Two Sacramento families with downtown businesses will take over the space in the Firestone Building that houses California Pizza Kitchen. The restaurant, which opened in May 2009, will close this month, making way for the Firestone Public House in about six months. The de Vere Whites, who own de Vere’s Irish Pub, and the Wong family, which owns Ma Jong’s, The Park Ultralounge, The Mix and Cafeteria 15L, are still working out the details of what the approximately 5,700-square-foot space at 1132 16th St. will hold, according to Henry de Vere White. “The best way to say it is that a sports bar will probably be one aspect of it, and through the buildout, it is going to develop,” he said. “Th

It is with excitement that I am here to announce that the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebration in Sacramento is going to happen again. That's right folks, last year we did the undoable. We closed L Street between 16th & 15th for a St. Patrick's day block party like no other. Nearly 7000 people showed up, but it remained a festive and safe community event. We had no incidents, thanks to great security and great people who came to have a good time. This year, we're projecting attendance at 8,000 and I want to get everyone involved. We are working with The Sacramento Press to get the community involved and I'm going to keep everyone posted on the event as it develops right here. So join the

The Firestone Building on downtown's eastern edge has taken the 2010 V.I.B.E. award, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership announced Thursday. The award will be presented Jan. 19 to developers Mark and Jim Cordano, Ken Fahn, and George and Betty Wurster during the partnership's 12th annual State of Downtown Breakfast at Memorial Auditorium, 1515 J St. The 80-year-old building — where Firestone operated a tire station and service center at the corner of 16th and L streets for more than 70 years — now is home to de Vere's Irish Pub, Mix Downtown, Sapporo Grill Japanese Steakhouse and California Pizza Kitchen. A Greek restaurant is reportedly in the works. The project won the award because t