The Sacramento City Council recently approved a revitalization plan for Old Sacramento Waterfront that is dramatically smaller than the plan it endorsed six years ago.

FROM THE PUBLISHER: When I heard the news about the Sacramento Republic FC ownership change — with Wilton Rancheria, a federally recognized Miwok tribe in Sacramento County, becoming majority owner (while Kevin Nagle maintains his managing partner role) — I joined the entire Capital Region in celebrating what this would mean for Major League Soccer, as well as for the continuing (and delightful) growth of professional sports here.

The district tells the story of the Gold Rush, the railroads, Sacramento’s beginnings and more, but it has a reputation as being merely a tourist novelty spot with gag gift and candy shops.

For years, Mike Baddley walked his dog from his J Street office past a dilapidated little house on the corner of 24th and I Streets in Midtown. “I was fascinated with it,” he says. The abandoned folk Victorian-style house, built in 1893 for H.L. Cuthirth, had been deemed by the city a substandard building, meaning not safe for occupancy.  

At a time when anyone can order lighting fixtures off Amazon or wander the aisles of Home Depot or Lowe’s and select something readily available and cheap, visiting Hobrecht or Lofings can feel like a trip to a different era. Still, there’s a story worth telling connected to each of these Sacramento stores which shows how family businesses can endure even in changing times.