Interesting People
Happy Hours
As a kid growing up in Sacramento, David Gull often visited his Uncle George’s house. George, bar manager at the old Buffalo Club tavern, had a collection of memorabilia from the Buffalo Brewing Company in his basement. Buffalo Brewing operated at 21st and Q streets from 1890 until 1945. At one time it was the largest brewery west of the Mississippi.
Years later, Gull remembered his uncle’s collection and conducted research about the brewery. “And I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if someone brought back this historic brand, this historic beer? That was my lightbulb moment,” he says.
That moment led him to found New Helvetia Brewing Company, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in December. Named for John Sutter’s original settlement, the brewery and taproom are located at Broadway and 18th Street in Land Park. The taproom is decorated with Buffalo Brewing memorabilia, along with maps and lithographs of Sacramento.
Lights, Camera, Sacramento!
If you jog along the American River Parkway and spot a tree with gnarled roots dangling over the riverbank, stop and say hello to “Mickey’s Tree.”
It’s a bit of Sacramento immortalized in the 40-minute movie of the same name by local filmmaker and composer Belton Mouras Jr.
“I’ve had so many adventures out there,” Mouras says of the trail he pounded thousands of times as a triathlete.
Recalling his late rescue dog, he adds, “Mickey and I would be out there almost every day and he led me to that tree. It’s exhilarating to be out there. A lot of people don’t get to experience the parkway to that degree, so I wanted to showcase all the nature that’s available to us right here in the film.”
Just One Look
Piggie’s pink tongue dangles permanently out the left side of his mouth. His ears, mangled from a home crop job, are frequently infected. Arthritic joints struggle to maintain his 50-pound rotund body. His breathing is labored.
When Andrea Haverland and her partner Marc Morgan chose Piggie as their foster, the bulldog’s nails were curling into his paw pads. “But the biggest, most shocking thing was his nose,” Haverland says. A compromised immune system left his nose raw and scabby, in regular need of topical medication.
Haverland and Morgan, who live in Midtown, had already successfully fostered three dogs for the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter. When the pandemic hit and shelters moved out as many animals as possible, “We thought it was great time to grab another foster,” she says. “It was a no-brainer when I saw his photo.”
Sky’s The Limit
A woman dangles from the ceiling, her skirt a giant parachute. Waves of fabric undulate through the room.
Two figures in snorkeling masks dance in tandem, suspended as though swimming in mid-air.
This is not an oceanic fever dream. It’s the work of Tony Nguyen and his company TwoPoint4 Dance Theater. The company is an innovative arts group that specializes in “vertical dance,” a medium that combines modern dance with rock climbing gear to create a unique experience.
The visuals described here are from “Fragmented Memories,” an immersive performance piece Nguyen and his company members created and performed in November 2019. They updated the work and performed it again in May 2022.
Have Fun. Get It Done’
In 1921, when women were not allowed to join male community groups in Oakland, 80 women signed a charter for the first Soroptimist Club, of and for women.
Not far behind Oakland, Soroptimist International of Sacramento was chartered in 1923.
Now global, 72,000 members in 121 countries belong to this volunteer service organization. Celebrating 100 years, Sacramento’s club is the fourth oldest active soroptimist club in the world.
‘We Can Do This!’
The future may be female, but author Christine Hunter is here to remind us so was the past.
Hunter’s new book, “We Can Do This! Sacramento’s Trailblazing Political Women and the Community They Shaped,” released last year, profiles dozens of women who led Sacramento from the 1970s into the 2000s.
The names are locally renowned: Anne Rudin, the city’s first elected female mayor; Kim Mueller, former City Council member and now a federal judge; and Lauren Hammond, the first Black woman elected to the City Council.
