At the lower right hand corner of a large mural that covers the majority of the exterior wall at the front of Sacramento State University’s Lassen Hall is the signature of artist, Ed Rivera. And although this work is his best known local art piece, it represents only a part of the story of this Sacramento artist.

Rivera, who is a Sacramento resident and a former Sacramento Police Department officer, has certainly drawn much attention for his mural on this university building, which houses the office of the university registrar, the academic advising and career center, a testing center and other services.

After all, the artwork was painted on the building as the resolution to a controversy, which received much widespread media coverage, including coverage in Mexico.

As the story goes, during a six-month period in 1970, Rivera, who is a native Sacramentan of Mexican descent, had painted a previous mural on panels that were placed on the front, exterior wall of the same building, which then housed the school’s library.

In a discussion with Valley Community Newspapers, Rivera, 67, recounted his memories of a dreadful time back in 1976, when he found out that the mural, which had been presented as a gift, had been removed from the building.

“Somebody came by and said, ‘Ed, you know your mural is not up there any more,’” recalled Rivera, who was a student at Sacramento State during the 1960s. “I said, ‘You’re kidding.’ I went down there (to the Sacramento State building) and it was stark white. They tore the panels down and called that a ‘beautification (project).’ We immediately went (to the school) and said, ‘Hey, you can’t do this. We gave this to the community and the state college as a figure of solidarity, peace and culture. What did you do here?’ And then the movement started with Joe Serna, (Rivera and others) and the community rose up and said, ‘You can’t do that.’”

Fate of ‘La Cultura’

The mural, which was named ‘La Cultura’ (‘The Culture’) and had been created as a tribute to Mexican culture, had taken months of negotiations and fundraising and the support of the Chicano community to become a reality.

But in just six years, the artwork was removed and disposed of, except for pieces of the mural, which Rivera said had been cut up and given a new life at the school.

“They made shelves out of (parts of) the panels,” Rivera said. “I saw my artwork on shelving in different parts of the college.”

The protest movement relating to the removal and destruction of the mural led to a September 1976 letter of apology from then-Sacramento State President James Bond.

Two months later, Henry Lopez, executive director of the Sacramento Chicano community organization, Concilio, wrote a letter to Bond demanding that the university finance a new mural, repay the $800 used in community donations that paid for the old mural, produce a public apology from the school and submit a written statement about the university’s policy regarding the mural.

Responding to Lopez’s letter on Feb. 9, 1977, Bond once again apologized for the removal of the mural and extended an offer to have a new mural paid for by the university.

Rivera said that Bond recommended that the mural be painted inside the building to protect it from the outside elements. But after visiting the building’s interior, Rivera rejected this recommendation.

Arrangements were eventually made for Rivera to repaint the mural in a different style on the front of the building. But this time, the mural was painted directly onto the wall.

 

The Rebirth of ’La Cultura’ 

On Oct. 30, 1978, a dedication ceremony at the building, which had been converted into the Student Services Center, was held in honor of the completed mural. The event, which celebrated “The Rebirth of the La Cultura,” included speakers, music, poetry and folk dancing.

The 96-foot-wide by 24-foot-tall mural, which depicts the Mexican community’s American Indian-Spanish heritage, features major symbols of the Mexican culture, including an image of the Aztec ruler, Montezuma, an eagle with a serpent in its beak, the Aztec calendar and an ear of corn.

The mural, which is painted with permanent, water-based acrylics, also includes a pair of frogs moving forward, which Rivera said represents the constantly moving forward and never looking back progression of the Mexican people.

A concise description of the mural is located just inside Lassen Hall.

In 1999, Rivera returned to the campus to provide a touch-up paint job to the then-fading mural and to place a protective finish over the work.

Protected art

Unlike the building’s original mural, today’s mural is protected, Rivera explained.

“That (current) mural, they cannot take it down for 50 years after I die,” Rivera said. “If they’re going to take it down, they have to notify the next of kin, which would be my son (John, who was named after Rivera’s favorite author, John Steinbeck). So, it’s there for a long time.”

Rivera added that even 50 years after his passing, negotiations could be made to preserve the mural and have it touched-up with some fresh paint by an assigned artist.

The Sacramento State mural is but one of Rivera’s murals that have appeared on public buildings.

Rivera also painted murals for the Washington Neighborhood Center at 400 16th St. and the Legal Aid Society at 920 9th St. in Sacramento and Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. Unfortunately for Rivera, not all of his murals exist today.

Diverting from the story of his murals, Rivera said that his love for art began at a very young age, as he watched his father, who was a pastry chef, decorate a cake with the image of an eagle.

Fascinated how his father could create something so artistic with his hands, Rivera gained an instant appreciation for art.

This appreciation led to Rivera’s study of art at Sacramento High School under the direction of art instructor, John Moore.

After attending Sacramento City College and Sacramento State, Rivera attended the prestigious San Francisco Art Institute for three years. And while at the art institute, he studied under renowned artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bishoff, Nathan Oliveira, James Weeks, Julius Hytofsky and Frank Lobdell.

Although he eventually became a police officer, serving in this position from 1967 to 1996, Rivera never lost his love for art.

To the contrary, this love grew, as Rivera continued to create art and gain recognition in the art world throughout his time with the police department.

Prolific artist

During his time as an artist, Rivera has created hundreds of paintings and although he has painted such art images as local architecture, landscapes and sailing scenes, the majority of his work features pre-Columbian, Aztec and Mayan images.

Explaining his deep connection to this form of art, Rivera said, “I really feel I’m part pre-Columbian, Aztec, Mayan culture.”

Additionally, Rivera, who participates in occasional art shows, but said that he otherwise advertises by “word of mouth” only, refers to himself as a “tool of what the Hispanic community is about.”

“I’m just a tool,” Rivera said. “I just happen to have the talent as a painter. I’m fortunate I can do this. I enjoy painting. It’s my life.”

Rivera, who credits his mentor, artist Benny Barrios, for showing him not just how to paint, but showing him the life of an artist and what it takes to be an artist, said that he is among a select group of artists.

“There are a few of us (artists), we just don’t live art, we breathe art,” Rivera said. “Everything is art. We don’t see things the way other people see them. We see things in an art view. We see things way, way differently. For me, art is like breathing. You have to breathe. You have to do art.”

Email Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com

Editor’s note: The following is the first of a two-par story series on the history of Mira Loma High School. Read part two in the May 13 edition of the Arden-Carmichael News.

 

This year marks a milestone for one of the area’s schools, as Mira Loma High School will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Opening for the first time on Sept. 6, 1960 with only freshman and sophomore students, Mira Loma, which is located at 4000 Edison Ave. in Sacramento, began to establish many of its longtime traditions.

And among these traditions that were instituted in this first academic year were the presence of the school’s Columbia blue and scarlet red colors, its Matador mascot, Recuerdos yearbook and Matador Capers newspaper.

Of these things, only the school’s newspaper has ceased to exist, as the school was not able to obtain the sufficient number of students necessary to create a full newspaper staff.

The school, however, hopes to re-launch the paper in either a print or online version either next year or sometime in the near future.

 

A tradition in excellence

Also beginning their longtime traditions during the 1960-61 school year were the school’s athletic teams. The first sports to establish teams at the school were football, baseball, basketball, track, cross country, tennis and wrestling.

The most renowned Mira Loma sports teams throughout the school’s history were the football teams of the 1970s and the basketball teams of the 1990s.

Heading Mira Loma during its initial school year was its first principal, Anthony Braginetz.

Summarizing the first school year at Mira Loma in the inaugural edition of Recuerdos, Braginetz, who served the school in this position until 1965, wrote: “The Mira Loma student body, deluged with a myriad of tasks during our first year, has emerged with flying colors, while having elevated the name of the Matadors among the finest of high schools.”

And on the topic of the school’s then-future success, Braginetz explained the importance of student involvement, adding that the school’s future academic and co-curricular fortunes would be no more successful than the foundation that the students created.

The school’s second year of operation included various advancements, including the adoption of a fight song and alma mater, the opening of a new library, the purchase of band uniforms and choral blazers and the continued expansion of the school’s building program. Construction of the school was completed in 1964.

The school opened with about 20 teachers, including Charles Novak, English; Patricia Hengel, mathematics; Jack Marzano, music; Patricia Hicks, home economics; and Marilyn McInnis, girls’ physical education.

Complimenting Mira Loma’s faculty, the school added four student teachers from Sacramento State College during its second school year. They were: Jo Ellen Bewley, who worked in Dixie Sorensen’s typing and shorthand classes; Russell McKeand, who taught in Leonard Frizzi’s U.S. History class and Richard Westrup’s German class; Mary Munk, who worked in Al Baeta’s beginning business class and Walt Hardin’s typing class; and Sandra Zimmerman, who taught in  Robert Huber’s business class and Margo Kaufman’s French class.

The school also introduced such electives as auto shop, wood shop and metal shop and added a marching band during its early years.

A high point in the school’s history occurred through the Class of 1963, which became the first of the school’s many graduating classes.

 

The people who made the difference

When it comes to the topic of recalling Mira Loma’s storied past, few, if any people are as knowledgeable as Lynn Holton, who served as the principal’s secretary during the school’s first 44 years.

“I served the first seven principals,” Holton said. “The first of these principals, Anthony Braginetz, was really outstanding. He was an ex-basketball player with the Knicks in New York. I always thought that was impressive. He was really tall, maybe 6-foot, 4 (inches) or 6-foot, 5 (inches tall) and he had sort of a New York accent. He was the vice principal at El Camino (High) before he came to Mira Loma. He and I worked together for a year before (Mira Loma) opened. We had an office out in the district office and we would order the furniture and the books and hire the new teachers and meet the students that we were going to draw from. It’s just real exciting establishing a new school and Mira Loma was fortunate, because (Braginetz) was real good with the kids.”

Holton, 85, said that when Mira Loma opened for its first school year with students who had attended Encina and La Sierra high schools and freshman who had never attended high school, the school was fairly well prepared for its beginnings.

“Before we opened, we had meetings and talked about the school,” Holton said. “We had the names of our student body, so we could contact them and have them get together with their parents and talk about what we were going to do. We had committees that worked on such things as selecting our mascot and colors.”

Holton said that Braginetz was the lone man out when it came to selecting a mascot.

“Mr. Braginetz wanted Owls, but they all thought that was really weird, including myself,” Holton said. “I couldn’t imagine us being the Mira Loma Owls.”

Reflecting upon her time working at Mira Loma, Holton said, “I loved every minute of it.”

“I absolutely loved it there,” Holton said. “I had lots of offers to go to the district, but there was nothing that would have enticed me to leave Mira Loma. I worked there until I was 80 and I would have worked there beyond that, but I like cruises and I wanted to see the Panama Canal and they only cruise there during the school year, so I quit and went to the Panama Canal shortly thereafter.”

 

Read part two in the next edition of the Arden-Carmichael News.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

The Sacramento Fire Department has accomplished many things in its very rich history of serving the community. But few people know of its unique connection to Land Park’s George L. Klumpp funeral firm.

While spending the latter part of an afternoon at the department’s Emergency Medical Services Building in East Sacramento last week, Dep. Chief Leo Baustian and Cpt. Jim Doucette discussed details surrounding this connection.

“The (Sacramento) Fire Department has what we call ‘Klumpp’s Page,’ ” Baustian said. “It’s a page listing the 50 most senior (active) employees of the department and it has been a longstanding joke around the department that once you get on it, you don’t get off of it until the Klumpp’s funeral home picks you up.”

Although there is some truth to this statement due to the many dedicated personnel who spent decades serving the department, most who made Klumpp’s Page went on to enjoy relatively long retirements.

Baustian, who is currently 4th on the page, said that while most people today find their way off the page by other means than through Klumpp’s assistance, unfortunately there are still a few who are not so unfortunate.

The term, Klumpp’s Page, which dates back to sometime in the earlier years of the funeral firm, originated during a time when many people in the department did not retire and retirement benefits in the department were different than they are today.

 

Starting Klumpp’s Page

Klumpp’s history began in 1916, when George L. Klumpp, who would later serve as the city’s mayor and part owner of the Sacramento Solons baseball team, obtained his funeral embalmer’s license.

After establishing his own business in 1921 – 71 years after the city’s first volunteer fire department was founded and a half-century after the city received its first paid fire department – George opened his Chapel of Flowers at 808 O St.

Klumpp’s became a part of the Land Park community in 1972, when it relocated to its present site at 2691 Riverside Blvd., across the street from the historic Masonic Cemetery.

Although Baustian and Doucette said that they were uncertain when Klumpp’s was first associated with the page, they confirmed that the page was around long before they joined the department.

Doucette, who also serves as the department’s public information officer, said that although he began to hear about the list around the time he left the Pacific Fire Department after 11 years of service to join the Sacramento Fire Department in 1991, he does not believe that many people in the community are familiar with the page.

“(Throughout) my whole career (with the Sacramento department), I’ve heard about Klumpp’s Page and we’ve always joked about it,” said Doucette, who is presently 9th on the page. “I don’t think very many people in this city know anything about it all. Many firefighters do, but probably a lot of our young guys don’t know yet, but they will.”

 

The reach of the Page

In contemplating the meaning of the page, Baustian and Doucette agreed that it extends far beyond something chronological or numerical.

“The stories that go with the names on the page are endless and are timeless,” Baustian said.

When asked to name a few of the people who have spent time on Klumpp’s Page throughout the years, both Baustian and Doucette, who are scheduled to retire from the department this year, paused before selecting a few of the most renowned names.

One of the first names that was referred to by both Baustian and Doucette was Cpt. Tom Sherlock, who until last year had been 1st on the page.

As a name that just about anyone, if not everyone, in the department recognized, Sherlock was a symbol of longevity, as he spent nearly 50 years working for the department.

In contemplating the many changes that were made within the department during his career, Sherlock said, “The first engine that I pumped didn’t have a roof on it and had windshield wipers on both sides of the windows. We also used to ride the tailboards and hang on to the sides of the trucks.”

Upon Sherlock’s retirement, Doucette became the department’s number one captain, in terms of time served in this position.

Among the other names referred to during the meeting with Baustian and Doucette were: Cliff Haskell, Les Heffelfinger and Loran Wolcott.

Haskell, who Baustian said is renowned among fire departments across the nation for founding the Firefighters Burn Institute in 1973, was 7th on Klumpp’s Page when he retired on Dec. 30, 1989.

Additionally, Haskell was the last fire captain to work at the old Station No. 3, which was built in 1898 and was closed in 1984. The historic station building continues to stand today at 1215 19th St.

 

Klumpp’s Page Member’s List (As of April 2010; includes entry date in parenthesis)

1) Eddy McCoy (3-24-75); 2) Alex A. Macias (4-20-75); 3) Ronald L. Waterman (5-15-79); 4) Leo J. Baustian (1-2-80); 5) Michael D. Bonham (1-14-80); 6) Trinidad V. Garnica (3-31-80); 7) John R. Ausland (3-31-80); 8 ) Edward A. Vasques (4-1-80); 9) James E. Doucette (4-14-80); 10) Richard A. Lee (4-14-80); 11) Steven J. Jones (7-l-80); 12) John C. Laubinger (7-1-80); 13) Kim E. Iannucci (10-13-81); 14) Suzette L. Shaffer (10-28-81); 15) Lloyd W. Ogan (9-1-84); 16) Darin L. Resh (9-1-84); 17) Jonathan W. Williams (9-1-84); 18) Robert A. Myers (9-2-84); 19) Randall A. Jackson (9-2-84); 20) Martin A. Scott (9-3-84); 21) Norman K. Poynter (9-3-84); 22) Wardell Kirkland (2-16-85); 23) Timothy B. Adams (2-17-85); 24) Steve A. Graham (2-17-85); 25) Terrence P. Gee (2-18-85); 26) Merlin D. Glass (3-1-85); 27) Paul J. Clark (8-19-85); 28) Troy A. Malaspino (8-19-85); 29) Dexter D. Ching (8-19-85); 30) Elizabeth Sower (8-19-85); 31) Cathleen Russell (1-2-86); 32) Robert A. Johnson (2-15-86); 33) Christopher Ortiz (2-16-86); 34) Ray S. Jones (2-16-86); 35) Frances M. Anacleto (2-16-86); 36) Richard Rethford (2-17-86); 37) Gene P. Dibble (3-24-86); 38) Jay L. Bowdler (8-16-86); 39) John M. Brenner, Jr. (8-16-86); 40) Donald M. Sheehan (8-17-86); 41) Martin A. Monterrey (8-17-86); 42) David W. Lack (8-17-86); 43) Thomas C. Mabra (8-17-86); 44) Julienne M. McIntyre (8-17-86); 45) English, James V. (8-18-86); 46) Rodney M. King (8-18-86); 47) Marc J. Bentovoja (1-24-87); 48) Paul S. Hironaka (1-24-87); 49) Diane M. Steed (1-24-87); 50) Elaine L. Jackson (1-25-87)

 

Service in Sacramento

Reminiscing about Heffelfinger’s service in the department, Baustian said, “Les Heffelfinger (who retired on Dec. 30, 1994), was my battalion chief and he was on the job for 42 years and he was a battalion chief for 22 years. We all look at him in awe, because (after) he went to what we call a second or third alarm fire, he could remember in his head what companies were coming in, who was assigned to where, what they were doing. He had it all (in his head). What do we have to do? We have to write it down on a white board.”

Baustian added that Heffelfinger’s experience with the department included responding to fires in today’s Old Sacramento prior to its redevelopment.

“Back then, we’d call them 211s, which was a term for a second alarm (fire) and (Heffelfinger) would say, ‘Oh, we had two alarm fires twice in one day and they were burning down the lower end every week,’” Baustian recalled.

 

Wolcott, who was listed 32nd on Klumpp’s Page when he retired from the department in 1990, shared some of his memories as a longtime fireman.

“When I came in here into the city (fire department) in 1963 (from the now defunct Del Paso Robles Fire Department), I started driving aerial trucks and I drove aerial trucks until I retired,” said Haskell, who joined the DPRFD in 1959. “Actually, they (later referred to) us as apparatus operators instead of engineers, so that’s what I retired as. Like Haskell, he was a captain most of the time on an engine, but I was an apparatus operator and I drove aerial trucks and that’s all I did. I was only a firefighter for a short period of time prior to being an apparatus operator.”

Wolcott said that it was an honor to be listed on Klumpp’s Page.

“There’s a certain pride to be listed on the Klumpp’s Page,” said Wolcott, who believes that the page started in the 1940s. “Nowadays, guys are (retiring) at 50, where in my days you couldn’t go until you were 55.”

Wolcott, who had a heart attack in 1990 that led to his retirement at the age of 55, chuckled a bit when commenting that Klumpp’s nearly did have to pick him up.

He added, however, that despite a second heart attack in 1997, he is “doing fine” and enjoying his retirement.

Baustian certainly made it no secret that recognizing only a few people from Klumpp’s Page was no simple task.

“There are a lot of names that made it to that first page of the (department’s) seniority list who paved the way for a lot of us and set a high standard for a lot of us,” Baustian said. “But the neat thing is that there are a lot of other ones coming behind us.”

Baustian said that his admiration for fire department personnel and his own childhood experience led to his desire to serve others through the Sacramento Fire Department.

“I haven’t done anything else (but work for the department) since I was 19 years old and I’m proud to have been able to serve here,” Baustian said. “A lot of the older guys know that while I was growing up in North Highlands, our house burned down in 1971, right before the Farrell’s plane crash and before there was special burn care here. My two brothers were sent off to San Francisco to get treatment and they were down there for about four months. I learned from these other people to kind of give back. Jimmy and I do a lot of work for the Firefighters Burn Institute. We’ve both been on the advisory board. It’s a good way to give back.”

 

Happy for recognition

Emphasizing that Klumpp’s Page never received any attention in the media prior to this article, Doucette said that the page is very deserving of such recognition.

“It’s a part of Sacramento that not a lot of people know about, but it’s a very interesting story for people to hear,” Doucette said. “It’s something that’s a tradition that we should keep up. It goes way back.”

 

E-mail Lance at lance@valcomnews.com.

The Riverside-Pocket area undoubtedly has much history, but it is certainly not everyone who knows that the area has a direct connection to some of the capital city’s most renowned architectural structures.

Buildings such as the Memorial Auditorium, the Elks Building at 11th and J streets, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, a portion of the state Capitol and various structures in Old Sacramento, for instance, have a commonality that link them together for an obvious local trivia question.

These local landmarks were all constructed with bricks that were made at the Sacramento Brick Co., which opened on Riverside Road (today’s Riverside Boulevard) in 1881.

Additionally, the company, which was originally owned by Thomas Dwyer, also supplied bricks for reconstructing part of San Francisco following the great 1906 earthquake and fire.

By this time in the company’s history, the brickyard was already quite notable, as is evident by a reference in the 1890 History of Sacramento County, which reads: “(The brickyard has) in operation four Quaker brick machines with a capacity of (manufacturing) 140,000 (bricks) daily.”

During summer months, the brick-making plant utilized clay-like soil for its production that was dug from the “clay pit” in the area of today’s Lake Greenhaven, near John F. Kennedy High School.

The bricks were created according to an on-demand contract basis, yet the demand was high enough to provide enough employment that such a large amount of clay – as it will be referred to for the remainder of this article – was eventually dug from the area that the “clay pit” reached the level of the water table, thus forming the beginnings of today’s Lake Greenhaven.

 

Brick by brick

The preliminary process of creating the bricks began in the winter, as the clay was dredged and placed on the south bank of the pit for the purpose of having it dry until summer.

Once dry, the clay was loaded into the plant’s ore car-sized locomotives and delivered to the brickyard, which was located about a half-mile away, across Riverside Road. The plant, which was situated on about 250 acres, extended southward from the levee area to near modern-day Gloria Drive.

Overall, about eight cars were used for this process in a rotating sequence along the tracks, which were moved according to the locations of each dredging project.

Once at the brickyard, the clay was loaded onto a large conveyer belt and transported to a hopper before being transferred into what was known as the “pug mill.”

It was at this mill that the clay was mixed with a precise amount of water, so that the bricks would not be too soft or too dry.

Following this process, the clay was molded into the form of bricks through machinery, which included moving belts and metal cutting wires, which cut the clay into the required size of the bricks.

After being stacked on pallets for the curing process, the bricks were then transferred to kilns for the firing process.

During the plant’s earlier years, 20-foot-wide by 40-foot-long, outdoor kilns, which were made of brick, utilized coal – a heating source that was later replaced by crude oil and for a period of time, gas.

Originally, bricks created at the brickyard were transported by horse-drawn wagons to local construction sites.

 

Building blocks

Pocket historian Dolores (Silva) Greenslate said that she recalls seeing a brick delivery wagon with a team of horses led by brickyard worker, Joe Prady pass by her childhood home on Riverside Road on various occasions during the late 1920s.

Eventually, the brick delivery wagons were altogether replaced by brick delivery trucks.

In addition to seeing the brick delivery wagons, Greenslate, as well as other children residing in the area at the time, was continuously entertained by the sight of the brickyard’s locomotives crossing Riverside Road.

“It looked as though it was a toy train, which we longed to ride,” Greenslate recalled.

Being that the area was a Portuguese settlement, Greenslate said that the brickyard provided a lot of employment for the local Portuguese people.

Among the Portuguese men who were employed at the brickyard were the locomotive and dragline operator John Azevedo, Joe Lewis, Manuel Enos, Jesse Alves, and Tony, Eddy and William Neves.

Greenslate added that Antone Perry, the son of her great-grandfather, 1850s Pocket pioneer Antonio Pereira Rodrigues, worked at the brickyard for many years.

Antone Perry, whose sons, Alfred and Bill Perry, also worked at the plant, was employed as a brick setter and was known among his co-workers as “Squirrel,” due to his ability to work in small, narrow tunnels, where he stacked bricks to be fired.

Although the Perrys resided within a close vicinity of the brickyard, many others lived in houses located on the brickyard’s grounds.

Four-room, two-story, wood-frame houses, which included upstairs living quarters and kitchen and eating areas, were rented on the grounds for $7 per month.

These homes were not the only houses located on the property, as the site also included the large house of the brickyard’s supervisor, a boarding house for single men and about 20 single-room cabin-like structures.

 

“Thing of the past”

Although the brickyard is certainly a thing of the past, having been closed on Jan. 3, 1971 due to development in the area, its history remains strong through a variety of elements such as many structures built with Sacramento Brick Co.-manufactured bricks, Lake Greenhaven and even Brickyard Drive, a Riverside-Pocket area street named in tribute to this famous, local landmark.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

It is often considered a very good accomplishment when a business can survive its first year, but in the case of Carmichael’s Serritella’s Italian Food and Pizza, this business has done much more than survive its first year in business. It is currently in its fourth decade of successful operation.

Linda Melody of the Carmichael Chamber of Commerce said that she is impressed by the longevity of this local business, which is located at 6346 Fair Oaks Blvd., at the intersection where Marconi Avenue becomes Palm Drive.

“Considering that Carmichael just celebrated its 100th anniversary, it’s quite an accomplishment for (Serritella’s) to have been around this long,” Melody said. “They’ve been around for nearly half of Carmichael’s history.”
Deep dish, deep roots

The roots of the business extend to when Doug McRae had the building constructed – a feat that was completed on March 5, 1962.

Marilyn McRae, whose husband Doug passed away in 1993, said that the McRae family continues to own the building.

Sacramento suburban directories show that the first business to occupy the 6346 Fair Oaks Blvd. space was the Washburn Burton Realty Co., which is listed as being in operation at this site in 1963 and 1964. The business may have moved into the site in 1962, yet due to its timing was not included in the 1962 directory.

Continuing, the directories show that Gerald Gallo operated his business, Adriano Delicatessen, from the same address for the following three years.

Although the 1968 through 1973 directories list Albert Rio as owning the Red Devil Pizzeria at this site from 1968 to 1973, Marilyn said that Rio actually opened the restaurant as Serritella’s Red Devil Pizzeria.

Marilyn, a Sacramento native who graduated from McClatchy High School in 1948, added that she does not know why the name Serritella’s was selected, but speculates that it could have been a last name of one of Rio’s relatives or simply a name that Rio randomly selected because he liked the sound of it, as well as its Italian origin.

Beginning in 1974 and continuing into the 1980s, directories listed the same address as being the home of Serritella’s Red Devil Italian Cuisine.

Rio, who had a wife named Emma, owned the restaurant until 1986 and eventually moved to Chicago, was known for entertaining his guests at various times by singing Italian opera.

The restaurant’s next owner was Jackie Valentino, who operated the business until 1993.

The following owners of the business were Ann Kelly Cooms (1993-2000) and John Koukoulas and Sean Hellwig (2000-2006).

 

Now to Serritella’s

The current owners, Robert Contreras and Bonnie Prophet, who gave the restaurant its modified name, Serritella’s Italian Food and Pizza, purchased the business on May 13, 2006, when their now-4-year-old daughter, Isabella, was only 6 weeks old. The couple also has two sons, Andre, 16, and Ty, 8.

Bonnie, who grew up in the Tahoe Park area of the city, said that running the restaurant today is certainly much different than operating the business during its earlier years.

“When Serritella’s opened, it only consisted of the middle section of the restaurant, but (a pair of) expansions has greatly increased the size of the restaurant,” Bonnie said.

In about 1988, Valentino expanded into the left or north side of the building, which formerly housed a paint store, a dress shop and lastly a bakery.

The second expansion occurred in about 1993 to the right or south side of the building after Hyler’s Custom Dry Cleaning at 6342 Fair Oaks Blvd. went out of business. This area now includes the restaurant’s popular bar, which since its initial year has been operated by bartender Steve Lyle.

Bonnie said that much hard work was performed to make Serritella’s, which originally only served pizzas, into the full-fledged restaurant that it is today.

“We have worked very hard here to keep up the traditions of Serritella’s,” Bonnie said. “We pride ourselves in using fresh, quality ingredients to create our many popular offerings.”

Robert added that maintaining the traditions of Serritella’s is very rewarding.

“It’s very gratifying to have served our customers who have come here over the years and who tell us how good (the food) is and that it’s as good as they remember,” Robert said. “To carry the name is really what it’s about. The best thing I’ve ever been told is (Serritella’s food) is the best (Italian food) they ever had. A lot of people say that they’ve come from the East Coast and that our food compares to a lot of Italian restaurants on the East Coast.”

 

Tasty tradition

Carmichael resident Janet Jones said that although her lunch at Serritella’s last week marked her first visit to the restaurant, she is already a fan of this eatery.

“I moved to Carmichael in 2000 and I’ve been meaning to come here for a long time and I’m glad that I did,” Jones said. “We were greeted really friendly and the atmosphere and food is great here. And it’s a great place for vegetarians (like herself). I like the pizza and how they use fresh basil and I also like the cheese raviolis. Even though it’s my first time here, I will definitely be coming back.”

In regard to the pizzas, Deb Palin, Serritella’s pizza chef since 1994, said that quality and consistency are essential elements of every pizza made at the restaurant.

“I make every (pizza) the same as the last and I try to make all the pizzas exactly the way I would like to have them served to me,” Palin said. “Quality is extremely important and whatever (pizza) anybody wants – as long as we have the product in the restaurant – I will make a pizza out of it, whether it’s zucchini or eggplant or whatever.”

Serritella’s specialty pizzas, which range in price from $14.99 to $21.99, include the most popular Red Devil Combination with pepperoni, salami, sausage, mushrooms, olives, green peppers and onions, the North Beach with clams, onions, garlic, tomatoes, oregano and parmesan cheese, and the Devil’s Delight with gorgonzola and parmesan cheeses, pancetta and tomatoes.

 

And for those who prefer a create-your-own pizza, the pizza kitchen features a selection of about 20 toppings.

But unlike the days of the pizza-only Serritella’s, the restaurant is rich with other Italian offerings such as pasta, chicken and veal dishes, steak, soups and salads.

The restaurant features 25 non-pizza entrees on its menu, including a variety of Bonnie’s favorites, which include scaloppini ala marsala ($16.99 with chicken, $18.99 with veal), parmigiana ($15.99 with chicken, $17.99 with veal), chicken portabella ($16.99) and lasagna ($15.99).

Appetizers include prosciutto-wrapped shrimp ($11.99), gnocci ($8.99), polenta ($6.99) and Serritella’s bread sticks (50 cents each), which are served with garlic butter and peanut butter.

Robert and Bonnie said that Serritella’s is also a great place to just relax at the bar with a nice glass of wine such as a cabernet, merlot or chardonnay.

 

Visiting Serritella’s

Serritella’s is open Mondays through Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m., Fridays from 5 to 9:30 p.m., Saturdays from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 4:30 to 9 p.m. for dinner and Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch.

For additional information regarding this restaurant, call (916) 482-5483 or visit the Web site www.serritellas.com.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

The Raley’s supermarkets chain is celebrating a very special anniversary, as this year marks 75 years since the chain’s first store opened.

Since its founder Tom Raley opened this first location on Main Street in Placerville on Feb. 16, 1935, Raley’s has grown extensively and is a rich part of Sacramento area communities.

Recognized as the state’s 11th largest private company by Forbes magazine, Raley’s owns and operates 133 stores: 85 Raley’s, 21 Bel Air Markets, 22 Nob Hill Foods supermarkets and five Food Source stores.

These stores include Raley’s stores at 4850 Freeport Blvd. in Sacramento and 5159 Fair Oaks Blvd. and 4005 Manzanita Ave. in Carmichael, and Bel Air stores at 7465 Rush River Drive and 1301 Florin Road in Sacramento.

 

 

First link in the chain

The road to Raley’s establishment is one with long roots beginning in Lead Hill (Boone County) Arkansas – Tom Raley’s birthplace.

Raised in a family of seven boys and seven girls, Tom Raley was taught to have good virtues, as the son of a Baptist minister and farmer, named Reglus Raley.

Following his high school years, Tom Raley earned a business degree from a business college in Missouri before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked for an ice and cold storage firm.

Eventually working for a Safeway grocery store in Los Angeles before transferring to a San Francisco store, Tom Raley was later offered, but declined an opportunity to serve as the district manager of San Francisco Safeway stores.

In 1934, despite being a Depression year, Tom Raley opted to instead establish his own grocery store.

In a 1972 interview with The Sacramento Bee, Tom Raley described the challenges he faced in opening his first store, which had a price tag of $9,000.

“I wanted to build a store in Placerville and I had only $120,” Tom Raley told The Bee. “I needed credit, so I listed the chairman of the board of Safeway as a reference. Suddenly everybody was willing to help me.”

Opening his Placerville store with only two assistants – a clerk and a butcher – Tom Raley experienced much success with his store, which led to his additional success in Sacramento.

His good fortunes with the Placerville store ended when it was destroyed by fire in 1942.

Less than a decade after opening his first Sacramento store, Tom Raley was at the helm of a chain of eight stores, including a store at 1700 Capitol Ave., where Compton’s and Rick’s Uptown markets were later located.

And this was definitely only the beginning of Raley’s growth, as the chain continued to expand throughout the years, making possible Tom Raley’s goal of establishing 50 stores by Raley’s 50th anniversary in 1985.

 

Starting the superstores

The aforementioned Freeport Boulevard store was established in 1958, which was the very year that Raley’s made history by opening the nation’s first grocery store-drug store combination, which was known as a superstore.

Raley’s was obviously proud of its superstores, as is indicative of an advertisement, which appeared in the Dec. 7, 1977 edition of The Sacramento Union.

“If there’s no Raley’s Superstore near you…move,” the advertisement read.

The advertisement also invited The Union’s readers to the day’s opening of the 5159 Fair Oaks Blvd., at Walnut Avenue, location in Carmichael.

The Fair Oaks Boulevard store became Raley’s 10th superstore.

Raley’s also once had a presence in East Sacramento with its former store at 2815 L St., near Sutter’s Fort.

Although it never materialized, during the late 1980s, plans were made for a 99,000-square-foot shopping center, which was to be known as Pocket Landing and anchored by a 61,000-square-foot Raley’s Supercenter at the northeast corner of Pocket Road and Greenhaven Drive.

 

Raley’s acquired Bel Air

In 1992, Raley’s acquired Bel Air Markets from the Wong family and like Raley’s, Bel Air also has a very rich history, which has left a positive impression on many people throughout the region.

The roots of the store began in the 1930s, when Chinese immigrant Gim Wong, who came to America in 1916 and eventually helped found his family’s supermarket, Bel Air, began selling produce that he grew on his 5-acre farm in Penryn, about 30 miles east of Sacramento. Assisting him with his business was his wife, Lee Shee and their children.

After establishing his produce-selling business on his farm, he eventually opened his own store in Penryn. And moving to Sacramento in the late 1940s, he opened a grocery store at 28th and P streets.

The Wong family’s establishment of their first Bel Air Market at 6231 Fruitridge Road was, according to the business’s corporate history, “still a novel concept at that time.”

The same can also be said of Raley’s during its early years as a supermarket.

Even by the early 1960s, the concept of the supermarket remained somewhat in its infancy.

In 1961, for instance, The Bee published an article that in today’s world can be considered amusing to reflect upon.

The article explains that the Department of Agriculture created a pamphlet covering the topic of “why the American housewife’s supermarket bill seems so high.”

The pamphlet responds to this inquiry, noting that “she buys better food, spends less time in the kitchen and buys cigarettes, (lipstick, toilet articles), face lotion and even clothes” at the supermarket.

Committed to its mission of offering superior products and top-notched customer service, Bel Air capitalized on its success and had expanded to a chain of six stores within its first decade.

Today, the now-much larger Bel Air chain, which was formerly led for 40 years by its president, George Wong, has stores as far east as Cameron Park and as far north as Yuba City.

Among these stores, the Arden Way store opened on Aug. 14, 1958, the Florin Road store opened on Aug. 8, 1966 and the Rush River Drive store opened on Nov. 16, 1988.

 

The local store

Other highlights in Raley’s history include the opening of its first Food Source warehouse format store in Folsom in 1994 and its purchase of the Nob Hill Foods chain in 1998.

Tom Raley passed away at the age of 88 on Dec. 27, 1991 and the company is now owned by his daughter, Joyce Raley Teel, who also serves as a co-chair of the Raley’s board of directors. Her husband, James E. Teel, is the other co-chair.

Tom Raley’s only grandson, Michael J. Teel, serves as Raley’s president and CEO, while each of his four sisters, Claudia Doerhoff, Diane Perry, Laurie Struck and Lisa Davidson, serve on the board of directors.

Today, Raley’s, which has its headquarters in West Sacramento and about 13,500 employees, continues to add to its legacy.

Raley’s spokeswoman Amy Davis said that Raley’s is proud of its 75-year commitment to providing quality products and services for its customers.

“We are thrilled to celebrate Raley’s 75th anniversary with the community,” Davis said. “It’s been an honor to serve the greater Sacramento area since 1935. Although our offerings and services have evolved over the years to meet the needs of today’s consumers – including a recipe database on raleys.com, accounts on Twitter and an iPhone app for customers on-the-go – the foundation of customer service built by our founder, Tom Raley, remains constant as we welcome a new generation of customers through our store doors. As a regional, family-operated company, we look forward to serving you and your families for many years to come.”

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

Sacramento was once a bowling haven consisting of many more bowling alleys and bowling leagues competing throughout the city than there are today. And although bowling has declined in popularity since this time, a group of local ladies refuses to have these memories fade away.

Meeting monthly at randomly selected Sacramento area restaurants, the group, which is comprised of former, local women’s bowling league members ranging from 75 to 94 years old, reminisces about their bowling memories, while celebrating one or more of its members’ birthdays.

Gathering last week at the Elephant Bar restaurant, just south of the Arden Fair Mall, the women, some of who began bowling in leagues in the late 1940s, shared some of these memories for the readers of this newspaper.

Members in attendance were Peggy Gamba of the East Sacramento/midtown Sacramento area, Amy Kanemoto of Greenhaven, Louise Martin and Jean (Nakatani) Yego of Land Park, Bev Russell of Carmichael, Merle (Hendrix) Cale, Lillie (Rollerson) Reed and Inky Davis of south Sacramento, Rena Barsanti of Rancho Cordova and Kay Hill of North Highlands.

Scattered about the Sacramento area in earlier years were such bowling alleys as the Alhambra Bowl at 1221 Alhambra Blvd., Alpine Alley at 2326 Florin Road, Capital Bowl at 1415 L St., Sacramento Bowl at 915 6th St., El Camino Bowl at 1194 El Camino Ave., El Rancho Bowl at 900 West Capitol Ave., Land Park Bowl at 5850 Freeport Blvd., North Sacramento Bowl at 1721 Del Paso Blvd., South Bowl at 5005 Stockton Blvd., and Town and Country Bowl at 2032 Fulton Ave.

A full listing of historic bowling alleys would certainly be much longer, as other bowling alleys were also located in the area.

Nonetheless, one would be hard pressed to mention a single bowling alley that has existed from the late 1940s to present that at least one person in the group could not describe.

For instance, Cale, 94, said that her favorite place to bowl was the Alhambra Bowl, which was located just north of Folsom Boulevard and included a large cocktail lounge.

“Alhambra Bowl was a really big, nice place with 16 lanes and there was a guy sitting up there (above the pins) and the pins were set up manually,” Cale said. “I bowled there from 1945 to 1969 and the owner was a man, named John Bascou. I was our team’s captain and we won the championship as the Barristers (team) in 1958. Three sisters and two sister-in-laws completed the team.”

Gamba, who bowled in Sacramento and other cities from 1948 to 1984, explained that participating in bowling tournaments was only a part of the reason that she enjoyed bowling.

“I bowled in many places in Sacramento such as Alhambra, Capital Bowl, Sacramento Bowl and Town and Country and I had great times going to the nationals, but it was just nice to get together with friends,” Gamba said. “I really looked forward to those (bowling) nights and meeting the ladies and their husbands. And sometimes we would go out to dinner with them afterward. We just had a great time.”

 

Perfect games, perfect friends

It is evident that the camaraderie shared by many of the bowlers at the time is something that continues today through this monthly group.

But the friendly environment that bowling created should not be confused with how competitive the tournaments were during this time.

Inquiring about these ladies’ best, all-time scores is a good way to find out how serious they took these matches.

“My best was a 697 (in a three-game series) and a 297 in a single game,” said Reed, whose husband Ray also bowled in Sacramento. “I also bowled in 22 national tournaments.”

Other bowlers in the group also bowled single games in the high 290s, with even others bowling in the 280s.

Commenting about her single game high of 286, Yego said, “I could just never get to 300.”

But bowling a perfect 300 game was something that was quite elusive for most bowlers.

One of the group’s members said that a bit of Sacramento history was made when Doreen Lowry became the first female to bowl 300 in a single game at Alhambra Bowl.

Within the group, three members of the Sacramento Women’s Bowling Association’s Hall of Fame – Barsanti, Russell and Hill – sat at the restaurant’s table. A former member of the group, the late Betty Allum, was also named to the same Hall of Fame.

Barsanti, a 1946 graduate of Sacramento High School, who was also named to the California Women’s Bowling Association’s Hall of Fame, related her finest moments in bowling.

“My finest moment as an individual was (winning) the California Women’s Bowling Association’s Queens Championship Tournament (in 1973),” Barsanti said. “The California Queen was a (double elimination, four-game match) singles event. I was also the California Queen runner-up in 1970. As a team member, four times we took the Classic Division.”

Russell said that although achieving success in bowling was important, she also enjoyed promoting the city of Sacramento through her participation in the sport.

“I traveled to 28 states and representing Sacramento women all over the nation was one of the highlights of my years of bowling,” Russell said.

 

Bowling for a good time

During these early years of bowling in Sacramento, local female bowlers were oftentimes members of the Women’s International Bowling Congress, while male bowlers often bowled in leagues of the American Bowling Congress.

But joining these organizations was not an option for non-Caucasians prior to the 1950s, explained Yego, whose father, Soichi Nakatani, was born in Japan in 1889 and came to Sacramento in 1907, and whose mother, Mary (Takagi) Nakatani, was born in San Francisco in 1903 and came to Sacramento in 1928.

“My husband was able to bowl in 1948, because he was in the service, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that Asian people could be members in men’s and women’s bowling associations in Sacramento and we couldn’t bowl in tournaments,” said Yego, who was celebrating her 80th birthday with the group.

Reed, who chuckled when the topic arose of being the youngest member of the group at 75 years old, said that black bowlers were held from the association’s league until 1954.

“I didn’t start bowling until 1968, but my husband talked about how tough it was bowling (during these segregated times),” Reed said. “He was eventually president of the Sacramento Bowling Association in the 1980s. He was also on the board of directors and I was on the board of directors, too.”

Commenting about these days of segregation, Russell said, “Nowadays you don’t think of people not being able to do something because of their skin color. We definitely live in better times for that.”

Hill said that newspapers played a large part in the publicity of the local bowling leagues and bowling in Sacramento, in general.

“The local newspapers would print the league scores,” Hill said. “The funny part was The Bee would not print the names of our sponsors, but The Union would. (The Bee) would not put the sponsors’ names, because they said they were advertisements. They would just put our names and our scores, but they wouldn’t put the name of the team we played on.”

Among the sponsors during this time were: the Crystal Cream and Butter Co., Proctor and Gamble, KXOA radio station, the Palomino Room, De Vons Jewelers, Hamilton Furniture Co., Joe Freitas, Ross Relles, Arden Fair Fashion, Mandella Liquors and Delicatessen, AAA towing, the Victor Trophy Co., Paul’s Men’s Store and Skalisky painting contractors.

Also publicizing local bowling during the 1960s and 1970s was the Sacramento Bowling News, which was headed by its owner and editor, Bobbie Johnson.

Describing Johnson as a “lifesaver,” Reed added, “She used to hold contests for the best bowlers and different things. We really missed that paper when it had to fold.”

Reed, who served as the president of the Ladies (bowling) All Stars of Sacramento, said that television played a lesser role in the publicity of local bowling leagues.

“(Television) wasn’t giving local bowlers much publicity, so I remember petitioning to Channel 10 to get more coverage,” Reed said. “We met with the program director, Cal Bollwinkle, in 1974 and he told us to send him the scores and some information about the bowlers. The station actually showed the scores for a while, but it didn’t last long. We did get a few TV news cameras out for some of the top men and some local women bowlers did get on TV at the El Rancho Bowl in West Sacramento.”

 

Longing for the lanes

When asked why she believes bowling has lost much of its popularity in Sacramento, Barsanti said, “I think part of it is there are so many more things for people to do (in Sacramento). When we started in the late 1940s or early 1950s, there wasn’t a lot going on (in the city) and World War II had just ended. We were in that (era) when we didn’t have to do a lot of really exciting things to be entertained. We found that recreational sports were a great way out and a great coming together.”

 

But although these days are long gone and most of the members of the group no longer bowl, there is one thing that the members refuse to give up and that is their fond memories of bowling in a golden age in Sacramento.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at Lance@valcomnews.com.

The Sacramento region is certainly rich with bakery history and among the area’s most successful currently operating bakeries is undoubtedly Ettore’s European Bakery and Restaurant.

The bakery, which is located at 2376 Fair Oaks Blvd., recently hit a major milestone in its own history, as it reached its 25th year in operation.

The business’s longevity is one of the many success stories of a bakery tradition in Sacramento that includes early local bakeries that began more than a century ago such as the Pioneer Bakery at Front and J streets, the Bee Hive Bakery at 6th and J streets and the Phoenix Bakery at 12th and J streets.

And like many of these classic bakeries of years gone by, Ettore’s is dedicated to using high quality, fresh ingredients and creating many edible offerings by hand.

 

American success story

The bakery’s success story is not only a local success story, but it is also the story of an immigrant who came to this country and fulfilled his own American dream.

Born on Valentine’s Day in 1952 in the small town of Wollerau, near Zurich, Switzerland, the business’s owner Ettore Ravazzolo is the mastermind behind this renowned bakery and restaurant.

During his childhood, he was placed in an orphanage with his siblings due to some difficulties within his family.

But despite this difficult time in his early life, Ravazzolo always dreamed big.

Ravazzolo said that very early in his life, he dreamed of becoming a cook like his grandfather, who owned a restaurant and had a strong reputation as a highly skilled cook.

“I used to observe my grandfather as he cooked and I was always interested in cooking,” Ravazzolo said. “I just really loved cooking and I wanted to become a chef. But I changed my mind when I was about 13 years old. My best friend’s family owned a bakery and I would help them on the weekends. So, I got into the pastry business, instead of cooking.”

As a result, Ravazzolo began an apprenticeship as a baker in Zurich at the age of 16.

Ravazzolo explained that his American dream began to take shape while he was spending time in Geneva, where he met a man, whose parents owned Sacramento’s now defunct bakery, The Eclaire, at 821 K St.

“He sponsored me to come to America in November 1977 and I worked at (The Eclaire),” said Ravazzolo, who arrived without knowing how to speak English. “I was only in Sacramento for about a year, then I went to Florida, then to Georgia, then I went to Missouri and then to Texas. I came back to Sacramento in 1983. I always wanted to come back (to Sacramento), because I always liked it here.”

After returning to the capital city, Ravazzolo began working for a croissant-only bakery, called Viva Croissant. While there, he introduced a few new items, including cinnamon rolls.

Although he left the business about a year later and worked as a consultant for a Swiss company in the Bay Area, Ravazzolo said that he returned to Viva Croissant upon hearing that the business was for sale.

“I bought the business (through financing from the bakery’s former owner Ted Giattina) on March 1, 1985,” Ravazzolo said. “I started out with me and two part-time sales people and then I built (the business) up from there.”

The popularity of the bakery grew rapidly under Ravazzolo’s ownership.

With the continuous success of the bakery, which later took on the name of its owner, the business underwent expansions in 1991 and 1995.

 

Baking a winner

The bakery, which had a second location in Folsom from 2002 to 2007, is a much different place than it was in its earlier years.

Operating with more than 50 employees on its staff today, the business has added a wide variety of bakery goods and a restaurant serving breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

When asked to discuss what it means to him to celebrate 25 years as a bakery owner, Ravazzolo was quick to compliment his customers.

“We appreciate our many fine customers, because you can’t be that long in business without the customers supporting you,” Ravazzolo said. “Thinking back (on the 25 years), it seems like I’ve only been here a few years. I just really enjoy being a part of the community and I’m looking forward to the next 25 years.”

Ettore’s European Bakery and Restaurant, which has won various awards, ranging from “best bakery” to “best hamburger,” is open Mondays through Thursdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For additional information about this business, call (916) 482-0708 or visit the Web site www.ettores.com.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

For a quarter century, Land Park’s Freeport Bakery has been a source for bringing many smiles to many faces through quality baked goods. And during this time, the bakery has expanded and attracted customers from far beyond the local neighborhood.

On a daily basis, it is not uncommon to see people at the bakery from such places as Woodland, Davis, Elk Grove, Stockton, Natomas, Roseville, Folsom and even a few from the Bay Area.

Just last week, for instance, West Sacramento resident Malia Novak was visiting the bakery, as she so often had in the past.

Novak, who discovered the bakery in 1990, shared her love for the business’s quality products and services.

“I found out about the bakery through a (former) co-worker who lives off of 4th Avenue,” Novak said. “I first came here for the pastries. They also did my wedding cake. It was great. It was a chocolate cake with the black chocolate on the outside and marzipan on the inside. Everybody who came to my wedding just loved (the cake). It was a beautiful cake, plus it was delicious. I would definitely recommend this bakery to others, because they’re the best bakery in Sacramento and they’re also reasonable.”

At the time of Novak’s introduction to the bakery, which is located at 2966 Freeport Blvd., the business was still in its transitional stage as it had yet to double in size under its second owners, Walter and Marlene Goetzeler.

 

The right ingredients

Marlene, who was raised in Chicago, said that much effort was made to improve and expand the bakery, which she began operating with her husband 22 years ago.

“When we bought the business, there were seven employees and now we have close to 50,” Marlene said. “We only used to have half the building and the other side (of the building) had a business, called The Radio Place (at 2964 Freeport Blvd.), and they sold CBs when CBs were popular.”

Freeport Bakery expanded its operations within the old CB store space in 1991.

Marlene added that the offerings at the bakery have also grown immensely, since its early days when it was solely a cake and pastry business. And even the amount of cakes and pastries available at the bakery has widely expanded.

The bakery’s selection of cakes, for instance, is so extensive that the cakes are featured in a foldout menu, which includes such offerings as the Chocolate Decadence (truffle-like flourless cake topped off with a generous amount of whipped cream), the Fruit Basket Cake (three layers of buttermilk cake with fresh strawberries, bananas and whipped cream) and the Seville Marnier (orange poppy seed cake drizzled with Grand Marnier, layered with chocolate whipped cream and frosted with whipped ganache).

The Goetzelers also introduced bread to the bakery. These breads include: nine-grain, chala (sweet egg bread), baguettes, rolls, brioche and french breads.

The bakery also offers holiday-themed mini cakes and a variety of cookies, including chocolate chip, shortbread and triple chocolate cookies.

Marlene said that the bakery places much emphasis in using fresh, high quality ingredients and when possible, the business purchases local products.

 

Bakery and community

Although the Goetzelers had never owned a bakery until acquiring Freeport Bakery, Walter, who was born in southern Bavaria, near the Austrian border, said that he grew up around bakeries.

“We were kind of like a bakery family,” said Walter, who moved to the United States when he was 22 years old. “My grandfather was a baker, my grandmother came from the bakery (background) and they had a bakery and then I have several uncles who have bakeries in Germany. And I worked in a small bakery out in the countryside (in Germany) that was owned by my mom and my dad (Afra and Hans Goetezeler).”

Because of his love for baking, Goetzeler, who lived with Marlene in San Diego prior to moving to Sacramento, decided he would like to own a bakery.

After failed efforts to establish a bakery in San Diego, the Goetzelers discovered that Freeport Bakery was for sale while visiting with their friends in Sacramento.

Marlene recently shared her memories of acquiring Freeport Bakery.

“The bakery had been going for about three years before we came along,” Marlene said. “It was owned by (Land Park native) Richard Kuchman and (his then-wife, Andrea). They started the bakery and we bought it from them. We first saw the bakery listed in the newspaper in May 1987 and by (the following) August, we owned it.”

Marlene said that part of the secret to the bakery’s success and longevity has been its ability to hire dedicated employees, who work at the business for many years.

Currently, Freeport Bakery has six employees who have worked at this local establishment for 15 years or more. They are: Carol Clevenger, Lien Doan, Jeannine Klock, Valentina Lapik, Ann Mueller and Elizabeth Velasco.

And naturally, with experienced workers and quality bakery goods, the business continues to attract repeat customers on a daily basis.

Marlene said that the bakery survives off repeat customers, noting that about 70 percent of the business’s customers are repeat customers.

One such customer is Land Park resident Ben Parisi, who has been purchasing pastries at the bakery since its early years.

When asked to describe why he likes the bakery, Parisi said, “The people who work here are very pleasant and they know you by name. It’s in a friendly neighborhood and they have great (baked good). I love the bear claws, definitely the bear claws, and also the blueberry bran muffins and carrot cake. And when pumpkin pie comes around, I’ll go through one a week. I’m very impressed with their food and you find items here that you don’t find at other places. It’s just a really great bakery.”

 

Visiting the bakery

Freeport Bakery is open Mondays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For additional information about this business, call (916) 442-4256 or visit the Web site www.freeportbakery.com.

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.

The Riverside-Pocket area is certainly rich with history and among the earlier stories of this area is the history of the Frank Enos Service Station.

Opening in about 1921 on 3.7 acres of property purchased by Frank Enos, Jr. from Frank George on the levee side of Riverside Road (now Riverside Boulevard) near 35th Avenue, the business was the only service station between Y Street (today’s Broadway) and the town of Freeport.

In its early years, the service station was essential to many people in the area who had transitioned from horse and buggies and surreys to Model Ts and other early automobiles.

Like many people in the area at the time, Frank Enos was of Portuguese heritage, as his father, also Frank Enos, was born in Pico, Azores Islands, Portugal.

 

From slough to service station

Frank Enos, Jr. (who for the remainder of this story will simply be referred to as Frank) was born in 1872 on his father’s 27-acre ranch, adjacent to Babel Slough in Freeport in the area that is now known as Clarksburg.

Following the death of his father, Frank, along with his brother Joe, inherited his family’s ranch.

In about 1890, Joe purchased his brother’s portion of the ranch and the two brothers opened Enos Bros. Grocery on the northwest corner of 10th and O streets.

A few years later, Frank purchased Joe’s percentage of the business and moved the business to the northwest corner of 4th and L streets, where Macy’s department store is located today.

With this move, a bar was added to the business, which was renamed Frank Enos Grocery Store and Bar.

Occasionally during this era, other bars were also connected to grocery stores, including the Portuguese businesses, the Da Rosa grocery store on Riverside Road and the Souza grocery store on Freeport Road in the town of Freeport.

While operating his grocery store and bar in 1897, Frank married Philomena “Minnie” Brown, the daughter of prominent Freeport resident John Joaquim “King” Brown, who also had two sons – John, who was a guard at the Bank of Italy (later Bank of America) at 6th and K streets, and Manuel, who was the captain of the dredger, Argyle.

The newlyweds moved into their newly purchased home at 2419 L St., where they resided until they moved to Riverside in 1913.

It was in this year that Frank purchased the property where the service station was built and opened about eight years later.

The property also included the family’s new home – a small, white, two-story, c. 1910, wood-frame house.

The service station, which was referred to by many local residents as “Frank Enos’ gas station,” originally included three pumps, which provided regular and ethyl gasoline. The station was later downsized to include only two pumps.

In addition to offering gasoline, the station included large scales, which were used to weigh horse-drawn wagons and small trucks with loads of hay and produce that were shipped out on boxcars on Front Street, near today’s Sacramento History Museum in Old Sacramento.

 

People, property and petrol

Pocket native Dolores (Silva) Greenslate recalled a very early story relating to the Frank Enos Service Station.

“In about 1923, my father (Victor Silva), who at the time worked in dredging around Sutter Bypass raising the levels of the existing Sacramento River levees, upon leaving for work in the Riverside area, discovered his Model T Ford truck was low on gas,” Greenslate said. “Frank Enos’ gas station was not yet opened for morning business, so he pushed his little truck up Riverside Road to Y Street in order to buy gas from Ed Fortado’s gas station, which was the next closest station. It is hard to believe that he had the strength to push the truck over the Sutterville Road hill and still had strength enough to push it about another mile to Y Street. I knew he was very strong, but I didn’t know he was that strong.”

Greenslate said that Frank was a very kind man who would have gladly been awoken to assist her father to accommodate him on his way to work.

She added that her father, however, would not have wanted to inconvenience Frank at that predawn hour.

“My father was a very polite and classy man,” Greenslate said.

Greenslate further described Frank, referring to him as a “short, wiry man, who was mild-mannered and kind-hearted.”

Eventually, two of Frank’s three sons, Alfred and Louis “Louie” Enos, regularly assisted him with various service station duties, including pumping gas, changing oil and changing tubes in tires.

Louie later worked as a junior high school teacher, including his time at California Junior High School at 2991 Land Park Drive at Vallejo Way, where he was a substitute English teacher during the 1930s.

Ironically, Greenslate, who attended California Junior High School from 1935 to 1937, was one of Louie’s students.

 

Fueled legacy

Although the Frank Enos Service Station was closed in 1940 and Frank and Minnie passed away in the early 1960s, the Enos presence in the area continued after this time, as Alfred, who was a lifelong bachelor, had a house built on his property at 5720 Riverside Blvd. Alfred resided in this small, stucco, single-story house, which still stands today, until at least 1982.

Greenslate said that the site of the old service station, which is located near Interstate 5, represents one of the historic landmarks of a much changed Riverside-Pocket area.

“I experienced the last of the horse-drawn wagons and surreys going up and down Riverside Road and then we had Frank Enos’ gas station, which was the beginning of automobiles commonly traveling along Riverside Road. (The station) is part of my many memorable childhood recollections, as we always stopped by (the station) before we went any place and my parents would talk to Frank while getting their gas. It was just one of the notable places that I remember being in the area, which also included my grandmother’s house and other farmhouses and farmlands. Those were very special times, but the area has changed drastically since these days and is obviously a much different place today.”

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.