Back in the old hometown, always an interesting experience. I left here permanently 12 years ago, and my visits have gotten shorter and less frequent every year, though I try to maintain my friendships here. It’s not easy.
Particularly not easy is being back in town without a car. “Downtown” Sacramento – by which I mean the core of the city, a radius of a few miles from the center – is wonderfully bike-able. Most of my closest friends live within this core, and as an avid cyclist, I am able to do nearly everything I need to do…as long as I don’t need to carry much!
Though I was born in the suburbs, which I loathed, I moved downtown to the core as soon as I was able and wasn’t working in the suburbs, at the old Tower Records (the first free-standing Tower in the world) on Watt Avenue. Once that tether was shed, in late 1980, I moved downtown, and mostly lived around the central core from then until I left town for New York City in April 2012.
I came to be pretty closely identified with the central city when I was Editor-in-Chief of the Sacramento Press, a now-defunct online newspaper that combined professional and amateur journalists to cover the central city, which we did better than anyone for a time. The excitement in the inner core in those days was palpable, and the battles to see who would determine the fate of the core of the oldest city west of the Mississippi was a blast to cover.
These days, though, the core seems to have slid back to where it was before the growth of the Aughts began. Yes, there is a lot more housing now than there used to be, a battle won by proponents like my former roommate (and city councilman) Steve Hansen and many, many others, who argued that the central city is a wonderful place to live, and more people should have the opportunity to enjoy it.
I’m currently staying in a development just north of my old Victorian house, which still stands at the corner of 10th and F Streets. I’m with friends in a development called the Creamery, for the old Crystal Creamery that launched there in 1901. Around the corner is the old office of Burnett and Sons, the lumber company started by Burnett Miller, an old friend of my father’s. Both long gone now.
The townhouses of the Creamery are big and beautiful, and the street names nod to the site’s history, for example, Mint Chip Lane. (Which just happens to be my favorite flavor of ice cream.)
Still…the central city seems again to have fallen on hard times. The homeless are more numerous, or at least seem so, and the radio of “upstanding” citizens to homeless seems to teeter at 1:1 in some areas. A lot of businesses have closed, even on J Street, the Main Street of the central city. Even all the housing seems largely vacant. Has it fallen victim to that phenomenon of cities like Manhattan and London, where the wealthy park their cash in expensive properties and help drive home prices up, while adding nothing in the way of life to the community?
I don’t know, but it’s what it feels like. Traveling and living a lot in Asia and Europe these days – as well as New York City – I am more accustomed to life being lived out on the street, not behind closed doors, as it so often seems here. It’s hard to tell who is where, the only indicators of life being where the most cars are.
And oh yes, the cars: These often seem like the real occupants of this area. They’re everywhere, and god help you if you don’t have one. And if you want to rent one, be prepared to pay: I needed to rent one when a plan changed unexpectedly, and the cost was steep: $250 for three days. I got a similar vehicle in Italy six weeks ago for half as much.
But as always, there’s the bike, god bless its little two-wheels-good heart. I still find few things in life as wonderful as riding a bike, and riding it around Sacramento brings back all sorts of memories, stretching back more than 40 years. I remain happy that I left here for other climes, but I also love coming back, enjoying nostalgia and the enduring friendships that I return for.
Pool party this evening!
So I’m catching up, and of course, prepping: I got rid of a lot of my Burning Man camping gear last year, including my beloved bike, and no longer have my car to get myself and my gear up to the desert. Because I said last year was my last year. For sure.
But as my friends say, “You’ve been saying that for at least 10 years.”
Touché.
Indeed, the allure of the desert remains, and so this week, I begin packing and shopping in earnest. I leave on Friday.
Combine with my ongoing attempts to finish Act I of my musical – which is once again being delayed, now to October 20, giving me another two months for what seems an endless, daunting amount of work – and I’m overtaxed and a bit stressed out.
I deserve a vacation, so this will be my last post for a while. Unless I get inspired by something unexpected, I won’t be posting anything until after Burning Man. I need to breathe a bit, and prioritize what I need to do.
There IS important writing to do right now: I’ll be doing is filling out these postcards, provided by Vote Blue, to send to voters in all-important Pennsylvania. It’s a pointed way to get folks to vote…and to vote BLUE, for the only party that supports real democracy in this race. You have to provide your own stamps, but some organizations provide those as well. Start here if you want to chip in. It’s now or never.
So, here begins my summer vacation. I’m off to the pool, and then the playa, but I’ll be back.
But not for a bit.
David, you worked at Tower Books and Tower Records. I know cuz I hired you......repeatedly!
I do enjoy your travels, Heidi
Thanks so much for reminding me of sending postcards... we can't rest on anyone's laurels for this election... Just ordered some... Say hello to The Man from the Temple of Boobfoot! That was our old art camp we used to do... have a blast!