History comes alive in Old Sacramento

2010-06-28T03:51:33Z

Unsuspecting visitors to Old Sacramento this weekend were confronted with a man named Dr. Cornelius Poindexter claiming to sell miracle elixirs saying that they cure everything from measles to hair loss.

“The cream, when applied to the skin, removes unwanted freckles, warts, boils, blemishes, carbuncles, what-cha-ma-goofers and thing-ma-bobs…whatever you wish to remove,” Poindexter said. “It’s a remedy for alcoholism, and it also cures terminal illnesses.”

“It even cures baldness!” Poindexter shouted to a bald shopper. “I can grow hair on a rock!”

Poindexter quickly disappeared, however, when an older man in a yellow scarf and wide-brimmed hat appeared, claiming to be Charles Crocker himself, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad. “Upon which we drive such ruffians out of town,” Crocker said.

Poindexter cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t know anything about being tarred and feathered,” he said before leaving.

The miracle medicine man was just one of the volunteers helping to take Old Sacramento back to early years of the city with a street theater program.

“We’re indulging ourselves in a little time twisting,” Crocker portrayer Carl West said.

Children were able to make dolls out of straws with the help of one settler, while others took the games to the field next to the Discovery Museum, where they played games like Battledore-- an early form of Backgammon where players hit a cork with wooden paddles back and forth in an effort to keep it off the ground.

Another popular game with visitors was Graces, which involves each player holding two wooden rods. The rods are crossed toward the base and an embroidery hoop decorated with ribbons is tossed to another player by quickly separating the crossed rods. The player on the receiving end catches the hoop with one of his or her dowels and tosses it back in the same fashion.

While some children seemed hesitant to play a game without batteries, they quickly forgot the video games waiting at home.

“As the kids are running around having tons of fun, I’ll turn to the parents and tell them, ‘Now, absolutely nothing plugs in, and your child is having a tremendously enjoyable time with two dowels and an embroidery hoop with a little ribbon on it,'” Red Barn Production’s Wells Twombly said. “We try to introduce some of the simple pleasures and remind kids that there was a lot of fun in the world before they invented Nintendo.”

Red Barn Productions and the Old Sacramento Living History group teamed up to bring history out into the streets. Some participants play music while others act out scenes. One little girl in 19th century dress got her basket stolen by a little boy. The girl chased him throughout the streets of Old Sacramento shouting “Thief!”

Historical gunfights are also staged in the cobblestone streets throughout the summer weekends. “We we’re trying to do is get away from these sort of bang-bang, stick-‘em-up sort of movie things and moving them in the direction of historical scenarios,” Twombly said. “What we’ll be doing here over the next couple of years hopefully is developing more historical exhibits living and breathing right here in the streets.”

So far, the reaction has been positive. People laugh as the man selling the elixirs tries to con them into a miracle cream that smells suspiciously like mayonnaise while children enjoy making the same kind of toys that children in the 19th century played with. And the games are a hit with all ages.

A controversial stage show also plays at the Eagle Theatre, where dancer Lola Montag shows a bit of leg and performs the much-talked about spider dance. “It’s best not to discuss it in the presence of ladies,” Twombly joked.

Lotta Crabtree, the Queen of the Fairy Stars, also performs at each show.

“When it was all mostly gentlemen out here, it was such that they so missed the company of womanhood in general that even the smallest female child could become a star singing and dancing upon the stage,” Twombly explained. “Gold would be thrown at their feet just in tears in remembrance of their own children that they left behind.”

The Fairy Stars, Lotta Crabtree included, represent those girls who became stars in the early mining town.

Old Sacramento’s street theater will continue every Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. and will feature gunfights, parlor games, and some familiar characters from the early days of Sacramento wandering the streets in a time warp to the past.

'Some Assembly Required' features vintage toys, brings back memories

2009-11-21T03:16:02Z

A 1950s Lionel train advertisement shows a father, mother, little girl and boy peering into a window display featuring a model train going through a city, over a bridge and into the mountains. The father appears to be the most interested -- head cocked, hand on his chin, ready to help his child build the toy train set.

An adjacent Lionel Train advertisement shows a father sitting on the ground assembling a train set, while his son sits in the background frowning.

California State Railroad Museum's "Some Assembly Required" exhibit, which opened today, featured a somewhat similar scene. Many families were in the museum, but the historical toy exhibit seemed to strike the strongest chord with older men.

Filled with erector sets, trolleys and wind-ups, the exhibit shows vintage toys from the 1870s to the 1960s. The pièce de résistance is a layout, complete with a working Lionel Train set, that looks like the window display of Bullock's department store in 1956 Los Angeles.

For Jeff Hall, a 54-year-old who was born in Los Angeles, the layout brought back a lot of memories.

"I had a Lionel train set and looked forward to putting it around the Christmas tree every year," he said. Hall, the father of four daughters, said he brought home a train set for his children one year, but it wasn't a big hit.

"They were into other things," he said. Two were interested in horses and the other two were more into sports.

It was a similar story for another father, John Curtis, who also grew up putting a train set around the Christmas tree. While his 4-year-old daughter Emily likes riding real trains, Curtis said she doesn't really play with toy trains.

"(Emily) likes to play on the Nintendo DS, she's big on Barbies and she's all about Play-Doh," Curtis said.

Jeff Allen, a CSRM volunteer docent in his 50s, said he played with nearly every toy in the exhibit when he was younger.

"It really gives you an idea of what toys were like. I remember playing with most of these," he said. "When I'm working around these toys, it's like I'm 4 years old."

Allen said he played with toy trains as a kid, and still has two sets of operational model trains. He said that his love of trains led him to become a docent, adding that working at the museum "is a kick" because he can be around trains.

In addition to "Some Assembly Required," the permanent display of toy trains on the third floor is a must-see. The exhibit shows the history of the toy train, nearly every train size available from Z scale (smallest) to G scale (largest), and interactive toy sets and layouts.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, the museum's first floor also features a working toy train chugging around a Christmas tree.

Those who seek an additional holiday-themed train experience can sign up for Santa's Steam Train, Nov. 27-29. The steam train departs from the Central Pacific Railroad Freight Depot adjacent to the museum and riders also have admittance to the museum and the 13th Annual Toy Train Holiday Show.

The annual show, on Thanksgiving weekend, features local hobbyists displaying their toy and model train layouts in the museum. Tickets for Santa's Steam Train are $15, $7 for ages 6-17, free ages 5 and younger. The train departs hourly from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

California State Railroad Museum, 125 I St., is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Museum admission is $9, $4 ages 6-17, free ages 5 and younger. "Some Assembly Required" runs until Feb. 20.

All photographs are of "Some Assembly Required," except for image 5, which shows the Christmas tree display on the first floor.

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History comes alive in Old Sacramento

'Some Assembly Required' features vintage toys, brings back memories