New “Lady Bird” walking tour launches in Sacramento

Tori Masucci Cummins,
Lucassaoirsebluehouse1
Photo by Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24
The iconic blue house on 44th Street in East Sacramento, which was featured prominently in "Lady Bird," will be one of the stops on a new walking tour inspired by the film.

Lady Bird fans can soon walk a mile—or rather, 3 miles—in Greta Gerwig's shoes as a new foot tour inspired by the Sacramento filmmaker's semiautobiographical movie launches on Sunday, Feb. 11.

Sac Running Tours—a local group that hosts history and sightseeing excursions, as well as outings to visit Wide Open Walls murals—is starting a 3-mile, two-hour walking tour that will feature stops at Lady Bird sites like Club Raven, Pasty Shack, the McKinley Park rose garden and the blue manse in the Fab 40s that served as the title character's dream home. 

Greta Gerwig with cinematographer Sam Levy on the set of "Lady Bird" in October 2016. (Photo by Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24)

Read Sactown’s profile on Greta Gerwig from the Dec/Jan issue HERE.

A separate 4.5-mile running tour, which also begins Feb. 11, will cover the same ground, as well as head out the light rail crossing at T Street in East Sacramento—the tracks that Gerwig was thinking of when she wrote that Lady Bird (played by Saoirse Ronan) was from "the wrong side of the tracks." Along the way, on both treks, a guide will discuss Gerwig’s filmmaking influences and inspiration, the history behind Lady Bird and how each location was used in the movie. Sac Running Tours owner Jennifer Kistler-McCoy says she hopes to eventually offer a Lady Bird biking tour that possibly stops at the Tower Theatre, Gunther's Ice Cream, Cookie's Drive In, Pasty Shack, Crest Theatre and Tower Bridge—classic landmarks that were showcased in the Oscar-nominated film.

Actors Saoirse Ronan and Lucas Hedges stroll through East Sacramento in a scene from "Lady Bird." (Photo by Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24)

“I always try to show people how cool Sacramento is,” Kistler-McCoy says. “[Lady Bird] was just so enchanting. The best part was seeing it at Tower Theatre and everyone going ‘ooh, aah’ when they saw things on screen they recognized. I think [people] will come away with a sense of enchantment when they see the movie sites in person.”

Tours will begin Feb. 11 and will be $20 per person ($25 for private tours). Times vary. For more information, visit sacrunningtours.com/ladybirdtours.

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