Paesanos Italian restaurant in Midtown is gearing up to celebrate 15 years in business with two weeks of specials starting Saturday and a hint to possible expansion to a third location. Director of Operations Dana Scarpulla said a new location is in the works – probably getting under way within a year – but she couldn’t comment further on the location. She added that business has continued to grow in the past five years. “We opened on April 18, 1996, and it’s been great,” Scarpulla said. “There wasn’t much on this corner back then, and we’ve seen Midtown really transition since.” The spot at 1806 Capitol Ave. had seen a string of restaurants come and go before Paesanos moved in. In the

During both World War I and II, our government introduced a new concept to the American people: Meatless Monday and Wheatless Wednesday. These initiatives were primarily focused on rationing food here in the states in order to give more to our soldiers off at war. Herbert Hoover, then head of the U.S. Food Administration, boldly proclaimed, “Food will win the war,” and as we all know, those wars were eventually won and the extra rations for our soldiers probably did help. Yet here we are after several decades, and the Meatless Monday motto is starting to pick up steam once again, except this time it’s to improve our health and environment. Even media mogul Oprah Winfrey has jumped on boa

A few more changes are in the works for the Second Saturday Art Walk in an effort to reduce problems and increase the focus on art, city and business leaders said Wednesday. The changes will take effect in April, when the event's crowds are expected to grow as warm weather returns to Sacramento. The city's Second Saturday safety team has come up with some modifications in the wake of a fatal shooting in September 2010. The biggest change is a requirement that vendors, musicians with amplified sound and other street performers who are set up on public property – primarily sidewalks or closed streets – operate from 4 - 8 p.m. Live music is part of a growing music scene that has emerged on

A late-night eatery celebrating the virtue and flavor of garlic is expected to open soon on J Street – replacing Plum Blossom, which mysteriously closed this week. The Garlic Shack will offer a funky, low-key vibe, with an under-$15 menu starring garlic in everything from Caribbean rice bowls and burgers to dessert, said owner Ken Powers. "It's going to be a fun place to come eat some food, drink some beer," he said. "Almost everything we have will have garlic in it." After 20 years in the food industry, Powers is opening his first restaurant on a prime Midtown corner at 18th and J streets. The Sierra foothills resident has mainly worked at restaurants in the foothills and the Sierra Ne

Midtown store owners are in a festive mood, decorating their windows to take part in the “Light up Midtown” contest. The contest is being held by the Midtown Business Association, and the first prize is $1,000 to be used toward advertising. “This is first year of contest,” said MBA spokeswoman Amber Schmaeling. “Basically it was just kind of a way for the MBA to rally up the Midtown businesses and do something fun for the holidays that could be a fun way for us to all participate in a friendly competition and decorate the district.” Schmaeling said more than 50 stores participated in the event. “I think it gave the shop owners a little bit of help to pull together as a team and create

Santa landed on MARRS today and wished everyone a Merry Christmas during 12 Days of Midtown "Holiday on MARRS". I was there to document this historic event: Santa and his helper trekked on MARRS bringing good cheer to one and all. First stop was to get Santa in the zone with some yoga (above and below). Photo with Santa was part of his adventure. In and out of doors we went. Shaking hands and bumping fists is all part of his work. Off to his sleigh he went when his work here was done. For more info about midtown CLICK HERE SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

Looking for ways to get in the holiday spirit? The Midtown Business Association has a host of events, sales and services planned to bring holiday cheer to everyone this year. 12 Days of Midtown Dec. 1 Santa’s Tavern Unveiling at Golden Bear, 2326 K St. 6 - 9 p.m. Admission is free Golden Bear is transforming into Santa’s Tavern for one day only, so stop by and have a beer at the bar with festive holiday vibes. Dec. 2 YELP Ice’s Midtown at Kupro’s Bistro, 1217 21st St. 8 - 10 p.m. Ice art, drink specials and an Eskimo-style fashion show will be presented at Kupro’s Bistro Thursday night by YELP and local clothing boutiques. Admission is free. Dec. 3 Karaoke Carol-Off at Hamburger Pattie

The key to successful and safe hip hop events in Sacramento is to focus on the music, an expert panel said Tuesday. Sacramento needs club owners and promoters to give hip hop artists doing good music a chance – working together rationally to overcome stereotypes or solve problems. What the city doesn't need is people who bring turf wars or personal drama into clubs, said hip hop artists, promoters and a historian gathered at the Crest Theatre. One panelist, rapper B-Smoove, acknowledged that problems can arise if gang enemies who normally don't cross paths suddenly wind up at the same club. He’s established a reputation for hosting problem-free hip hop nights by reminding his audiences t

Nightclub safety will be discussed at upcoming workshops offered by local business organizations. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Business Association and Old Sacramento Business Association are hosting two sessions this month.They are part of a series aimed at educating bar and restaurant owners and staff about their responsibilities, as well as state laws and city regulations. The free workshops are open to businesses, DJs and club promoters in Old Sacramento, downtown and Midtown. Rapper B-Smoove and other experts in Sacramento's hip hop scene recently agreed to lead a panel on managing hip hop nights so that they stay free from the violence that shut down clubs like Ele

Saturday, the day before the official Halloween, little ones and their parents were trick or treating Sac Midtown businesses. It's an annual event organized by the merchants and the Midtown Business Association and it was great. Relles Florist provided fun for the kids; Howdy Do Dat the magician with his real live bunny, face painting by All Party Art and Pony Tails, as well as trick or treaters creating faces on small pumpkins. "oh come on, that flag isn't right" Guest appearances were made by some of the dogs that were all dressed up for the Pooch Parade and Costume Contest. Do you like the dark and brooding type? Kennedy Art Gallery hosted the awards ceremony next to Headhunte

Sacramento’s “hospitality zones” became classrooms Thursday night. Nearly two dozen people visiting Sacramento for the California Downtown Association’s 2010 annual conference took a walking “Nighttime Economy Tour” through parts of Old Sacramento, downtown and Midtown. Most in the group help manage downtown business districts. Stopping in bars from Vega’s at Old Sacramento’s historic waterfront to de Vere’s Irish Pub near 15th and L streets, people learned best practices, as well as what to avoid, to successfully set up and manage hospitality districts – concentrations of bars, restaurants, café-lounges and other entertainment businesses. Officials with cities and business improvement

Midtown residents and business owners gathered at the Ethel MacLeod Hart Senior Center Saturday morning to meet with city officials and representatives from the police department to discuss what can be done about the rise in violence and rowdiness following Second Saturday. For the first 30 minutes, more than 100 community members wrote on comment cards expressing concerns and proposing solutions. These were collected and sifted through for a seven-member "Safety Team" panel to address. Though Councilman Steve Cohn was adamant that the shooting death of Victor Hugo Perez Zavala was not inherently a Second Saturday problem, it was the obvious impetus for the gathering. In his introductory

The Sept. 12 shooting has some Sacramentans wondering if the Second Saturday Art Walk is going to go the way of K Street’s Thursday Night Market. According to Michael Picker, The Thursday Night Market was inspired by an event in San Louis Obispo and was intended to be a small-scale street fair people could stop by on their way home from work, but it grew to attract crowds far larger than anticipated as people went home first, picked up their families and then returned to the market. Picker, who was chief of staff for Mayor Joe Serna Jr. when Thursday Night Market was introduced, both the Thursday Night Market and Second Saturday Art Walk became victims of their own success. “Everybody p

A rock band steps onto a portable stage set up in the old Sacramento News and Review parking lot at 20th and J streets. They tune up and begin to play. This promotion marked beginning of the end of the traditional Second Saturday. Second Saturday was no longer going to be an art walk and about visiting art galleries. Second Saturday was going to be about bringing large numbers of young people to Midtown to stay after the event and continue partying and drinking in the Midtown bars and nightclubs. City officials and the Midtown Business Association (MBA) immediately tried to distance the Midtown Second Saturday Art Walk event and themselves from the unfortunate and preventable death of Vi

Sacramento Police continued their search Wednesday for the suspect in a fatal shooting after the September Second Saturday Art Walk, while community leaders continued talks on possible solutions to the violence and problems plaguing the event. With the city still reeling in the wake of the killing, city officials will hold a public forum on the shooting on Sept. 25. And on Wednesday night, the Midtown Business Association agreed to spend $19,000 to fund a three-month pilot program using volunteer guides to assist people on Midtown streets weekend nights. Officers in the homicide, gang, forensic and crime scene investigation units are working on the investigation of the shooting that left

On Saturday, August 7, Midtown Sacramento played host to the Foursquare Pub Crawl. Organized by Sacramento's Midtown Business Association in order to promote the new Midtown brand, the event featured teams from a number of Midtown establishments. Team leaders were chosen because they were Foursquare Mayors of the participating locations. Foursquare is a dynamic new social networking application that allows users to know what business are close by, what establishments are trending based on the presence of other Foursquare users, see tips published by other users, and even see maps to help guide them to where they want to go. For businesses, Foursquare allows them to know who is visiting

  The River City Gators announced the signing of a contract with the Midtown Girls cheer and promotional service group.  Midtown Girls Founder and Director Erlynn Rose Holyfield was named Director of the Gator Girls dance squad. Due to confidentiality provisions, terms of the deal were not immediately available.  However, River City Gators Co-Owner Jason Kang said, "We welcome Erlynn and her squad to the River City Gators family.  We're excited about the new team and the upcoming season.  There are a lot of great improvements in the works.  We think the community will love the new dance team and all of the things we'll be announcing over the next few months." Kang continued, "This is an

Sacramentans in the mood for specially made cocktails need to look no further than Midtown this week. The annual Midtown Cocktail Week kicks off on Monday with seven nights filled to the brim with cocktail culture. Co-founder Joe Anthony Savala began the event in 2008 with Erick Castro after attending San Francisco’s Cocktail Week. “We really love the whole Midtown vibe and how it’s growing, so [we thought,] let’s put something together here,” Savala said. After some planning in conjunction with local restaurants and bars in Midtown and some help from San Francisco’s best bars, MCW was born. In 2009, the Midtown Business Association joined in. MCW is more than just enjoying beverages,

On Friday, July 30, the Sacramento Mountain Lions Cheer and Dance team finals were head at Barcode on Arden Way at 9pm.  The event was originally scheduled to be held at Venue Events Center located at 1417 R St. at 8pm, but a power outage reportedly due to a blown transformer under SMUD control forced a last minute schedule and location change. Noticeably distressed, dance team Director Lindsay Shoemaker scrambled to secure an alternate location.  Demonstrating why she is in fact the team's leader, when put to the test inside the eleventh hour, she found a way not only to come through, but to create an even better atmosphere.  Barcode, despite being a fair distance away from midtown Sacra

At its June meeting, the Midtown Business Association board discussed parking policy in Midtown Sacramento, and how MBA should address the issue. At the May meeting, City Manager Gus Vina discussed a proposed tax on private parking lots to raise city revenue. Aaron Zeff, owner of Priority Parking, expressed concerns that this would force him to raise prices, and hopes to find other alternatives. MBA discussed hiring a consultant to address parking issues, but instead decided to work with other central city stakeholders, including the Downtown Partnership, neighborhood residents, state offices, hospitals, and the city of Sacramento, to work on a consolidated parking strategy. As a neighbor