Old Sacramento was the site for Sacramento’s first Mermaid Parade. Saturday afternoon, dozens of people of all ages dressed as mermaids, pirates, vikings, walruses, squids, octopus, sea gods and goddesses as they paraded down the streets of Old Sacramento. Modeled after the famous 29 year old Coney Island Mermaid Parade, Sacramento held its first Mermaid Parade. Debora Iyall from Romeo Void served as Grand Marshall. The parade began at Rio City Café. Participants marched up the boardwalk, back down Front Street and ended back at the boardwalk. Besides the parade on the streets of Old Sacramento, Laughs Unlimited and the Crest Theatre (amongst others) had specials after the parade for tho

The new section of K Street has been open for about three months now with District 30, Pizza Rock and Dive Bar. Dive Bar is not your typical ‘dive bar,’ contrary to its name. It is actually quite upscale, with a 40-foot-long, 7,500-gallon saltwater tank that spans 18 feet across the entire bar with fish and, sometimes, mermaids. The whole premise of the bar is that mermaids, and mermen, dive in the tank and swim around. The question is, how often do you see the mermaids? On occasion, bar patrons have gone to Dive Bar just to see the mermaids and have left disappointed upon seeing an empty tank. The Sacramento Press took to the streets and caught people as they left the bar, asking what

Dive Bar owner George Karpaty is expanding his business territory. Two months after opening the mermaid bar and two other businesses on Sacramento's K Street Mall, Karpaty is in the final stages of negotiating a lease for a fourth concept in El Dorado Hills. The San Francisco nightclub owner previously said the bars and gourmet pizza restaurant he opened in Sacramento early this year were pioneer concepts he would like to take elsewhere. Karpaty is now talking with folks in Santa Monica, Hollywood, Las Vegas and Oakland about opening versions of the K Street businesses there, depending on space available. He and Pizza Rock partner Tony Gemignani are also working on plans to open Pizza R

For some time now, K Street has been wavering between its past life as a Sacramento hot spot and its future as a wilting has-been. The busy street is clearly an institution from 9 to 5, but despite the Crest and the constant stream of events, city planners have been struggling to pull in a real evening crowd. The news is out that a team of fairytale Bay Area developers has joined forces and created Dive Bar, Pizza Rock and District 30. This nightclub-pizza-bar trio hopes to entice the masses for some good old K Street entertainment and after-hours. But is this Bay Area vibe a bit of a stretch in grabbing the attention of the average Midtown resident? Even worse is the grueling task of con

On Wednesday night, Dive Bar held its grand opening. The "New K Street" has been covered ad nauseum here and (and here and here and here. . . .) and elsewhere. George Karpaty's new "entertainment complex" is big news, and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I put on my press hat, my dance pants and my shiniest shirt and headed over. The block was already bumping when I arrived a little before 8 p.m. I went to Dive Bar first, but my contact was nowhere to be found, the mermaids had yet to arrive and the bar was seatless. I decided to to take my leave and begin my night with a beer at the pizza "joint" next door. Pizza Rock was bustling. The huge dining room was close to packe

Dive Bar and two sister nightlife venues are expected to open within three months on K Street, breathing new life into the struggling pedestrian mall well ahead of other developments. San Francisco nightclub operator George Karpaty's trio of nightlife venues has been seen as competition by some at a time when local businesses continue to struggle and even close. Karpaty said he was lured to Sacramento partly by the success of nearby venues such as Social Nightclub, Ella, Grange and the Citizen Hotel. But Karpaty said he's developed concepts — a "mermaid bar," a gourmet pizza restaurant with acrobatic pizza tossers and a high-end, over-30 dance club — to further develop K Street Mall into