Locals who hit Gold Rush Days over Labor Day Weekend will notice some changes in Old Sacramento.   New business activity including historic building reconstruction is underway. While the addition of new ventures hasn't totally offset the loss of others, tourism revenue for 2009 seems to be holding steady with 2007 and 2006, said Melissa Martinez, executive director of the Old Sacramento Business Association, a business improvement district. "We're staying steady in tourism," said Martine... Suzanne William Burg 2009-09-09T05:46:27Z 2009-09-09T05:46:27Z

I like your enthusiasm for this city too, the feeling is mutual. Get a few of us together with some money people and we'll get this problem licked. About the decking: I read the recent article in the Bee calling for an N Street bridge and raising 2nd Street to the level of Capitol instead of its current drop below M Street. Sounds like a good idea, providing better connectivity across I-5 without being super expensive. About the Rio City Cafe space: That's what I meant, it is used for special events and as such has a purpose. I kind of like having a clearing there as it is one of the few spaces where you can see the trains run from Front Street, unlike the points where the freight sheds and the shops in them block things off. The city recently added a new restroom there, personally I think some added seating areas might encourage folks to dawdle there more, but it has to have some clear space for events, gunfight demos and other tomfoolery that gets parked there pretty often. About the hole at Front and L: If the model was that "impractable" the Orleans Hotel project wouldn't have been completed recently, nor would the Ebner/Empire project have broken ground. Most of the buildings on that block were 2-3 stories, a composite building with different heights (and remember, it would have a fully usable "underground sidewalk" level in the basement) would work, would fit with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Reconstruction (which, in a master-planned historic district, allows tax credit incentives etcetera IF THE PLAN IS BASED ON DOCUMENTED AND PREVIOUSLY EXISTING BUILDINGS) are used. I'm not sure who owns the site, but I think it's the city of Sacramento, and in any case they seem to do a bumper business using it as a parking lot, so I wouldn't expect a project proposed there anytime soon. About hotel rooms: Turns out the Ebner/Empire will be retail and offices, no actual hotel rooms. Which makes me think, yeah, there really should be a hotel IN Old Sacramento. But I'd hardly describe the Embassy Suites as "average hotel rooms at typical prices."

William Burg 2009-09-09T05:46:27Z Markes 2009-09-07T17:19:39Z 2009-09-07T17:19:39Z

William I really appreciate your knowledge and enthusiasm for our city. I wish there were a lot more people like you. I don't have that famous Sacramento "can't do" spirit. Yep there are many challenges/problems but believe where there is a will- there is a way. 1. You could dig a well for the tree and drop in extra large black plastic culvert pipes (with small holes drilled in), then fill the pipes with with soil and plant the tree. This would force deep rooting and protect the buildings. Tree problems are always exaggerated by poor planning. Choosing well-behaved trees and making sure they are properly watered and maintained will eliminate most problems. I would pull up the cobblestone along Front Street and place them around the trees. I've talked to some elderly and disabled people have real problems get across the street. 2. I never supported the deck idea for the reasons the City cited in the Bee. Too much (money) for so little. But I do support the N Street Bridge idea. I just think people need a direct route from Capitol Mall to Old Sacramento. Close off the little lane that runs from 3rd to Capitol (like the city did on the other side) and build a ped/bike bridge from this mini-park over the freeway to where L and Second meet. Most of it could be pre-fab off-site (such as truss sections which resemble old railroad bridges) and brought to the site and assembled in a few days. 3. Yeah we can wait till hell freezes over before the 1849 scene gets built. Give the kids (and their parents) a 'blow-off-steam' space. It would make the OS experience more enjoyable for all. 4. Not talking about south of Capitol Mall - but mostly the K Street entrance to the gawd awful tunnel. One inexpensive way to block the freeway out of view would be to construct a large "art billboard" (next to the freeway) over the OS entrance to the tunnel. The billboard would be a huge outdoor canvas for local artists. 5. Well we've all seen just how much the city gets what the city wants haven't we. Good luck with that one. 6. You are joking right? This is a 'gathering place' for whom? I've only seen it used during special events. Sorry but that's not good enough for me. It needs to be seriously revamped for everyday life. 7. During inclement weather. It's basically an open shed so it would still be covered if slightly more exposed --but so what? That's the point. How to secure them at night. I'm not sure what you want secured exactly. 8. Sorry I disagree. Nope there's no dearth of average hotel rooms at typical prices but that's not what I'm talking about and it would take too long to explain here what I'm getting at. 9. Again I disagree and I suspect so would the owner of the site. Big difference between the buildings at those other sites and the L and Front lot. While a new building could have a bunch of one story false fronts why would that be preferable to a nice compatable new design? I think we need to move beyond the old impractable model here and get the space filled. 10. I've talked with enough people to know that most would really like see most of candy and T shirt shops replaced with cafes/restaurants featuring live music. But I'm not talking about competing for the number of venues or the big name acts but rather on the concentration of quality performances.

Markes 2009-09-07T17:19:39Z William Burg 2009-09-03T16:37:42Z 2009-09-03T16:37:42Z

Thanks for posting that list--we agree on a lot, but there are some complicating factors. 1) The main problem with street trees in Old Sacramento is their disruptive effects on the raised streets and underground sidewalks in the area. You can't plant a tree at the edge of the sidewalk the way you can in Midtown, because in much of Old Sacramento there is no dirt under the sidewalk--there is 10-12 feet of open space! Planting them on the street side of the street walls would cause the tree roots to disrupt the 150 year old brick walls along the street. There is a need for more shade, especially around the pedestrian-only corner of Front and I Street--it's a big empty space that people don't like to walk across that limits foot traffic to the Sacramento History Museum. Trees there might help, although there are also remnants of street walls--and, closer to the river, levees, and other subsurface features that make trees problematic. 2. Agreed. In a perfect, fully-funded world we could deck Interstate 5 in the "boat section" to hide it and create multiple pedestrian routes (and open space for buildings!) but that would require tax dollars that don't exist right now. 3. No real objection, the grassy area at Front & I (known as the 1849 scene) was supposed to be built out with reproduction canvas/wood buildings but they ran out of money a couple of recessions back. 4. Decking, as mentioned in #2, would do the same job, but I don't disagree either--the problem, again, is funding. 5. The city wants to sell that property to a developer to build a tall thing, which makes sense but one hopes they would have some public parking. The East End state parking garage has helped relieve parking pressure in Midtown. Personally I'm still rooting for a streetcar across the Tower Bridge, which would allow people to park in downtown garages or near Raley Field and then hop off at Front Street. 6. It is already a gathering place for pretty much every festival that happens down there--it is well-suited for putting up tents and booths, and is programmable space otherwise. 7. Doing away with the Mayor Joe Serna Memorial Garage Door Museum would be great--it would also make the Sac Southern trains more easily visible and encourage ridership. The question becomes what to do in those spaces in inclement weather, and how to secure them at night. 8. I'm not sure, but think that the Ebner/Empire Hotel reconstruction that just broke ground is actually going to be a hotel. Hopefully that will help. There are a couple of hotels immediately adjacent to Old Sacramento, so it's not like there is a severe dearth of hotel rooms nearby. 9. Building in a district like Old Sacramento but not basing it off buildings that used to be on the site is as unwise as allowing historically inaccurate "gunfights" that you complain about--but that mistake goes into permanent brick-and-mortar form. Here's what Front and L looked like in 1870: http://sacramento.pastperfect-online.com/30528images/045/19850241961.jpg If it wasn't practical to build recreations of historic buildings, the Orleans wouldn't have been built, nor would the Ebner/Empire be breaking ground now. Because the buildings were right next to each other along the street front, it would not be hard to build a single structure with the appearance of multiple street facades. 10. I wholeheartedly agree with having more live music in Old Sacramento. I have seen (and booked, and played) plenty of shows in Old Sacramento, it's a great place for that sort of thing. Trying to get a six-block area to compete with, say, Los Angeles or San Francisco might be kind of a stretch, but more live music venues (and dance clubs, and music lounges, etc) in Old Sacramento (as well as downtown, and the rest of Sacramento) is definitely a great idea in my book--especially if some of them are all-ages.

William Burg 2009-09-03T16:37:42Z Markes 2009-09-02T22:12:57Z 2009-09-02T22:12:57Z

OK since you asked here are my 10: (and I'm sure you'll find something wrong with them all) 1. Plant street trees. We are the City of Trees afterall. Plant them along the sides of the street (in the parking lane -say like downtown Lodi). Trees would provide a lot more comforting shade than even the covered sidewalks do. They would cut dust and freeway noise. They would add beauty, seasonal interest and dimension to Old Sacramento. Trees would also help 'hide' the modern city beyond and make a connection to the rest of the Central City. 2. Build a direct route from the Capitol Mall to Old Sacramento (to improve pedestrian circulation). A ped/bike bridge across I-5 from the N.W corner of Capitol Mall/ 3rd to L/2nd -closing off 2nd to Neasham Cir. 3. Move the Old Schoolhouse down the street near the Eagle Theater and build an enclosed playground behind it. Basically creating a Kid's Zone that's safe from moving traffic. (something like Granville Island in Vancouver) 4. Build a sound barrier and screen to hide the freeway as much as possible. (Should have been done 20 years ago) 5. Build a new public parking garage on Lot X for visitors of the Crocker, Old Sacramento and the Riverfront. 6. Redo the pathetic looking "park" across from the Rio City Cafe so that it becomes a major gathering place in Old Sac. 7. Open up the 'public market' (northern section) -so it basically becomes an open shed so that it can have flexible uses. 8. Subsidize the creation and running of several inexpensive hostel-like 'guesthouses' (for foreign travellers) on the top floors of some of buildings. Having travelled the world I can tell you why this would help. 9. Build something at the largest hole in the ground (L/Front)- and don't insist that in be a reproduction of Gold Rush structures (because there were too many small structures orginally on the site to make it profitable to develop it like that today), but insist that it be compatable/sympathic to the Gold Rush era buildings. - a hotel, lofts, a permanent music venue ..whatever -fill the hotel. 10. Encourage more cafes/restaurants with live music. Make it the live music capitol of California.

Markes 2009-09-02T22:12:57Z William Burg 2009-09-02T19:19:48Z 2009-09-02T19:19:48Z

The field of historic preservation has changed a lot since the 1960s (the Old Sacramento project began in 1968, not 1976) so obviously a lot of things would have been done differently: for starters, the blocks between 2nd and 3rd Street might have been saved if laws like CEQA , NEPA and NHPA had been in place, or if redlining had not been an issue driving redevelopment policy. In a best-case scenario, I-5 would have been routed on the West Sacramento side of the American River, with additional bridges across the river. Then there would not be a huge concrete moat blocking off Old Sac from the rest of the city, and the blocks of buildings from the same era as those preserved or reconstructed might have become part of the Old Sacramento district, or might have continued to play the role of downtown buildings, as other 19th century buildings downtown still do. Preservation and restoration, rather than demolition and reconstruction, would have been the preferred strategy, using existing historic material instead of creating duplicates and the demolition of buildings that did not reflect the "period"--the same sort of decisions made by Colonial Williamsburg. Fisherman's Wharf is actually a really good comparison when you look at its history: the Embarcadero Freeway used to block off the waterfront, the Ferry Building was a disused hulk, and freight trains still ran on the Embarcadero serving the wharf. Not until an earthquake collapsed the freeway, and the introduction of electric streetcars along the Embarcadero (they had not run there before, it was steam and later diesel freight lines), did that part of Fisherman's Wharf become what it is today. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a natural disaster will eliminate I-5 from the landscape. I also recommend that you visit Old Sacramento on a weekend night sometime. There are quite a few active nightclubs, and there's quite a bit of foot traffic, very little of which is tourists or out-of-town visitors. It is also a lot safer than it was a few years back when it was a refuge for East Bay gangsters looking for a refuge from the anti-gang sweeps in Oakland. The daytime is primarily tourists and visitors, but that includes visitors from within the region: people who live in Folsom or Roseville or Citrus Heights or Orangevale come to visit. Maybe not all the time, because there are plenty of other things to do in the 100 square miles of Sacramento besides visit the six blocks of Old Sac, but people do drop by occasionally. I volunteer in Old Sacramento, and while I meet tourists from all over the world (most of whom have great things to say about it) I also meet a lot of people who live in Sacramento. If by locals you mean people who live in the central city, there is little reason or ability to do so. People in the central city don't necessarily want to drive to recreation, and in Midtown we don't really have to. Because there is almost no public transit that directly contacts Old Sacramento, and walking or biking there usually means crossing the gulf of I-5, it is never easy or convenient. A riverfront streetcar over the Tower Bridge through downtown and midtown could help this, or at least neighborhood shuttles (the "trollop" fake streetcar buses) that ran late into the night. Markes, I will repeat: What changes would YOU make to Old Sacramento?

William Burg 2009-09-02T19:19:48Z Markes 2009-09-02T15:28:43Z 2009-09-02T15:28:43Z

Ask yourself: If we were just being to 'restore' Old Sacramento today would we do it the same way they did back in the 1970's? I never once said it didn't draw tourist but I do not take comfort in comparing Old Sacramento to Fisherman's Wharf and Hollywood & Vine. Yes people like visiting it once or twice a year.. but how much better a place it would be if those occasional tourists were joined by frequent locals?

Markes 2009-09-02T15:28:43Z William Burg 2009-09-01T16:19:08Z 2009-09-01T16:19:08Z

Most locals don't visit the local tourist traps. Most San Franciscans I know don't spend a lot of time on Fisherman's Wharf, most Chicagoans don't visit Navy Pier very often, and most Angelenos don't find much reason to spend time on Hollywood & Vine. There's nothing wrong with having a tourist district, especially if it is a successful one. Old Sacramento has its share of frustrating problems, but you can't say it doesn't draw tourists--and not just from Lodi. I volunteer in Old Sac and meet people from all over the world who really like visiting there. Calling it a "failed Williamsburg of the West" assumes that it doesn't get tourist traffic--it does. Comparing it to Williamsburg is kind of a rough comparison--Colonial Williamsburg is even more of a Potemkin village than Old Sacramento in many ways, but it has the advantages of much larger size (300 acres compared to the 25-30 acres of Old Sacramento) and private financial support. Despite that, plenty of people have criticized Williamsburg for its approach to preservation and reconstruction and its interpretive methods (many historic buildings later than the interpretive period were demolished to build fake copies of earlier buildings, slavery was originally very much glossed over or ignored, it is basically a "historic theme park.") I'd even wager that most residents of non-colonial Williamsburg don't go there very often, except when Aunt Tillie is in town to visit from out of state. In some cases the problems of Old Sacramento are compromises. Having I-5 whizz by next to Old Sacramento was the result of a compromise that prevented I-5 from whizzing by ON TOP OF Old Sacramento--it was originally supposed to be totally demolished, with I-5 running along Front Street. A lot of the wacky Wild West reenactors aren't particularly accurate--the problem is that it's easier for reenactors to make something up than do the research, and the public generally can't tell the difference. There are folks working on that issue, but it's going to take some time. Parking meters are ugly, but parking is a big revenue source, and you can't deny that the demand for parking in Old Sacramento far outstrips the supply--making it "free" would make parking in Old Sac worse, and take away revenue needed for maintenance and upkeep that is often long-deferred. Markes, I would very much like to hear what you think should be done with Old Sacramento. If it is a big lengthy list, I heartily suggest that you post it as an editorial article here on Sacramento Press.

William Burg 2009-09-01T16:19:08Z Markes 2009-09-01T05:29:37Z 2009-09-01T05:29:37Z

Old Sacramento still has little appeal for nearly everyone I've talked to about it. Why is OS such a failure with so many locals? They (the merchants/landlords and their PR team) see themselves not as a small part of the larger Downtown/Midtown area but rather completely separated from it. OS could be 50 miles away as far as anyone on both sides of I-5 are concerned. Old Sacramento is only about catering to the day tourists not the residents who live nearby. Our failed "Williamsburg of the West" seems as dated as the '76 Bicentennial that spawned it. Too much of the "historical reenactments" are pathetically inaccurate and there's way too much incongruency -parking meters,choking traffic, freeway trucks whizing by, R2D2 letter box, fake old schoolhouse next to the railroad tracks on what was the commerical docks...really? Old Sacramento is an embarrassment to anyone with just a little more sophistication or more traveled than the average day tourist from Yuba City. But keep trying and when you are ready to really succeed talk to the real locals who know what to do.

Markes 2009-09-01T05:29:37Z Sean Derfield 2009-08-31T19:33:12Z 2009-08-31T19:33:12Z

Great story about what we see happening in Old Sacramento. It is finally back to being a great location for nightlife as well. It is very safe and fun. Having dinner then walking from saloon to saloon is a great time. I believe there are about a dozen you could easily hit. We have seen an increase in night time visitors and look forward to all the additions.

Sean Derfield 2009-08-31T19:33:12Z