Everyone’s favorite hardware store is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend.

Being in California, things that are “old” to us are usually strip malls that were built in the ’70s so it’s meaningful when a local business reaches the venerable century mark (especially one in Sacramento proper, as most of our region’s oldest businesses are in the Mother Lode towns like Placerville and Auburn.)

Sac-eats will be pleased to know that The Banjo Ramblers will be part of Saturday’s entertainment, in addition to the jazz bands of local high schools.

I personally will be there for the cotton candy and to get my face painted.

Who else had the egg hunt at home growing up where the one special egg (usually with money in it) was one of the large L’eggs pantyhose eggs?

Leatherby’s Family Creamery is celebrating 25 years of iced goodness by offering it’s original menu items at their original menu prices today from 11AM to 11PM.

From the Sac Bee article:

 The price cuts apply to all items that were on the original menu, such as the company’s monster-size banana split, which uses a half-gallon of ice cream. It’s on the menu today for $10.49. On Aug. 14, it’ll cost only $3.80.

The hot fudge sundaes that today are $7.29 will be rung up at $2.50. The shops’ crab sandwiches will go for $3.99, compared to the current $11.99.

Yet another reason Sacramento should be on a Best Places To… list.

As promised I’d like to open this post up as an open thread for your Sacramento 80s video game memories. That short-lived arcade at Arden Fair near the elevator above Johnny Rockets, different places where you held the high score, your favorite place to game it up, places you were ejected from and why, etc.

I’ll kick it off with my memory of Rygar at Round Table on 51st. Rygar was that side-scrolling game where your weapon of choice was a spinning axe blade on a chain. It wasn’t a very exciting game but I became pretty OK at it and played every chance I got at the Round Table on 51st.

And of course the best of all: free gaming at that home store in Howe ‘Bout Arden where the Rack stands now.

Discuss. (Please)

Gonul’s, once the site of Franke’s

The discussion going on about Plaza Hof Brau and Sam’s just gave me a blast from the past that I keep meaning to insert into our local blogging fun: Franke’s Pharmacy. I’m sure FauxPaws will have fond memories, and I’d like to hear from others.

(The web was not my friend research-wise. Googling “franke’s pharmacy” gets you one result.)

Continue reading “Let’s talk about Franke’s” »

Via Heckasac I bring you a postcard advertising the Food Circus on Flickr… This is something we at the Rag have wanted to see for a long time (well, not that long in Rag years).

Ok, folks, I’m looking for help settling a bet between a couple of buddies. Years ago there was a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store located at Watt & Fair Oaks next to the Casablanca restaurant. I’m looking for an approximate year that the store closed to become one of many cell phone retailers.

In similar news, I had to let go of my memory that there once was a Leatherby’s in Loehmann’s Plaza where Giovanni’s pizza no resides.

As you were.

I was on my way into the State Capitol this morning when I saw a mailbox painted to look like R2-D2 at 11th and N. At first, I thought that it had fallen prey to an incredibly nerdy vandal until I saw the Web site tag. Apparently, the United States Postal Service has teamed up with the Star Wars people to bring you mail service. Hopefully, my Netflix returns will not end up in a galaxy far, far away…

Via Sacramento History, a great new blog I just came across:

Today on Capital Public Radio (KXJZ/KXPR) there will be a program about Sacramento’s streetcars, the 20th anniversary of Light Rail, and upcoming plans for a streetcar line between Sacramento and West Sacramento.

I was too late to post about the radio spot but it is available online. I can’t believe it has been 20 years of Light Rail. I remember my first ride on the train and loving the swiveling areas between cars. Check out the radio program and check out that blog.

You might not know this, but it makes sense that Sacramento is officially “Camellia City of the World”. You also might not have known that today is Camellia Day. One thing is for sure. You can’t miss the fact that there are probably a million of these brightly hued flowers blooming across the city, as the always do in the waning days of winter.

Camellias are native to Southeast Asia and first came here, like many other things, during the Gold Rush. Colonel James Lloyd Lafayette Franklin Warren came out West from Boston in 1851 to open, among other retail establishments, a seed shop. A year later, he imported the first batch of Camellia seeds into Sacramento and they quickly took root as one of the favorite local blooms.

Continue reading “Camellia Day” »