Randy Stannard is the executive director of Oak Park Sol in Sacramento. (Photo courtesy Amber Stott)

Oak Park Sol Brings Nature Back to City Dwellers

New urban land trust builds community gardens, holds cooking classes

Oak Park’s Broadway throbs as bass bumps from one car and another’s engine belches. Someone honks their horn. Other cars buzz by well above the speed limit. This is urban living. But it doesn’t have to be. Thanks to Oak Park Sol, a newly-formed nonprofit serving as an urban land trust, this neighborhood is bringing nature back to its city-dwelling folks.

Jun 27, 2016 Amber Stott
The Art Hotel exhibit in Sacramento attracted nearly 13,000 attendees. (Photo courtesy Jon Kramp)

State of the Arts

With the success of the Art Hotel, is the timing right for a boom in Sacramento’s art scene?

Before the nine-day Art Hotel exhibit opened last February in downtown Sacramento, M5 Arts, the nonprofit group behind it, expected a max of 5,000 people to attend. What actually happened: Nearly 13,000 people lined up, many from the Bay Area, and some from as far as New York. People waited hours, the line often snaked around the block and several thousand people had to be turned away.

Jun 22, 2016 Vanessa Richardson
Could this statue hold a clue? (Photo by Kevin Cortopassi)

Let Us Outta Here!

Would our writer’s friendships survive an hour in an escape room?

Our hearts racing and stress levels high, the six of us aren’t sure whether our friendship will survive the next 10 minutes. We’re stuck in a small room together and can’t calm ourselves down long enough to agree on a system for tackling one of the final puzzles that will allow us to break through to freedom. Things are getting testy: We’re heavy sighing, and huffing and puffing. It’s possible I’m raising my voice.

Jun 10, 2016 Sena Christian