Sacramento's Andrew Stroud Tells Us What's Good in the Neighborhood

Best place to take a client

Sacramento Kings game, now that they are well worth watching.

Favorite sports bar

Clubhouse 56—old-fashioned food, drinks and atmosphere.

Favorite building

Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

Least favorite building

The “Darth Vader” building—a block of blight.

Best restaurant

Mulvaney’s B&L—never had a better pork chop.

Weekend getaway

Wine tasting in Amador County—close by, yet seems very far away.

Favorite historical fact about Sacramento

Before Prohibition, it was the largest beer-brewing city west of the Mississippi.

Saddest historical fact about Sacramento

It was considered such a backwater that the California Supreme Court left town and never came back!

Favorite quote about Sacramento

“You’re kidding, they have a Tower Records store in Sacramento?”—cashier at West Hollywood Tower Records Store to me, circa 1982. (Tower was founded in Sacramento.)

Favorite city event

Run to Feed the Hungry.

Favorite historical resident

Joan Didion. Deep inside, you know she loves her hometown.

Favorite thing about your office (besides your colleagues)

The view of Old Sac. When the river rises, the Delta Queen can suddenly be seen from our conference room.

Favorite breakfast spot

Café Bernardo at the Pavilions. Good food and great bloody marys.

Best place to reflect

On the American River Bike Trail.

Best view

Watching the crows return to roost while having a cocktail upstairs at The Bank.

Go-to sports venue

Golden 1 Center. And they said it would never be built.

Favorite movie theater

Tower Theatre. A movie, a cookie and a glass of wine. A diabetic debacle!

Favorite local shop

Beyond Napa Wine Market.

City’s best sports moment

2002 Western Conference finals vs. Lakers.

City’s worst sports moment

2002 Western Conference finals vs. Lakers.

Out-of-town guests are impressed with

Portraits of Govs. Brown and Schwarzenegger in Capitol building. Must be seen to be believed. Brown’s is startlingly abstract; Schwarzenegger’s is just plain huge.

Favorite city law

Ordinance banning sale of junk guns, which I successfully defended for the city in an action brought by the NRA.

BEST beer (or other beverage)

Track 7 Panic IPA. I keep looking for something better. Am still looking.

Most famous resident

Greta Gerwig, our local Lady Bird.

Best place for a stroll

Fab Forties’ Fourth of July Parade.