HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Pacific West > Sacramento Area


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #1  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 6:52 AM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Noirish Sacramento

I have been a 50 yr lifelong Sacramento resident born and raised here and have always enjoyed Sacramento and the wonderful buildings that make up our great city
I am also a fan of the old architecture and the history of the city.

I came across this thread called "Noirish Los Angeles" on this forum for the SoCal section
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=170279

Please check it out to see what I am hoping for here about with creating this thread about Sacramento historical building,architecturally pleasing buildings, and buildings with a story, etc

I spend far too many hours going page by page through the 1200 + current pages on the LA thread with the vast examples of great photos from days gone by. Of buildings long gone, and "Then and Now" comparisons

I am hoping there are more people out there interested in a Sacramento version

I would love to get this thread for Sacramento rolling where we can share historical photos and stories about the city for us to enjoy

I have always been romantic about the old movies and movie theaters so Crest Theater is a good starting point so here we go post #1



Before called the Crest it was the Hippodrome which opened in 1918 but interior burned in the 1940s


Opening night 1949 after being rebuilt



In the late 50s or early 60s


I hope there are some others out there that might have a similar interest and can help share the history of Sacramento and it's architecture etc

Last edited by OutlawImages; Jan 21, 2015 at 7:12 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #2  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 7:13 AM
TWAK's Avatar
TWAK TWAK is online now
Resu Deretsiger
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Lake County, CA
Posts: 14,908
crest looks amazing. I'll try to look for some family photos. They lived in hollywood park and somewhere downtown
__________________
nobody cares about your city
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #3  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 8:12 AM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Another view from the Crest opening night 1949 show what a truly big deal it was!

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #4  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 3:13 PM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
The Sacramento Public Library website now hosts a searchable collection of microfilm from the Sacramento Bee, from 1940-1959. One of my favorite things to research are where Sacramento's nightclubs and hotspots were during that era.


Buddy Baer was a champion boxer who lived in Sacramento (his better-known brother Max Baer did too.) Buddy parlayed his boxing winnings into a nightclub at 11th and K Street--the building is still there, it's the Cordano Company realty office.



The Liberty was one of two all-night theaters, located at 6th and K Street (right where the plaza for the arena is going.) They ran movies all night--mostly grindhouse fare like this double feature of "women behind bars" flicks.


Prosperity Corner was located on the ground floor of the Bel-Vue Apartments at 8th and L, across from the Berry Hotel. It was apparently well known for live music.


The Clayton Club was located in the basement of the Marshall Hotel (it was originally named the Hotel Clayton) and it drew national jazz and blues acts in the late 1940s and early 1950s, especially after the demise of the better known Zanzibar and Mo-Mo Clubs on Capitol.


The Cotton Club was located in the Ramona Building's ground floor (today the Scientology Building.)


The Ron-D-Voo was at 14th and K. They specialized in pizza and female impersonators.
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #5  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 3:50 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
WBURG

Love those great post

Buddy Baer and Max were big in Sacramento and brought lots of celebrities to town to hang our back then

I will have to check out the library link you mentioned see what I can find
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #6  
Old Posted Dec 13, 2014, 7:25 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg View Post


Prosperity Corner was located on the ground floor of the Bel-Vue Apartments at 8th and L, across from the Berry Hotel. It was apparently well known for live music.

[/URL]

"Prosperity Corner" first shows up in city phone directories as "Prosperity Corner Sandwich Shop" in 1941, but is gone from directories by1949

"Cotton Club" you also posted which first shows in 1939, but is also gone by 1949.

I wonder if clubs slowed and closed being that World War 2 was over and parting soldiers we not going to clubs as much, maybe?

"Club Ron-Da Voo" first shows in 1953 directory, but is quickly gone by 1956 directory, maybe Sac wasnt ready for Female Impersonators yet LOL


Here is what appears to be "Prosperity Corner" today I believe (Google can error in exact addresses) , still standing. I need to physically go there to verify



And says "Ted Haynes will play your requests on the Solovox".

Wasn't sure what a Solovox was so looked it up and appears to be an early sound effects organ type machines from the 1940s


Seems it had a short life, but was a happening club for a handful of years, wonder what changed?

Last edited by OutlawImages; Dec 13, 2014 at 8:37 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #7  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 1:34 AM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
The address for "Prosperity Corner" is across the street and halfway down the block from the building in your Google Street View, a building better known as the Bel-Vue Apartments but originally the American Cash Apartments, with the American Cash Store (a grocery store) underneath. Behind them on L Street was the La Rosa restaurant, owned by the same family that later owned Americo's on 20th and Capitol. La Rosa later became the second location of Sam's Hof Brau, expanding into a building on the alley that had originally been a storage building for the American Cash Store. Across the street from La Rosa/Sam's, of course, was (and is) Frank Fat's.

Some clubs just don't last a long time. The clubs on Capitol were demolished by redevelopment, others closed down as business moved elsewhere or the owners got into legal trouble. I found various articles about suspension of liquor licenses for serving minors, gambling paraphernalia or reported presence of "B-girls" (young women who would convince lonely men to buy them drinks [seriously overpriced, and typically iced tea or soda--the girls got a percentage of each drink sold]).

I found ads for the "Ron-D-Voo" in late 1940s copies of the Bee, and another club at the same address called the "Silver Dollar" that also featured drag shows in the late 1940s, so it seems like they did have a pretty good run at 1422 K Street. Maybe it was the lack of female impersonators that spelled the end of the Ron-D-Voo--the last ads I found for them mentioned UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT and ALL GIRL REVUE (as opposed to "boy dressed as girl revue") and shortly thereafter, classified ads offering the Ron-D-Voo's furnishings and bar equipment for sale! But the drag shows continued--in the late 1950s and early 1960s, redevelopment and law enforcement pushed a lot of the "vice" into West Sacramento, including prostitution, gay bars and strip clubs. Sacramento police would just shuttle prostitutes over the Tower Bridge and drop them off on West Capitol. Christine Jorgensen, one of the first publicly-known male-to-female transsexuals, stopped at a West Sacramento bar called the Roadhouse (also a burlesque joint) for a live show in the late 1950s. The Roadhouse was also a burlesque and strip club.



And it wasn't just West Sacramento--here's an ad for a drag show at the Driftwood, a club at 33rd and C Street in East Sacramento. They were a hot spot for surf music (Sacramento had a ton of surf music bands) and it later became a strip club. The building burned down sometime in the early 1970s, but you can still see the big metal palm tree at 33rd and C Street today.


Hm. Just realized that Lee Leonard is mentioned in this Road House ad and also in a Ron-D-Voo ad, so I imagine it's the same person, suggesting some level of continuity between the two venues. Not much different than today--one venue closes, another opens.
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #8  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 1:51 AM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg View Post
The address for "Prosperity Corner" is across the street and halfway down the block from the building in your Google Street View, a building better known as the Bel-Vue Apartments but originally the American Cash Apartments, with the American Cash Store (a grocery store) underneath. Behind them on L Street was the La Rosa restaurant, owned by the same family that later owned Americo's on 20th and Capitol. La Rosa later became the second location of Sam's Hof Brau, expanding into a building on the alley that had originally been a storage building for the American Cash Store. Across the street from La Rosa/Sam's, of course, was (and is) Frank Fat's.

Some clubs just don't last a long time. The clubs on Capitol were demolished by redevelopment, others closed down as business moved elsewhere or the owners got into legal trouble. I found various articles about suspension of liquor licenses for serving minors, gambling paraphernalia or reported presence of "B-girls" (young women who would convince lonely men to buy them drinks [seriously overpriced, and typically iced tea or soda--the girls got a percentage of each drink sold]).

I found ads for the "Ron-D-Voo" in late 1940s copies of the Bee, and another club at the same address called the "Silver Dollar" that also featured drag shows in the late 1940s, so it seems like they did have a pretty good run at 1422 K Street. Maybe it was the lack of female impersonators that spelled the end of the Ron-D-Voo--the last ads I found for them mentioned UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT and ALL GIRL REVUE (as opposed to "boy dressed as girl revue") and shortly thereafter, classified ads offering the Ron-D-Voo's furnishings and bar equipment for sale! But the drag shows continued--in the late 1950s and early 1960s, redevelopment and law enforcement pushed a lot of the "vice" into West Sacramento, including prostitution, gay bars and strip clubs. Sacramento police would just shuttle prostitutes over the Tower Bridge and drop them off on West Capitol. Christine Jorgensen, one of the first publicly-known male-to-female transsexuals, stopped at a West Sacramento bar called the Roadhouse (also a burlesque joint) for a live show in the late 1950s. The Roadhouse was also a burlesque and strip club.



And it wasn't just West Sacramento--here's an ad for a drag show at the Driftwood, a club at 33rd and C Street in East Sacramento. They were a hot spot for surf music (Sacramento had a ton of surf music bands) and it later became a strip club. The building burned down sometime in the early 1970s, but you can still see the big metal palm tree at 33rd and C Street today.


Hm. Just realized that Lee Leonard is mentioned in this Road House ad and also in a Ron-D-Voo ad, so I imagine it's the same person, suggesting some level of continuity between the two venues. Not much different than today--one venue closes, another opens.
Prosperity Corner address in Google is off huh, not surprising I have run into that issue before. The building I posted fit the "business type" and google said it was there so thought it was likely.
Now I wonder what my photo building actually was, cool old school building

So your saying Prosperity Corner was actually in a Apartment style building huh?

I can imagine the transsexual shows might have drawn attention from police back then. And especially as the one ad advertises a "horse"/girl show which is what,a Tijuana style show LOL. I have heard of those but never seen one LOL

Yea clubs come and go as you say and owners can be shady so understandable
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 5:32 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Edmonds field was the home to the Sacramento Solons minor league baseball field 1910-1960


The team derived its name from Sacramento's status as capital of California. Solon was an early Greek lawmaker and the term "solons" was often used by journalists as a synonym for "senators." Solon Huntington was a prominent Sacramento businessman during the 19th century, though less famous than his brother (Collis Huntington) and son (Henry Huntington).The team was also known at times as the Sacramento Sacts, an abbreviation of the name of the city, and the Sacramento Senators.

The team originally played at Edmonds field, at the corner of Riverside and Broadway in the Land Park neighborhood, on a parcel that now houses our local Target store!











The demolishing day unfortunately came



The demo ball
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 6:42 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
The iconic Tower Bridge we all know so well has been part of Sacramento since Dec 15th (tomorrow, 79 yrs ago) 1935. It replaced the previous "M st bridge" built in 1911.



Looking west towards w Sac which by the cars has to be in the 1930s


Looking south view


Great rooftop view



The huge warehouses on east side of river, south side of bridge. Looks like a source of lots of jobs back then
Currently is location of Embassy Suites Hotel




Reply With Quote
     
     
  #11  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 6:55 PM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
Note the tracks on the Tower Bridge, and the wires above the camera in the second and last photo. When it was built, those tracks carried the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electric interurban railroad. SN carried both freight and passengers, running from Chico to Oakland (the longest electric interurban in the country) with Sacramento as the system's hub. Passenger trains ran down M Street and turned north at 8th, freight trains turned south on Front Street. They served the waterfront transfer sheds, where goods were moved between barges and riverboats and 4 different railroads operating on Front Street (SN, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Central California Traction, another interurban that ran to Stockton.) There were more jobs on the other side of Front Street: rice mills, canneries, ironworks, transfer and freight houses, lumberyards, oil depots, gasworks, and other factories. There were more docks along the river north of the Tower Bridge, operated by Southern Pacific (you can see them in the second to last photo) and more industrial facilities north of the I Street Bridge, including Pioneer Mills, a lumber mill, and the PG&E powerhouse. The mighty Southern Pacific shops were just inland from there, building steam locomotives and other heavy equipment for the railroad.

The Art Deco "The River Lines" building is where passengers boarded and disembarked the Delta King and Delta Queen, which operated between San Francisco and Sacramento until 1940. Before the M Street Bridge was built, the interurban line (then called Northern Electric) trains stopped at the foot of M Street so passengers from Chico to Sacramento could transfer to the River Lines dock to continue to San Francisco. After the M Street bridge, electric trains could continue to Woodland, and through a deal with another railroad, the Oakland Antioch & Eastern, to Oakland. NE and OA&E later merged into Sacramento Northern.

Passenger trains stopped in 1940-41, and the bridge was de-electrified in 1953, but there were still diesel freight trains crossing the Tower Bridge until the early 1960s.
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #12  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 7:14 PM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402

The Silver Dollar, aka Top's Club, was later the "Ron-D-Voo" in the same location, opening in the early 1940s and, as you can see, already featuring drag revues. It was also reopened as "Casablanca" before becoming the "Ron-D-Voo." I kind of wonder if there is a relation to a much later club called "Topper's" that was still around into the 1980s.

This ad features both the Sapphire Club, roughly where the wine bar is on K Street between 12th and 13th, and a place called the Show Boat. I met an Air Force veteran who was a regular at the Sapphire when he was stationed at Mather AFB in the early 1950s--apparently downtown Sacramento was the destination of choice for soldiers on leave or with a pass at the Air Force or Army bases. The "Show Boat" has me curious: it is mentioned in many ads but there is no address, just "Turn right after the I Street bridge and look for the signs," suggesting it was a floating restaurant in the Sacramento River, like the Chart Room, or today's Delta King.

The Zanzibar was possibly the most legendary downtown Sacramento club. Located at 6th and Capitol, it was known for its national acts, its interracial audience, and its larger-than-life manager, "Nitz" Jackson.

The Zanzibar was closed in 1949 among controversy that the owner facilitated prostitution on the property. Others claim it was due to efforts by the Chamber of Commerce to get this sort of business out of downtown Sacramento--a successful nightclub drawing lots of customers made it harder to claim that Capitol Avenue was "blighted" and in need of redevelopment.

The Zanzibar reopened as the Paradise Steak House, retaining some of its traditions like its best known dancer/stripper, "Tondalayo, the Body Beautiful." It was closed by 1954 when demolition of the old West End began--starting with the Governor lighting a stick of dynamite to destroy a building next door to the Zanzibar/Paradise location.

The Trianon Ballroom is another nightclub that still exists, above the lobby of the Senator Theater. The Senator, located on K between 9th and 10th, was built in an old Turn Verein hall. The building facing K was a grand lobby downstairs and a dance club upstairs, with a grand staircase leading to a tunnel OVER the alley between K and L--the main theater, capacity 2000, was on L Street. The theater is gone, but the Trianon's building is still there, today used as an office building. I'm curious as to how much of the Senator and Trianon's grand ballroom decor still exists under drywall and drop ceilings. It was still used as a dance hall into the 1970s, featuring rock bands like Redwing and dances that were mostly aimed at Sacramento's Latino community.

Donovan's was located upstairs from what is now Bud's Buffet on 10th Street between J and K; it was later the Solomon Dubinick art gallery and today is a marketing/media firm. It was operated by Southern California night club manager Frank Sebastian.

This half-page of ads shows a variety of clubs, in and around downtown and the suburbs. One thing I noted is that clubs in the central city tended to be jazz (swing, Latin jazz, bebop, New Orleans jazz, etc.) while clubs out in the suburbs and the county were Western swing clubs like Wills Point (featuring Billy Jack Wills, younger brother of Western swing legend Bob Wills, whose Western Swing Band was a pioneer of rockabilly.) But there were also jazz clubs in the suburbs. Wills Point started out as the Aragon Ballroom, a jazz club advertised next to one of the Zanzibar ads above. Note also the ads for "Fellos Midtown" on Broadway and 23rd.
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #13  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2014, 11:17 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg View Post
Note the tracks on the Tower Bridge, and the wires above the camera in the second and last photo. When it was built, those tracks carried the Sacramento Northern Railway, an electric interurban railroad. SN carried both freight and passengers, running from Chico to Oakland (the longest electric interurban in the country) with Sacramento as the system's hub. Passenger trains ran down M Street and turned north at 8th, freight trains turned south on Front Street. They served the waterfront transfer sheds, where goods were moved between barges and riverboats and 4 different railroads operating on Front Street (SN, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Central California Traction, another interurban that ran to Stockton.) There were more jobs on the other side of Front Street: rice mills, canneries, ironworks, transfer and freight houses, lumberyards, oil depots, gasworks, and other factories. There were more docks along the river north of the Tower Bridge, operated by Southern Pacific (you can see them in the second to last photo) and more industrial facilities north of the I Street Bridge, including Pioneer Mills, a lumber mill, and the PG&E powerhouse. The mighty Southern Pacific shops were just inland from there, building steam locomotives and other heavy equipment for the railroad.

The Art Deco "The River Lines" building is where passengers boarded and disembarked the Delta King and Delta Queen, which operated between San Francisco and Sacramento until 1940. Before the M Street Bridge was built, the interurban line (then called Northern Electric) trains stopped at the foot of M Street so passengers from Chico to Sacramento could transfer to the River Lines dock to continue to San Francisco. After the M Street bridge, electric trains could continue to Woodland, and through a deal with another railroad, the Oakland Antioch & Eastern, to Oakland. NE and OA&E later merged into Sacramento Northern.

Passenger trains stopped in 1940-41, and the bridge was de-electrified in 1953, but there were still diesel freight trains crossing the Tower Bridge until the early 1960s.

Great info wburg, much appreciated. Always like getting more info on the area photos through a little detective work



And you definitely seem to be a Sacramento nightlife historian/enthusiast, what gave you this area of interest? Your good at it keep it coming


Anyone else gonna jump in and join wburg and I with some old city history?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #14  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2014, 2:10 AM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
Well, I started out as a Sacramento nightlife enthusiast, about 40-50 years after these ads were run! It's interesting to see the parallels between the way nightclubs are presented and advertised through the years, and researching what happened to people who were part of the local scene: music, art, nightlife, entertainment, bars and restaurants, promotion. Some only operated in that milieu, others went on to other things. Plus, it's kind of fun to think about folks 50-100 years ago going out to clubs to listen and dance to the latest music and make the scene, but otherwise basically doing the same things nightclubbers do today. Jazz wasn't considered traditional or "old folks" music in the early 20th century. It was the rock & roll or hip hop of its day: loud, fast, sexual, interracial, threatening to the established order and the older generation. The music and the fashions have changed, but not the attitude.

I'm also interested because they represent a counter-narrative to the common perception of Sacramento as quiet little white-bread farm town. As this sort of material gets easier to find and share, that traditional narrative breaks down, revealing the story of a city that was far more lively, diverse, energetic, and entertaining than we are led to believe. It also means that the current increase in urban vitality, including growth of central city population, increase in numbers and visibility of downtown restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and live music venues, are not a new thing or a divergence from our past. They are a return and rebirth of the city we once had. That city was destroyed and hidden for decades, but now it's coming back!
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #15  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2014, 2:19 AM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg View Post
Well, I started out as a Sacramento nightlife enthusiast, about 40-50 years after these ads were run! It's interesting to see the parallels between the way nightclubs are presented and advertised through the years, and researching what happened to people who were part of the local scene: music, art, nightlife, entertainment, bars and restaurants, promotion. Some only operated in that milieu, others went on to other things. Plus, it's kind of fun to think about folks 50-100 years ago going out to clubs to listen and dance to the latest music and make the scene, but otherwise basically doing the same things nightclubbers do today. Jazz wasn't considered traditional or "old folks" music in the early 20th century. It was the rock & roll or hip hop of its day: loud, fast, sexual, interracial, threatening to the established order and the older generation. The music and the fashions have changed, but not the attitude.

I'm also interested because they represent a counter-narrative to the common perception of Sacramento as quiet little white-bread farm town. As this sort of material gets easier to find and share, that traditional narrative breaks down, revealing the story of a city that was far more lively, diverse, energetic, and entertaining than we are led to believe. It also means that the current increase in urban vitality, including growth of central city population, increase in numbers and visibility of downtown restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and live music venues, are not a new thing or a divergence from our past. They are a return and rebirth of the city we once had. That city was destroyed and hidden for decades, but now it's coming back!

I agree 100% and enjoy seeing that as much as technology etc change our world, so much stays the same.


Seems like 80-90 yrs later your statement (or your source) wrote "a successful nightclub drawing lots of customers made it harder to claim that Capitol Avenue was "blighted" and in need of redevelopment."

And here we are hearing the very same argument for downtown needing a facelift over and over with K st make overs, Hard Rock and IMAX will draw crowds back (which never happened as much as they hoped)

And now we have the new arena as the big hope to draw people down town as was the same concern so many years ago

Things change, and stay the same
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #16  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2014, 7:29 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
As Sacramento has demolished our cities historic buildings of days gone by like other cities some buildings of the old school materials and craftsmanship still luckily remain

I can remember as a kid driving by this location with my family and the wonderful smell of fresh bread in the air

The current building at 3226 Montgomery Way in Sac is the home to Sara Lee/EarthGrains (Bimbo Bakeries USA) bakery still baking bread etc like the building has done for a hundred years almost in this building

Mr Schnetz went to work in the oldest Bakery in Sacramento founded in 1849 at the 124 Jst location and worked there until buying the owners out and taking ownership Originally named the Henry & Otto "Schnetz Bakery", it was started ind 1892 by Henry Schnetz still at 124 J st in what is now Old Sacramento.

Failing health caused him to sell half to his brother Otto to help keep things running

1913 directory shows them at both 124 J st and also 711 J st , so looks like this was the start of outgrowing their location and needing a bigger building by that time

Still researching for more on when the move from J st to this location, which first shows at 3226 Montgomery location in 1925 and last shows at Jst in 1923.
So seems sometime around 1924 (24' directory unavailable online to verify) the bakery moved from 124 J st to 3226 Montgomery way and started baking in their new much larger location

And trying to find when it changed from Schnetz to Pioneer name.

1930 Earl Schnetz shows now as president of Pioneer Bakery

Not sure when Pioneer Bakery sold or went out of business?

1985 to 2003 it was Columbo French bread at this location

Here is a photo from 1941



And again currently in 2014



Some info found in
History of Sacramento County, California: With Biographical Sketches of the ...
By William Ladd Willis

Last edited by OutlawImages; Dec 16, 2014 at 7:58 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #17  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2014, 9:47 PM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
The Historical Ebner Hotel goes back a long time in Sacramentowas being built in 1856 for and possibly by the Ebner brothers, Charles and Francis (Frank) Ebner.

A "luxurious landmark" for its period, the Ebner brothers built the 36-room hotel themselves on the site of previous hotels at 116 1/2 K Street, close to the Sacramento River,a major source of transportation throughout the area at that time.
Charles Ebner, in addition to managing the hotel, also ran a liquor business from the hotel's basement.
One source of pride for the hotel was the fact that John Sutter had been known to have lodged there as he was a friend of the Ebner brothers and frequented their saloon

By 1863 the Ebner brothers leased out the management of the hotel so that they could focus on their liquor-selling prospects.

The hotel reportedly had a good reputation until the 1870s when the railroad moved into the area, changing the feel for the neighborhood, and other, bigger hotels were located closer to modern day Downtown Sacramento.
The section of Sacramento that Ebner's Hotel was located in was now referred to as "West End." In time the region was to be known as a slum and Ebner's Hotel to be classified as a flophouse.
In the 1930s the area began to fall into disrepair as transportation moved from the rivers to roads, leaving the area, in essence, and the hotel itself began to draw the homeless.

In their 1980 report of the building, the Historic American Buildings Survey noted that the facade had been stripped of its ornamentation and a city historian noted that the once famed cupola likely had been removed when bits and pieces had chipped off due to neglect

It was one of two buildings still in existence in Old Sacramento that had not been rehabilitated and one of the few original buildings of Sacramento left.
The City of Sacramento responded to requests for demolition by hiring an engineering firm to assess it. It was ultimately deemed that the structure was too unsound to repair.
The city then deliberated on whether to stabilize the current building (sans repairs) or whether to raze it, with many local vendors calling for demolition of the building as its condition required that alley access near it be cut off—thus reducing foot traffic to stores.

The city eventually decided to demolish the building and replace it with a rebuilt replica, yes a replacement!

That is right, the building we might think was original is in fact a replacement. Unfortunate but at least they tried to build similar to the original

I wonder how many walking by know it is a replica


July 1965 photo of the historic Ebner, ironically the same month I was born here in Sacramento and sitting in the hospital as a newborn




The current 2014 replacement Ebner Hotel
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted Dec 18, 2014, 11:58 PM
LandofFrost's Avatar
LandofFrost LandofFrost is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 195
Quote:
Originally Posted by OutlawImages View Post
The Historical Ebner Hotel goes back a long time in Sacramentowas being built in 1856 for and possibly by the Ebner brothers, Charles and Francis (Frank) Ebner.

A "luxurious landmark" for its period, the Ebner brothers built the 36-room hotel themselves on the site of previous hotels at 116 1/2 K Street, close to the Sacramento River,a major source of transportation throughout the area at that time.
Charles Ebner, in addition to managing the hotel, also ran a liquor business from the hotel's basement.
One source of pride for the hotel was the fact that John Sutter had been known to have lodged there as he was a friend of the Ebner brothers and frequented their saloon

By 1863 the Ebner brothers leased out the management of the hotel so that they could focus on their liquor-selling prospects.

The hotel reportedly had a good reputation until the 1870s when the railroad moved into the area, changing the feel for the neighborhood, and other, bigger hotels were located closer to modern day Downtown Sacramento.
The section of Sacramento that Ebner's Hotel was located in was now referred to as "West End." In time the region was to be known as a slum and Ebner's Hotel to be classified as a flophouse.
In the 1930s the area began to fall into disrepair as transportation moved from the rivers to roads, leaving the area, in essence, and the hotel itself began to draw the homeless.

In their 1980 report of the building, the Historic American Buildings Survey noted that the facade had been stripped of its ornamentation and a city historian noted that the once famed cupola likely had been removed when bits and pieces had chipped off due to neglect

It was one of two buildings still in existence in Old Sacramento that had not been rehabilitated and one of the few original buildings of Sacramento left.
The City of Sacramento responded to requests for demolition by hiring an engineering firm to assess it. It was ultimately deemed that the structure was too unsound to repair.
The city then deliberated on whether to stabilize the current building (sans repairs) or whether to raze it, with many local vendors calling for demolition of the building as its condition required that alley access near it be cut off—thus reducing foot traffic to stores.

The city eventually decided to demolish the building and replace it with a rebuilt replica, yes a replacement!

That is right, the building we might think was original is in fact a replacement. Unfortunate but at least they tried to build similar to the original

I wonder how many walking by know it is a replica


July 1965 photo of the historic Ebner, ironically the same month I was born here in Sacramento and sitting in the hospital as a newborn




The current 2014 replacement Ebner Hotel
Looks like the Empire House building is a replica too or just completely a fabrication of the past.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #19  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2014, 1:17 AM
OutlawImages's Avatar
OutlawImages OutlawImages is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Sacramento,Ca (NorCal)
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by LandofFrost View Post
Looks like the Empire House building is a replica too or just completely a fabrication of the past.

Yea looks to be, but I guess we are lucky they are not some square concrete "box" style even if not original
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #20  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2014, 2:33 AM
wburg's Avatar
wburg wburg is offline
Hindrance to Development
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 2,402
Not a fabrication--a reconstruction. Both buildings were documented before demolition or photographed or sketched at various points in time, and the construction in both cases was based on that documentation. Same goes for the Orleans building on 2nd Street, where Ten22 is located. About a third of the buildings in Old Sacramento are reconstructions. Most are closely based on buildings that occupied the same locations in the 1850s-1870s period that Old Sacramento is intended to interpret, including the Central Pacific passenger depot, the Sacramento History Museum, and the freight sheds along Front Street. One was deconstructed and rebuilt in a different location--Huntington-Hopkins Hardware, which was originally located between 2nd and 3rd Street, now under Interstate 5, rebuilt next to Dingley's Spice Mill (the genuine article) on I Street next to the Railroad Museum. The one-room schoolhouse on Front Street is a total fabrication, and I'm pretty sure Joe's Crab Shack only kind of resembles the 19th century wharf building.

I suppose it's nitpicking, OutlawImages, but the railroad didn't "arrive" in the neighborhood in the 1870s--the Central Pacific Railroad started about 200 feet west of the Ebner Hotel at the foot of Front Street in January 1863, and headed to Utah from there. Sacramento Valley Railroad, which started at Front and R Street, had also extended its line north to K Street by 1861. By the 1870s traffic to and from the other end of that railroad was getting pretty busy, so the Ebner was still a handy choice for travelers, but the city was rapidly growing inland. And from 1870 until the K Street depot was replaced, a horse-drawn streetcar pulled visitors right past the Ebner, for those who didn't want to lug their steamer trunks the whole 200 feet.
__________________
"Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings."--Jane Jacobs
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > United States > Pacific West > Sacramento Area
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:06 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.