In a county known for its wealth of Gold Rush-era museums, undoubtedly some of the most compelling stories from that time reside at a former orphanage hidden within the 160-year-old walls of the Grass Valley Museum.

With Sacramento nearly 400 miles from Hollywood and an increasing number of films shot in Georgia for tax purposes, the Capital Region doesn’t frequently host productions. But when it happens, people can get excited.

It’s the first night back after Lotus Pub’s annual two-week holiday break, and at 5 p.m. when the doors swing open on this frigid Friday in January, a line has already formed.

Jan Gregory, a banker, passed away in May in Sacramento. Five days later, the front page of the Sacramento Bee announced that the Sacramento Zoo had acquired a rare white rhinoceros named J. Gregory.

This may have happened to you: You call a restaurant, and instead of a live person, you get a recorded voice telling you to leave a message and someone will get back to you. Or even worse, you go online looking for a restaurant’s phone number, only to discover there isn’t one.  

Your experience of social media may be as a fun time-waster, an angst-producing FOMO (fear of missing out) machine or the reason you know your Uncle Dennis believes in ancient aliens. But to many restaurant owners, social media is a necessity.