Old Sacramento

Prepping for Gold Rush Days

2009-09-05T04:18:51Z

A tent city filled with settlers has sprung up once again on the banks of the Sacramento River. And the Sacramento Rangers of the 2nd California Cavalry are patrolling dirt streets on horseback.

Turning back the clock for Old Sacramento's Gold Rush Days took a little behind-the-scenes preparation. Economic hardship brought on by the continuing recession inspired quite a few people to volunteer their time to help ready the 28-acre state historic park for the annual event.

With the budget down from the average $125,000 to $80,000 this year, organizers — the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), the city of Sacramento and other entities — weren't able to hire as many people and had to make reductions in other areas as well.

"I think everybody understood it's the economy," said Mike Testa, vice president for communications and public affairs for the Sacramento CVB. "It was a team effort that made this event work this year."

Gold Rush Days, running Friday through Monday, is held to celebrate the city's heritage. The event also brings in an estimated $2 million to the local economy. Not holding Gold Rush Days was never an option, he said. The Labor Day Weekend event has run each year since 2000, and was inspired by a similar event called the Second Great Gold Rush held in 1998.

Preparations began Wednesday, when shade structures and cooking stations were erected.

Thursday morning, eight people from the Sacramento Rangers living history group brought in their horses and began setting up "dog" tents at Camp Union. Mike Paisley, a sergeant with the Red Bluff County Sheriff's Department, said he and at least nine other uniformed rangers will live at the camp in Waterfront Park throughout Gold Rush Days.

Merchants and other living history re-enactors — a pharmacist, lacemaker, sarsaparilla maker and more — established a canvas tent city on the other end of Front Street. Sacramento Ballroom Society President Robert Barcheld built a shaded, 800-square-foot wooden dance floor, where the group will teach and perform historical dances, including a mazurka waltz and set dances from the 1850s.

Once the area had closed down Thursday night, Old Sacramento's Park Supervisor Tom Thornton directed city workers, volunteers and contract crews, as well as a brigade of eight dump trucks, flatbed trucks, bulldozers and other equipment. The work began by 10 p.m. and continued all night.

Retired city Parks Supervisor Ron Giarmona, who once oversaw preparation for Gold Rush Days, was one of the people who returned to volunteer. He helped coordinate some of the Don Robson Grading & Paving dump trucks and truck drivers who began laying 200 tons of dirt and decomposed granite down on the streets at about midnight.

Other people distributed 450 bales of hay throughout the area. Contractor Terry Debencik and two others spent the night covering about 250 signs and parking meters.

Past sponsors, who finance most of the four-day event, continued to back Gold Rush Days this year. But at least two had to kick in less, said Testa, whose organization also contributes financially.

About 120,000 people are expected to come to the four-day event. Some area hotels are more than 90 percent occupied, he said. Visitors will also spend money on parking, food, souvenirs and gas.

This year, sponsors won't be able to underwrite free admission to the California State Railroad Museum and the Sacramento History Museum. However, the two museums are offering admission to both for the price of one.

The carriages and wagons rented from a Gold Country and a horse wrangler will be a bit less grand this year, Testa said.

"We hope some of the expenses we had to decrease won't be visible to the public," he said.

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

To read more about the events of Gold Rush Days, click here.

New construction in Old Sac

2009-08-26T05:31:54Z

An unfamiliar sound was heard Tuesday when ceremonial shovels broke ground on new construction in Old Sacramento.

The building of a $6.1 million replica Ebner Hotel/Empire House, which will house only retail and office space, marks the second time in about 30 years that ground-up construction has taken place in the 28-acre historic park. The project is seen by many as completing Old Sacramento.

A celebratory air enveloped a crowd of at least 75 that turned out to watch investors and city officials dig fresh dirt during a noon press conference. Work technically started two weeks ago at the site at 116 - 118 K St., which has sat empty for years after one historic hotel collapsed and the other was torn down before meeting the same fate.

“This is a shot in the arm for the city of Sacramento,” said Mayor Kevin Johnson. “Any time I see shovels in the ground, that is good news.”

The first new construction in Old Sacramento was the Orleans, which opened last September with 24 rental lofts and ground-floor retail space. Interior work is underway there to prepare the first floor for a new restaurant, Ten22, expected to open in October.

Construction of a “new” Ebner Hotel/Empire House was delayed substantially while investors spent the last two years unsuccessfully seeking financial backing from banks, said one of the developers, Steve Ayers, chief executive officer of Armour Steel Co.

The city is contributing $3.3 million in local funds to the project. Investors -- Ayers, Dave Scurfield of Scurfield Co., Ray Enos of Downtown Ford, Ben Mortel and Johan Otto of Otto Construction -- are getting construction underway by putting in $2.8 million of their own money without prospective tenants, Ayers said.

“As Sacramentans, we have a commitment to our city,” he said.

Old Sacramento is a registered national landmark, so building there also requires jumping through a lot of hoops and navigating red tape, said Melissa Martinez, executive director of the Old Sacramento Business Association, a business improvement district.

The Ebner Hotel and Empire House were two hotels established next to each other in 1856 on K Street between Front and Second Streets. The Ebner building was older than that, having once held one of the the city’s early fire stations. The Ebner Hotel was torn down in 2003 after being deemed unsafe by the city.

Using historic photos, the new exterior will duplicate the exteriors of the two hotels as closely as possible -- so closely, in fact, that it will appear to be two separate buildings. However, the interior will be just one building, Ayers said.

The building will offer Class A office space on the second and third floors, ground-floor retail as required in Old Sacramento, and new underground parking.

Already, old structure footings were removed and an existing wall was braced. Foundation work will be done in the next week or so. Then the superstructure, or the rest of the building, will begin to be built, Ayers said. Construction is expected to take one year.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Changes in Old Sac

2009-08-31T02:11:58Z

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 Martinez. "That’s a really good sign."

In 2007, retail businesses brought in $2.25 million in sales tax revenue, about the same as 2006. Tax receipts dipped by $129,000 in 2008 — primarily due to the I-5 renovation, she said. Roughly 2 million to 3 million people are believed to visit Old Sacramento each year.

In the last 18 months, 12 businesses have opened and 19 have closed in the historic district.

A new restaurant is set to open this fall, and significant construction has just begun to replace the buildings which contained the Ebner Hotel and Empire House, which had stood on K Street since at least 1856. The construction will add retail and office space behind a facade that replicates the two original buildings as closely as possible. The new building will not house a hotel.

Some businesses are getting creative to draw in more customers now. On Thursday, Renaissance Faire veteran Chris Reyes started her first day walking the wooden sidewalks in a black fairy outfit and handing out fliers for the 23-year-old Garden of Enchantment. Half of the sidewalk leading to the tiny shop at 126 K St. is closed as part of the Ebner/Empire construction site.

The long-awaited reconstruction of the side-by-side historic hotels and the start of other new ventures are “promising signs” for the area, said Natalie Birk, manager of the city's Old Sacramento Historic District.

"We've got a lot going on," she said.

The most notable loss was California Fat's Asian Grill & Steakhouse, which closed in May 2008 after 35 years as a restaurant location. The 1015 Front St. site, which the Fat family operated under several names, is still available for special events. Another big loss was Discover California, which had operated for 17 years. The store had sold mainly souvenirs and fudge. The owners added a wine bar in the store a year or two ago, but that wasn’t enough to save the shop, Birk said.

Fulton's Prime Rib & Grill closed in sub-level Pioneer Square previously. In addition, Vanity Salon closed on the ground floor of D & S Development’s iLofts at 120 I St. One of the partners, Brenda Overbo, reopened as Brenda’s Hair Studio above Pioneer Square. D & S is now talking with prospective retail tenants to fill the open space.

Second Street holds a lot of vacancies. A knickknack and gift store run by a woman and her son for 20 years closed there just last week, after being unable to hang on until Gold Rush Days, said Hassan Shaikh, a store clerk at a nearby purse and sunglass shop called 17.

Shaikh said he's sad neighbors have had to close during the recession.

"In Old Sacramento, we all feel like one community. We're all pretty much trying to help each other," he said. "We're all trying to make it and stay out of the red. It's a struggle for all of us right now."

Many businesses along the train tracks were closed because that area is going to be ripped out, Martinez said. Other vacancies, including sub-level and alley locations, are sprinkled throughout Old Sacramento.

However, there's been significant new activity as well.

Across from the California State Railroad Museum, the spaces surrounding Pioneer Square were remodeled and have been available since June for shops, a restaurant and wine bar.

D & S has sold eight of the nine live-work iLofts, which were completed in the old Mechanics’ Exchange building in 2007. The company expects to learn next week whether a buyer will purchase the $396,000 third-floor penthouse, or a different tenant will rent the space, said company representative Bay Miry.

The 1,000-square-foot unit comes furnished and features a contemporary look with marble floors and red granite in the kitchen. Views include Old Sacramento, downtown high-rises, the Sacramento River and Tower Bridge.

Last spring, Brickside restaurant opened at 106 J St., where Cantina Del Rio had served Mexican food since August 2005, and River City Saloon opened at 916 Second St. in the former home of the Earl Gray Manor, a tea salon that closed in August 2007 after only two years.

Hornblower Cruise ships now sit docked on the Sacramento River. The company has been offering history, dinner and Sunday brunch cruises since July. Also that month, Old Sacramento got clean, new restrooms built by the city next to the grassy area in front of Rio City Café.

In October, Old Sacramento Properties, a division of Harvego Enterprises, expects to open a restaurant, Ten22, on the ground floor of its new building, the Orleans. The mixed-use construction featuring 24 rental lofts was completed last September. Harvego has owned The Firehouse nearby for 10 years.

Crews are currently working on the restaurant's interior, which will create a light, vibrant atmosphere. The 6,900-square-foot space will seat 190, while a 2,400-square-foot courtyard will seat 100, said Harvego Enterprises Director Terry Harvego. American food "with a twist" will be served.

The Hall, Luhrs & Co. building, which long ago housed a wholesale grocer, is being renovated. Owner Mike Stafford of Stafford Architects Associates recently had a wall added to divide a front office space from the rest of the cavernous old building at 914 Second St. Once the renovation has "progressed sufficiently," Stafford plans to move his firm from a penthouse at 1107 Ninth St. to the Old Sacramento location and rent out the rest of the building, according to marketing materials in the windows. Neither Stafford nor his staff returned phone calls.

A few weeks ago, the owner of the original 17 on Second St. opened a second shop by that name at 127 J St.

Many of the closings happened when businesses relocated to buildings or areas where rent was lower, Martinez said.

"From a retailer's perspective, it’s a lot easier to go to a strip mall and pay a third less, maybe, and have all those current amenities that you won’t have in a historic building," she said.

To do business in Old Sacramento, owners must be willing to locate in an area with limited street entrances, smaller shops and windows, and fewer modern amenities. In exchange, their businesses get an "exclusive feel" from being in a historic district and they become part of a tight-knit community of unique little shops filling the "nooks and crannies" of Old Sacramento, said Martinez.

"They’re little treasures," she added.

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