Rodriguez exemplifies the involvement of women in the lowrider community. She named her lowrider Adeline.
A crime drama. A comedy featuring an animated inner voice. A romantic comedy about an undocumented nanny in Paris. A drama that explores the Bataclan concert hall terrorist massacre of 2015.
These are just a few plotlines from movies that will be featured at this year’s French Film Festival in June at the Tower Theatre. Now in its 22nd year, the event is the perfect way for Francophiles, cinephiles and anyone looking for a good time to enjoy new films from France.
As a kid, I spent hours at Beers Books. I made a beeline for animal books. Mom perused the art section. Dad skimmed remainders on a sidewalk sale cart.
I recently found a Beers Books bookmark while going through some boxes. Instantly, I floated back to those book-filled days.
My experience is not unique. Beers Books has been a beacon for book lovers for nearly 90 years.
Early days are murky, but the shop began around 1936 when Nellie Beer worked as a clerk for L.H. Mytinger Books at 1125 Eighth St. At some point the shop became Beers Books. A legacy was born.
Barbara Dow is in her happy place, a chair in the cattery at the Sacramento SPCA, playing with two 8-year-old stray cats who are being socialized.
“Rowdy has eye problems, but he knows my voice,” Dow says. “He’s not up for adoption right now, but they did take him to UC Davis to see what they can do for him. The other one, Rachel, is shy, but she loves me and lets me rub her tummy.”
Dow has volunteered at SSPCA since 2018 and is lead mentor at the cattery. She trains other volunteers to work with the shelter’s felines, among the 6,000 stray or surrendered animals the nonprofit receives each year.
Cory Whetstone, 69, had a hard time finding affordable housing. At some apartment buildings, he recalls, there were “a lot of young people, people into drugs and other issues going on. When you mix seniors in that bunch, you have ready-made victims and predators.”
Whetstone is particularly vulnerable because he is a transgender male. LGBTQ people often suffer housing discrimination.
Last year, Whetstone moved into Lavender Courtyard, a low-income apartment building for LGBTQ seniors. His housing problems were over.
Buggles, a pit bull mix with a tongue-forward smile, had skin infections across his face and body. Lilo faced death without immediate medical care. Markie’s new family received free dog food and preventive medicine after adopting the easygoing mutt.
All three stories reflect the work of Friends of Front Street Animal Shelter, a nonprofit established in 2001 to help animals at the city shelter. Last year, Friends brought in $750,000, mostly from individual donors.
