Ken James

Back Photographer

Ken James is a 24-year veteran photojournalist who started his career with the Fairfax Newspaper Group in Sydney Australia. Since relocating to California in 2002, Ken has contributed to many newspapers and wire services such as Bloomberg News, United Press International (UPI), The New York Times and San Francisco Examiner. In 2005, Ken spent six months covering the Iraq war and later documented the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Ken has actively covered state politics and gubernatorial elections, including the 2003 Recall. Besides covering national and local news events, Ken contributes monthly photo essays to Comstock’s and Sacramento Magazine. For more, visit www.kjamesimages.com.

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In the Making: Fit for a Spin

While working in a bike shop in the early 1980s, Steve Rex was introduced to custom small-scale bikes.

Using his bachelor’s degree in economics was going to have to wait — Rex wanted to become a frame builder. 

Jun 24, 2019 Sena Christian

Keeping It Clean

Jazmine Bonnett, owner of Blossom Bathhouse, works at a brisk pace. If she doesn’t quickly finish her bubble bath bars, the ingredients harden and become unsalvageable. A batch takes 30 minutes to make and yields about 20 individual scoops, which sell for $8.95 each.

Apr 22, 2019 Sena Christian

In The Archives

Macabre requests come to the Center for Sacramento History’s film archive. 

Oct 26, 2018 Ken James

In the Cards

Gregory Perkins of African American Expressions grew a nationally-renowned card business from humble Sacramento roots

In 1991, Gregory Perkins was a Sacramento corrections officer struck by a calling to make a difference. He realized that most greeting cards lacked representation of the African American community. Perkins worked with his cousin, an artist, to develop three Afrocentric greeting card designs in an effort to create what he calls an “uplifting product that African Americans can take pride in.”

Oct 19, 2018 Eva Roethler

Natural Connection

Lisa Taira at Kiyo’s Floral Design has practiced ikebana — traditional Japanese flower arrangement — for nearly 50 years. 

Sep 21, 2018 Eva Roethler

Haus of Cars

Kombi Haus is slowly taking over a city block in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood. Owner Justin Campbell opened the Volkswagen repair and restoration shop 20 years ago as a small garage on 34th Street. The business now covers over 12,000-square-feet of space across three buildings in the Triangle District.

Aug 24, 2018 Eva Roethler

On A Roll

Sushi savant Chef Billy Ngo dishes up his philosophy on cuisine. 

Jul 27, 2018 Eva Roethler

Sculpture and Science

A father and son duo are lighting up the Central Valley with handmade neon signs.

Jun 22, 2018 Eva Roethler
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Civic Pride

How six public places came to be

Civic structures help define a community’s identity. We feature six projects from throughout the Capital Region that have employed unique delivery models and creative design solutions to produce structures worthy of their calling.

Jun 12, 2018 Laurie Lauletta-Boshart

Common Thread

Growing up in South Korea, Jeannie Johng-Nishikawa would dream of being a fashion designer as she watched her mother spin yarn and make fabric. 

May 25, 2018 Eva Roethler

Carefully Crafted

Gladding, McBean, a terra cotta manufacturing company in Lincoln, mines from a clay deposit that keeps on giving. 

Mar 30, 2018 Eva Roethler

No Laughing Matter

Building iconic institutions in Sacramento comedy isn’t easy, but local comedian Shahera Hyatt gets the last laugh. 

Feb 23, 2018 Ken James

No Laughing Matter

Building iconic institutions in Sacramento comedy isn’t easy, but local comedian Shahera Hyatt gets the last laugh. 

Feb 23, 2018 Ken James

Blast from the Past

Christopher Knecht is a third-generation collector who owns 10 storage sheds, containing 600 square feet of late ‘70s through early ‘90s memorabilia, some of which he inherited from his father and grandfather.

Jan 26, 2018 Eva Roethler

Well-Oiled Machine

Vintage Monkey conducts antique motorcycle repairs like a well-oiled machine.

Dec 22, 2017 Sena Christian

Night Court

Transforming the Golden 1 Center, from the ground up. 

Nov 17, 2017 Allison Joy

All Cleaned Up

For 10 years, Dana Chavez-Rey and her husband, Alex, ran a successful brick-and-mortar pet grooming salon in West Sacramento, handling up to 30 dogs and cats a day. Then, they went mobile.

Oct 27, 2017 Sena Christian

Press Play

As a child, working in her family’s print shop in Grass Valley, Judith Berliner’s job was to help her father produce custom maps and limited-edition books on the antique machinery. She now works those same presses as owner of Full Circle Press.

Sep 29, 2017 Robin Epley

Good Game

Sacramento Rotary Foundation’s annual Golf 4 Kids event

This story starts back in 1922.

That’s the year when a small group of Sacramento-based doctors combined their professional connections and their Rotary Club memberships to form a program that is now the longest-running Rotary fundraiser in the country.

Sep 21, 2017 Robin Epley

Full Protection

Founded in 1996, Gutterglove recently doubled its space by moving from Rocklin to a 43,000-square-foot facility in Roseville where the company manufactures 60,000 feet of gutters in one day — all done by the hands of people.

Aug 25, 2017 Sena Christian

Performance Art

Artistic offices lead to more productive and engaged teams

Art in the workplace is more than cosmetic; it can actually improve employee attitudes, performance, and even the company’s bottom line. This feels almost blasphemous. By definition, we think of “art” and “profit” as two distinct and even clashing concepts, with the unspoken assumption that chasing profits will corrupt art, and that art drags down profits. Conventional wisdom says “art for art’s sake”: Art is not a means to an end, art is the end.

Aug 1, 2017 Jeff Wilser

The Band Plays On

The Americana rock ‘n’ roll band, The Nickel Slots went to Belgium for two weeks this summer for its third European tour, playing 11 straight shows.

Jul 21, 2017 Sena Christian

Indelible Impressions

916 Ink hosts creative writing classes for children at their “Imaginarium” in Sacramento

Katie McCleary and 916 Ink co-founder Michael Spurgeon knew they wanted to start a creative nonprofit for children when they met at a writer’s conference in 2010. They believed Sacramento could support such a program because there was already a strong writing community here, nurtured by programs like the Sacramento Poetry Center, but there was a glaring, missing piece in Sacramento’s creative writing community — a youth program.

Jun 22, 2017 Danna Sweidan

Up My Alley

Local eateries aim to spruce up Sacramento’s dark corridors

If you imagine a humming city as a living body, the conventional alleyway might be the large intestine. It’s a lonely grey loading zone, a collection point for garbage, and a covert space for drug use and violence. But as U.S. cities grow denser, urban passageways that were once ignored and crumbling are enjoying a renaissance. Alleyway activation is a designer buzzword for modernizing utilitarian corridors into well-lit public spaces.

Jun 13, 2017 Allen Young

Fix ‘Er Up

Andy Stone, head mechanic for Team Novo Nordisk, prepares a bike during training camp for the Amgen Tour of California’s Sacramento stage in May. A Sacramento native, Stone attended Encina High School where he took a Regional Occupation Program bicycle mechanic class. He worked at bike shops for several years before getting into race mechanics.

May 19, 2017 Sena Christian

Well-Behaved

Placer SPCA Behavior Department Coordinator Meghan Oliver conducts an assessment of every dog and cat that enters the Roseville shelter to ensure they are safe around other animals, children and the general public. Each assessment takes about 10 minutes and includes monitoring how the dog socializes, handles tolerance (Oliver holds the animal’s collar, picks up feet, opens the mouth), plays with toys and reacts to the removal of food.

Apr 21, 2017 Sena Christian

A Future So Bright

Upon receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2014, Monica Sandoval became Future Sacramento’s first student to complete the program and graduate college.

Apr 21, 2017 Robin Epley

Threads of Honor

The California Capital Women’s Business Center is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to small businesses throughout the state. In collaboration with the Women Veterans Alliance, the Women Veterans One-Stop Resource Center was created to specifically address the needs of women veterans, their spouses and families.

Apr 13, 2017 Cherise Henry

More Bang for Your Duck

After a rough few years, Sacramento Valley rice farmers are supplementing crop profits with environmental stewardship

Having a robust agricultural industry has meant accommodating crops and livestock by forcing out wildlife. Before farming came to the region 150 years ago, waterbird habitat was primarily provided by wetlands. Now managed wetlands make up only about one-third of their habitat in California and rice fields comprise nearly 60 percent.

Apr 4, 2017 Sena Christian

Perfectly Arranged

Founded in 1946 by Ross Relles, Sr., Relles Florist is now in its fourth location on J Street in Sacramento (a second store on Howe Avenue has closed). After Ross died in 1972, sons Jim and Tom Relles took over; their sister JoAnn Bradley joined in 1975.

Mar 24, 2017 Sena Christian