If you're a cyclist in the Sacramento Midtown area, you're aware of the shortage of bicycle racks  when it comes to locking up your ride  at a restaurant or favorite watering hole. If your destination is the 2700 block of J Street, you'll soon have a new place to secure your faithful metal steed. Gina Rossi, artist and Midtown resident also known as the "bike rack girl," has taken on a project to create a community bicycle station to house 12 bicycles and incorporate a few of the businesses within the 2700 Block on J street including Mosaic Hair Salon, Harlow's, Red Lotus, Bar West, j27 Gallery and Centro. The bicycle station is sculpture comprised of six different statues. Each statue wi

Did you know Sacramento's very own Trash Film Orgy (TFO) is credited with being home to the first organized Zombie Walk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_walk#History The summer season is trigger for these midnight movie Trash Film Orgy fans, who descend like a mass migratory bugs filling the hallways and seats of the Crest theatre. Though their year round numbers never fully deplete, once their season starts you see them multiply exponentially for 6 consecutive Saturdays at midnight. The Zombie Walk is the yearly kickoff event for their TFO summer show season which has been growing ever since! Literally hundreds of "people" (if you can still call them that) converge on the midtown

It somehow feels like I missed spring this year. This past Saturday felt like a summer day and many people were out enjoying the weather. June 11 was the second Saturday of June and many events allowed families to go out and enjoy the weather and celebrate Sacramento's Second Saturday Art Walk. Spanglish Arte celebrated their 2nd Annual Piñata Festival. Both sides of 23rd Street (between I and J Streets) had vendors and artists showing their goods. The street was still open for traffic and parking during the event. Mari Arreola along with family and friends made this a community event suitable for an all ages. Arreola handpicked the vendors at the fest and enjoyed seeing the many guests

It was five years ago this June that VOX Sacramento co-founders, Eric Sweiven and Heath Dalrymple, organized their first art show. The idea was to create an event that would give Sacramento's unknown artists a place to show. The idea took off. More than that, Eric and Heath found that a whole communtiy of artist struggling to find other artists and venues they could work with. So they formed the non-profit VOX Sacramento. "The specific purpose of VOX Sacramento" Eric Sweiven, states "is to provide education and charitable assistance to artists of Northern California in the creation, practice or demonstration of visual and performing arts. The means of providing this education and charit

For those out and about this Second Saturday, St. John’s Lutheran Church on 17th and L will be sponsoring the “KidZone” from 5:30-7:30pm. The KidZone offers a safe haven for the younger members of the arts community and offers face-painting, balloons and a host of other family-friendly activities. The "Zone" is located in the parking lot on L between the Church Sanctuary and The Refuge.  

Think you really know Sacramento? Find out tomorrow during The Mastermind Hunt: Sacramento! Teams of family and friends will race through parks, around landmarks and even inside local businesses deciphering clues to secret locations in this urban adventure presented Saturday June 11 by Mastermind Treasure Hunts and Downtown Grid. Partial proceeds from this fun and challenging event will benefit Hands on Sacramento, the Valley’s full-service volunteer action center. The hunt will start and finish in the courtyard at 1801 L street, but covers both Downtown and Midtown. Tickets will be available on the day of the hunt starting at 3:00. The hunt runs from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. For more informatio

A mainstay at children’s birthday parties, candy-filled pinatas are ornaments made to break, and for people of all ages who delight in Latin-based fanfare, the second annual Piñata Festival is coming back to Midtown Saturday. The festival will be held from noon - 9 p.m. along 23rd Street between I and J streets. People who turn out for the event can expect to find vendors serving traditional Mexican food and fusion food. Gourmet Mexican ice cream and other deserts will be made by Doña Coco of Sacramento. According to Mari Arreola, gallery owner of Spanglish Arte, local artists Chulo Baby, and Rachel Knipping and others will have art for sale. UC Davis Professor of Chicano Students Xico

Forever Young’s preschool site is opening its doors on Second Saturday for visitors to enjoy artwork created by some of the youngest artists in Sacramento, ranging in age from 3 months to 5 years. Children of all ages are invited to experiment with art activities and share the creative spirit. We'll have free ice cream for artists young and old alike. Forever Young is a non-profit, non-denominational, parent-managed cooperative with an infant center and preschool site located in Midtown Sacramento. Forever Young’s philosophy is based on respect for infants and children where an environment is created to add structure to the child’s interests. Infants and children develop and enhance motor

The Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen is pleased to announce that registrations are (finally) open for the third annual "Hunt the Grid" bicycle scavenger hunt.  This year's hunt promises to be the best yet, with more prizes, more teams, and more clues to suss out and items and places to hunt for!  Test your knowledge of midtown and downtown and your eagle-eyes against the Bike Kitchen's volunteer huntmasters! That's not all; Hunt the Grid III will segue into a special fifth anniversary Second Saturday party at the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen!  After five years of operation across two Sacramento locations, a tremendous group has come together to wish the Kitchen well on its next five years.  The A

The Bicycle Film Festival kicked off last night at the beautifully renovated and expanded Crocker Art Museum, which drew in crowds from all walks of life to celebrate their bond and love of bicycles. The Crocker usually hosts “Art Mix” every second Thursday of the month to celebrate culture with cocktails with live art demonstrations, short films, tours and talks. This particular Thursday, the Crocker teamed up with Hot Italian, which is heavily involved with the promotion and support of the BFF, to host the launch party for the film festival.This is Sacramento’s second time hosting the festival in its 11-year history. The party entailed a no-host bar and barbecue, bike art, a bicycle fi

Introduction/Background: The purpose of the following open letter is to outline quality of life problems that many residential neighbors now face from over concentration of alcohol "entertainment" establishments in Midtown whether related to Second Saturday or other weekends as well. The article also includes recommended solutions to these problems but so far Midtown Business Association and city leaders have largely ignored them. This letter was written cooperatively by long-time Midtown residents, Bill Burgua, Karen Jacques, Dale Kooyman and Vito Sgromo, all of whom have successfully worked for years with many other residents to create a vibrant residential and business Midtown, which

The new modified schedule for Second Saturday, with earlier hours of 4 pm to 8 pm, drew out crowds that welcomed families. The Sacramento Police Department mounted patrol were especially popular with kids, as the officers handed out sheriff badge stickers.

A wave made entirely of plastic bottles will be shown at Midtown’s Sub-Q Body Piercing and Tattoos Saturday to raise awareness of large “trash islands” in the ocean. Built by 21-year-old Tahoe City artist “Sannazzaro,” the “Recycled Wave 1” is a prototype of a larger project that will be built with 6,430 bottles – the number of bottles dumped into the ocean every second worldwide, she said. The larger piece will be called “1 Second Wave.” She said her inspiration came from when “my husband and I were using plastic water bottles every day, and when I found out about the trash islands, I thought this project would be a really good way to raise awareness about all the pollution.” The fina

Almost six months have passed since Victor Hugo Perez Zavala was shot and killed at the September Second Saturday Art Walk, and no arrests have been made. According to police, gang-related crime like the Second Saturday shooting is hard to solve for a variety of reasons. “In a nutshell, (the case is) wide open,” said Sgt. Bob McCloskey of the Sacramento Police Department’s homicide division. “We’re still trying to run down every lead we have.” McCloskey said police are currently investigating leads, but declined to say how many or comment on how good the leads are, given that it’s an active investigation. “In each case, we’re going to take and fully investigate it,” he said. “On open c

Today I came across a comment on Bill Burgua's recent article about the Second Saturday Art Walk. Larry was exasperated about the crime he witnessed on our most recent art walk, specifcially citing the vandalism near his place of residence. He wrote: "The last Second Sat event I got graffiti outside on my apartment building as well as inside and this is a controlled acces building. Out of Control! City council talking about walkable alleys when we dont even have walkable streets." I often read the complaints from my neighbors concerning the escalating crime during Second Saturday. My personal feeling is that it's no different from the drunks and litterbugs I see roaming the streets ever

Lily Ann Lam grew up in two worlds. Her Chinese parents instilled traditional Eastern values in her, while her upbringing in Sacramento exposed her to American culture. She said the mix comes together in her Midtown salon – Hanami, which opened March 1. Hanami (HAH-nah-me) is a Japanese word that describes the beauty of cherry blossoms, and Lam said it was a natural fit for a salon. “The cherry blossoms are the result of a process,” she said. “They’re beautiful for two weeks ... and that’s like hair. It goes through a process, and then it’s beautiful for a couple of weeks.” Hanami is the first salon for Lam, who has been styling hair professionally for three years. Before that, she put

The Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will meet this Monday 3/21/2011.  This month's meeting will focus on Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issues.  There are changes being made to Second Saturday as was reported by Suzanne Hurt on SacPress.  This is partially in response to the shooting death and injuries that occurred in the early morning hours of September 12, 2011.   This presentation is a followup to a meeting on September 25,2010 Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issue meetings tend to have a very high turnout.  If you want to sit up close, come early. The Agenda Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) March 2011 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neig

If you happened to miss out on Second Saturday Art Walk this past weekend, you are still in luck. Lumens Light + Living and The Center of Contemporary Arts are proud to present: “Art of Light: Nature’s Spirit,” a photography exhibition by Sandy Follett. The exhibit continues through April 24 and is located in the showroom of Lumen Lights + Living (2028 K St.). The showroom hours are Monday- Friday 10 a.m. - 6pm and Saturdays 10 a.m. - 5p.m., and admission is free. I was lucky enough to attend a private viewing of Sandy Follett’s work, which showcases her collected images of nature’s beauty in the Yosemite Valley, the High Sierra, Roseville and Rescue, Calif. What makes this Cameron Park-

While planning your route this 2nd Saturday, be sure to stop by Elliott Fouts Gallery (4749 J Street, Sacramento) for the reception for Go Figure!, a group exhibition of figural paintings, from 6pm-9pm. Among the artists showing in the exhibition is Sacramento-based painter Jeff Felker. His paintings included in the show address revisiting abandoned places and moments in time, marked by emotional significance to the figure. Each painting captures fragments, as once forgotten and neglected as the scenery, with a desire to find new meanings and relevance within the same space. The show also features work by Candice Bohannon, Derek Gores, James Crandall, Kenney Mencher, Peter Wedel, Sara Zi

For this week's edition of SacQuotes, we asked attendees of last month’s Second Saturday Art Walk if they feel safe and comfortable at the event. You may remember that last year police had to disperse some of the large groups who would linger after the official end of the evening. In September a Sacramento City College student was killed in the crossfire of a gang-related shooting after Second Saturday.  Here’s what folks had to say: Chico State student Meghan Vanderford was home visiting and decided to come out to Second Saturday. She said her comfort level changes throughout the night. “Earlier in the evening I feel safer, but the later it gets, it gets a little sketch.” Vanderford said