Travels and Meditations On Our Built Environments From California's Capital City, Sacramento

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Joyeux Noel, 2012

Christmas is gone and New Year's Day is soon to come. I end 2012 with this small memory, a picture taken on Christmas Eve while waiting for light rail to the suburbs. This is Ambrosia Cafe, a lovely little place on a corner in a main downtown square of Sacramento.


Waiting for the train on late darkening afternoons of fall becoming winter this year, I have often felt spellbound by the warm welcoming light coming from this little coffeehouse. Ambrosia is a favorite gathering place for Capitol policy wonks, lobbyists and the ocasional legislator. They drink coffee and tea here and gossip about the latest.

The cafe anchors the ground floor of an older building about six stories high, approximately the favorite height of people strolling urban areas. I forget now where I read that. I believe it was about Paris being abundant in that kind of architecture. I love the holidays wreaths here, the Christmas tree anchoring the corner and the informality of the street-level holiday greeting.

So many of the best architectural sights, the litlte feel-good places, happen almost by accident without trying too hard. Small holiday sights can get frozen into memory. This is mine, Christmas Eve with Ambrosia closed for the holiday.  The cheer was contagious. Happy New Year everyone, and happy sight-seeing in 2013!