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A New Path Forward

The Gorman Museum at UC Davis marks its golden anniversary with a beautiful, much bigger new home to showcase its vast collection of contemporary native american art. Welcome in.

Best of the City 2023

Airy French puffs, comforting cupcakes that taste just like Grandma’s, sports legends who go the extra mile, hot hotels that breathe fresh life into historic buildings, rockin’ speakers made from retro lunch boxes, and a whole bunch more. What’s old is new and what’s new is newsworthy in our annual list of the local people, places and things that have caught our eyes and captured our imagination this year.

The Humor, the Ardor and the Candor of Darrin Bell

In 2019, Darrin Bell became the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, and his nationally syndicated comic strip Candorville will mark its 20th anniversary later this year. Today, the Sacramento cartoonist is receiving acclaim for his new graphic memoir, The Talk, which illustrates the racism he has faced, first as a Black child and later as a Black man in America. As Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau says of Bell’s new book, “It’s nearly impossible to appreciate another person’s truth, but if a brilliant storyteller offers to light the way, take him up on it.”

The Passive House: Minimum Energy, Maximum Comfort

As our climate changes, leading to colder winters and hotter summers—along with more intense wildfire smoke infiltrating the valley—one Sacramento builder is bringing a new type of structure to town. It’s called a “passive house,” an airtight abode that even our region’s dreaded pollen can’t work its way into. And despite its seemingly laissez-faire moniker, the concept is a proactive step toward the future of sustainable home design.

Younglandia

In an industry where women rarely take center stage, Julie Young has quietly become one of the most significant and thoughtful urban developers in the region—crafting exquisitely curated projects that bloom like defiant wildflowers in the concrete jungle. And now, through sheer tenacity and savvy scrappiness, she may just have unlocked the mystery to attainable housing that aspires to forward-thinking design as much as affordability. It’s a beautiful day in her neighborhood, indeed.

8 Great Ways to Make Sacramento More Fun

  Let’s Celebrate Democracy… Where It Happens With an urgent new focus on democracy in America, our very own state house is where we should gather to commemorate the Fourth of July in star-spangled fashion. Photo…

"By Any Means Necessary, I Will Keep Being an Artist."

Painter. Bluesman. Filmmaker. Educator. After retiring in 2012 from UC Davis, where he was an art professor for 43 years—and on the eve of a solo show at the Manetti Shrem Museum—Mike Henderson reflects on shining shoes as a young man in Missouri, seeing his soul in Van Gogh's Potato Eaters, believing he had lost decades' worth of paintings in a fire, and securing his place in one of the greatest university art departments ever assembled.

Forever (530)

Davis native Hasan Minhaj wears his hometown pride on his sleeve and talks his brand-new one-man show, The King’s Jester, now streaming on Netflix.

Magic Mountain

On a clear day, find your way above the tree canopy in Sacramento, look southwest, and there you’ll spot it—the soaring 3,849-foot peak at the center of Mount Diablo State Park. At Mount Diablo, you can hike up to 150 miles of trails, camp in the ultimate “room” with a view, and literally lunch above the clouds. So go west, young men and women, and experience California from a whole new point of view.

The Long Way Home

Earlier this year, Land Park journalist Martin Kuz spent five weeks in Ukraine, both as a reporter covering Russia’s invasion of his late father’s homeland and as a son hoping to better understand the forces that shaped his father’s life.

On Sale Now!

Sactown Sept Oct 2023 Cover

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