R.E. Graswich

Writer and Editorial Team

About This Author

R.E. Graswich is a journalist, author and media expert. His book “Vagrant Kings” is the definitive history of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. He was Special Assistant to Mayor Kevin Johnson, managed the Sacramento Voices program for the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education and worked for the Sacramento Bee, CBS 13 and KFBK.

Articles by this author

Vice Chairman

I fell for Ed Kripp when I learned he buried his favorite racehorse at Buffalo Park, the stadium Kripp built for his baseball team.
The horse was entombed at Broadway and Riverside Boulevard, 6 feet under home plate. Or under first base. Or centerfield. As I wrote in 2023, the truth is unclear.
Kripp was not an average sportsman. He was a high roller who ran gambling parlors in cigar shops and a Downtown dance hall called Dreamland.

Weeded Out

Weeds are uninvited party guests. They arrive with a good bottle of Bordeaux, keep to themselves, but by morning all their friends are camping on your property.

In Sacramento, weeds are especially obnoxious. Our long growing season encourages cycles of cold and warm weather weeds that can reach towering heights or, like ground covers, hug the soil. Some, like spotted spurge, grow low and blend into the surroundings like a sniper.

The late Ray D. Everson, editor of the Indiana Farmer’s Guide magazine, once opined, “The philosopher who said that work well done never needs doing over never weeded a garden.” A statement of truth gardeners instantly grasp.

Shorted Out

The city’s Planning and Design Commission is no ship of fools. Planning commissioners showed their smarts earlier this year when they discussed changing the rules for short-term housing rentals.

They declared—for the record—Sacramento isn’t Barcelona or Pismo Beach. Thanks for clearing that up.

A dozen or so people in the City Hall audience absorbed the news as one might expect. No shrieks. No boos. Just silence.

Comparisons to beach towns in Spain and central California are rare at City Hall. But comparisons are handy when local authorities try to corral short-term rentals.

Drink Up

I wanted to live in Land Park but couldn’t afford it. That’s how I ended up moving to Pocket in 1990.

The first house I fell in love with was on Marty Way two blocks south of Broadway. What I loved most was that I could walk from the front door—or shuffle with age—to Tower Theatre or Joe Marty’s saloon in under four minutes.

But the Marty Way house was out of my league. I couldn’t put down enough money or qualify for the mortgage.

Conflict Resolution

Eleven years ago, a cardiologist told me to walk. He said this while I was in bed at Mercy General Hospital counting staples in my chest that closed a surgical incision from a four-way heart bypass.

The doctor told me not to drive for three months. If I got into a crash and the airbag went off, about $250,000 worth of medical artistry would be wasted. Every day since, I’ve walked.

A favorite place to walk is the Sacramento River levee in Pocket and Greenhaven. I climb the levee at Garcia Bend Park or Zacharias Park. The river is beautiful.

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