From the moment Chris Lango laid eyes on it, he had to have it.

The interior wasn't even built yet — just an empty shell in a rundown old building designed in 1924 to showcase motorcars.

But he knew this loft on the alley would be everything he wanted in urban living -- creative, a bit rough, hidden away in the middle of the city.

An exterior remodel, part of an adaptive reuse, was well underway. He was captured by the history of the building and the story of its architect.

"I was blown away," said Lango, 45. "I've always liked unique living spaces. If you like city living, I guess living in an alley is the most urban. Certainly, the most gritty."

Lango was living in an apartment over nearby City Treasure, now home to Crepeville, when he met the redevelopment's architect and building co-owner Ron Vrilakas inside an old warehouse originally used for car repairs at what was then 18th and M streets.

Vrilakas told Lango all about the Arnold Brothers Motor Cars building and its architect, Leonard Starks, who designed Sacramento landmarks including the Alhambra Theatre and the Elks Building.

Lango fell in love with the place. In the summer of 2004, he was the first to move into one of two lofts Vrilakas designed in the back of the building near 18th Street, on the alley between L Street and Capitol Avenue. The building also houses Zócalo, 58 Degrees & Holding Co. wine bar and other businesses.

The alley is part of a two-block alley infrastructure improvement project awarded $100,000 in community development block grants on Dec. 15 by the Sacramento City Council. The council voted unanimously after only one person, city council candidate Shawn Eldredge, spoke out against this use of funds.

A sports producer for KCRA-TV until recently, Lango produced a feature on Starks for the station.

The 20-foot-high walls of his loft rental contain mementos of the building's long life -- a framed copy of a Sacramento Union story about the building's construction as the Sacramento headquarters for Hudson and Essex cars, a black and white photo of Starks, even a sign made from a city directory during the building's earlier days as Ansel Hoffman Saloon, run by a boxing promoter who later became a county supervisor.

"This building has been many things on the way to being what it is now," he said.

The roughly 1,200-square-foot loft features a trussed ceiling, brick walls, polished concrete floor, separate bedroom area and an L-shaped loft reachable by ladder. Lango has made the loft his home, letting the space influence his design of the interior and his creation of objets d'art.

"I was scared when I moved in here, 'cause I'm a sports guy and this place was empty," he said.

The space is so unique that his loft was used in the movie, "Her Minor Thing," directed by Walter Matthau's son, Charlie. They used everything, right down to Lango's candles, for a love scene between the leading characters, a reporter and a photographer.

"It's weird to see your couch on film," Lango said.

Lango is very supportive of an "alley activation" movement being spearheaded by developers, architects, business owners and the city of Sacramento. He sits on the group's Alley Activation Committee. And he likes poking holes in the way people see alleys.

"The perception of alleys is that they're dirty, there's trash and dumpsters everywhere, they're torn up and there's a lot of weeds," he said. "Most people don't think of alleys as cool places. You're just off the beaten path and yet you're right at the heart of everything."

Lango has been warmly welcomed by the building's owners, Vrilakas and Zócalo owner Ernesto Jimenez.

"Before any project was even started, he wanted to live here," said Jimenez, who described Lango as "an inspiration" for the history he uncovered while working on stories about Starks and other Sacramento history.

The best part about living on an alley is that the location and the big, open loft space in the former warehouse are unique and allow him to be creative, rather than restricted by traditional, enclosed rooms, he said. Lango likes the way it was designed to be its own sanctuary, with an enclosed courtyard entry next to the alley.

He said the biggest challenge for him is noise, but the worst is over, after Lango lived through two to three months of pile-driving during the construction of the L Street Lofts on the same alley. He said he's gotten used to the sound of trucks making early-morning deliveries.

Increased parking demands from new alley residences like these are a problem for some existing neighbors. These two lofts don't come with parking, so Lango has a permit to park on the street like most Midtown residents.

Several people have lived in the loft next door.

"It probably isn't for everybody," Lango said. "But if you can dip your foot outside your comfort zone and shift how you perceive life, you can create a place that's unique."

Safety can be another issue on alleys. On his way in and out of his home, Lango has learned to pay more attention to the "nooks and crannies" where someone could hide in the alley. Graffiti is more of a problem. But Lango said he's accepted everything that comes with living in a city alley.

"That's just part of the urban experience," he said. "I think if you live in an urban setting like this, you have to buy into the whole experience."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.