Mercy Pedalers Founder Sister Libby
Her name is Libby Fernandez, but everyone knows her as Sister Libby, one of Sacramento’s most tireless advocates for the city’s homeless. The 58-year-old Catholic nun earned the distinction in large part through her long tenure (including 11 years as executive director) at Loaves & Fishes. Her latest endeavor, Mercy Pedalers, tends to the hungry and impoverished at street level, with squads of volunteers helping the less fortunate by bike and trike. We tracked Sister Libby down to talk about her growing organization, how best to address the homeless crisis, and how just saying “hi” can be the start of a beautiful relationship.
Best of the City 2019
As they say, there must be something in the water here—Sacramento’s got it going on. From a cool moonlight hike to a cooling moo-less milkshake, from fiery hot street food to a fire-breathing street dragon, and from an Olympic-caliber butcheress to an Olympic-caliber aquatic center, here is our list of the places, people and things making big waves this year.
Stranger Things
Surrealist ceramist Annabeth Rosen continues to break the mold in her new museum retrospective.
Q&A with Cake lead singer John McCrea
To paraphrase one of Cake’s songs, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen their smiling faces. But the hometown hiatus is about to come to an end with the alt-rock band—which formed in Sacramento in 1991 and still records…
Ring Leader
He’s one of the toughest fighters in one of the toughest sports known to man—mixed martial arts, aka cage fighting. Now, two years after losing his title, Urijah Faber has a shot to become a champion again on July 2. But until then, he has TV shows to appear on, video games to star in, a clothing line to promote, and a fitness company to build. Can Sacramento’s “California Kid” become the ultimate comeback kid? And more importantly, what is he doing kissing Rosie O’Donnell?
William Burg
The Queen of the Sacramento Tenderloin. The nightclub owner who first brought jazz to town. The public officials who resisted the frenzied carnal currents of the downtown’s most integrated, energetic district. They’re all chronicled in William Burg’s new book "Wicked Sacramento," a history of the city’s long-gone West End neighborhood that once stood where sprawling landmarks like Capitol Mall, Old Sacramento and Golden 1 Center are today. Burg speaks about the West End’s seamy charms, its important cultural impact, and where to find what might be the lost neighborhood’s last surviving building.
Cast Away
Angling to become an angler? Start with the Japanese tradition of Tenkara fly fishing, where all you need is a simple rod, line and fly. Come on in, the water’s fine and the trout are jumpin’.
Elaine Welteroth
Before Elaine Welteroth joined the judging panel on the current season of “Project Runway,” she was climbing the masthead at magazines like “Ebony,” “Glamour” and “Teen Vogue,” where in 2017 she became the youngest ever to serve as its editor-in-chief. But before she took the media world by storm, the Sacramento State alum, who graduated in 2007, was pulling all-nighters for the school newspaper, “The State Hornet.” The 32-year-old Brooklyn-based writer talks about getting the journalism bug here, going way beyond 280 characters in her new memoir, and why she doesn’t think Anna Wintour is the devil who wears Prada.
The Fall & Rise of Hobo Johnson
Frank Lopes Jr.—the “Hobo” of Hobo Johnson & the Lovemakers—has had, by all accounts, an eventful first 24 years. He has already been, in a very particular order: a troubled student, a homeless teen, a viral video sensation, scorned by Black Lives Matter, swooned over by fans, signed to Warner Bros. Records, Instagrammed by Snoop Dogg, and predicted to be “huge” by "New York" magazine. On the eve of his major-label debut and a tour schedule that will see him sharing the bill with many of the biggest acts in the world, the Sacramento poet-rapper is working hard to stay grounded at a time when he’s so clearly taking flight.
The Inside Track
With May 10 marking the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, we look back at a major moment in our city’s history and look forward to the many ways Sacramento is celebrating the important milestone throughout the year. Full steam…
Allison Arieff
“Design critic” isn’t your official job title, but it’s how you’re best known, right? I think so. That’s fair enough. What does a design critic do? In a perfect world, a design critic would just sit around and think about…
Colin Hanks
With a new movie out, a starring role on Broadway and a turn in the director’s chair, Colin Hanks may be the hardest working man in his show biz family—which is saying something, considering this native son of Sacramento also happens to be the son of Tom Hanks. The younger Hanks takes a rare moment between curtain calls to talk to us about being a Broadway baby and an East Sacramento kid, and having his movie-star dad play his movie dad in "The Great Buck Howard."f
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