Editor’s note: There will be a follow up story in an upcoming Land Park News issue about more of the details surrounding the amphitheater and neighbors’ plans to revamp it.

Besides the annual Shakespeare festival put on by neighboring Sacramento City College, the William A. Carroll Amphitheatre in Land Park plays host to not much else.

Its poor lighting, lack of bathrooms and ticket booth, make for a difficult place to hold events. And at a previous movie night, people had a difficult time finding their way out of their seats due to the lack of light. And if performers ever want to use the bathroom, they might be gone for 15 minutes, as the nearest bathroom is a couple hundred yards away.

So about a year ago, neighbors decided they wanted to start a modernization effort and they contacted then city councilmember Rob Fong.

They started meeting with City College staff and came up with some ideas, took some pictures and then surveyed The Land Park Community Association, which indicated 85 percent polled interested in improvements.

It could become a place to hold more shows and even wedding ceremonies.

But, it’s not going to be cheap, says president of the LPCA Mark Abrahams.
Mark Abrahams, president of the Land Park Community Association.

Back in February, citycouncilmember Steve Hansen said the amphitheater project is “very exciting and is a much-needed modernization so that space can be better utilized.” He said if it can work, it’s going to be a win-win for everybody.

Sacramento City College and Warren Smith, founder of Sacramento Professional Soccer, LLC entered into an Exclusive Right to Negotiate relating to holding professional soccer matches at Hughes Stadium. The two organizations are actively working through the details with the intent to enter into an agreement in the early first quarter, 2013.

“We are very excited at the prospect of playing our USL Pro Soccer matches at Hughes Stadium,” Smith said.

“The College, the Los Rios Community College District and the people of Sacramento have done an incredible job in the stadium’s $13 million renovation and in bringing this community jewel back to the stature it once was for the people of Sacramento. We whole heartedly expect to announce a formal ‘use agreement’ in the coming weeks and would like to thank the Los Rios Community College District for their partnership to bring professional soccer to the Sacramento Region.”

Smith will lead the franchise with support from Mayor Kevin Johnson, Think BIG Sacramento and the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Smith, former SVP of Business Development for Clean World Partners and co-founder of the Sacramento Rivercats, is a steering committee member of Think BIG Sacramento and has been working with the organization to bring professional outdoor soccer to Sacramento.

Smith has entered into an Exclusive Right to Negotiate with Sacramento City College relating to holding professional soccer matches at Hughes Stadium. The two organizations are actively working through the details with the intent to enter into an agreement in the early first quarter, 2013.

Smith led the grassroots effort starting in 1997 to build a professional baseball stadium and attract a professional baseball team to the Sacramento area. He successfully negotiated all real estate agreements necessary for the land, acquisition and stadium development, which included the largest naming rights partnership in minor league baseball and a joint venture agreement with Savage Baseball Group that led to Raley Field’s development and the Sacramento River Cats moving to West Sacramento, California.

Sacramento’s USL PRO franchise will plan a series of exhibition matches during 2013 involving domestic and international professional soccer teams. In addition, supporter events, soccer clinics and player appearances will be scheduled leading up to the 2014 inaugural season. In early 2013, the franchise will begin the process of building a professional franchise infrastructure, including personnel and naming the team with input and engagement from soccer fans. For updates follow the team on Twitter at @SacProSoccer, “Like” them on Facebook at Facebook.com/SacProSoccer or visit SacProSoccer.com.

The Sacramento area contains one of the strongest regional soccer scenes in the United States, with some of the highest youth soccer participation rates in the country, as well as successful high school and collegiate programs. Numerous athletes from Sacramento currently play in Major League Soccer (MLS) and USL PRO. During the 2010 World Cup, Univision had higher viewership in Sacramento than ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX stations combined for the match between Mexico vs. Costa Rica. Sacramento was also consistently in the top 10 for ESPN/ABC Nielsen ratings during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

USL PRO is the strongest, best operated and most experienced North American men’s professional soccer league below MLS, both on and off the field. Focused on franchise stability and longevity, USL PRO will feature 13 teams in 2013, with over half boasting a decade or more of operational experience. Expansion teams in Phoenix, Arizona and Tampa, Florida will begin participation in the 2013 season.

The league is focused on aggressive, but deliberate, growth by adding teams fully capable of meeting USL and US Soccer Federation standards, which are located in markets that further promote regional league play. In addition to league play, USL PRO teams will continue to compete in the national Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and various domestic and international exhibitions. USL PRO is the longest standing pro league affiliate member within the US Soccer Federation.

Johnson said, “Today is an exciting day – not only for soccer fans around our region, but also for those who believe fervently in Sacramento’s potential as a vibrant and emerging market…I welcome the USL PRO to town and am thrilled to see more jobs and civic amenities heading our way.”

Editor’s note: Lance Armstrong’s series on dairies in Land Park will be continued on Dec. 27.

South Land Park resident and philanthropist Dr. Herbert Yee, who is also recognized for his many years of working as a dentist in the capital city, makes it no secret that he is a staunch supporter of education.
Already known for assisting in the advancement of education through other projects, Herbert recently presented a check in the amount of $12,500 to Sacramento’s Confucius Chinese School.
The school, which has an enrollment of about 70 students, received this charitable donation during a special dinner honoring Herbert. The donation will be used for teachers’ salaries, janitorial services and school supplies.
The event, which was held on Sunday, Dec. 2 at Rice Bowl restaurant at 2378 Florin Road, began with a performance by some of the school’s students, who sang “God Bless America.”

Directing the event, which was attended by about 250 people, were its masters of ceremony Alfred Yee, the school’s principal, who spoke in English, and Henry Yee, who spoke in Chinese.
Represented at the event were the local Chinese Confucius Church and school, the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento, the Yee Association and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Association.
And attending the gathering as special honored guests were Alan Yee, the western grand president of the Yee Association from Los Angeles, Eddie Yee, the president of San Francisco’s Yee Association, Yi Hua Yu of Stockton’s Yee Association and Bill Wong, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association of San Francisco.
As a prelude to the dinner, the event included several speakers and presentations.
Among these speakers were Senator Leland Yee, who represents District 8 in the western half of San Francisco and the majority of San Mateo County, Sacramento County Supervisor Jimmie Yee, Dr. Jong Chen, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento, and Frank Kwong, president of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial and Soo Yuen Benevolent associations.
In speaking beyond the topic of Herbert’s monetary contributions, Kwong said, “(Herbert is) the nicest person, he’s my mentor, he’s a good friend, a good father. That means a lot to our community. It’s a good example of how we put our community together.”
Herbert also spoke to the gathering’s attendees, who also included his wife, Inez, their sons, Randy, Alan and Wesley, their four daughter-in-laws, and five of their grandchildren.

In honor of his goodwill to the Sacramento community, Herbert was presented with a state senate proclamation from Leland Yee.
He also received a proclamation from the People’s Republic of China and a plaque from the Chinese Benevolent Association of Sacramento.
And as a show of appreciation for Herbert’s financial donation to the school, students of the school presented him with a large, artistically decorated, heavy stock paper that included a drawing of an apple on a stack of books and a bullhorn-like image with the words: “Thank you, Dr. Yee, Confucius Chinese School.”
Surrounding these features were signatures of the school’s students.
Herbert is very well connected to Sacramento’s Confucius Chinese School, considering that in addition to attending the school himself, his father, Henry, and all of his sons and grandchildren were once students at the school.
Furthermore, Henry, Herbert and Randy Yee have all served on the school’s board.

Herbert described his longtime involvement in assisting in the advancement of education and his overall love for education.
“My love is in education,” Herbert said. “I built a school in China. That’s education. I’m on the board of the University of the Pacific. That’s education. I love the Chinese school. That’s education. I have an exhibit at the (California State) Railroad Museum. I’m on the board yet, 32 years. And that’s education about trains, transportation. I have a hologram at The California Museum about the history of our family, so that’s education. In Fiddletown, you’ll see my great-grandfather’s herb store. So, I am more attuned to encourage young people to go to college, and especially the Chinese. But now you really don’t need to encourage them. They know, especially the immigrants who come from even Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, China. That’s why (at the University of California,) Berkeley, more than half of the students are Asian, because their parents encouraged them to study.”
Herbert, who graduated from Sacramento High School in June 1942, said that his own father, who began attending Stanford University in 1918, encouraged him to attend schools to further his education.
“I skipped low 7th (grade) and I just went straight from 6th grade to high 7th (grade) and I skipped the last six months of high school,” Herbert said. “Of course, my father pushed me a little bit. Then he said, ‘You try Stanford.’ I didn’t know it was so tough to get (into Stanford), but I got in. I was there 70 years ago. Now I’m 88, almost.”
Eventually, Herbert spent more than a half century working as a dentist. This time included his work as the official dentist for the staff of governors Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan.

Herbert, who is a longtime member of the Sutter Club, American Legion Post 692, Lion’s Club District 4 C5 and Del Paso Country Club, has served as president of many organizations, including the California State Board of Dental Examiners, American Cancer Society for Sacramento County, Sacramento Chinese Benevolent Association and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Association.
Additionally, Herbert recently reached a milestone as a South Land Park resident.
After experiencing difficulty purchasing a home in the area due to his ethnicity, Herbert was finally able to buy his current home on Nov. 2, 1952.
He celebrated the 60th anniversary of this event with his sons, and noted, “Dad is kind of a sentimental guy.”
In speaking about his achievement of purchasing a home in South Land Park, Herbert said, “I was one of the first (Chinese to live in the area). I don’t want to claim to be the (first). Since that time, quite a number of Asians have lived here.”
With his love for education, Herbert said that he is proud that his sons were able to graduate from college and become successful in their professional lives.
Randy is a retired dentist, as well as a member of the Confucius Chinese School board, Alan is a pulmonary doctor, Wesley is a dentist, and his late son, Douglas, was a dentist.
Herbert and Inez also have a granddaughter, Juliana, who is attending Stanford Law School.
Wesley, who gave a speech about his father’s life during the event, recognized the importance of his mother in his Herbert’s life.
“What my father accomplished would not have happened without the love his life and his soul mate, our mother, Inez,” Wesley said. “She raised four boys, was a Cub Scouts den leader, attended our PTA meetings and worked in my father’s office. Later she would accompany my father worldwide on his missions to help people around the world and in our nation.”
As a man who is always involved in many projects, Herbert does not feel that the word, “retired,” is a word that would best describe his current status in life.
“Now, I’d like to say I’m retired, but you know a man like me, we never retire,” Herbert said. “My mind is always thinking. I always say when I wake up in the morning, I want to think that I want to be a better person – a better person today than yesterday. And I want to see how I can best take care of my little wife, who I married 67, going on 68 years (ago), and, of course, my family and all the business I have.”

Lance@valcomnews.com

Simon and Garfunkel once said, “It’s all happening at the zoo.”
That certainly seems to be the case at the Sacramento Zoo, which this year is celebrating its 85th anniversary with many new attractions.

Small Wonders

The zoo’s main focus right now is on its capitol improvement project called Small Wonders, for which the zoo is currently working on construction plans and permits, according to director Mary Healy.

Healy says the new exhibit will be located across from the zoo’s giraffe exhibit, aptly named Tall Wonders, and will feature four new species of animals – a pair of African monkeys called Wolf’s Guenon, an African bat called a Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, an aardvark and a mongoose.

The zoo has already acquired the Wolf’s Guenon and will acquire the other animals as the project moves forward, Healy said.
Healy said the Small Wonders exhibit will help complete an area of the zoo where consistent improvements have been made to make the animals much more visible to guests.

She also said bringing in new species of animals provides new educational opportunities.

“We’ve never had any bats on exhibit,” Healy said. “We used to have one in the education department, but we’ve never had any on exhibit, and that’s going to be a fun opportunity. Kids like bats, they’re not intimidated by them. Some adults tend to still think they’re kind of creepy, so it’s kind of fun to bring in something like that that the kids are into.”

Wild affair

Although there is currently no opening date set yet for Small Wonders, Healy hopes the zoo will be able to give a timetable update to guests at the upcoming Wild Affair fund raising event on Oct. 6.

According to marketing coordinator Marisa Hicks, Wild Affair is the zoo’s annual black tie gala dinner and auction.

“It’s our grandest event focused on adults and just raising as much money as possible for the zoo, and this year that money is going toward Small Wonders,” she said.

During this year’s event, attendees will start the evening with appetizers and cocktails, plus the chance to take special behind-the-scenes tours of zoo exhibits.

“That includes behind-the-scenes in the primate area (and) the carnivore area, the lions and tigers,” Hicks said.
Wild Affair attendees will enjoy a plated dinner by Mulvaney’s B&L, a live auction hosted by Dave Bender from CBS13 and a show put on by zoo staff.

“The show is put on by the very same staff that has done tours, so somebody who was just showing you behind-the-scenes in the primate area may now be on stage in costume,” Hicks said. “There is no end to what our passionate zoo staff will do to raise money for our exhibits here.”

For the community

In addition to Wild Affair, the zoo has a number of events coming up to help benefit its surrounding community.
For example, now until the end of August, zoo guests can bring in a new, unwrapped school supply for a school supply drive and receive $1 off general admission.

Hicks said the supplies will be donated to a school in need in the local community. In November and December, patrons can bring in a donation for either Toys for Tots or the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services and again receive $1 off general admission.

In October, the zoo’s popular Boo at the Zoo will return for two days, Oct. 30 and 31. Here kids can come in costume, visit 17 different candy stations and take rides on the “spooky” train and “creepy” carousel.

“Generally what people do on Halloween is they come to Boo at the Zoo and then they go out into Land Park and do the rest of their trick-or-treating, so it’s a real fun night,” Hicks said.

Additionally, the zoo has been hosting a number of nonprofits through different programming. For example, each night of the zoo’s summer Twilight Thursdays series gave a different nonprofit an opportunity to share its information with patrons.
Healy feels it’s important for the zoo to help out their fellow community nonprofits.

“We’re in kind of a unique position since we do get a half-million visitors to our zoo and we feel that we are in a position, kind of like the big brother, to help out some of the other organizations,” she said. “We just try to be a good partner and feel like we’re all in this together and a lot of the nonprofits are struggling.”

The next 85

As the Sacramento Zoo celebrates its 85th birthday, what’s in store for the next 85 years?
Healy says part of it will be focusing on offering more intimate experiences for zoo patrons.
“We know we’re limited with the 14 acre site (and) we want to make sure when people come here, they can see the animals up close and have interactions,” she said.

The zoo has already been moving in that direction with the all-glass river otter exhibit that allows kids to come “nose-to-nose” with the animals, the Tall Wonders giraffe exhibit that features supervised feedings twice a day and a window in the tiger exhibit where guests can sit next to the tigers.

“We just want to keep creating those kinds of special, up close experiences that make our zoo unique,” Healy said.
And Hicks says the zoo will continue to work on its main mission, which is to educate the next generation on conservation.
“They’re not going to conserve what they have today without being educated on what there is,” she said. “All of our programs (are) aimed toward engaging our audience and getting them to pay attention to conservation and observing that education so they carry it with them. And hopefully we’re creating that connection with wildlife that a lot of urban city kids don’t have.”

corrie@valcomnews.com

Editor’s Note: This is the second article in a two-part series regarding the Setzer family’s history in the lumber industry.

In their second recent meeting with The Land Park News regarding the history of the longtime Broadway district business, Setzer Forest Products, Jeff and Cal

Setzer expressed their love for being a part of the district for many decades and their pride of maintaining a company that has been a family tradition to operate.

In discussing his deep connection to the Broadway district, Jeff, who is Cal’s son and co-president of the company along with his cousin, Scott Setzer, said that he has been associated with the district and the Land Park area for his entire life.

“My parent’s home where I grew up was at 3611 17th Street (where former Sacramento Bee editor C.K. McClatchy later resided), so (the area) was always important to me, and I came back and raised my (three) kids on Sutterville (Road),” Jeff said. “The plant has always been on Broadway, so Broadway has always been a part of my life in some way or another. When the Greater Broadway Partnership got together, I felt it was important that the owners of the properties of businesses on Broadway were the ones who were making the decisions, because they were putting in the investment and the risk into the street. So, that’s why I got involved with the partnership.”

Cal discussed the pride that his family feels through continuing to operate Setzer Forest Products.

“We are proud of the fact that it’s still a family business,” Cal said. “We would like to see it continue as a family business, but it’s hard to do through the generations. Jeff has done a fabulous job taking on the roles that my brother (Hardie) and I were doing before, and his cousins (Scott and Mark Setzer, who are part of the company’s ownership and management) are also doing a good job. So, there is considerable pride in the family of the generations going on and on (with Setzer Forest Products).”

Setzer Box Co.

As mentioned in the first part of this two-part series, the history of Setzer Forest Products, which is located at 2570 3rd Street, just south of Broadway, began in 1927.

Founded as the Setzer Box Co., the business began as a plant, which manufactured soft pine shooks, trays, picking boxes and nailed boxes. (“Box shook” is the term for the sawn material used to make boxes).

Although Jeff points out that many people today are unfamiliar with the term “box factory,” the Setzer Box Co. was once well known for producing wooden boxes for a large number of products, including many goods that were regularly used by residents of the city.

“So many different items went into wooden boxes: from soap, cheese, dynamite to fruit and oil,” Jeff said.

A look around the company’s office reveals displays of brass printing dyes that were once used to place the names of businesses on box ends.

Among the most notable dyes on display are those bearing product names such as Del Monte, Van Camp’s, Hunt’s, Palmolive and Blue Goose.

The Setzer Box Co. also produced boxes for the Campbell’s Soup Co., the Bercut-Richards cannery and Kraft cheese.

The company has also shipped box shook throughout the United States and other countries, including Israel, the Philippines and South Africa, and for a few years maintained a molding office in South Korea.

When the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 occurred, the company’s founder, Curt Setzer, found himself

challenged because he could only sell his box shooks for the same price that he could purchase his lumber.

In response to this problem, Curt approached George Zoller, vice president of Capital National Bank, with the proposition to build a box factory and sawmill in Greenville, Calif. and also a sawmill in Sacramento.

In recalling this moment in his memoirs, Curt wrote, “It was suggested that I put a sawmill in Sacramento. When I told George Zoller this, he agreed to give me any amount of money I needed. He said, ‘Just write your check; I’ll take care of it.’”

After Curt received a loan through Zoller, the Greenville and Sacramento projects began and were completed in 1934.

Two of the company’s most successful endeavors were its manufacturing of Pres-to-Logs from about 1934 to about 1992 and its production of shade slats from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Cal explained that the company changed hands during the post-World War II era.

“My brother and I were both military trained, but we were both in our 20s, and (their father, Curt) walked out and he said, ‘You run (the company).’ The fact that we were both in the military, we said, ‘We’ll run (the company) like the military. Everybody will have a line of command.’ We succeeded all right and got along pretty well for many, many years together.”

In 1948, Cal and Hardie and Cal’s sister, Yvonne (Setzer) Rolfe, established Glenco Forest Products, and four years later, through the operations of Glenco, they were successful enough to be able to purchase the Setzer Box Co. from Curt and his wife, Hazel.

During this era, Glenco built its Elk Creek, Calif. sawmill, which was owned by the Setzer company until 1968.

The 1960s was a productive era for the Setzer Box Co., as is indicative through the fact that the business was the number one user of railroad cars in Sacramento during the early part of the decade. About 1,000 cars per year were running to and from the 3rd Street site.

In 1968, the Setzers sold their Elk Creek mill and their sawmill in Sacramento was closed due to the construction of Interstate 5. The Greenville plant closed a decade earlier.

Setzer Forest Products

It was also during the same year that the company’s planing mill and box company off 65th Street closed down after about 30 years of operations, and Setzer

Forest Products became the business’s official name.

The company began producing finger joint moldings in the early 1970s and in 1978 entered the first of their two decades of making cut stock for window and door manufacturers.

Since 1991, the Setzers have owned a finger joint molding and cut stock plant in Oroville, and have manufactured medium density fiberboard moldings (MDF) at their Sacramento site since 1998.

The Setzers also maintain their own nonprofit foundation, the Setzer Foundation, which has financially assisted community organizations and projects since 1952.

Contributing to the longtime success of Setzer Forest Products, many employees have worked for the company for many years. One such worker was recognized by the business with a gift Corvette in honor of his more than 50 years in management.

Jeff explained that the Setzer family’s longtime Sacramento business has prospered despite changing times.

“The thing about this company that I think is important is that we have adapted and changed with the marketplaces,” Jeff said. “Even though we’ve been in the same location, we’ve done many different things here. Because we’re a privately-held, family company, we’ve been able to move quickly and adapt to survive all kinds of different challenges, including the box business going from wood to paper and the molding business to MDF. We’ve just been a company that can adapt fairly quickly and stay in touch with the marketplace.”

First Land Park Christmas

Gary recalled a moment during the 1970s, when he and his wife showed their holiday spirit on Christmas Day.

“We moved in Labor Day (1972), so Christmas of 1972 was our first Christmas (in Land Park),” Gary said. “One of our first years here, on Christmas morning, there was a woman waiting for the bus across the street and we invited her in to wait for the bus, because it was cold outside.”

After moving to Land Park, Gary and Missy began their longtime tradition of placing a Christmas tree in the front window of their home. Each year, the tree features a wide variety of ornaments, which have different meanings such as a drum ornament because one of their sons plays the drums and a cocker spaniel ornament representing the family’s dog that lived for 17 years.

Christmas cards with photographs of Gary and Missy’s sons, David and Patrick, were always an adventure to create, Missy explained.

Family memories

“I would visit with my (now late) grandparents {Russell Parrot, Sr. and Bernice (Cifuentes) Parrot, who lived on Swanston Drive, near Riverside Boulevard} and the way I have my Christmas tree set up reminds me of my grandmother,” Barraza said. “I also make sugar cookies with my daughter like the ones that my grandmother used to make.”

Also among Barazza’s fond Christmas memories is the story of how her father would try to make his children believe that Santa Claus was at their house.

“My sister and I were lying in bed and my dad would have these reindeer bells and he’d be on the roof and he’d be going, ‘Ho, ho, ho.’ So, that is a good memory.”

Land Park decorations

Like many Sacramento area neighborhoods during Christmastime, Land Park draws attention for its various holiday-themed, decorated homes.

Land Park native Thomas Van Acker said that he enjoys seeing the area’s many decorated homes at the end of each year and added that he does have a favorite group of decorated homes.

“My favorite thing is driving down by (William Land) Park on 13th Avenue and (seeing) a lot of those bigger houses with really nice decorations,” Van Acker said. “They have beautiful lights out. I also like that one (decorated) house, about a block south of Vic’s (Ice Cream) on Riverside (Boulevard). They deck it out.”

Kendra Daijogo, who grew up in Lodi and recently moved to Land Park, said that one of her favorite Christmas memories is presenting gifts to her nephews and niece when they were younger.

“My nephews and my niece, when they were younger, were just as excited for a bike as they were for drawing paper or markers or crayons,” Daijogo said. “It’s just kind of neat to see how when you’re that young, it’s just the joy of getting a gift.”

Daijogo, who has many ancestors from Japan, added that she also enjoyed her Christmas dinners, which were a mixture of Japanese and traditional American food.

A Zombie Hut Christmas

Curtis Popp, a 1989 Jesuit High School graduate who grew up on Markham Way, said that he also has nice memories about his Christmastime dinners.

“What I fondly remember is going to the Zombie Hut (restaurant at 5635 Freeport Blvd.),” Popp said. “My grandfather used to take us there for Christmas Eve. And after that closed down, we went to Neptune’s Table (at 5990 South Land Park Drive). That was kind of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner that we would do every year. I got together with all my cousins there. I was an only child, so we always had these big dinners.”

“(Christmas) means family,” Morrison said. “The gifts don’t mean too much, really. My sister and brother and I used to get together. That was always a tradition for us. The last one we had together was with my brother, just him and I. He’s gone now, but we still kept that tradition up until the last minute.”

Morrison said that she does not spend her Christmases alone, however, since she has two daughters, Pamela and Roberta.

Janet Feil, who grew up in East Sacramento and has been a resident of Land Park since 1969, said that she also has memories of spending time with her family during Christmastime.

“It was all family (time), like Christmas Eve was one grandmother and those aunts and uncles and Christmas afternoon was the other grandmother and the other aunts and uncles,” Feil said. “So, we just spent Christmastime going from one part of town to the other and seeing all the relatives and stuff.”

With the new holiday season, it is once again time for adding to our many cherished Christmastime memories, ranging from special times with the family and festive dinners to gift giving and spreading the holiday spirit.

lance@valcomnews.com

Sitting in his office at the California State Indian Museum last week, Rob Wood spoke about the current California Indian Heritage Center project, which would eliminate the necessity of the longtime East Sacramento museum on the grounds of Sutter’s Fort.

The new center is scheduled to open in the summer of 2016, following the completion of the 50,000-square-foot first phase of the project at its selected 43-acre West Sacramento site, across from Discovery Park and overlooking the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers.

 

Revisiting history

Although the museum has continuously operated between its adobe walls that were built in the likeness of the fort 70 years ago, Wood, who serves as the heritage center’s project manager, said that the museum’s size has always been a problem.

“From the date (the museum) was built, it was inadequate in terms of its size,” Wood said. “This (museum) is probably about 4,000 square feet and we’re projecting that at final build-out, (the new center) will be 125,000 square feet.”

Wood added that the vastness of the museum’s off-site collections, which he endearingly, yet unofficially refers to as “tribal treasures,” is so great that only about 5 percent of the entire museum archives are currently on display in the museum, which for the most part consists of displays created in the mid-1980s under the direction of the museum’s former curator, Mike Tucker.

Further emphasizing the magnitude of the inadequate size of the museum, Wood said, “We have about 3,500 baskets (in storage) alone.”

But looking forward, Wood shared details about the future heritage center, which he has so passionately devoted his time to helping it become a reality.

“(California) State Parks has been trying to make this (center) happen probably since about the 1970s and it is part of the relationship that State Parks has with the Native American community,” Wood said. “This project is extremely exciting. It gives us an opportunity to do what we haven’t been able to do in terms of telling the story of California Indians. Mostly what’s shown here (at the museum) are things from the North Coast and there are some dabblings from some other stuff from throughout the state. The idea of this (future) facility, too, is to take a greater statewide look of what we’re able to do there.”

Wood added that it is also an important element of the project to create a place where California Native Americans can “tell their own story in their own way.”

“It’s been a big deal throughout this project through consultations with native folks to have them involved in this project, so it speaks with what we call the ‘native voice,’” Wood said. “There was an interpretive document created in consultation with Indian advisors and academic advisors to accomplish that.”

 

The new museum

Although Wood recalled seeing concepts for a new State Indian Museum in Folsom as early as 1978, it was not until this century that much progress was made on this endeavor.

With the 2002 legislation through SB 2063, the center’s task force was established for the purpose of assisting in the development of the center and seed money was acquired for preliminary planning.

From 2003 to 2007, the task force conducted a statewide site search with the Folsom Lake area being held as the backup plan for the project’s site.

During a large portion of this search, the Richards Boulevard area was considered, but the land acquisition, Wood said, “got too complicated and too expensive.”

In 2007, West Sacramento came forward with the now-selected site, which was offered as a donation.

A 20-acre parcel, which is owned by an Alaskan native corporation and located just north of the Broderick Boat Ramp, may also be incorporated into the overall project.

Additionally, the project consists of a secondary site in the Natomas area, just across from the Richards Boulevard area and near Camp Pollock, a Boy Scout camp located at 1501 Northgate Blvd.

Cathy Taylor, district superintendent of the Capital District for California State Parks, said that the (Natomas area) site was once considered as a main site for the project.

“For quite a long time, we had negotiated with the city of Sacramento about locating the facility out in (the Natomas) area,” Taylor said. “The American River Parkway, however, has a lot of restrictions about what can be built (there). There are limitations in the parkway about how large a facility can be and so we looked at the Natomas area as really more of an outdoor, interpretive space that could be used for large events. We aren’t going to do a lot of huge overnight gatherings in the West Sacramento site, where the center is itself, but we can certainly do that at the Natomas site.”

Taylor added that the parkway plan is limited to about 30,000 square feet of interpretive space and as a gathering area, it could include such amenities as an amphitheater, a stage and an outdoor, shaded interpretive programming site.

“It would be more of an outdoor type of facility than a (large) interpretive center,” Taylor said.

The center, which is projected to be paid for through one-third state funds and two-thirds private funding, is in its general plan stage for about the next 18 months and once this stage is completed, work on the project’s preliminary plans and working drawings will begin.

Taylor said that when the working drawings are completed – which may be about a two-year process – actual construction on the project can proceed.

Although it is uncertain when the project will be completed in its entirety, Taylor said that the center will be a world-class facility that will be well worth the wait.

“The California Indian Heritage Center has been a long time coming,” Taylor said. “It’s important for California Indians, but it’s also important for this community to have a project of this importance with this subject matter in the capital city. It’s a huge attraction for the city.”

 

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

May 9, 2013 Edition

The Land Park News markets to one of the most influential neighborhoods in Sacramento. Land Park residents are many of the Sacramento regions’ opinion makers and business leaders. Also among the readers of this publication is Curtis Park; a family-friendly community bordering Sacramento City College; and Hollywood Park, a neighborhood recently experiencing an economic revival.