Life At The Speed of Walking

I like to walk and look at things. I'm just coming off a week of vacation in which I walked miles on neighborhood trails near my house and miles more on wilder trails through the Consumnes River Preserve, a wild bird sanctuary about a 10-mile drive from home. Last year I bought a hiking pole from REI, and it takes me slowly down the trail (where oncoming people appear initially to think I am blind).

I feel fortunate to live in a time and place when planners are designing more walking into our neighborhoods. Cities throughout Sacramento are big on trails and thankfully, developers bought into it during the housing boom. I've had homebuilders tell me people in adult communities want trails now more than they want golf courses.

Sacramento is extremely proud of its acclaimed American River Trail, which hugs the riverfront for more than 30 miles from Folsom to downtown Sacramento.

I remember as an early 20-something living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, hearing a colleague yearn for the West. He said, "I want to live in a place where people put on hiking boots just to go to the drugstore." That makes me smile 35 years later. I do.

Would You Name a Movie After Today's "Holiday Inn?"

Remember those TV ads in which people said they felt smart because they stayed last night in a Holiday Inn Express?

The guests may be smarter than the architects.

Even as the housing market has crashed here in California, hotel chains are building a slew of new hotels by freeway exits - and much of the design work is hardly soul stirring. From my travels around Sacramento here are just two examples of what the once-legendary Holiday Inn look has come to: "Corporate Architecture."

Below: A new one in Lincoln near Interstate 80.



Below: Another one in Elk Grove near Interstate 5.



I miss the old days: Iconic Holiday Inn image courtesy of Angelstarcreations.com

The Triumphal Arch: How Some Things Never Change

Wherever we look in America we see echoes of our ancient architectural heritage. Something as basic as the California shopping center can be rooted in design concepts dating back thousands of years.

I speak today of the Triumphal Arch , that celebratory architectural icon of conquering emperors, returning victorious armies and foreign booty. Consider below an arch in Tyre, Lebanon, old as the hills. And below that, the classic Paris Arc De Triomphe.







Now look at their historic echo at a shopping center near my house in suburban Sacramento. It speaks of arrivals and welcomes, and possibly triumphant shopping.



It's pleasant, when the weather is good, to drink coffee in its modern shadow.



If by now you are turning up your nose at suburban pretentiousness, I would remind you that things can always be much worse. Consider this triumphal arch from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Victory Road, it's called.



Back to better taste now in Northern California. Here's a triumphal arch, country-style with antlers. Genuine as it gets.


(Update July 2011) Here below are three more triumphal arches in Imperial Downtown Sacramento - the first two opening the way into Old Sacramento from Westfield Plaza. The third is coming back into downtown. Welcome back, triumphant traveler!

World Photos:
Tyre, Courtesy of David Bjorgen
Paris, Courtesy of Tunliweb.no
Iraq: Courtesy of photos.somd.com

American Grocery Store

We are surrounded in our daily lives by grocery stores. Some big corporate chains try to please the eye with their designs. But a small regional Northern California chain based in Woodland, Nugget Market, really went the extra mile for its Elk Grove outlet about 15 miles south of Sacramento.



This site used to be a Ralphs' Market, the big grocery chain in Southern California. It didn't make it and the building at Elk Grove Boulevard and Bruceville Road sat empty for a few years. Then came this colorful extravaganza about a mile from my house. It's not just the massive frontal sunflower mural. Check out the street furniture to sit in out front:




Seldom, too, is anyone treated by great store entrances these days. This one features a pair of classic goddesses bearing cornucopias.





And lastly, three great murals on the side of the store, which otherwise might have been a long blank wall, American grocery store-style.









Nothing about this grocery store had to be special. But it's become a visual delight to thousands of auto trekkers passing what's otherwise a standard suburban commercial center.