Sacramento

 

Tim at the California Automobile Museum

 

I have a book manuscript due in January, so I've been running around the state doing research: San Diego a month ago, the Central Coast a week later, and Sacramento this past week. I often go alone, but it's always much more fun when Tim comes along. Between bouts of research, we did some fun sightseeing in Sacramento.

California State Library

Built in the late 1920s, the State Library is located across the street from the State Capitol and is considered one the state's most beautiful government buildings. Architecturally modified over the years, the library was recently renovated to its original glory. Here are just a few images of its magnificence:

Front facade

 

Lobby ceiling

 

Former circulation room. Note card catalogs still in the walls.

 

Statue detail

 

Chandelier and ceiling detail

 

Gillis Hall (i.e., reference room) plaque

 

Gillis Hall mural by Maynard Dixon

 

Other side of mural

California Automobile Museum

We have lots of car museums here in L.A., but a friend recommended the California Auto Museum, so we went. He was right. Housed in a large warehouse, the museum does a nice job chronicling the history of automobiles from the late 19th century to now. 

My personal favorite era has always been the 1930s-50s, when cars were built to last. They may not have been as fuel-efficient as today, but all that chrome and those fabulous colors—wow! I obviously went berserk taking photos:

Funky homemade RV

 

Gunther's Ice Cream

We first heard of Gunther's, last year, when Charles Phoenix posted a video of his favorite ice cream parlor in Sacramento. We made a mental note and went looking for it after visiting the auto museum. On a corner surrounded by houses, Gunther's has been making and serving ice cream since 1940. 

School had just let out and so the place was packed. We soon found out why. I got a raspberry sherbet cone and Tim a root beer float. Can't wait to go back! 

 

Gunther's ice cream parlor

 

Neon sign detail (not lit-up during day)

 

Waiting inside . . .

 

Tim's RBF and me and my cone

California State Railroad Museum

As noted elsewhere on this blog, we love trains. So no surprise that we made time to visit the California State Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento. Deceiving at first—the museum looks rather small from the outside—we ended up spending several hours there, watching a film, taking the tour, and then climbing through actual train cars exhibited inside the museum. What a fun way to spend half-a-day! Highly, highly recommended.

 

Looking down on some of the exhibits

 

Old passenger cars

 

Central Pacific engine, circa 1863

 

Replica of the Golden Spike that celebrated

 completion of the Transcontinental Railway

 

Virginia & Truckee Railroad engine

 

Wheels detail and reflection

 

More modern engine

 

Dining car kitchen

 

China from the glory days of rail travel

 

More china

 

And, yes, women worked on the railroad, too

To Reno and Back

This is the time of year when my sister Vicki flies down from Seattle to spend a couple of weeks in Southern California. She usually does “the rounds,” visiting family and friends, but spends most of her time with my parents, who live two hours away. Our lives have taken distinctly different paths—Vicki is now a grandma (yikes!). Still, we have much in common and always have lots to talk about. The older I get, the more I miss my sister and wish we lived a lot closer.

On her way home, Vicki often stops in Reno to see our uncle Louie, who will be 88 in September. I have flown to Reno with her in the past, only to fly home as she hops a plane to Seattle. But this time I decided we should drive so we could have some quality time together. In my youth, I loved to drive the I-395, on the eastern slope of the Sierras, and once drove all the way to Idaho by myself for a five-day whitewater-rafting excursion. It’s been a loooong time since I’ve done anything so adventurous, however!

We left Wednesday morning and headed north. What a relief to leave the traffic behind as we turned onto I-14 to the desert. I love living three miles from the ocean, but there is something so liberating about the desert—though I certainly wouldn’t want to live there, it is nonetheless very beautiful in a stark, ancient way. We marveled at the landscape as we connected with the I-395: prehistoric lava beds and red cinder cones. They reminded us of the geography field trip we each took in junior college almost 40 years ago.

After a couple of hours, we could see evidence of the southernmost tip of the Sierras on our left. Majestic granite peaks accompanied us the rest of the way. We wondered aloud how the pioneers could possibly have traveled over such rugged terrain. Hungry just thinking about it, we found a small park in Independence and ate the sandwiches we packed before leaving that morning. Hot and tired (it was well over 90 degrees—far hotter than either of us is now used to), we rolled into Reno around 6PM. After checking into our hotel, we went in search of dinner.

As I’ve reported many times before on this blog, Tim and I are big fans of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives; so before Vicki and I even left L.A. I had Tim check Guy’s website for good eateries. With directions in hand, we made our way to the Gold ‘N Silver Inn, Reno’s oldest family-owned restaurant, just four miles from the hotel. We avoided the casino entrance and entered on the restaurant side.

Open 24/7 since 1956, the place looks the way I suspect it looked the day it opened 54 years ago. The menu was traditional “American,” but my eye was immediately caught by the picture of Guy Fieri recommending the lemonade pork chops. I couldn’t resist. They came slathered in a tomato-based sauce with a hint of lemon and were absolutely delicious. I know exactly where we’re eating the next time we're in Reno!

We spent Thursday morning with our uncle, who reminded me to lock my car doors and not pickup any hitchhikers (that’s why I love you, Unc!). I then took Vicki to the airport and bid her a teary-eyed adieu. We made tentative plans to do Disneyland together next summer.

Since I’d driven all the way up to the 39th latitude, I decided to go home via Sacramento, where I have a second office that I rarely use. I checked-in to let my coworkers know I’m still alive and made arrangements to have dinner and breakfast the following morning with separate colleagues. Remarkably, they both chose to meet at the Tower Cafe, an international restaurant that was once the site of the original Tower Records store. The breakfast menu was a tad limited, but dinner (lemongrass chicken on jasmine rice) was tasty.

By 10:30AM, Friday, I was on the road again, heading south. I cranked up the iPod, sang as loud as I wanted and was home in time for dinner. I did not pickup any hitchhikers along the way.

Speaker of the Assembly

Somehow, I received an invitation to the swearing-in ceremony of Karen Bass, speaker-elect of the California Assembly. Sure, I live in Bass’s district, am a lifelong Democrat and contribute regularly to the party, but I still haven’t figured out why I was invited. Nevertheless, I was very aware of the historical significance of Bass’s appointment—not only is she the first African-American woman to be named speaker of the state Assembly, she’s also the only African-American woman ever to lead a state legislative body anywhere in the U.S. I was already scheduled to be in Sacramento that morning, so I called the capitol and accepted the invitation.

When I arrived at the airport, everyone at the gate was happily hugging and kissing. “This is the Karen Bass plane!” someone shouted. Indeed, it seemed like everyone from the 47th Assembly district was flying up for the ceremony. The founders of the New Frontier Club, the oldest and largest African-American Democratic organization in the state, were there, as was state senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is running for L.A. county supervisor. A young man who’s working with Bass on the Obama campaign looked wide-eyed and rather overwhelmed by the commotion whirling around him. I stood on the waiting line next to Mrs. Lee Welinsky, secretary of the Culver City Democratic Club. With so many Democrats on the plane, I knew we’d have a safe flight and so tuned into my iPod and took a nap, even though people were noisily celebrating.

The swearing-in ceremony started at noon. Not knowing what to expect, I headed over to the capitol a few minutes early. The place was a mob scene with dignitaries and school kids clogging the hallways. I asked a security guard where I needed to check-in and was directed to an area on the other side of the building.

“You’ll be in viewing room 4203, on the fourth floor,” the woman at the registration desk said as she handed me a ticket to get into the event.

I was disappointed to be relegated to watching the ceremony via closed-circuit TV, but changed my tune when I arrived at the room and saw it was almost filled to capacity! I showed my ticket and was given a program.

Although not as magnificent as the Assembly chambers, room 4203, named in honor of former state legislator and Congressmember John L. Burton, was still very beautiful with its wood-panelled walls and ceiling-high mural depicting California’s history. A large flat-screen television was set-up at the front of the room in addition to the two smaller TVs on the side. I sat behind a woman who talked about staging a peaceful demonstration demanding more funding for Alzheimer’s research.

At noon the TV screens switched from an outside shot of the capitol to inside the Assembly chambers. The caption noted that this was a “floor session.” People in the viewing room began to settle down. Then, after about eight minutes of watching attendees greet each other, someone yelled, “There she is!” as we all spontaneously leapt to our feet and started to clap. Karen Bass had entered the Assembly chambers. It felt like we were right there with her even though we were half-a-building away.

Speaker Fabián Núñez led the festivities by recognizing “special guests” in the audience. Several people on my end gasped and yelled “OH NO!” when he introduced esteemed actress Alfre Woodard as “Alfred.” Núñez then began naming all the various politicos present. Judging by the reaction in room 4203, former speaker Willie Brown was the most popular man at the event. Governor Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, received only a smattering of applause.

We could feel the excitement of the moment through the TV. We stood for the invocation and pledge of allegiance and cheered our favorite speakers. Three legislators spoke of the speaker-elect’s good deeds and Ms. Woodard recited a poem, “Ego Tripping,” by Nikki Giovanni—all while Bass looked on from the back of the Assembly chambers. I almost cried when the governor mentioned Bass’s 23-year-old daughter who had died in a car crash two years ago.

Then came time for the escort committee, made-up of former speakers Brown, Robert Monagan, Cruz Bustamante, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Herb Wesson, Jr., to accompany Karen Bass to the podium. Her stepdaughter Yvette carried the Bible on which the oath was administered. Afterwards, the new speaker admonished her colleagues to unite in responding to “the current economic crisis the way we would a natural disaster." She also announced that she has asked former governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis to head a commission to examine California’s antiquated tax structure. The viewers in room 4203 clapped their approval. She ended by asking the Assembly to “get back to work!”

I returned to my office across the street and got back to work of my own, moved by the historic event I had just witnessed. Although the plane ride home was far more subdued than the morning, people nonetheless remained joyous as they reflected on the significance of the day. I could almost hear the unasked question on everyone’s lips: is this a sign of what’s to come this November if Barack Obama is indeed nominated?