Sactown Magazine - December 2016-January 2017

Back to the Future

Don’t believe in time travel? For centuries, humans have found ways to speak to the people of the future without all those pesky wormholes in space. Rather they’ve stuffed sturdy vessels—time capsules, as we now know them—with letters, photographs and assorted ephemera, and buried them for subsequent generations to discover. Word has it that Paul Revere and Samuel Adams were the first Americans to create such a capsule in 1795.

Home Grown

The Yisrael family’s urban farm has flourished in the middle of a food desert, planting the seeds for a whole new farm-to-fork movement

The Return of the "King"

As a senior political correspondent on The Daily Show, Hasan Minhaj gets the dangerous laughs with bits like Muslim Makover and his visit to the Republican National Convention in whiteface. In January, the 31-year-old Davis native will bring home the funny with a performance of his aptly titled one-man show, Homecoming King, at his alma mater’s Mondavi Center. Sacramento, get ready for your moment of Zen.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Mushrooms. Walnuts. Pomegranate seeds. Mashed potatoes. Can this really be Mexican food? Welcome to Mesa Mercado, a new market-to-table restaurant in Carmichael that celebrates Mexico’s historic cuisine.

The Art of Architecture

An extraordinary arts community sprouted in the fields of UC Davis in the 1960s. Now, with the opening of the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum, a building every bit as innovative as the art it houses, the legacy of that improbable era of California art history is on glorious display for all to see—and touch.

Hit List

On Dec. 31, Cameron Park-raised singer-songwriter Jackie Greene and his band will help Sacramentans count down to midnight during their second consecutive New Year’s Eve concert at the Crest Theatre. While the musician typically doesn’t build his set list until the night before a performance, using last NYE’s song lineup, he provides a preview of what to expect at this year’s show.

New Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg

Darrell Steinberg is a San Francisco native who moved here in 1981 to attend UC Davis law school. After six years on the Sacramento City Council in the ’90s and a career in the Capitol that peaked with his role as Senate president, Steinberg, 57, won a hard-fought mayoral campaign in June. We met with him in October after he spent a long day in the Bay Area courting tech companies, and he shared his thoughts on his top priorities, being a strong mayor and even his morning workout routine.

A Train of Thought

Sacramento just acquired its first Jeff Koons sculpture, but another is available that was actually inspired by our city’s history. And unlike most trains, its timing couldn’t be better.

Top of the Town

We invited seven architecture firms from around the country to submit their best ideas for a new observation tower for the capital city, which would create an instant civic icon while giving us a chance to see our hometown from a whole new perspective. Let’s build one and take Sacramento to new heights.

A Star Attraction

A bold plan to build a dramatic new planetarium has cratered. But if we act fast, we have a shot at the greatest dome in town since the Capitol.