Tag: Midtown

Vintage Fresh: Bows & Arrows Offers Anniversary Sale

My pretty, pretty dress sewn by staff designers at Bows & Arrows. Purchased for $30.
My pretty, pretty dress sewn by staff designers at Bows & Arrows. Purchased for $30.

Do your eyes widen at the site of acrylic? Does your closet hold a collection of pieces from your mom, your grandma, and possibly even your dad’s old wardrobe? Can you replicate the latest fashion trends just by rummaging through treasures at the back of your closet? Do you wear those clothes to your professional job?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, chances are you’re a vintage junkie. Lucky for you, there’s an elemental store that caters to the inner-most fashion dreams of the true vintage queen: Bows & Arrows. Indeed, this place, decked out with its fluffy cat idols and ultra-hip recyclables, could easily double as a museum of fashions gone by—and come back again. Filled with age-old classics ranging from fluorescent, poke-a-dot housewife dresses and faded cowgirl boots to 80s sunglasses and authentic stirrup leggings, this shop will make you drop to your knees and thank the style goddesses. If thrift stores were ever trendy, Bows & Arrows takes the lead.

Bows & Arrows opened two years ago. In fact, they’re holding an anniversary sale this Second Saturday, November 14 with 25% off everything! With prices already ranging from $5 to $30, you won’t want to miss out on these savings. They’re located at 1712 L Street in midtown, and will stay open till 10 pm. Festivities will include live music by Rip Wavez, Lite Brite, and Musical Charis with featured art by Jairus Tonel.

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Sacramento Comedy Spot Grand Re-Opening This Weekend

sacramentocomd16dMoving from its humble digs on Broadway, the Sacramento Comedy Spot — the city’s premier destination for improv, sketch, and stand-up comedy – opens Friday at its new location in the Marrs Building on 20th and J in the heart of midtown. The Spot has been putting on some of Sacramento’s best improvised and sketch comedy shows for almost a decade. If you like shows like Saturday Night Live, and Who’s Line is it Anyway?, this is the comedy club for you. Friday’s shows feature the Anti-Cooperation League, Sacramento’s longest running long-form improv group, at 9pm and Throwdown, a competitive improv and stand-up battle, at 10:30pm. Tickets are only $8 per show and are nearly sold out. Shows run Saturday and Sunday as well starting at 8pm.

Check the Sacramento Comedy Spot’s website for information on show times, tickets, and a schedule of classes where you can learn how perform improv, write sketches, and put together a stand-up act worthy of the club circuit. www.saccomedyspot.com

Believing in the “Skyscraper Fairy”

Esquire IMAX
cc, by happyshooter

Sometime Sac Rag commenter William Burg has a great op-ed on the front page of the Sac Press today: A 10-Step Plan To Fix K Street, Or: The Legend of the Skyscraper Fairy.

1. Accept that the Skyscraper Fairy does not exist.
Many landlords along K Street have no apparent interest in maintaining or improving their properties. Some are convinced that as long as they own the land, the magical Skyscraper Fairy will give them uncountable millions for the land where their decaying buildings sit, and will replace them with shiny new skyscrapers. Thus, they have little interest in maintaining or tenanting their buildings. The result is under-utilized or vacant buildings whose facades continue to crumble.

He has some wonderful ideas (my favorites: streetcars and a permanent farmer’s market) and offers them in a hopeful manner. It leaves me a bit depressed, though, as I am skeptical that the politicians and developers currently working on Downtown will ever attach themselves to anything but the status quo.

Go Bold this Second Saturday

Raw and vibrant, "The Hunger" reflects the passion in the paintings by Santiago Proano.
Raw and vibrant, "The Hunger" reflects the passion in the paintings by Santiago Proano.

Sometimes you have to exit the beaten path to find brilliant artists. This Second Saturday, I recommend heading to a most unlikely spot to view the works of a bold and commanding Sacramento artist: Santiago Proano at the Marco Fuoco Gallery on 6764 Folsom Blvd. at 7PM.

The gallery is part of an interior design business, which is the perfect locale for an artist whose paintings pop straight off the wall, leaving colorful, intense emotions that will complete any vibrant home design. Proano’s art is not the kind to be tucked into the corner of a room. It’s the sort of art that sets the tone, calls you in, and tugs at your mind.

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Country Day moving to the grid

Newton Booth SchoolThe Sac Press reports that Country Day School is close to signing a lease for the old Newton Booth school building. I had not followed this story so I had no idea, but as a former Newton Booth resident I am glad the school will be getting some use. Country Day’s student newspaper The Octagon reported in March (in a very well written article! Kudos, Page Editor Calvin Fernandez) that the school “hasn’t historically gotten along with its Sierra Oaks neighbors,” another fact of which I was not aware. I wonder why, and I wonder how they will get along with the Newton Booth folks.

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United State v. City Hall

United State boutique
United State boutique, from Yelp

Via the sac for tourists blog we learn that the City of Sacramento pulled the September Second Saturday permit for United State, a “DJ/Clothing Boutique” in Midtown. According to the United State blog, Sac PD cited “Attract(ing) a younger audience” as the reason for the notice. Sac For Tourists’ Nick Miller (also of SN&R) followed up on the gossip with a roundup of mostly nonevents between Sac PD and hip-hop folks at last weekend’s Second Saturday.

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Second Saturday: Sneak Peek inside the Artists’ Studios

Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento
Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento

Looking for the best of Second Saturday? This weekend offers a unique glance at more than 90 Sacramento artists’ studios—all within a 4-mile, bike-friendly radius of downtown. The Center for Contemporary Art is hosting its fourth annual Capitol Artists’ Studio Tour. Participating artists will open their private studios to the public today and Sunday from noon till 5pm. Check out their latest works, purchase art directly from the artist, and see first-hand where their creative genius takes shape. Maps and a list of participating artists can be found here. This handy guide breaks down studio locations by artist and by region.

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Centro’s 15th Anniversary Fiesta

Try some fine tequila from El Tesoro at Centro
Try some fine tequila from El Tesoro at Centro's 15th Anniversary
After attending the Midtown Community Festival, wander over to Centro for their 15th anniversary extravaganza! Centro is Midtown’s premiere tequila bar, with more than 150 selections, most of which are 100% agave. In case you are wondering, tequila that is not 100% agave is not suitable for human consumption, regardless of the numerous attempts to do so that regularly occur across America. For tequila neophytes, try a flight of a single brand’s three most common styles, their plata, reposado and anejo, to learn the differences between them. I recommend Chinaco or El Tesoro. One authentic touch that I appreciate at Centro is the option to sip a fine tequila with a handmade sangrita, a mix of tomato, orange and lime juices with spices. Delicioso. The back parking lot will feature live music, DJs, an art show, a tequila making demonstration, and outdoor bartenders shaking up margaritas made from fresh juice and natural sweeteners, not crappy mixes or sweet and sour.

Oh, yeah, the food is pretty damn good, too.

Midtown Community Festival

I’m glad that Sacramento is getting into the habit of closing more streets for community block parties, and one of the best is this Saturday. Rubicon Brewing is the primary sponsor for this annual fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Sacramento that takes place on Capitol Avenue between 20th and 21st streets from 1pm to 6pm. Admission is free, but you’ll want to check out the beer garden that features Rubicon and about a dozen other NorCal breweries. Beer garden admission is $25, but you can stop by Rubicon before Saturday for a $20 advance ticket. There are plenty of games and fun for the kids, including a cake walk and a walkathon, great BBQ and local bands. If you cannot attend, please consider making a donation to the Boys & Girls Club through their website!

Secrets to cocktail crafting revealed!

Erick Castro shows you his O face
Erick Castro shows you his O face
I enjoyed several libations during the 2nd Annual Midtown Cocktail Week, but I am a “hands-on” guy. When I taste a great cocktail, I immediately think, “How can I do that?” Luckily, the organizers created an educational event with burgeoning bartenders like me in mind.

During the two-hour seminar, bartender extraordinaire Erick Castro shared many of his professional secrets, which I will now share with you. Besides these individual tips, the overarching theme of the lesson was that bartending is a serious craft that requires, if you want to be great, an encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of liquors, cordials and mixers; most bartenders make drinks, but only a few are shaking and stirring up liquid art and revitalizing a lost piece of uniquely American culture.
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