Summer of Farmers Markets

One last look back at a California summer, which included a lot of Saturday mornings at Farmer's Markets. This memorable haul of blueberries, strawberries, lettuce, almonds, oranges, tomatoes, onions zucchini and garlic was so lovely I couldn't resist with the camera. Now, looking back, it's a wonderful memory. 

Farmers Markets are among the great places becoming more and more common in the last few years. Among them is a new one in downtown Fremont, Ohio, the county seat where I grew up shopping at Woolworth's, Kresge and Montgomery Ward. My brother sent me a "Dancing in the Streets" flash mob video shot at the market as a publicity stunt. Pretty funny. Anyway, here's to good design and good food!

Civic Amenities, Public Art

This is one of my favorite public art pieces in downtown Sacramento. It's a fountain that also serves as a traffic divider in front of the Sacramento Convention Center.  (Check out the stealth fashionable "hipster doofus" glasses). Cheerful antidote to all the serious policy discussions going on in buildings all around this art.

Soups in the City

I was out walking at lunchtime, turned a corner and came upon an advertisement for chicken soup. A true testament to the elegant nature of simplicity.

Autumn Light

After a long summer in California, autumn is here with the sun low on the horizon and the light soft and special. For several days now in late October, I've noticed the 5 p.m. twilight shades of Blessed Sacrament Cathedral as I come through the trees walking toward Regional Transit's Cathedral Square light rail stop. Simultaneously, the bell tower chimes five times, creating a sense of well being and beauty in the city at the end of another day in the office.

The cathedral is an historical gem in downtown Sacramento, built by Irish Bishop Patrick Manogue who had worked as a laborer in the mines of the Gold Rush. He built a treasure within shouting distance of the state Capitol building, which is a beauty in itself. 

I was a bit early for my Meadowview-bound train so I took some shots of Blessed Sacrament while I waited. I've talked before in this blog about church designs often being symbolic of our highest aspirations. This classic example of California's cathedrals proves it well.

Four Elements, A Favorite Lobby

Chapter 5 in Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" opens with the paragraph: "Aristotle believed that the universe was made up of four basic elements - earth, air, fire and water. These elements were acted on by two forces: gravity, the tendency for earth and water to sink, and levity, the tendency for air and fire to rise. This division of the contents of the universe into matter and forces is still used today."

This paragraph struck me, considering a recent visit to see four major murals inside downtown Sacramento's U.S. Bank Plaza. This American highrise has a great exterior and a wonderful lobby. The paintings that follow give Aristotle's four basic elements a California twist. The mural artist is Richard Piccolo. 

Earth

Air

Water

Fire

Folsom: Old West Chic

Not along ago, on a Sunday trek we went to Folsom, California's old recently-redeveloped Sutter Street strolling and entertainment area. My wife and have gone there -on and off-  for years, taking visitors through the antique shops and hippie crystal shops that used to fill the street. It was getting a little ratty, admittedly, and I don't think the antique shops actually ever sold anything. Year it and out they seemed to have the same Look Magazine covers and china cups on the same shelves. But City Hall apparently realized there were bigger possibilities here and spiffed up the streetscape (dozens of good photos in this link) the last couple of years. It's already bringing in more restaurants and bars, and even a couple nice new buildings built to look like old ones. 

 This old Folsom Hotel and saloon (A.D. 1885) especially caught my eye.

 I like the bold color and authentic Old West style. (If you like ghost stories, the hotel has one). 

Folsom's become heavily suburbanized during the recent housing and retail boom. But it has this one special oldtown setting, the kind of thing people like after work and on weekends. I am betting on more restaurants and hangouts in years ahead.

Crocker Modern

My wife and I made our first visit this morning to the new addition to Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. It's one of those architectural projects that's supposed to define Sacramento in a bigger way. Usually, that means you're obligated to like it - to go with the civic flow and avoid death by a vote of your peers.
  We know what we like - and often it's not modern design - and we liked this museum.

(See the guy taking a self-photo with his girlfriend and the Crocker name) 

The Crocker has forever been housed in an old Victorian mansion belonging to Edwin Crocker, attorney for the Central Pacific when it built the Transcontinental Railroad across the U.S. in Abraham Lincoln's time. The new addition opened in autumn 2010 to stories like this in The San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times and another in the Architecture Reviewed Blog.  Project architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates have their own Crocker page.

Here's more pictures from inside: (I didn't take any in the galleries, which were open and spacious. The place was crawling with security who looked like they'd frown on that. The links above, though, have plenty).