Once known as a last-chance eatery for wayward travelers and local ranchers venturing into the nearby orchards and hops fields, The Wienery, the East Sacramento hot dog haven, will celebrate a unique milestone this month.
Brian Witherell and his father own a private arts and antique company that operates out of a home office and a unique building located at 300 20th Street in Sacramento. Constructed of cider block, glass and steel, the modernist building is the loft for the younger Witherell and his partner Lori Pera, a flight attendant for American Airlines.
More than 35 years ago, Dennis Newhall began his radio broadcasting career in Sacramento. From the campus station at Sacramento State University to defunct Bay Area and Sacramento stations, Newhall has a varied connection with famed rock performers — the Grateful Dead to Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix to Santana.
On two recent cold, clear winter nights, I walked for several blocks both east and west along J Street. It's not a usual evening destination, but on both occasions while scurrying along in the chill, I remember thinking that midtown has become increasingly handsome.
Sacramento has its share of renowned museums showcasing paintings to railroad cars. But unheralded collections abound as well and often in nearly hidden locales. Some feature aviation memorabilia, others medical marvels. There's an iron lung on display in the medical museum on the Elvas Ave. There's a WWII-circa jet cockpit in a midtown photography shop.
The mural features the profile of man wearing a brimmed cap and a wide grin. One bear cub is perched on the man's head, another is clutching his right arm and shoulder. The image is a painter's rendition of a 1940s photograph of Dalen Sargent's grandfather. A logger in the Northwest, the elder Sargent one day came upon the two abandoned cubs. He temporarily raised the cubs before they were given to a zoo in Washington.