Thanksgiving in Sacramento, 1949

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so I bid all of you a Happy Thanksgiving and leave you with a little piece of Thanksgiving in Sacramento, 1949. Let's take a trip in the way-back machine! "Places to take the family for Thanksgiving dinner":

From my microfilm research: Sacramento Bee, November 23, 1949, page 18

Many familiar players here: The Chuck Wagon, Robert's Fish Grotto, Frank Fat's (the original location near the Capitol -- still in biz -- respect! Redo by Sacramento MCM architect Sooky Lee, I must add).

But sadly, no Zombie Hut :( Bummer! 'Cause that menu looks mighty tasty.

However you choose to celebrate the holiday, have a wonderful one! Aloha!

Historic Holiday Window Display in a MCM building on K Street!

Sacramento County Historical Society is working to construct a full-sized animated circa 1910 holiday display. The display will be at the Roos-Atkins building, 1001 K Street, in downtown Sacramento (next door to the Crest Theatre). This building was designed by noted Sacramento architect Harry J. Devine, Sr. in 1946.

1946 picture of Roos-Atkins during construction

 Completed building

The premiere for the display is November 26 at noon. The display will remain operational until January 8, 2011. Detailed information can be found here.

The display will use the Gaffney Display Company animated figures used in the windows of Breuner's department stores for decades -- in a new display created by local artists. Here are some vintage scenes of the Bruener's displays via my Flickr pals (and real-life friends):

Breuner's 12th old-fashioned, musical, moving Christmas display

Breuner's 16th old-fashioned, musical, moving Christmas display

1946 display

1955 display

1956 display

K Street was once the epicenter of shopping and nightlife in Sacramento. Here are some scenes from its heyday from my postcard collection:

10th and K Streets - Roos-Atkins can be seen in the far left of this picture

K Street

K Street

K Street, near 10th Street

K Street

K Street, Night View

Be there to support local historians and people who love Sacramento! You can also help out by donating here.

MCM architect's home for sale

Another home that was on the first-ever Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour on June 26, 2010 is currently for sale.

This outstanding home in South Land Park Estates was designed by Sacramento architect George Muraki around 1956 for his family. After being unjustly fired from the California State Department of Employment and interned with other Japanese Americans during WWII, Muraki became a prominent Sacramento region architect and Sacramento City Planning Commissioner.

This home features a central enclosed atrium that provides wonderful natural light. The current owners have updated this mid-century modern home into a comfortable family home that they share with their three children.

See more information and pictures about this home here.

Bookcase experiment - the after

You may recall my previous post on the planning process and before picture. Thanks to the great work of our friend and contractor, John DiDomenico, the bookcase looks awesome!

This bookcase is in our MCM ranch where we live -- up the hill from our Eichler neighborhood.

I happen to love the bookcase both ways -- with and without the color panels -- and think the flexible system is perfect for our needs. We can change them out or repaint them as we wish. We put a number on each panel so we know where it belongs in the sequence.

Right now we're enjoying this playful punch of color!

Spirits of Halloweens Past

I love Halloween. It's my favorite holiday! I have fond memories of my grandmother taking me trick-or-treating and then staying home with her after I turned 10 to hand out special bags of candy and toys to kids.

She had a fun-loving and goofy side -- she surprised me with a knitted and crocheted pumpkin one year! My kids love this guy.

Three years ago it was also my grandmother's last night so we light a special candle called a Yahrzeit in her memory.

My grandmother at work, age 24 (1937)

Hope your Halloween is filled with fun surprises and loving memories!

Sacramento Room's New Digital Collection

When I heard about the Digital Collection project at the downtown Sacramento Pubic Library from the great folks in the Sacramento Room, I was really excited. And boy, did they deliver!

The new collection "features digital images of photographs, menus, postcards and other items from the Sacramento Public Library’s Special Collections."

This project was indeed a labor of love; per their site: "over 3,000 photographs, postcards and menus form the original Sacramento Digital Collections which – from beginning to end – took over a year to compile, scan, and describe. The project mission is to provide an image-based window into the social, political and economic history of the Greater Sacramento area, from the 1840s to the present-day."

The images are a real portal to the past -- enjoy!

Bookcase experiment - the before

You'd think we would have had our fill of home improvement stuff after preparing our home for the Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour. But we have lots of Big Ideas and it's time to get back to work.

Our palette - colors chosen from George Nelson's Sunburst clock

When we designed and installed the bookcase, it was always our intention to paint the various shelves and their backings different colors. We simply never got around to it. That's a good thing as I'm not sure we would have picked the same palette.

Our bookcase sans paint - picture by John DiDomenico

Now that we are ready, we also want a system that will be flexible to changes over time -- something that would allow us to return the bookcase to neutral or switch out colors later on. We decided on painting wood panels and slipping them into place. Our friend and contractor John DiDomenico is helping us out with this.

Applying where we want the colors to John DiDomenico's excellent color layout

designed to avoid the same colors touching each other

The panels, primed and ready for color

I'll let you know how it turns out!

Old School!

Hey! Look what I dragged out from my old design school portfolio: some ~1999 pix of that I took of old Sacramento buildings and signage that I adore. I took these during a photography class; all manual settings on my old 35mm camera. Poke around on my Flickr links below to learn more about these places.

 

Cardinal Bowling Lanes sign, Del Paso Heights, Sacramento. Circa 1962.

Lil Joe's Over A Million Steaks Sold, Del Paso Heights, Sacramento. Circa 1946.

Gunther's Ice Cream, Curtis Park, Sacramento. Circa 1949.
Building designed by Koblik and Fisher.

Arden Motel sign, Del Paso Heights, Sacramento.
Circa 1961/62 per Sacramento Suburban Directory.

Tower Theatre, Land Park, Sacramento. Circa 1938.
Building designed by William B. David

Iceland Ice Skating Rink, Del Paso Heights, Sacramento. Circa 1940.
Building designed by Charles F. Dean

Crest Theatre, Downtown Sacramento. Circa 1912. Remodel circa 1949.
Formerly the Empress Theater. Original building designed by Lee De Camp.

Mr. Robert's Pink Poodle sign, formerly on 16th Street, Sacramento. Circa early 1960s.

I developed the black and white film in my sink at home and then took off for UC Davis in the wee hours of the morning to print them. I scanned the prints, scratches and all, on an old HP 8.5x14 inch flatbed scanner that must have weighed at least 25 pounds.

Sometimes old school is best.

Pix from the San Jose Modern Tour!

A slideshow of pix from my Flickr set

We had a great time getting back together with kindred MCM historian, Heather M. David, and checking out the cool buildings, signs, vintage goodies and cars. The self-guided driving tour of mid-century roadside highlights in San Jose was the first of its kind in the area and thoroughly researched by Heather.

If you didn't make it to the tour, take a look at my pix -- and if you haven't already, buy Heather's fabulous book, Mid-Century By the Bay! As Heather notes, "As development pressures continue into the 21st century, San Jose's mid-century buildings, signs, and roadside attractions are rapidly disappearing."

Happy Eames Powers of Ten Day (10.10.10)!

I've always loved the classic 1977 film, The Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames. The film is about the relative scale of things in the universe. I bought the book over ten years ago and can't wait to show our young kids the film and the book today. It is roughly nine minutes or so; if you haven't seen it, please take the time to do so! Check out their site, which relaunched today -- and check out the film below.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, visit the exhibit at the Eames Office on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. If you're in the Bay Area, check out the special events at the Exploratorium. I found this well-written post by Jamer Hunt -- about applying the powers of ten to real life design challenges -- particularly relevant.

The Eames Office celebrates the legacy of Charles and Ray Eames each year with a different theme. Eames family members Lucia Eames and Llisa Demetrios were recently in Sacramento for a wonderful presentation on the Eames Legacy at AIACV. Sacramento, as you may know, was the birthplace and home of Ray Eames during her childhood. I've posted more regarding Ray Eames' Sacramento history before here.